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Again
no medal for Dwain! Men’s
100 metres: rounds 1 and 2 – 4 Aug., semi-final and final – 5 Aug. Dwain
Chambers was ready.
One sometimes has to remind oneself that he is still only 23 but
this season has seen him more consistent and more confident –
regularly winning in Europe and running the fastest ever time by a
Briton in the UK.
Tim Montgomery and Maurice Greene had posted some super times but
maybe now was the time for the Briton to get right among them and make
up for just missing out on a medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Round
1 seemed to be no problem at all.
Starting his campaign in heat 9 of 11, Dwain cruised home in
10.27, leaving Nigerian Uchenna Emedolu, a regular at our Speed GP
meetings, to enjoy crossing the line in 10.18.
What we didn’t know was that the heats had been preceded by a
fair amount of argument as the officials ruled that the spikes of those
wearing adidas shoes were not acceptable;
this included Trinidad’s Ato Boldon and our own Dwain who had
to resort to borrowing spikes from Iwan Thomas. Into
the quarter finals and here we encountered drama that Darren Campbell
later aptly described as something out of the X Files.
Montgomery set the ball rolling with a 9.92 clocking into a
fairly substantial wind but when Maurice Green ran 9.88 against a 5
metres per second headwind it was clear that something was awry.
Birchfield’s Mark Lewis-Francis headed race three with his
first ever sub 10 – a 9.97 run to apparently remove Dwain Chambers’
name from the World Junior Record list and then Dwain himself equalled
his best ever time – also 9.97.
USA’s Bernard Williams wrapped up the quarter-finals with a
best ever 9.92.
Whether those were true times or not we’ll never know.
All results were subsequently ruled invalid for record purposes
as the wind gauge was found to be incorrectly calibrated.
Those in the stadium felt that conditions were pretty still;
maybe there was a following wind or perhaps the timing equipment itself
was slightly incorrect – who knows? It
was back to a more realistic scenario in the semi-finals where both
races were won outside of 10 flat.
Greene took the first in 10.01 from Ato Boldon; Lewis Francis was
below par and failed to make it to the final – as did one time world
record holder Donovan Bailey, making an emotional exit from his
competitive career.
Williams looked ominously confident as he took the second race in
10.06 from Montgomery, 10.07, Chambers and Cardiff’s Christian
Malcolm. Best
reaction time, best pick-up, best mid-race - it was Greene nearly all
the way in the final.
He didn’t get the best finish as his body broke down ten metres
from the line but such was his speed that the result was not really in
doubt, even though Montgomery got back to within 3/100ths of him.
It was the third fastest run of all time. Williams backed up his
form shown in earlier rounds to make it a clean sweep for Uncle Sam.
In lane eight, away from the action in the centre of the track
Dwain had a great run to dip under 10 seconds but Ato Boldon had chosen
this day to get back near the top of the pile – and the Belgrave
Harrier was left with 5th.
Again no medal for Dwain!
Progress
in earlier rounds: Round 1 2h9 10.27/0.0.
Round 2 1h4 9.97/no wind reading. Semi-final 3s2 10.10/-1.7. Final:
(-0.2) 1 M.Greene (USA) 9.82; 2 T.Montgomery (USA) 9.85 3 B.Williams
(USA) 9.94; 4 A.Boldon (TRI) 9.98; 5 D.Chambers (GBR) 9.99; 6 K.Collins
(SKN) 10.07; 7 C.Malcolm (GBR) 10.11; 8 A.Zakiri (GHA) 10.24. Picture: Dwain Chambers - post race Link
to IAAF
official result, photofinish picture, news, multimedia and
statistics. Dwain
below par in 200 metres Men’s
200 metres: rounds 1 and 2 – 7 Aug., semi-final
– 8 Aug, final – 9 Aug. A
terrific run in that late July IAAF meeting at Crystal Palace had earned
Dwain his slot in the intermediate sprint in Edmonton and it was hoped
that at last he might make his mark in this event but to get up for
another series of races so soon after the drama of the 100m was going to
be a tall order.
In the initial round he seemed to do all that was necessary to
get through, occupying 4th place in heat two with the first four all
qualifying by right.
The crunch came that evening when again a place in the first four
was necessary to progress beyond the quarter finals.
Against a slight headwind the USA’s Kevin Little easily headed
the field but only 6/100ths covered the next four home and Dwain, with
the sharpness we had seen in the short sprint now temporarily missing,
was the man to get shut out in 5th.
