I have given a (more or less) detailed account of the men's long jump competition in my "Stop the presses" article, so there is no point in elaborating further here. Instead I can start with the women's event. My preferred long-jumper, world champion I. Spanovic (the name "Vuleta" was short-lived; she divorced in December) did not manage to reach the final. Fortunately another athlete I really like, T. Davis, dominated the event with 7.10 m, depriving M. Mihambo (6.98 m) of a second olympic title. J. Moore managed something unique in my memory of major championships (unless we count C. Ibargüen's gold medals at the 2018 CAC Games), obtaining bronze medals in both the long (6.96 m) and triple jumps (14.67 m). L. Iapichino improved her position compared to last year's World's, but she was still outside the medals.
In the absence of Y. Rojas the women's triple jump appeared open. Well, not for me. I was quite confident in the talent of T. LaFond (who, for me, is the best technician of the event) and I was not proven wrong. With 15.02 m she added the olympic title to her world (indoor) one. S. Ricketts was second with 14.67 m. M. Bekh-Romanchuk, last year's silver world medalist, could not do better than 13.98 m in the final. Those who follow my blog may remember the name of A. Smith, a jamaican long- and triple-jumper, and her last year's misadventure in the long jump world final. She was the second jumper to make the two finals in Paris, finishing 8th in long jump and 7th in the triple.
I must confess that I was somewhat disappointed by the men's triple jump results. The battle between J. Díaz and P. Pichardo, never took place. One would have expected something better (but I admit that I am asking for too much) than 17.86 and 17.84 m. In the end three cubans trusted the three places on the podium, representing Spain, Portugal and Italy (A. Díaz with 17.64 m). Teen-age talent J. Hibbert (who made a sensation last year) was just outside the medals with 17.61 m, just like world champion H.-F. Zango (17.50 m).
Women's high jump was a bizarre affair. E. Patterson and I. Herashchenko tied in third place at 1.95 m (beating V. Cunningham on count-back) and only N. Olyslagers and Y. Machuchikh continued to 2.00 m. Olyslagers succeeded at her third attempt, Machuchikh having gone over at her first. Up to that height the latter has shown an incredible ease and one would reasonably expect something far better. But something started going wrong at that height. Olyslagers bowed out at 2.02 and Machuchikh having failed in her first two attempts raised the bar at 2.04 m and ... failed again. Since 1980 and S. Simeoni's victory with 1.97 m only R. Beitia's title in Rio (1.97 m) was obtained with such a low performance.
I will try to forget the men's high jump. The gold medalist, H. Kerr, gave a proof of his absence of personality. He had witnessed the real camaraderie of Tamberi and Barshim who shared gold in Tokyo. But when he tied at first place with S. McEwen at 2.36 m, he opted for a jump-off, not wishing to share gold. Of course, everything was by the book, but, personally, I am disgusted at this attitude. (To tell the truth, judging by the body language of both jumpers I initially thought that it was McEwen who asked for the jump-off. It was only the next day that I found out what had really happened). In case you are wondering Barshim was third with 2.34 m and Tamberi, suffering from some kidney problem, could only jump 2.22 m.
I gave details on men's pole vault in my "stop the presses" article but I did not mention the 6.25 m world record of A. Duplantis. Well, it was a short-lived one. It was improved to 6.26 m less than a month later in the same competition where Karalis passed for the first time 6 m (joining the elite of 20-something 6-plussers) a competition which saw three jumpers over 6 m (Kendricks also cleared 6 m).
The women's pole vault was a gruelling affair. The qualification standard was fixed at 4.70 m. However when the bar was raised at 4.55 m only 11 athletes passed and, what is really rare, there were 9 athletes who had passed 4.40 m at their first attempt and missed 4.55. Not having the possibility, given the rules, to break such a tie the organisers qualified all 20 athletes for the final. Among the qualification "victims" where the two british jumpers Bradshaw and Caudery, the latter fouling out at her initial height of 4.55 m.
A. Adamopoulou was injured and could not participate, but the remaining 19 entered a final where, to avoid the event finishing at midnight, the initial bar was placed at 4.40 m and the next ones at 4.60, 4 70 and 4.80 m. Only 5 jumpers remained at that height and 4.85 m was enough for the podium. A. Newman took bronze beaten on count-back by K. Moon. N. Kennedy passed 4.90 m on her first try, winning the olympic gold after having shared the world one last year. It is clear that something has to be done in order to avoid situations such as the one in Paris. The simplest solution would be to decide that for the vertical jumps only 12 athletes can qualify for the final and, if there is a tie in the last places leading potentially to the qualification of more than 12, the tie is broken following the procedure used for the first place.
I concluded my report on the field events of this year's Europeans saying that "I am not particularly optimistic about the chances of the European throwers at the Olympics". Unfortunately my prediction turned out to be true (just 6 medals out of 24 possible). And it would have been worse were it not for an exceptional thrower I had not noticed before. But let us start at the beginning.
