Femke Bol in the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 (© Getty Images)
Hand me down my walking shoes, it’s time to get down to Heroes’ Square again, this time for the men’s and women’s 35km race walk.
Endurance events will come into their own over the closing days of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, with the women’s marathon scheduled for Saturday and the men’s for Sunday. In addition there are mass participation events allowing fans and serious road runners to run on the same course as the marathon elite. If your race-walking shoes are also running shoes, all the better.
Who’s up for the 35km?
Anyone wearing a Spanish vest, that’s who. Spain took both 20km gold medals on the first two days of competition and the two winners – Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez – are not just up for one gold medal but chasing two.
That said, there’s a heap of contenders, many doubling up from the 20km, some aiming solely at the longer event. Among the women’s entrants are eight of the first nine from Oregon last year, including the winner of the double then, Kimberley Garcia. Massimo Stano, 35km men’s winner in Oregon and Olympic 20km champion, is in with a great chance as is the man he beat by just one second in Oregon, Masatora Kawano, and the 20km silver medallist Perseus Karlstrom.
And the way the surprises keep coming in Budapest, there’s a fair chance the winner and several medallist have not been mentioned.
Five more medals to come on gold rush Thursday
The race walks aside, five more gold medal events will be decided in the evening session at the stadium. That makes seven for the day – the highest number of individual gold medals of the championships.
So, Gold Rush Thursday it is, then.
Who stands up in the men’s 400?
Not a trick question after the dramas of the semis saw two men – including Olympic champion Steven Gardiner – collapse to the track with serious injuries. The longest sprint always takes a heavy toll.
Kirani James, the London 2012 Olympic champion, won his semifinal and world record-holder and Olympic champion Wayde Van Niekerk scraped through his as a fastest non-automatic qualifier in third place. He is drawn in the inside lane in the final which will be interesting as he won his Olympic gold from the outside lane. He could give Cathy Freeman a call: Freeman won one of her two world titles from lane one and had to win her semi in the other from lane eight. So, she knows how to do it.
Matthew Hudson-Smith was one of the fastest in the semis (and found the least trouble). But, really, any of the eight finalists could win without it being a total surprise. Don’t overthink it, just enjoy the race.
Bol’s gold to lose?
With Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone out of the way, the 400m hurdles is made a lot easier for Femke Bol. She looked like she switched off with 150 metres to run in the semifinal but still recorded 52.95. Dalilah Muhammad, McLaughlin-Levrone’s predecessor as both world record holder and world champion went out in that race.
But then the wonderfully mercurial Shamier Little won the third semifinal in 52.81, the fastest of the round. Yes, Bol has run faster (by some way) this year, but at least it was a reminder that she cannot afford to switch off and we might have a race to watch before any medal is awarded.
Jamaica challenge in men’s long jump?
What’s the deal with Jamaica and men’s horizontal jumps? Jaydon Hibbert in the triple and now Wayne Pinnock and Carey McLeod in the long – one jump, big Q, see you in the final. Of course Pinnock and McLeod will be hoping NOT to continue on Hibbert’s trajectory in the final, i.e. one run-up, no jump, hamstring.
Not that qualifying was completed without some trepidations – for example, Pinnock and McLeod’s teammate, 2019 world champion Tajay Gayle, needed a last-ditch 8.12m to clinch his place. World leader Mitiados Tentoglou scrambled through a foul and a 7.95m before his big Q 8.25m. Defending champion Wang Jianan produced a season's best of 8.34m to secure his place in the final.
Otherwise, most of the favourites came through with varying degrees of comfort and now we wait to see who can deliver on the big night when dislike of morning qualifying sessions is not a factor.
With semi-finals of the 100m hurdles and qualifying in the hammer throw to come on the evening of day five, we likewise await the composition of those day six finals. One thing is certain: two gold medals will be awarded. (Unless there’s a dead-heat, of course.)
Enjoy day six.
Len Johnson for World Athletics
