When Julien Alfred so impressively won the women’s 100 metres, Saint Lucia became the 101st nation to mount an Olympic track and field podium. A little later that evening Thea Lafond won the women’s triple jump, producing her first 15m jump and a national record to take the title - Dominica’s first title and the 102nd athletics nation to win an athletics Olympic medal.
The men’s 100m became the closest-ever Olympic sprint final. Noah Lyles (US) won by five one-thousandths of a second from Kishane Thompson (Jamaica) who had held the lead until the final dip. Both recorded 9.79s with Lyles given the verdict after a long look at the photo finish image. Lyles’ teammate Fred Kerley was only two one-hundredths behind for bronze with 9.81s. Fourth went at 9.82s, fifth at 9.85s (defending champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs, Italy), sixth at 9.86s, seventh at 9.88s with eighth at 9.91s in a final for the ages.
Even the camera could not separate two competitors in an earlier repechage but with a nine-lane track, both athletes went through. In the women’s discus, the silver was won on countback with Feng Bin (China) and Sandra Elkasevic (Croatia) both throwing 67.51m. Feng took silver because of a better second-best performance. Spare a thought for New Zealand discus thrower Connor Bell (Auckland) who missed a berth in the discus final, finishing 13th but sharing 62.88m with Alex Rose (Samoa) and missing a place in the final on countback.
Imogen Ayris and Olivia McTaggart were more fortunate in the pole vault. The qualifying height was set at 4.70m but with 11 athletes, including teammate Eliza McCartney, clearing 4.55m, organisers were set a problem with nine athletes clearing 4.40m on their first attempt and therefore could not be separated, resulting in 20 athletes competing in the final. They, and we, are in for a long night.
With such small margins, athletes have to be at their very best when it matters most. I feel sorry for former Whanganui athlete George (Geordie) Beamish who has had a difficult final build-up to Paris. He missed qualifying in the 3000m steeplechase by two places.
I suspect that in the compromised build-up his hurdling suffered. He lost considerable momentum at the penultimate water jump and, as he attempted his trademark blistering finish, he checked his stride at the final barrier. It has been an outstanding year for Beamish and he should learn from setbacks. I am sure he is already mentally planning for next year’s World Championships in Tokyo.
It is great to see favourites cope with the pressure that favouritism brings.
British 800m runner Keely Hodgkinson went to Paris with huge expectations and the additional weight of a string of silver medals at major championships. She looked extremely nervous for her semifinal but in the final demonstrated just how good she is with an impressive winning performance in the last track event of the evening session. Just a few minutes later pole vaulter Armand Duplantis (Sweden), the hottest of favourites, ended the evening spectacularly, beating his own world record with a 6.25m vault on his third attempt - a perfect conclusion to the day.
The new repechage system has been an interesting innovation and came of age when French 800m runner Anais Bourgoin won through, carried by the huge vocal crowd. There will be interesting reviews to follow. It allows athletes a second chance and adds excitement. Cynics would say it also adds additional sessions and thus revenue to the meet.
Closer to home, Sally Gibbs added to her impressive CV by finishing second across the line at the Athletics New Zealand Cross Country Championships at the Mission Vineyard in Napier in the Masters combined grades. She was second behind Taranaki’s Rachel Fenton (45-49 grade) to win the 60-64 grade. Gibbs joined Gareth Jones, Bex Sharratt and Brendan Sharratt to win the mixed 4 x 2000m relay for the Whanganui Harrier Club.
I will return to the Olympics next week, especially focusing on the New Zealand athletes.
