22 September, 2018

Magic Sunday

Last year, 2017, was one of the worst for athletics: no new world record for men was registered while, for women, we had to content ourselves with one indoor and a few road records. P.-J. Vazel wrote an article in his blog commenting on this record drought (it was his comeback to blogging after a year and a half, but not a real comeback, since ten months later the blog has gone into radio silence). 



Fortunately 2018 turned out to be totally different from the previous one. First, we had the magnificent 3000 m steeple record by Beatrice Chepkoech. She's an athlete I am keeping an eye on. After a disappointing 4th place in the olympic, 2016, steeple race she dipped under the 9 minute barrier last year and this year she dominated the discipline rewarding us with a new world record at 8:44.32. But, as it turned out, the year was not over yet. The magic Sunday of two world records was awaiting us.



Eliud Kipchoge is not just any marathon runner. He is the best marathoner ever, period. I have already written this in my last years' top-ten classification, where Kipchoge was second behind M. Barshim. Last year Kipchoge set the best mark ever during the Nike Breaking2 event, with a performance of 2:00:25 which many have considered as being due to the irregularities (with respect to the standing rules) of the event. While criticising the liberties Nike took with the rules, I did not hesitate to qualify Kipchoge's effort as historical. To my eyes Kipchoge has the best profile for a marathon runner. He started as a track athlete (he was world champion and olympic medallist in the 5000 m) and has the best basic speed among marathoners. His preparation for Breaking2 event did pay out in this year's event. Passing the half-way point in 1:01:06, he completed the second half in an amazing 1:00:33 to smash the world record by 1 min 18 s, a margin unheard of for the past 50 years. So, after the olympic gold, obtained in 2016, Kipchoge adds a world record to his prize list. Will he be the first human to break the 2 hours barrier? Time will tell. 



While watching the 2018 Europeans on tv I missed Kevin Mayer's first foul in the decathlon's long jump. But I saw him fouling the second one (with a jump in the 7.70-7.80 m region) when he should have taken some precaution, moving his marks and controlling his approach. And then came the third foul which deprived Mayer from the european title. I was shocked at the time and wrote a post in this blog, venting my disappointment. But Mayer had most probably heard of Dan O'Brien and the 1992 debacle. (If you haven't, I invite you to read my article on "fouling out in decathlon"). To put it in nutshell, O'Brien, fouled out in the US qualifiers for the 1992 Olympics (for which he was the hands-down favourite) but broke the world record in Talence with a whopping (at the time) 8891 score. Mayer went to Talence with the world record in his sights. He ended the first day with a tally of 4563 points, 140 behind Eaton’s first day total for his 9045 world record. But the difference was due essentially to the amazing 45.00 s record of Eaton in the 400 m, which gave him 171 points more than Mayer's 48.42 s. A superb second day brought Mayer within 625 of the record after the 9th event: it would have sufficed to run an easy 4:49 1500 m in order to make it. Mayer obtained 4:36.11 to finally break Eaton's record by some 80 points (the biggest margin of improvement over the last 40 years). Clearly that was not an all out effort since Mayer has a 4:18.04 personal best. Speaking of personal bests, how does Mayer's decathlon score stand with respect of his bests in every discipline? When we tally  the latter we end up with a score of 9366 points (counting his outdoor best in the vertical jumps; but he has better performances obtained indoors and counting them would have brought the score to 9424 points). This brings his ratio to  97.4 %, a more than decent one among top decathletes. Still O'Brien's pb total is 9476 points and Eaton's one 9543, the best by any decathlete. What does this mean for Mayer? Simply, if he manages to improve his personal bests overall, bringing the total above 9500 points and if he keeps the 97 % consistency a record of more than 9200 points is not impossible. 

I do not remember any other occasion where two world records were broken the same day outside major championships (most probably there exist and I would welcome all comments on this point). But be that as it may the 16/09/2018 has been a magic Sunday for athletics.

05 September, 2018

(Semi-)barefoot runners

The recent victory of Kipruto in the 3000 m steeplechase of the Diamond League final, running with one shoe for most of the race, was at the origin of an article in the IAAF site signed by Mike Rowbottom.



It's one of those rare articles where the author has taken the pain to go through all the recent misadventures which resulted into a runner having to finish his/her race barefoot.



He ends his article with a reference to the legendary Abebe Bikila and his barefoot victory in the Olympic Marathon in Rome, 1960. Bikila arrived to Rome with one pair of shoes which got ruined in training and, when he tried to buy new ones, he could not find anything at his size. Thus he decided to run barefoot and the rest is history.