In women's shot, put the number-one favourite, C. Ealey-Jackson failed to qualify for the final. This left S. Milton, the world leader, without dangerous opponents. But in the final Milton committed suicide landing her first two throws at 17 m and fouling her third, a 20+ that would have sufficed for first place. M. Wesche led the competition up to the last throw where Y. Ogunleye send her shot at 20 m winning gold. Ogunleye was silver medalist at this year's world indoors and bronze medalist at the Europeans, but somehow I managed to miss her. Last year I wrote an article on a lithe young thrower I had noticed during the European U20 championships, N.C. Ndubuisi. Well, Y. Ogunleye is built in the same model with just 67 kg for 1.83 m of stature. One can have no better proof that shot putters do not have to be fat in order to throw far. The new olympic champion is one more example proving De Coubertin and Brundage wrong.
In the men's shot put R. Crouser did not come to Paris as the incontestable favourite. However when the final started, things changed immediately. With a massive heave at 22.64 m (subsequently improved to 22.90 m) he took the lead and was never menaced. J. Covacs secured the silver medal at his last throw and on count-back as R. Campbell had also thrown 22.15 m. L. Fabri was very far from his year's best and with 21.70m finished at 5th place, P. Otterdahl being pushed out of the medals despite a 22.03 m throw at his 6th attempt. T. Walsh who was on the podium in the last two Olympics was injured and could not have a valid throw in the final.
The men discus reserved a great surprise. World recordman M. Alekna took command of the event with a throw at 69.97 m breaking the olympic record held by his father, Virgilijus (69.89 m, from the 2004, Athens, Olympics). After the first three throws Alekna was leading with Denny and Ceh at second and third positions respectively. And then, R. Stona, a practically unknown jamaican (there were three jamaicans in the final), whose best result was a 6th place in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, sent the discus to precisely 70 m winning the event. Of course Stona, who lives and trains in the US had a 69+ personal best from earlier this year, so his throw was not totally unrealistic. Still his victory was a major surprise.
Speaking of surprise victories, the women's discus has a tradition of such, since the last two World Championships were won in what I consider a "lucky" throw. (The case of L. Tausaga is particularly interesting: she obtained the qualifying standard during her last throw in the US Trials and then, in Budapest, she was trailing in 6th position when she unleashed a 69.49 m throw, beating V. Allman by 26 cm. This year she failed to qualify for the final of the US Trials.). In Paris the situation went back to normal. V. Allman took the lead from her first throw, all her valid throws being longer than those of F. Bin and S. Elkasevic-Perkovic who had 67.51 m as best throw, Bin winning on count-back.
Canada dominated the hammer throw. E. Katzberg confirmed his position as the best hammer thrower in the world, winning with 84.12 m, four metres more than the second. All of a sudden the out-of-this-world, almost 40 years old, record of Y. Sedykh (86.74 m) does not seem unattainable. A. Wlodarczyk participated in her fourth Olympics, after having won the previous three. Unfortunately she could not add a fourth gold to her collection and in fact missed bronze for a mere 4 cm. Be that as it may, she is the greatest female hammer thrower we have even seen (and I cannot understand why World Athletics have systematically snubbed her). World leader B. Andersen managed to eliminate herself from the competition, failing to qualify in the US Trials. Canadian, C. Rogers (the number-two in the world this year) was the natural favourite and went on to win easily with a 76.97 m throw.
The men's javelin throw was a great competition and an occasion for the greek tv commentators to give another proof of their ignorance. When A. Nadeem threw a humongous 92.97 m (improving the olympic record and winning the event) they explained that he had improved his record by 6 metres, simply forgetting that two years ago he had won the Commonwealth Games with 90.18 m. The two "veterans" of the event Y. Yego and K. Walcott were present, finishing 5th and 7th in the final. The "youngster" of the event A. Peters was once more on the podium, finishing third with 88.54 m. (He was going to throw beyond 90 m a month later). N. Chopra, has apparently a psychological problem with the 90 m barrier. He had thrown beyond 88 m already in 2018 and he is still unable to get a 90+ performance. In Paris he was second with 89.49 m. (But he has the potential for a great throw and he is still young, so there is always hope).
I left for the end the women's javelin throw. Unfortunately the discipline is becoming a real disaster. Winning olympic gold with 65.80 m is ridiculous. Frankly, I don't think that H. Kitaguchi is a great thrower. She is a 66-67 m thrower but she is an excellent competitor who profited from the state of the discipline winning world and olympic titles. M. Andrejczyk who was the most promising among the new generation may never realise her potential. And I start being anxious about the future of E. Tzengko. Her european 2022 title did not lead to the evolution one would have expected. F. Ruiz-Hurtado, who almost created the surprise in last year's World's, is a tad too old. The only hope is A. Villagos, but she managed to botch her Paris competition, finishing 13th in the qualifiers. At least I discovered in Paris an athlete I have never seen before, J-A van Dyk, from South Africa who obtained silver.
I don't know what can be done in order to improve the situation. Introducing a lighter javelin, say of 500 gr, will barely add 5 m to the performances, so this is not a solution. Thus, as long as the discipline is stagnating, every women's javelin competition will be a source of frustration for me.
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