Karsten World at the Athletics Championships Oregon22 (© Getty Images)
It’s sleep-in morning on day five, the day which brings us to the half-way point of Eugene 2022 and the first of three with no morning session.
You may need to be rested up to cope with an action-packed evening session offering four finals – including the clash of the discus big men Kristjan Ceh and Daniel Stahl – men’s and women’s 200m semis and the first round of the women’s 400m hurdles featuring Sidney McLaughlin, Dalilah Muhammad and Femke Bol.
Full daily highlights at a glance
Mahuchikh versus Australia in the high jump
Nicola Olyslagers (formerly McDermott) took the silver medal behind Mariya Lasitskene in Tokyo last year and Yaroslava Mahuchikh the bronze, but it is the Ukrainian athlete who carries the better form into Eugene.
With Eleanor Patterson taking the silver medal behind Mahuchikh at the World indoor championships earlier this year, the event has an element of an Australia v Ukraine dual match. Of course, there will be a few others – Iryna Gerashchenkov and Elena Vallortigara among them – with the potential to shatter any such notion.
A glitch at the Stockholm Wanda Diamond League meeting aside, Mahuchikh has been in excellent form outdoors, winning in Eugene (with 2.00m), Rabat, Paris (2.01m) and Brno (2.03m). Olyslagers has been a bit more subdued this season than last, but her last two competition coming into Eugene were wins at 1.96m and 1.95m. Patterson, a former World U18 champion, reached the 2.00m mark at the world indoors then made a late start to her world championships build-up with a win at 1.96m in Stockholm. That, and qualifying two days ago, have been her only outdoor competitions coming into Eugene.
As ever, the most prudent tactics are to attack the medal heights confidently and clear them first time.
Warholm, Benjamin, Dos Santos – which one?
It’s only a few days since we stopped worrying whether Karsten Warholm would be in shape to defend his world title. Now, here he is, in the final having run 48.00 in the semis to get there.
The only remaining question is whether he can run fast enough to beat all his rivals, which is sort-of the same question we ask before every race, jump or throw, anyway.
Alison Dos Santos has been the form man in the event all season and Rai Benjamin won his US championship at Hayward Field. Indeed, counting prelims, five of his seven hurdles competitions have been there, so he should know his way round by now.
These three know their own race and know each other’s race, so there should be no surprises in the final. Which of the three can execute best on the day is the critical question, along with whether any of the other five can bridge the gap and challenge.
Men’s 1500m: has the door been left ajar?
At the start of the season, the men’s 1500m looked like a decider between Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Timothy Cheruiyot after Cheruiyot triumphed in Doha in 2019 and Ingebrigtsen at Tokyo 2020, an impression seemingly confirmed when the Norwegian opened his season with wins at the Pre Classic and the Bislett Games.
Now, not so much. Maybe it still will be a two-man war, but Ingebrigtsen has come through the rounds with two third place results (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that) and Cheruiyot without a big win for the season at all. Two other potential challengers, Ollie Hoare and Samuel Tefera bowed out in the semis.
Suddenly, other winners look at least a possibility, if not a probability. Cheruiyot’s teammate Abel Kipsang, for example, Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman and a now recovered from illness Stewart McSweyn.
The door seems to have been left ajar. If, indeed, it has been, is anyone good enough to walk through it?
Len Johnson for World Athletics