I suggest that you track down tha article and read it. It is really great. 

02 September, 2018

Europeans 2018, part two: field and combined events

Jumps have been a great success for the greek team. With a 1-2 in women's pole vault the domination of the greek jumpers was total. 


Stefanidi and Kyriakopoulou celebating

E. Stefanidi was everybody's favourite. The injury which had tortured her during winter was gone and her recent results were more than encouraging. During the competition she showed her mastery, was never menaced and won with 4.85 m. The unknown factor was Kyriakopoulou. She was coming back from a year off due to pregnancy and no one could gauge her condition. When she missed at 4.55 m I was afraid that she would be out of medal contention, but she went on to align first-time clearances up to 4.80 m which brought her just behind the winner. Sidorova (the other pre-competition favourite) was not in top shape. Moreover she did a curious gamble with the heights she decided to pass, ending outside the medals. I have mixed feelings about A. Bengtsson (an athlete I always keep an eye on). I was hoping something better than 6th place for her, but then, her 4.65 m clearance was not that bad (after all the bronze medal height was beyond her personal best). 


Duplantis jumping in Berlin

Men's pole vault was a great event and the victory of A. Duplantis one of the highest moments of the championships.  Was it surprising? Not at all. The talent of Duplantis is well known and everybody was expecting it to fully bloom one day. What was impressive was the ease with which he negotiated the 6 m and 6.05 m jumps. I have seen him jump at Tampere in the World U20 championships, where he made attempts at 6 m and I was thinking that it was too early for those heights. Well, I was wrong. What was surprising was the 6 m clearance of the silver medalist, T. Morgunov, who was virtually unknown till this year (his only international result pre-2018 was a 5th place in the 2015 european junior championships. That was the championship where K. Warholm obtained a silver medal in decathlon and in the 400 m). R. Lavillenie was 3rd with a season's best of 5.95 m, a height that would have been enough even for a gold medal in "normal" situations. It was pleasure to see Lavillenie happy in a competition he did not win. He was always a great jumper; now he is becoming a great champion. K. Filippidis finished the competition at 6th place with a season's best of 5.75 m. I was crossing my fingers for something better but this contest was of so high a level that a 6th place is more than honourable.



Lasistkene is (at last) smiling during the medal ceremony

Women's high jump was a most interesting event. Lasitskene was the indisputable favourite (despite having lost a competition in July). And she won. Easily? I would say yes, although she momentarily lost the lead at 1.96 m. But she went on to jump 2.00 m (on her second try) which turned out to be a winning jump. She then missed thrice at 2.04 m and it was impressive to see at which point she was disgruntled about this. It's rare to see such an unsatisfied champion. But the suspense of the competition was due to M. Demirova. She missed once at 1.94 m which pushed her temporarily to 5th place. And then she decided to pass both 1.96 and 1.98 m. It was an all or nothing move, but one which payed out. She passed the 2.00 m height on her third attempt and won the silver medal. She then went on to try at 2.04 m like Lasitskene but none of her three jumps was close. The main surprise of the event came from elimination, with 1.86 m on second attempt, in the qualifiers of E. Vallortigara who had jumped 2.02 m two weeks before the European's and who have been jumping consistently above 1.90 m all season long.

The favourite for the men's high jump was D. Lysenko, world indoor champion this year, and a 2.40 m performer. Unfortunately, due to a violation of the whereabout, his authorisation to participate as an ANA athlete was revoked and he could not participate in the championships. M. Przybylko won the competition with a 2.35 m clearance but, somehow, he did not impress me. The one I am definitely going to follow is, silver medalist, M. Nedasekau, who could manage only 2.33 m but who did show a definite potential. G. Tamberi is back and slowly recovering from the devastating injury he sustained two years ago. He was 4th with a 2.28 m season's best (which he went on to improve just a few days later to 2.33 m).



Spanovic jumping in the qualifiers

Women's long jump was a bitter disappointment for me. If you are following this blog you will have noticed that I. Spanovic is one of my favourite athletes. A consistent 7 m jumper, she was my favourite for the event. And after she jumped a leading 6.84 m in the qualifiers, she became everybody's favourite. Unfortunately disaster struck, she was injured and could not participate in the final. The later was won by M. Mihambo with a 6.75 m in a competition which was interesting despite (or due to?) Spanovic's absence. J. Sawyers (an athlete I'm following) fought till the end, finishing just outside the medals with a 6.67 m jump (redeeming herself for her undeserving 7th place in this winter's Commonwealth Games). 



