Spikes20 May 2016


Golden Evening, Golden Spike

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Usain Bolt after winning the 100m in Ostrava 2016 (© Getty Images)

There’s something beautiful about watching athletics at a historic meet on a golden evening in the late spring, even if you’re watching it on a laptop in a dark room from 800 miles away.

And thanks to the clever people at EverSport, you too can enjoy the beauty unfold on a laptop in a dark room from the other side of the world. Here are some of the highlights from tonight’s (May 20) Golden Spike meet in Ostrava.

Experience this

South African 400m hurdler LJ van Zyl has been a mainstay on the international scene since winning world junior gold in 2002, his most recent gong coming in the form of bronze at the 2011 Daegu World Championships.

Tonight the 30-year-old clocked 48.67, his fastest since that year – just in time for a potential upset in Rio. If we learned one thing from Felix Sanchez’s great career it’s that experience is a quality never to be discounted in the 400m hurdles, and van Zyl proved it again in Ostrava. It was his third Golden Spike win.

Cruise control

The promised showdown between the world’s fastest athlete (Usain Bolt) and the world’s greatest athlete (Ashton Eaton) didn’t materialise, the decathlon world record holder calling it a night after competing in the long jump earlier in the evening.

That allowed athletics’ greatest showman to take centre stage. The big man didn’t disappoint, taking control of the race straight out of the blocks and strolling to the win in 9.98, his fastest time of the year.

Out of this Wlodarczyk 

When it comes to throwing a hammer across a field as far as possible, world champion Anita Wlodarczyk is simply on another level.

The world record holder treated the crowd to an impressive series – five out of her six efforts went beyond 75m – and wrapped up her win with a 78.54m throw for a big a world lead and a tasty meeting record.

Pesky kids

The youngsters in Ostrava proved fearless, much to the surprise of the more experienced athletes, and to the enjoyment of everyone watching.

19-year-old Konstanze Klosterhalfen (easy for you to say) went out like a trans-continental bullet train in the women’s 1500m, making the battle-worn field look like a mule and trap in her wake. The German held on to win by a second in 4:06.91.

In the field, 2015 world youth pole vault bronze medallist Emmanouil Karalis, 16, set a world U18 best of 5.55m. In the shot put, Konrad Bukowiecki, 19, stole the show. The Pole hit 21.01m, the best outdoor mark in history by an U20 athlete with the senior implement.

Don’t make me throw this thing

The men’s javelin field promised a lot on paper and boy did it deliver. The 2014 Diamond Race winner Thomas Rohler, still flying high from his victory at last week’s Shanghai Diamond League, would be challenged by Africa’s upstarts: Kenyan Julius Yego and Egyptian Ihab Abdelrahman, the reigning world champion and silver medallist respectively.

After five throws it looked as if Rohler had done enough to wrap things up. But then Abdelrahman and Poland’s Marcin Krukowski produced their best throws of the comp to move 1-2, pushing the German down to third.

With the pressure on, the 24-year-old wound up for his final throw, and cool as you like chucked the spear long into the crepuscular Czech air. The result? A world-leading 87.37m and a classic back-against-the-wall win.

CLICK THESE WORDS for the full IAAF report from Ostrava