Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica crosses the line to celebrates winning the women's 100m gold medal at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics (© Getty Images)
The Jamaican sprint success story continued on Day Three of the 12th World Championships in Athletics. Shelley-Ann Fraser confirmed her Olympic title winning form by adding the world 100m gold in a faster time than Beijing, 10.73sec. That equals the third fastest in history, and she was followed home by compatriot Kerron Stewart, who won silver with a personal best equalling 10.75sec. Carmelita Jeter of the USA won bronze with 10.90sec.
It was undoubtedly Fraser’s bullet start and pick up that won her the race, because the much taller Stewart looked positively sluggish out of the blocks beside her. But when Stewart got into her stride, she caught back all but a centimetre or two of the half metre she had conceded in the first fifty. But it was too late by two hundredths, and Fraser again joins Bolt on the top of the sprint rostrum.
Bekele remains unstoppable
At the other end of the distance scale, Kenenisa Bekele wasn’t going to get caught out like his female compatriots in the 10,000 metres. He let Zersenay Tadesse of neighbouring Eritrea do all the work at the front, and picked off the Kenyans Moses Masai and Micah Kogo as they wilted under the sustained pace. The bell proved the knell for Tadesse. He maintained the same pace, but Bekele took off to win by 30 metres, in a championships best of 26:45.11. The second kilometre had been run in 13:05. Tadesse’s bravery was rewarded with silver, in 26:50.12. And Masai ran 26:57.39, taking bronze to add to the family gold, of sister Linet who won on the opening night.
Rogowska takes shock Pole Vault gold as Isinbayeva no-heights
Anna Rogowska of Poland and Marta Dominguez of Spain won the Pole Vault and the Steeplechase within a minute of each other. Behind that simple equation lies a tale of double disaster for the Russians. In the space of 60 seconds, Yelena Isinbayeva, an even bigger favourite than Usain Bolt, failed to register a height in the Pole Vault. And her colleague, Olympic champion and World record holder, Gulnara Galkina was getting left behind on the last lap of the ‘chase.
You’ve got to be crazy or courageous to pole vault in the first place. But when double Olympic and World champion and multiple World record breaker, Isinbayeva decided to open her competition at a height (4.75m) only five centimetres lower than her best of the season, your scribe was not the only one wondering at her sanity. Maybe she’s been taking too much advice from her illustrious predecessor, Sergey Bubka, who did the same trick at the Olympic Games in Seoul 1988.
Bubka got away with it when he cleared his opening height on his third attempt, and went on to win. But Isinbayeva had one failure at 4.75m, went up to 4.80m, and failed twice. Rogowska, who handed Izzie her only defeat of the season prior to this, in London three weeks ago, had already cleared 4.75m. So the prize was hers.
For Dominguez, gold at last
Dominquez just made sure that she was in the wake of Galkina, who led most of the first two kilometres in the ‘chase, with her compatriot, Yuliya Zarudneva. The three erratic young Kenyans, who will surely get better and better, were trailing close behind that trio, as was Habiba Ghribi of Tunisia. Any could have won at the bell. But it was the Spaniard who has matured into a chaser this season, who was the most determined, and she shot away from Zarudneva over the last barrier, and won in national record of 9:07.32. Zarudneva was second in 9:08.39, and Milcah Cheywa of Kenya was third in 9:08.57.
The women’s Triple Jump went to form, with Yargelis Savigne, undefeated this season successfully defending her title. Like the Jamaican sprinters this was a Cuban double, because Mabel Gay briefly took the lead, then held on for second when Savigne kicked in with a 14.89m in the third round, and a 14.95m in the fifth. Gay jumped 14.61m, and Anna Pyatkh of Russia won bronze with 14.58m.
Kozmus reigns supreme
Just about the only person in the stadium who seemed to think that Primoz Kozmus was not going to win the hammer was the Slovene’s coach, Vladimir Kevo. Each time that Kozmus threw, the crowd in the Olympic stadium was treated to a close-up of Kevo clutching his head, tearing at his hair, and generally doing a fine impression of a silent-movie villain. One of his colleagues had to come over and give him a reassuring pat on the head at one point. But this was long after Kozmus assumed the lead in round two, with 79.74m.