Tentoglou winning the long jump

M. Tentoglou was hailed as a great talent for long jump but what he did in Berlin surpassed our expectations. At 20 years of age he showed a great mastery leading the qualifiers with a 8.15 m jump and going on to win the final with a season's best of 8.25 m. I expect him, in the years to come, to be competitive on a global level. Age is on his side. I was somewhat disappointed by the 10th place of I. Smajlaj, who had created the surprise last year, winning the european indoors. The enjoyable moment of the long jump was the absence of a certain olympic, world and european champion (if you haven't guessed, I am talking about G. Rutherford whom I cannot stand). Fortunately he is retiring and hopefully we will not hear about him again (but one never knows: some athletes become big bosses and they stay in the limelight for life).



Papachristou was the logical favourite of triple jump

Women's triple jump offered another gold medal to Greece. Just like Tentoglou, P. Papachristou led the qualifiers and went on to win the final with a 14.60 m jump (equalling her regular conditions season's best). She had won a bronze medal two years ago in Amsterdam. Speaking of that championship I was surprised by the elimination in the qualifiers of P. Mamona, the reigning champion. She was somewhat below par this season but she could have made it to the final. The qualification for the latter was perfectly targeted this year. Just 12 athletes jumped 14.05 m or more (which was necessary for a direct qualification to the final), with world and triple european champion O. Saladukha being left out of the final with a 14.04 m jump. And after two years of so-so performances G. Petrova, whom I have been following, is back. She finished 6th with 14.26 m jump but she is definitely back.



The three medalists of men's triple jump

There was another greek medal in men's triple jump. D. Tsiamis, with 16.78 m, practically at the end of his career could obtain a, well deserved, bronze medal. What is funny is that all three medalists of the event are veteran athletes. N. Evora (who won with 17.10 m) was born in 1984, A. Copello (second with 16.92 m) in 1985 and Tsiamis in 1982. Olympic bronze medalist and european champion (both in 2012) F. Donato participated at the Europeans 16 years after his first participation but could not make it to the final. He went over 17 m in 2000 and was still beyond this mark last year. I somehow have the feeling that we haven't seen the last of this great jumper.


Haratyk and Bukowiecki celebrating

Shot put was dominated by polish throwers. P. Guba won with 19.33 m, surpassing, C. Schwanitz (19.19 m) at her last throw. World indoor champion A. Marton could not participate due to a knee injury. M. Haratyk (21.72 m) and K. Bukowiecki (21.66 m) managed a polish 1-2 in men's event pushing the local hero, D. Storll (and one of the last gliders) to the third place, with 21.41 m. Women's discus was won, quite expectedly by S. Perkovic, and with a comfortable almost 5 m margin. However her winning throw of 67.62 m came only at the 5 attempt: up to that time she was led by the three german throwers. Men discus throw saw a bis repetita (like in last year's World's) of A. Gudzius, with 68.46 m, prevailing over D. Stahl, who threw 68.23 m, (only this time Gudzius secured his victory at the very last throw). World and european champion P. Malachowski as well as olympic champion C. Harting were out at the qualifiers with three fouls each. M. Nesterenko, a thrower who at 17 years of age had obtained a record of 77.50 m with the 1.5 kg discus, was 12th with 57.66 (after having qualified with 63.34 m). 



A. Wlodarczyk, the undisputed queen of hammer throw

A polish 1-2 in men's hammer throw was accompanied by a polish 1-3 in the women's event. At long last W. Nowicki (80.12 m) managed to prevail over P. Fajdek (78.89 m). After three consecutive seasons it looks like A. Wlodarczyk will not have an over-80 m throw this year. Still she dominated once more women's hammer beating, with a 78.94 m, A. Tavernier by more than 4 m. I was hoping for something better from K. Klaas who, with a personal season's best of 71.50 m, finished 7th. Javelin throw was a german affair. C. Hussong killed the competition with a first attempt throw of 67.90 m. (She had thrown over 67 m in qualifiers also). World champion of 2015 K. Molitor could not make it to the final, finishing 15th in the qualifiers with a 58 m throw. 


The three German javelin throwers (the photo is not from Berlin)

I was expecting a german medal sweep in the men's javelin throw but world champion (and best performer of the year) J. Vetter could not throw beyond the 5th place. His qualifying throw of 87.39 m would have secured him the bronze medal. T. Röhler won the competition, flirting with the 90 m (he threw 89.47m), while A. Hofmann was second with 87.90 m. I haven't payed much attention to the latter till now but from now on I will definitely keep an eye on him. (And I was very glad that a certain Finn thrower has apparently retired).



