Athletics World Championships: Day 6

Bolt on the blue part 2... Nnnineteen:Nnnineteen!

Women’s High Jump

Gold   Blanka Vlasic   CRO 2.04 metres

Silver Anna Chicherova   RUS   2.02

Bronze  Ariane Friedrich GER    2.02 

Women’s 400m Hurdles

G  Melaine Walker   JAM  52.42 seconds
S  Lashinda Demus  USA  52.96
B  Josanne Lucas    TRI   53.20

Men’s 200m

G  Usain Bolt  JAM  19.19 seconds (world record)
S  Alonso Edward        PAN  19.81
B  Wallace Spearmon  USA  19.85

Men’s 110m Hurdles

G  Ryan Braithwaite    BAR  13.14 seconds
S  Terrence Trammell     USA  13.15
B  David Payne      USA  13.15

 

One of my favourite quotes in sport is the impromptu end of race response Ato Boldon gave to Michael Johnson’s record-breaking 19.32s performance in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics 200m final:

“That’s not a time. It sounds like my Dad’s birth date."

The brilliance of that folksy assessment lies in the recognition that something akin to a category error had taken place. The record had stood at 19.72s to Pietro Mennea of Italy for yonks and yonks until, just two months prior to the Atlanta Olympics, Johnson had managed to break it (also in Atlanta), running 19.68s, but even Johnson himself thought that 19.5s would be his (the?) absolute ceiling. To bring the record down by the amount that he did was literally incredible, hence the mix of confusion with the joy that it brought.

Fast-forward to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when Usain Bolt broke this record, running 19.30s. For all that this was an awesome performance, there was not quite the sense of disbelief that had surrounded Johnson’s run for two reasons. One, Bolt had just broken the 100m world record, easing down to register 9.69s and two, he had only (!) bettered the record by two hundredths of a second – it was an eminently believable performance in terms of ‘what man could do’.

In a simple pro rata reckoning, his 200m record was stronger (2 x 9.69 = 19.38), so it was likely that Bolt could break his 100m mark, which he duly did on Sunday, giving it everything for his 9.58s. Flipping back, it figured that if he were able to maintain this level of performance over 200m, then a sub-19.20s run was possible (2 x 9.58 = 19.16). When Bolt broke the line this evening we initially saw 19.20s – new world record! Then it was rounded down to 19.19s – he’s done it! A magnificent achievement but, at the same time, is anyone truly surprised? The next 'paradigm shift' moment is obviously sub-19s - if Bolt can do that, then we will be genuinely dumbfounded. 

The particularly impressive feature of Bolt’s race tonight was his start – he had the fastest gun reaction time of all the competitors and got his huge frame up more smoothly than usual. He ran a sensational bend and kept on giving it “the eyeballs” as he did in the 100m albeit he was clearly losing a bit of form as the shoulders started to roll. No matter, the legs had it.

Behind Bolt, four men ran sub-20s, something which had scarcely looked possible in the lead-up rounds; the eighteen-year-old Panamanian Alonso Edward coolly got the silver and a strong finishing Wallace Spearmon caught teammate Shawn Crawford to take the bronze.

For the first time this week, the stadium was looking healthily full because the darling of German Track and Field, high jumper Ariane Friedrich, was competing. The stage was set, “Deutschland über alles” having just rung out for the discus medal ceremony, where Robert Harting had delighted the home nation yesterday in taking an unlikely gold. It was expected to be a direct contest between Friedrich, the bright-eyed, angular platinum blonde and the equine defending champion Croatian Blanka Vlasic. In the event, the Russian silver medallist from Osaka, Anna Chicherova, almost nipped in to steal it from under their noses, she being the first to clear the first really testing height of 2.02m. But both Friedrich and Vlasic were not going to be beaten this easily. Vlasic cleared at her second attempt and in a scene of high theatre, Friedrich, having been perturbed by the noise in the stadium, put her finger to her lips and uncannily, the crowd were rendered completely silent. There was baited breath as she loped up but she lacked the elevation on take-off and just brushed off the bar. More heartened though, she went through the same procedure again and arched clear on her third and final attempt, to general delight. Sadly, there was no more to come from the German as Vlasic was the sole athlete to clear the next height of 2.04m. Chicherova got the silver courtesy of having had fewer failures than Friedrich in the previous rounds.

The warm-up act for Usain Bolt was the women’s 400m Hurdles final, where, yet again, Jamaica prevailed, Melaine Walker executing the perfect race plan in clocking the second fastest time in history. She used her lane three draw to keep a check on main rival, American Lashinda Demus, outside of her in lane four, and coming off the final bend the two were neck and neck. However, at the penultimate hurdle Walker found another gear whereas Demus muffed it and never recovered. Cue more green, gold and black celebrations.

The last track final of the evening, the men’s 110m Hurdles, was also highly entertaining and in contrast to the men’s 100m final, there was a blanket finish, as is evidenced in the times. Youngster Ryan Braithwaite from Barbados made the most of pre-Championship favourite Dayron Robles’s semi-final exit to see off the experienced American pair of Trammell and Payne. Great Britain’s William Sharman had a sensational race to finish fourth in a PB of 13.30s.

Elsewhere, it was a good day for Team GB, with Chris Tomlinson and Greg Rutherford both qualifying for the long jump final, Mo Farah qualifying for the 5000m final, Michael Rimmer getting through his 800m heat and Emily Freeman running a PB to qualify for the 200m final.

Performance of the day: D’oh.

NB. I shall be including the decathlon in tomorrow’s report.