Daily summary – Saturday August 21
By Nick Davies for IAAF
From blood and guts to speed and grace, the opening day of the 7th IAAF World Championships in Seville climaxed with Stacey Dragila equalling the pole vault world record of 4.60 to win the first ever outdoor gold.
The first final contested in Seville may also turn out to have been the toughest. Anyone doubting that this sport, however sponsor-friendly and glamorous it may have become, is still essentially about raw courage should have been at the conclusion of the men’s 20km walk as the walkers struggled to continue past the finish-line with dignity. With temperatures hovering around 31 degrees and humidity at 45 per cent for most of the race – which is hard enough in ideal conditions – the race had become an extreme challenge.
Mexico’s Bernardo Segura surged into the early lead while the walkers were still in the stadium and on the road he tried to press his advantage. But he faltered and was caught by a group including the defending World Champion Daniel Garcia, who led through the half way point, Olympic champion Jefferson Perez and last year’s European Champion Ilya Markov who seized the initiative as the race neared its conclusion. Approaching the Stadium, cheeks pumping with the exertion and wearing a pair of bug-eyed sunglasses, the Russian was 100 metres clear of Perez and waved to the crowd as he made what was, in effect, a victory lap before the fact. And why not? since he had endured a lot in the 1:23.24 it had taken him to finish the race. Markov dedicated his victory to his wife who was celebrating her birthday today. "The heat?," he joked after the race: "No problem at all. I love this heat!"
Considering the conditions, the times recorded in the race were excellent, Legendary walker Maurizio Damilano , commented that the course, with its flat terrain and large loops, had made it easier for the athletes to maintain correct technique.
But although the heat may have been poison for the walkers, it was honey for the sprinters. With muscles loosened by the heat, there were some superb performances in qualifying today, particularly in the quarter finals with Maurice Greene and Bruny Surin clocking 9.91 and 9.95 respectively, and three Britons – Darren Campbell, Dwain Chambers and Jason Gardener qualifying for tomorrow’s semi-finals. Greece’s world indoor 60m champion Ekaterina Thanou started the fireworks with 10.86, a national record. Then Inger Miller, pushed all the way by Zhanna Pintusevich, matched that time for a new personal best. But Marion Jones was up next and , determined not to be out-staged, zipped down the straight to stop the clock at 10.76 – the fastest in the world this year and a championship record . "I don’t want to put pressure on myself by talking about times but this is such a fast track. If fast times are needed I’m ready to do them."
Jones has had a busy debut in these Championships with two rounds of the 100m and long jump qualifying. In the latter event, just an hour after she cruised through her first sprint this morning, she lacked aggression at first but gained confidence with her second round effort of 6.83 – enough to qualify automatically. Fiona May – a world champion in 1995, was the most impressive but it was sad that Heike Drechsler, one of only five athletes to have contested all six editions of this world championships, was prevented by a hamstring tear from starting her seventh.
But the Jones story did not stop there as husband CJ Hunter achieved 21.79 in the final round of an exciting shot final to move into first place, overtaking Germany’s Oliver Sven Buder. Hunter’s whoop of joy could be heard right across the stadium. Buder, who had peaked perfectly for Seville with a personal best of 21.42 tonight, was unable to recover his lead with the last throw of the competition but was still the first to congratulate the giant American. "I was pretty much focused just before that last throw," said Hunter after the event. "Marion was close by, and my coach, and I got some strength from that. I really thought that any one of the finalists could win. I knew that 21 metres could mean gold. My last throw was all about wanting to go home knowing that I had tried as hard as I possibly could." A tear rolled down Hunter’s cheek as he recalled his wife’s words to him in the mixed zone: "she just said she was really proud of me."
Defending champion John Godina, once again, showed that his rotation technique, which depends on perfect control and timing, is vulnerable in the stress of a major competition. A single recorded mark of 20.35 - and five no-throws - was the end result of his night’s work.
The women’s pole vault was making its first ever appearance at these World Championships and much had been expected of Emma George – the Australian who has broken 17 world records to date. But, as in the world indoors in 97 and 99, George was unable to convert her record breaking potential into championship gold currency, finishing a dismal 14th. But even without an in-form George, the pole vault lived up to expectations, with Stacey Dragila equalling the world record of 4.60 after a thrilling duel with Anzhela Balakhonova of the Ukraine.
Five athletes were still in the competition with the bar at 4.45 – Tatiana Grigorieva (Australia), Nicole Rieger-Humbert, Zsuzana Szabo (Hungary), Daniela Bartova (Czech Republic) and Anzhela Balakhonova (Ukraine). That group had been whittled down to just two with the bar at 4.55 – Balakhonova, keeping up her country’s glorious pole vault tradition in these championships in the absence of Sergey Bubka, and Stacey Dragila, the American who won the 1997 World Indoor title and featured in a recent calendar of nude US track stars.
With both girls soaring clear at 4.55 – a European and American record, the bar was raised to 4.60, the current world record. Dragila failed her first attempt, and although Balakhonova took her time preparing for her own attempt, waiting for the wind and her mind to be just right, she also clipped the bar off.
The focus was back on Dragila and, as the crowd roared its approval, she arched her body over the bar. WORLD RECORD! The message flashed up and Dragila jumped for joy off the landing mat. But the contest was not over yet with Balakhonova opting to pass her final attempt at 4.60 but her vault at 4.65 was unsuccessful. Dragila herself, perhaps with a thought of the $100,000 World Record bonus offered by Mita for a mark superior to 4.60, also made three attempts at the new height, but had to be content with the adulation of the Sevillian crowd.