Thiam added another title to her list of successes

N. Thiam was the great favourite in the women's heptathlon, but C. Johnson-Thompson did not make life easy for her. (If you follow my blog you should have noticed by now that I adore Thiam and do not like very much Johnson-Thompson). Thiam is a jumper-thrower as I like them, while Johnson-Thompson is a runner-jumper. She managed to beat Thiam in both runs and jumps (the latter jumping a below-par 1.91 m in high jump). Fortunately Thiam managed a 6.60 m long jump and minimised the losses. Having thrown a 15.35 personal best in shot put, she backed it up with a massive 57.91 m (more than 15 m more than Johnson-Thompson) and the victory was hers: a world leading 6816 points ahead of  J-T's personal best of 6769. I was expecting I. Dadic (6652) to win the bronze medal but C. Schäfer (6602) beat her to it, essentially because of a better javelin throw. Reigning european champion A. Vetter finished 5th (6414). A. Shukh, who has been hailed as the next big talent (a jumper-thrower with a good 800 m) was only 15th (5985), but she most probably hasn't quite recovered from the injury she sustained in the year's U20 World's (where, nevertheless, she won the individual javelin throw). 



Johnson-Thompson had to contend with the silver medal

I already wrote about K. Mayer and long jump debacle. In his absence, A. Abele, with 8431 points, won the first major title in his career. I was also very happy with the silver medal of I. Shkurenyov (8321). T. Duckworth was the revelation of these championships, leading up to the 8th event but finishing 5th with 8160 points. But he is a sprinter-jumper unable to throw a decent javelin and what is even worse unable to run a decent 1500 m: he registered his personal best in the europeans running fo the first time (just) below 5 min. I cannot understand what is his coach thinking. You cannot be competitive in today's decathlon is you have such weaknesses. This reminds me of the good old times (say 50 years back) where decathletes were lousy pole vaulters. Things have definitely changed today. Speaking of pole vault, I was watching the athletes' efforts and I noticed that M. Roe (6th with 8131 points) jumps almost with the style of non-bending poles. I found that interesting. 


A (bad quality) video capture of M. Roe pole-vaulting

Pole vault was the event where J. Ureña respected his tradition of fouling the european decathlon. Two years ago he had fouled in the discus and this time he no-heighted in the pole vault. M. Uibo was one of the favourites (at least for the silver medal) in particular after his Götzis 2nd place behind D. Warner of Canada (another pole vault no-heighter at the Commonwealth Games, something that costed him the title). But it was clear from the beginning that Uibo was suffering and he was constrained to withdraw after the pole vault. Remember that all three french athletes had fouled out in the long jump. While Mayer called it quits, the remaining two went on with their decathlon and finished up to and including the 1500 m. (Ureña, by the way did the same). I noticed R. Gado (he needs to improve his hurdles and his discus throw) who could easily become an 8400 points decathlete. I will keep an eye on him.


As always I am not going to comment of race-walking. I will just repeat what I am always saying: I have a great respect for walkers, because they are genuine athletes training very hard, but I believe that the whole discipline should not exist (since the rules, as they stand today, allow race-walkers to run).

01 September, 2018

Europeans 2018, part one: track events

I was expecting the European 2018 Championships to be much better than those of 2016. After all 2018 is not an olympic year and the championships represent for most european athletes the culmination of a year's efforts. Fortunately I was not disappointed. And to cap this off it was the best european championship ever for the team of Greece. With three gold medals and 6 in total the greek team was at the 5th place in the classification, in a tie with Belgium, just behind France who had a so-so championship.

The first ten countires classified based on medals

D. Asher-Smith was the queen of the championships with two individual gold medals and a third one in the 4x100 m relay. With 10.85 and 21.89 she registered two world-leading performances, while the 200 m reigning world champion, D. Schippers, had to content herself with a bronze and a silver medal in the two races. The great unlucky of the competition was M. Kambundji who finished 4th in both races and also missed a medal in the 4x100 m relay the swiss team finishing 4th. I was very happy to see the ever-fresh I. Lalova-Collio making it to the 200 m final where she obtained a honourable 5th place. Do we have a new M. Ottey in the making?

