Lisa Dobriskey makes easy work of her automatic qualification in the heats of the 1500m (© Getty Images)
By common agreement, Lisa Dobriskey missed a trick in the Beijing Olympics when she left her effort too late to claim what many observers felt would be a medal commensurate with her abilities.
“Gutted” was the Ashford athlete’s reaction to her performance in that 1500m final, but it is fair to say that since then she has been doing her best to do herself justice on a variety of surfaces.
At the end of August she danced down the track in a drenched Gateshead to claim top spot against some classy opposition.
She then had a series of track races on the European circuit of variable fortune before heading off to the States where she notched up a win in the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York in mid-September in a personal best 4:18.6.
And today (4 Oct), in the Bupa Great North Mile along the Newcastle quayside, she confronts what she professes will be her final race of the season before she takes a two-week break from athletics. “Just one more race,” she says with obvious glee at the prospect of a rest.
It is a shame that it is that missed opportunity in the Far East that is most closely identified with the Loughborough-based athlete because 2008 has easily been Dobriskey’s best season so far.
Two year’s ago she scooped the Commonwealth title with what is now recognised as a trademark sprint. But at the time, she was welcomed as anything but a potential successor to the Kelly Holmes mantle of Olympic champion.
Instead, the belief persisted that she had just got lucky. That luck deserted her in the 2007 Osaka World championships when she lost a shoe in the semis and failed to qualify for the final.
But then there was an upturn in fortunes this year when she imposed herself at the British trials with a mature performance to take the plaudits.
It was still felt, however, that she would lack the strength to hack it with the rest of the world on the Olympic stage. As if reading the received opinion like a book, coach George Gandy slotted her into a mixed race in Manchester on the eve of departure for China.
Dobriskey’s reward was a sparkling personal best – unofficial of course – of 4:00.64. The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle was in place. She had the speed and now the strength.
It was not to prove enough, but Dobriskey still came away from the Bird’s Nest with a legal PB of 4:02.10.
Road running is different to the track with different reference points depending on the course, but Dobriskey seems to have taken to it well. Her road PB for the Mile is over a second and a half faster than her track time.
She won in the north-east last year and is set to defend her title successfully. World junior gold medallist Stephanie Twell seems the person most likely to push Dobriskey.
Michael Butcher for the IAAF
POSTSCRIPT: 18hrs Sat 4 October
Lisa Dobriskey was made to fight hard in a thrilling finish at this afternoon's Bupa Great North Miles on Tyneside.
Dobriskey produced a powerful surge in the last 300m to retain her mile title in 4:37.8.
Dobriskey's sprint for the line gave her a winning margin of 0.70secs ahead of Ukrainian Anna Mischenko with Sonia Roman from Slovenia narrowly behind, placing third in 4:39.80.
Nineteen-year-old Stephanie Twell paid for her early brisk pace as she ended a magnificent season fourth in 4:45.50.
Dobriskey said: "I was planning to go for it from the beginning but I had a stinking cold so sat back and kept something in reserve. When you are warming up sometimes you feel worse than you actually are and I actually felt great in the race."
PA International