But there was still the relay … Round
1 4h2 D.Chambers 20.80/1.00. Round 2 5h4 20.60/-1.4. Link to IAAF official result, news, multimedia and statistics. Chris Rawlinson - is the jinx over? Men’s
400 metres hurdles: round 1 – 7 Aug., semi-final 8 Aug., final – 10
Aug. The
jinx that had beset Chris Rawlinson in earlier games seems to be over.
Only days prior to the Seville World Champs of 1999 he turned his
ankle while training and at the time of the 1997 championships he
suffered a hernia.
The 1996 European Championships were wiped out by a stress
fracture and for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney he was, by his own
admission,
“over the top” having peaked too early in the season. In
Edmonton Chris looked to be just right as he comfortably won his heat.
A couple of the other heat winners looked equally impressive –
notably Felix Sanchez from the Dominican Republic but the semi-final
stage, with the final open only to the first two in each heat plus the
fastest two losers was going to tell us a lot more. Fabrizio
Mori of Italy took the first semi in 48.49
with Al-Somaily of Saudi Arabia only a pace behind but the shock
of the round was the failure of the pre-race favourite, American Angelo
Taylor.
Now for race two: the Belgravian looked so positive as he totally
controlled the field.
In spite of three other sub-49 clockings by his opposition Chris
clearly dominated and ran to the second fastest time of his career with,
seemingly, a lot more left to come.
A sub-48 run looked a possibility in the final – maybe even
Kris Akabusi’s British Record would be threatened and if he could
manage that, then a medal looked to be “on”.
But the round wasn’t over yet and race three saw Sanchez turn
on the fastest time yet, 48.07, with Tamesue setting a Japanese national
record just 3/100ths further back.
The final was going to be a cracker with the slowest of the
qualifiers having run 48.64 to get into the last eight. Running
in lane 6 Chris had the faster men inside him but with a powerful start
he made clear his intention to run to the limit.
But trouble arose at the second hurdle when he clouted the
barrier badly with his trailing knee and lost momentum as he rolled to
recover his balance.
That additional effort, saved for the final, was now brought into
play as he fought down the back straight and continued to look as
dangerous as anyone in the field.
Around the final turn Sanchez and Mori stormed through the field.
The straight was reached – and Chris began to buckle.
Treading water the Belgrave man eventually crossed the finish
line in 6th.
But maybe that jinx has played itself out.
It was his second fastest run of the year and up ahead there were
three national records and a world leading mark for 2001.
It would have taken well under 48 to have clinched a medal but
the signs are that our man can do it. The
subsequent disqualification of the Russian Gorban moved Chris into a
final position of 5th. Progress
in earlier rounds: Round 1 1h5 C.Rawlinson 49.38. Semi-final 1s2 48.27 Final:
1 F.Sanchez (DOM) 47.49; 2 F.Mori (ITA) 47.54; 3 D.Tamesue (JPN) 47.89;
4 H.Al-Somaily (KSA) 47.99; 5 C.Rawlinson (GBR) 48.54; 6 P.Januszewski (POL)
48.57; 7 J.Muzik (CZE) 49.07; dq B.Gorban (RUS). Link
to IAAF official result, news, multimedia and statistics. Picture: Semi-final winner Link to IAAF official result, photofinish picture, news, multimedia and statistics. Ben unable to repeat Cup form Men’s
High Jump: qualifying – 5 Aug. AAA
Champion Ben Challenger finally gained his berth in the team by clearing
2.26m to win the Gold Cup Final and if he could have repeated that sort
of form in Edmonton he might well have got into the final in spite of
the official qualifying height being set at 2.29m.
As it was, his second time clearance of 2.20m proved to be his
best while two men scraped into the top dozen for the final with 2.25m.
Two seasons ago we saw Ben go clear at 2.30m to win the World
University Championships and European Under 23 Championships.
That height in Edmonton would have seen him in 5th place! Group
B: =8 B.Challenger 2.20 (2.15o, 2.20xo, 2.25xxx) Link to IAAF official result, news, multimedia and statistics. Triple Jump blues for Phillips Men’s
Triple Jump: qualifying – 4 Aug, final
– 6 Aug. Briefly
the world leader in May, after his 7.23m in Madrid, and then popping out
a 17.33m in June, no one doubts that Phillips is the man with the raw
talent. Sooner or later –
just like Bob Beamon in the long jump in an earlier era – Phillips is
going to test the length of the pit.
The
rules for qualification to the final decreed that 17.10m was the
standard to beat but there weren’t too many of those about as athletes
struggled to come to terms with the lightning fast run-up.