D. Asher-Smith winning the 200 m

The men's sprint was equally interesting but the 100 m has been marred by the absence of J. Vicaut who got injured just before the final. The race was won by Z. Hughes in a championship record of 9.95 s. This race was also a good occasion for me to see F. Tortu who is hailed, quite deservedly, as the next "white" sprint talent. (In case you wonder, the term "next" is given by reference to C. Lemaître, alas absent form these championships due to injury). The 200 m was a great race with R. Guliyev confirming his supremacy, one year after his world title. His time of 19.76 s was a championship record. The presence of A. Wilson in the medals came as a minor surprise to me (but then, his build reminds me of J. Regis and so the surprise is really minor). I was somewhat disappointed by the performances of Hortelano, 4th, and Gemili, 5th, although the latter registered a season's best in the final.


Guliyev added a european to his world title

The women's 400 m was a great moment for us greek fans, holding our breath till the last metre of the race. Belibasaki lost by just 4/100 of a second to Swiety. It was most probably her relative lack of experience in this race (she is coming from the 200 m) who pushed her to run too fast over the first 300 m. Still her mark is great and I believe that she can crack the 50 s next year. F. Guei was a rather disappointing 7th in the final while defending champion L. Grenot could not even make it, exiting at the semis. 



Belibasaki lost the gold medal just at the finish line

The men's race was won by Hudson-Smith in 44.78 s but what I liked most was the race of the Borlée brothers who know perfectly how to dose their effort, securing in this case the silver and bronze medal. (I will comment on Warholm later on, when I will discuss the 400 m hurdles). 


The two Borlée brothers

The women's 800 m was won by the reigning champion N. Pryshchepa thanks to her devastating finish. I am happy with the come-back of R. Lamotte to high-level competition after an "off" year due to injuries. And it is refreshing to see a 800 m final without hyperandrogenic runners. The men's 800 m was won by european and world indoor champion A. Kszczot, thanks to his great finish (but also his great knowledge of the race). The reigning world champion P.-A. Bosse did make it to the podium this time (just as he did 6 years ago). But the one who did really impress me was the silver medalist A. Kramer of Sweden. I am going to keep an eye on him in the future.


L. Muir winning the 1500 m just in front of S. Ennaoui

L. Muir won at last a gold medal in a major outdoor championship in the women's 1500 m race. She did not take any risk and led the race almost from the beginning. S. Ennaoui, whom I have been following for quite some time, managed this time to use her superior finish and clinch the silver medal.  Concerning the men's race, I have already sung the praise of J. Ingebrigtsen. Τhe 1500 m european gold medals collection of the Ingebrigtsen brothers ιs really impressive: Henrik (4th at Berlin) won in 2012 and Filip (a disappointing 12 at Berlin) won in 2016. And there are brothers younger than Jakob :-).


L. Salpeter just realises her blunder

The women's 5000 was won with flying colours by S. Hassan but the drama took place at some 500 m from the end. L. Salpeter (Chemtai) thought mistakenly that this was already the final lap and sprinted only to realise, once the line crossed and still behind Hassan, that the bell was ringing. She desperately hang on but could only finish 4th, handing thus an unexpected medal to Y. Can (the only medal of a turc-kenyan runner). Salpeter was later disqualified for a lane violation. Fortunately for her she had already secured a gold medal in the 10000 race, the first for a woman representing Israel. The 10 km race was superb and the images of the silver medalist S. Krummins trying to reach the finish line while completely exhausted should serve as a lesson of tenacity to all aspiring champions.


S. Kummins reaches the finish line in utter exhaustion

In the men's 5000 the two Ingebrigtsen brothers Jakob and Henrik obtained a 1-2 (besting thus the Borlées who could "only" manage a 2-3). What I found amazing was their freshness just after a night's rest after the 1500 m final. The bronze medal went to M. Amdouni who a few days before had won the 10000. In that race I spotted a newcomer, Y. Crippa, Ethiopia born but running for Italy. He won the bronze medal thanks to a great finish. I will keep an eye on him in the future.


The three Ingebrigtsen brothers

The women's Marathon was an exciting race the three medalists, Mazuronak, Calvin and Vrabcova finishing in less than 10 seconds. The men's race saw the victory of K. Naert from Belgium, resulting to a medal tie with Greece in 5th place. 


