One of the great joys as a fan of the athletics well depending if the individual likes distance running is watching the Kenyan men running the 3000m steeplechase. There is an untapped resource of talent at this event, it’s like the Finns and javelin throwing, Caribbean with sprinting. It’s their most prestigious event back home and the last non Kenyan to win a major championship was Francesco Panetta in 1987. Well there was Boulami who had more EPO in his system than a blood bank and was banned for doping. Shaheen doesn’t count, as he was Stephen Cherono just changed from Kenya to Qatar for the cash.
Four Kenyans in the field, they will run as a team to get rid of any opposition, then once they have dropped most of the contenders, then they will race for themselves. Kipruto is the favourite as he is just 0.01 sec outside of the world record, also Kemboi has run under 8 minutes this year. The conditions have been tough with the swirling winds, will be interesting to see what tactics they use. As for who will win, not exactly sure but it’ll be a Kenyan and personally I’ll enjoy the final which shouldn’t be too slow.
In the evening session there were finals in the mens hammer throw and pole vault, as well as the womens shot put. Primož Kozmus was defending his world title from Berlin hasn’t been in form this season, not throwing so much but he managed to get a bronze medal which was a fine achievement considering his lack of action. Pars, the young Hungarian on his last throw had a chance to pass the leader Japanese-Romanian Koji Murofishi but fell 6cm short with 81.18 and Mirofushi threw 81.24 twice. It’s good that the top three all managed seasons bests here, this is where they want to peak.
Primož Kozmus
Poland managed its 1st gold medal of the championship in the mens pole vault with Wojciechowski who won with 5.90 on countback where he cleared the height on his 2nd vault. The true surprise and star was the silver medallist Cuban Lázaro Borges who cleared 5.90m as well on his last attempt. He improved his personal best by 15cm in these champs, just hope he won’t be busted for doping offences. Yes, it was disappointing no Stevie Hooker in the final but didn’t deserve to get through.
Lázaro Borges
Valerie Adams what a champion she is. The New Zealand athlete has dominated the shot put for some time and after these championships Graham Henry should get her in to talk to the All Blacks, she knows something about winning major titles.
400m semi finals produced no surprise “The Penis Enlargement Man” Meritt looked very good, but as was said yesterday the question whether he has enough running in the legs if Kirani James can put pressure on him. James seems to have a good temperament tomorrow night could be the break out moment, the question is whether he can develop to his maximum potential or not be like Darrel Brown very brilliant junior who didn’t get it done with the big boys.
Tomorrow night besides the 400m final, we have the mens 800m final. We have David Rudisha the current world record holder but he really needs a major title, as long as he runs a tactically smart race then the title will be his. Kaki the Sudanese front runner it will be better for Rudisha if he goes the usual way and stretch the field as Rudisha’s strength will come through plus he can go with a fast pace. Just hope it’s not a sit and shit race run in around 1.45.
Jeter finally broke her drought at major championships with a solid win in the 100m. She has run plenty of fast times just not done it when it counted. Little Shellie Anne Fraser-Pryce had a slight stumble at the start, but Jeter was too solid and deserved the win.
Ivet Lalova
Ivet Lalova made the final, yes she was the best looking one in the final, but her goal was to make the final and after the problems she has suffered it’s a fine achievement. For those who don’t know she broke her femur at Athens in 2005 and was out for two years, took some time to get her confidence back but glad made the final.
Now onto the controversial part of the evening with the disqualification of Dayron Robles in the 110m hurdles final. The final was one of the most eagerly awaited of the championship and the race didn’t disappoint but what happened afterwards was disappointing to all concerned.
Robles finished across the line first from Jason Richardson who has improved greatly this season and third was Xiang Liu. This was not how it ended up, as Robles was disqualified for causing interference to Liu. The pressure was immense Robles wasn’t his usual clean technical self and Liu was hitting hurdles as well. Liu moved to the right of the lane which of course isn’t illegal and Robles hit the 8th hurdle where he lost some balance, then there was contact. As fellow finalist David Oliver said “People who think Robles did it on purpose are crazy and haven't seen his races, late in races he's been getting wide with his arms. Why would you do something intentionally that us going to mess you up as well”.
Yes, there was contact between Robles and Liu at two hurdles, but it wasn’t deliberate. The IAAF somehow concluded that it was intentional. The 100/110m hurdles is a physical event with lots of action and contact, it’s part of what makes the event great to watch. Liu wasn’t the one who protested it was the Chinese federation as Liu knows these incidents and physical contact are part of the sport.
Both guys were in their lanes and now any race where there is physical contact should come down to protest and officiating. Surprised the conspiracy theorists among us which exist haven’t made reference to Chinese intimidation, but the IAAF aren’t known for being a transparent organisation with the sports best interest at heart. The disqualification was a stupid decision, the question is now how will the IAAF handle races where there is physical contact, they need to apply the rules properly but this is subjective at best.
Jason Richardson
Jason Richardson who won the event on a technicality or bureaucratically handled the situation gracefully. Yes, he was happy that he got a gold medal but this wasn’t the way he wanted to win. He respects and is friends with Robles, naturally he wants to win the gold on the track and also would like to thank David Oliver for his sensible comments on a difficult situation.
This will be a test of Robles mentally, he has to stop the problem with the arms getting wide which has been problematic and cost him a gold medal. Strength in adversity and Robles will have plenty of prove for the London Olympics.
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1 comment:
lol good to read!
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