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It must seriously try the patience, waiting a whole meet to compete. And indeed, as I type, Jenny Meadows, Hodgkinson and Hunter Bell’s coach, says “I need this 800m to be out of my life”. I think we can be certain BBC will be filming her during the race and I feel for her; I’ve a mate who’s a tennis coach, and he haaaaates it when his two charges face each other.
Our programme
Preamble
こんにちは – kon’nichiwa – and welcome to the World Athletics Championships – night nine!
I’m afraid we’re here: after this, it’s over. But what a way to go out!
We begin with the women’s high jump and what should be a really entertaining tussle between Nicola Olyslagers, the best in the world this year – so far – and Yeroslava Mahuchikh, the Olympic champion and world record-holder.
And what a race comes next! Keely Hodgkinson, the Olympic 800m champion, went a year without racing after winning in Paris, resting then injured. But she’s looked pretty useful in qualifying, knows she can deliver when the pressure is at its most revolting, and has run faster than anyone in the field, ever and also this year; she’s the favourite for a reason.
However there are howevers, one of which comes in the shape of her teammate and roommate, Georgia Hunter Bell. Having dropped down from the 1500, in which she won Olympic bronze, she doesn’t have Hodgkinson’s raw speed, but her speed endurance might just compensate, and we can be sure that so keen a tactician will have a plan.
Meantime, looking to supplant both is Audrey Werro, a 21-year-old Swiss still exploring the extent of her talent. It might be one championship too soon for her to take gold, but it might also be the time she announces herself to the world.
After that comes the men’s 5000m, a wide-open scuffle with Grant Fisher its most likely winner. Jakub Ingebrigtsen, undercooked in the 1500m, also didn’t impress in qualifying at this distance, with the various others in the shake-up too numerous to list here. Or, in other words, this should be a lot of fun with a potentially surprising winner.
Next up is the men’s discuss final, after which come our relay finals and the poor old decathletes dragging their exhausted carcasses through three-and-three-quarter laps of the track, because what else would no one want to do after nine events in two days.
Here we go!