The arrival on women's Marathon. 
You can see the second and third not far behnd the winner

The women's 3000 m steeplechase was won by F. Krause who doubled thus her european gold medals. This time L. Gega could not make it to the podium finishing 4th, but I still believe that her conversion from the 1500 m to the steeple was the right choice. Perhaps she had made the Mediterranean Games, held in June and where she won easily, her prime objective of the year. The new name in the steeplechase race was K. Grovdal who after having a bronze medal over 10000 m in the 2016 Europeans went back to the 3000 m and won another bronze. The men's race saw the fifth victory in a row of M. Mekhissi. yes, I know, there are only four victories registered, that of 2014 having being usurped by a disqualification. (That was something we better forget. The spanish protest was an example of absence of fair-play). One can think whatever one wishes about Mekhissi, and I agree he is not the most lovable character among the athletes, but, still, he is the best european steeplechaser and he is proving this at every occasion. 


M. Mekhissi celebrating is fifth victory

Both high hurdles went to outsiders. In the women's race where everybody was expecting A. Talay to win (she hit a hurdle and was disqualified) the victory went to another bielorussian, E. Herman, who managed to beat world medalists P. Dutkiewicz and C. Roleder (the latter being the 2016 european champion). But Herman was the world U20 champion in 2016 so her victory is not that big a surprise. I was hoping that N. Visser would make it to the medals (she finished 4th) but apparently her injury in spring delayed her preparation. All in all, I think that her decision to drop the heptathlon and concentrate on the 100 m hurdles was the right one. 



The women's 100 m huirdles final

P. Martinot-Lagarde was not really an outsider, having been hailed as a great talent for years. Still S. Shubenkov domination over the discipline has been total this year and nobody thought that he was going to lose the most important competition. And he lost it for 2 milliseconds. (I have already given my opinion on the absurdity of milliseconds: to my eyes times a tie at the level of centisecond should not be broken by some lousy photo-finish. The only way to a fair judgement would be a transceiver installed on the athlete's apparel). The 110 m hurdles was also also the culmination of a season of bad luck for M. Trajkovic. After his false-start disqualification in the World's Indoors (where he was vying for a medal) he got injured and presented himself at the Europeans in far from optimal condition. 


They should have been awarded the godl medal

L. Sprunger won the women's 400 m hurdles but the surprise came from the eliminations in the semis of both the double world champion Z. Hejnova and of the reigning european champion S. Petersen. I was hoping that A. Iuel, an heptathlete turned hurdler from Norway (does this remind you someone), would make it to the final but with the 9th time she failed by a trifle. Perhaps next time. 


K. Warholm at the finish line

The men's 400 m was won by the favourite K. Warholm but it was not an easy victory. Pushed all the way by Copello, Warholm had to improve his personal best (which, by the way is the european U23 record) to 47.64 s in order to win. Warholm arrived at the championships with great ambitions: win both 400 m with and without hurdles. The semis and the finals of the two disciplines being on alternating days it was possible to participate in the two. But this meant no day of rest. So at the last race, the 400 m, Warholm ran in his usual all-out way till 300 m and then, running out of steam, he slowed down finishing last. Had he been able to repeat his time of the semis, he would have ended second edging one of the Borlées out of the medals. There is a lesson to be learned there. On the other hand, given the immense talent of Warholm, anything is possible in the future. Speaking of the 400 m hurdles I was impressed by a french hurdler I had not noticed before, L. Vaillant, who finished 4th. I will keep an eye on him. 


The women's 4x100 m final

Great Britain won the two 4x100 m relays. Turkey was second in the men's one thanks to an amazing anchor by Guliyev. D. Asher-Smith took the baton at 3rd (or perhaps 4th) position, but some 10 seconds later she had a comfortable 3 m lead over the second. The men's 4x400 m went, as expected, the belgian team, but, what a race! Spain was leading after the third exchange but Hortelano being a 200 m runner burnt out and was easily passed by K. Borlée (a 43.91 s anchor!) and M. Rooney (twice european champion and a great relay runner). What was missing till now in the belgian team was a good non-Borlée runner. With the arrival of J. Sacoor (world U20 champion this year) the team is complete: americans beware.


The belgian team, winner once more

Poland won the women's race and Guei (although she did gain a little on the individual 400 m champion, Swiety) could not perform her usual miracle and France finished second. Doyle did redeem herself after her disastrous 400 m hurdles and secured the bronze medal for GB, resisting the attack of the superb belgian team who finished 4th. Is the 400 m becoming the national event of Belgium? (Just kidding, they have an olympic, world and european heptathlon champion and this time they did also win the Marathon). 


Poland winning the women's 4x400 m just in front of France

The next post will deal with the jumps and throws as well as the combined events.