Decathlete Leo Neugebauer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
The morning session on Saturday (3) ended with drama in the decathlon as Canada’s defending champion Damian Warner and Norway’s Sander Skotheim were both unable to register a mark in the pole vault.
An Olympic decathlon best of 53.91m in the discus had lifted Grenada’s Lindon Victor to within one place of a medal after seven events, with Germany’s overnight leader Leo Neugebauer remaining in pole position ahead of Warner and Skotheim after that discipline.
But the medal dreams of Warner and Skotheim were dashed following the pole vault, as they failed to clear their opening heights.
US sprinters Kenny Bednarek, the Tokyo 200m silver medallist, and Fred Kerley, the 2022 world champion, were top qualifiers in the men’s 100m heats as they both clocked 9.97. The key challengers, including Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson who leads this year’s 100m world list with 9.77, plus USA’s world champion Noah Lyles and defending champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy, also all progressed.
Meanwhile, the first of the newly created repechage rounds, in the women’s 800m, created races of huge excitement, with home athlete Anais Bourgoin generating ear-splitting noise from another packed morning session crowd as she progressed to tomorrow’s semifinals.
Warner, Canada’s defending champion in the decathlon, got his second day of competition off to a successful start as he produced the fastest 110m hurdles time of 13.62, with Ken Mullings of The Bahamas registering 13.70 and France’s Makenson Gletty, massively encouraged by the buzzing crowd, clocking the third best effort of 13.96.
That bunch of 1024 points moved Warner, fourth at the end of the first day, into the lead on 5585, 14 points clear of Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme, with Neugebauer, who leads this year’s world list with 8961, staying in touch in third place on 5560, one place ahead of Norway’s European silver medallist Skotheim on 5543.
Victor’s was the winning flourish in the discus. But Neugebauer, who holds the decathlon world best in the discus of 57.70m, did enough with a second-place 53.33m to retain gold-medal position with 6500 points, 72 ahead of Warner, with Skotheim third on 6326 and Victor fourth on 6311.
But it was all change after the pole vault, as first Skotheim failed all his three attempts at his opening height of 4.50m and then Warner did the same at his opening height of 4.60m. Neugebauer cleared 5.00m and Victor 4.90m, but there were PBs for Estonia's Janek Oiglane and Norway's Markus Rooth, who both managed 5.30m. That took Rooth to 7271 points and he finished the session in second place, behind Neugebauer on 7410 and ahead of Victor on 7191, with only the javelin and 1500m to go.
In the men’s 100m heats, world leader Thompson had time to look around and slow down before winning the opening race in 10.00.
Lyles, seeking four golds in Paris, finished second in his heat in 10.04 as Britain’s Louie Hinchliffe, the NCAA champion who is coached by Carl Lewis, crossed first in 9.98 to a perplexed silence, cupping his hand ironically to his ear.
Jacobs, who has let it be known that he sees Thompson as the challenge to his title rather than Lyles, finished second in his heat in 10.05. Thompson’s teammate Oblique Seville won his heat in 9.99.
The aspirations of Hinchliffe’s team-mate Jeremiah Azu had ended before they begun after he was disqualified for false starting in his opening heat.
Among the athletes racing in the men’s 100m preliminary round, on a universality place, was Montenegro’s multi-eventer Darko Pesic, who came to wider notice as he competed barefoot in the discus during this year’s European Championships decathlon in Rome.
Pesic wanted to run in Paris in memory of his father, Velisa, who died in 2020. A few days before his race he broke a bone in his right foot and he arrived in the French capital wearing a protective boot. He achieved his ambition as he completed his race in 11.85, posting afterwards on Instagram: “Father - we made it! I have always dreamed of being an Olympian.”
Kishane Thompson in the 100m heats at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Dan Vernon)
While the decathlon was missing the home world record-holder Kevin Mayer, unable to compete because of injury, the men’s pole vault lacked the presence of France’s former world record-holder, Renaud Lavillenie, who was desperate to sign off with an appearance at the home Games aged 37 but missed out by one place at the national trials.
Lavillenie at least got his moment in the sun, literally, as he was introduced trackside before the men’s pole vault qualifying and received warm waves of appreciation.
Just as Mayer’s fellow French decathlete Gletty inherited the massive home support, so did the home athletes in the pole vault, Anthony Ammirati and Thibaut Collet.
But it proved not quite enough as both failed to progress in a competition where Sweden’s defending champion and world record-holder Mondo Duplantis topped the list of those who cleared 5.75m.
“Compared to Tokyo, it’s just night and day,” said Duplantis. “It’s super cool. I can’t even imagine how amazing the final’s going to be.”
Mondo Duplantis at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
World silver medallist Ernest John Obiena of Philippines, who had been hoping against hope that he would be sufficiently recovered from injury to compete in Paris, had his wish – and after passing after two failures at his initial height of 5.60m he recovered his fortunes with first-time clearances of 5.70 and 5.75m.
The repechage round, open to all who fail to earn automatic qualifying places in events ranging from 200m to 400m hurdles, offered progression to race winners and the two next fastest finishers overall in the women’s 800m.
Anais Bourgoin celebrates her win in the repechage rounds of the women's 800m in Paris (© Getty Images)
The first athlete to qualify by this new method was Australia’s Abbey Caldwell in a heat where Uganda’s 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi, who had missed qualification by one place the previous day, finished sixth.
The din as home athlete Bourgoin overtook Allie Wilson of the United States around the final bend to claim the qualification place in heat two was ear-splitting, and she crossed the line as triumphantly as if she had won a medal. It was a very good advertisement for the repechage round.
“My feet hurt a bit but when I heard the stadium, I let the pain go and I had to keep going,” said Bourgoin. “You have a lot of emotions when people scream your name.”
Majtie Kolberg of Germany and Rose Mary Almanza of Cuba were the other winners, with Kenya’s Vivian Kiprotich and Switzerland’s Valentina Rosamilia claiming the next two fastest places.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
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