A no jump by Phillips was followed by a mediocre (by his
standards) 16.74m which put him into the top twelve from both pools but
as the third round jumps were taken several others moved ahead of him
while all he could turn out was another foul.
Not that he wasn’t in good company;
Jonathon Edwards was not even in the top twelve until he leapt a
mighty 17.46m with his last effort.
But Phillips was through and although only 11th of the top dozen,
the final was another day. That
other day dawned – but
unhappily not one that revealed an improvement in fortune.
Phillips placed 5th after the opening round with Walter Davis of
the USA leading at 17.20m. Into round two and the young Swede Christianson moved ahead
with 17.28m only to be overhauled almost immediately by Garcia from Cuba
with 17.40m. Jumping 9th in
the order Phillips had already seen his opening mark pushed down into
8th and an improvement to 16.60m did no more than hold his position. Round
three and our man needed something special to ensure that he made the
cut and thus qualify for a further three jumps.
And of course it was round three where world record holder
Jonathon Edwards killed the competition with a devastating 17.92m for
one of the longest leaps of all time.
One by one the competitors took their turn until we got to
Rostilav Dimitrov who hopped … and stepped … and jumped out to
16.70m. Phillips was in
9th. A lacklustre 16.08m
came from the blue-haired Belgravian – and it was time to gather his
kit together and think about future championships. Group
A: 6 P.Idowu 16.74 (x, 16.74/0.2, x). Final:
1, J.Edwards (GBR) 17.92; 2 O.Christian (SWE) 17.47; 3 I Spasovkhodskiy
(RUS) 17.44; 4 Y. Garcia (CUB) 17.40; 5 W.Davis (USA) 17.20; 6 B.Wellman
(BER) 16.81; … 9 P.Idowu (GBR) 16.60 (16.32/0.3, 16.60/0.3,
16.08/-1.8). Pictures: Qualifying round Link to IAAF official result, news, multimedia and statistics. Unlucky 13 for Mick Jones Men’s
Hammer: qualifying round – 4 Aug. What
a trier Mick Jones is.
Having strained all through the 2000 season to achieve the
Olympic qualifying distance, he finally did it after the closing date
for entries had been reached.
Now it was another season and another attempt at qualifying for a
major games and this time he made it with that massive 76.43 in the
second British League match. It
has to be said that the odds of him getting through the qualifying round
in Edmonton were slim and they weren’t helped at all with a no throw
in round one.
Effort number two saw his hammer landing at over 73 metres to
maintain the high level of performance he has reached throughout the
season.
Summoning
every ounce of strength for the final throw Mick gave it everything but
it was to no avail and the big man ended by falling to his knees –
another no throw. Group
A: 13 M.Jones 73.31 (x, 73.31, x) Link to IAAF official result, news, multimedia and statistics. Vernicha's future looks assured Women’s
4 x 100 metres Relay: round 1and final
– 11 Aug. The
British team was a revelation. Qualifying well with 3rd place in round one they ran faster
than any British team in the last 17 years – and Vernicha James played
her part to the full with a powerful run on the third stage. Although originally selected for the 200 metres individual
event it was decided that at 17 years old, Vernicha was too young to be
thrown into the cauldron of four rounds of races and was given her
chance to learn about a major championship by tackling the relay only. Come
the final and they went better again. This
time the fastest time by a GB team since 1980 – and another startling
statistic – the fastest British team ever without Kathy Cook among the
quartette. Vernicha’s
place in the squad for future years looks assured and with other young
Belles knocking on the door we could be in for a golden age where female
Belgravians are as prevalent in the international team as males. Round
1 3h2 GBR 43.08 (M.Richardson, S.Wilhelmy, V.James, A.Oyepitan). Final:
1 USA 41.71; 2 Germany 42.32; 3 France 42.39; 4 Jamaica 42.40; 5 Nigeria
42.52; 6 Great Britain (team as per first round)
42.60; 7 Greece 43.25; 8 Russia 43.58. Link to IAAF official result, news, multimedia and statistics. Least said! Men’s
4 x 100 metres Relay: rounds 1 and 2 – 11 Aug., final 12 Aug. The
least said about this the better. Except
– how can the selectors put the least experienced man on the last leg,
taking over from a man who has just run eight rounds of races. Round
1: h4 dq GBR (D.Chambers, M.Devonish, C.Malcolm, J.Barbour).
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THE IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2001 Edmonton, Canada
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