The closest anyone got to that was the 79.30m that the 2000 Olympic champion, Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland threw, also in round two. Kozmus cemented his win with a final two throws over 80 metres, ending with 80.88m. It wasn’t a vintage competition, but Kevo didn’t care. By then, even he was smiling.
Pat Butcher for the IAAF
It was undoubtedly Fraser’s bullet start and pick up that won her the race, because the much taller Stewart looked positively sluggish out of the blocks beside her. But when Stewart got into her stride, she caught back all but a centimetre or two of the half metre she had conceded in the first fifty. But it was too late by two hundredths, and Fraser again joins Bolt on the top of the sprint rostrum.
Bekele remains unstoppable
At the other end of the distance scale, Kenenisa Bekele wasn’t going to get caught out like his female compatriots in the 10,000 metres. He let Zersenay Tadesse of neighbouring Eritrea do all the work at the front, and picked off the Kenyans Moses Masai and Micah Kogo as they wilted under the sustained pace. The bell proved the knell for Tadesse. He maintained the same pace, but Bekele took off to win by 30 metres, in a championships best of 26:45.11. The second kilometre had been run in 13:05. Tadesse’s bravery was rewarded with silver, in 26:50.12. And Masai ran 26:57.39, taking bronze to add to the family gold, of sister Linet who won on the opening night.
Rogowska takes shock Pole Vault gold as Isinbayeva no-heights
Anna Rogowska of Poland and Marta Dominguez of Spain won the Pole Vault and the Steeplechase within a minute of each other. Behind that simple equation lies a tale of double disaster for the Russians. In the space of 60 seconds, Yelena Isinbayeva, an even bigger favourite than Usain Bolt, failed to register a height in the Pole Vault. And her colleague, Olympic champion and World record holder, Gulnara Galkina was getting left behind on the last lap of the ‘chase.
You’ve got to be crazy or courageous to pole vault in the first place. But when double Olympic and World champion and multiple World record breaker, Isinbayeva decided to open her competition at a height (4.75m) only five centimetres lower than her best of the season, your scribe was not the only one wondering at her sanity. Maybe she’s been taking too much advice from her illustrious predecessor, Sergey Bubka, who did the same trick at the Olympic Games in Seoul 1988.
Bubka got away with it when he cleared his opening height on his third attempt, and went on to win. But Isinbayeva had one failure at 4.75m, went up to 4.80m, and failed twice. Rogowska, who handed Izzie her only defeat of the season prior to this, in London three weeks ago, had already cleared 4.75m. So the prize was hers.
For Dominguez, gold at last
Dominquez just made sure that she was in the wake of Galkina, who led most of the first two kilometres in the ‘chase, with her compatriot, Yuliya Zarudneva. The three erratic young Kenyans, who will surely get better and better, were trailing close behind that trio, as was Habiba Ghribi of Tunisia. Any could have won at the bell. But it was the Spaniard who has matured into a chaser this season, who was the most determined, and she shot away from Zarudneva over the last barrier, and won in national record of 9:07.32. Zarudneva was second in 9:08.39, and Milcah Cheywa of Kenya was third in 9:08.57.
The women’s Triple Jump went to form, with Yargelis Savigne, undefeated this season successfully defending her title. Like the Jamaican sprinters this was a Cuban double, because Mabel Gay briefly took the lead, then held on for second when Savigne kicked in with a 14.89m in the third round, and a 14.95m in the fifth. Gay jumped 14.61m, and Anna Pyatkh of Russia won bronze with 14.58m.
Kozmus reigns supreme
Just about the only person in the stadium who seemed to think that Primoz Kozmus was not going to win the hammer was the Slovene’s coach, Vladimir Kevo. Each time that Kozmus threw, the crowd in the Olympic stadium was treated to a close-up of Kevo clutching his head, tearing at his hair, and generally doing a fine impression of a silent-movie villain. One of his colleagues had to come over and give him a reassuring pat on the head at one point. But this was long after Kozmus assumed the lead in round two, with 79.74m.
The closest anyone got to that was the 79.30m that the 2000 Olympic champion, Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland threw, also in round two. Kozmus cemented his win with a final two throws over 80 metres, ending with 80.88m. It wasn’t a vintage competition, but Kevo didn’t care. By then, even he was smiling.
Pat Butcher for the IAAF
