Genzebe Dibaba
Two and a half hours of rip-roaring track and field was all it took today to confirm two east Africans as the best in their class, and a Brit as the man no-one can beat when the major championships come a knocking. This is how we saw Day 4 of the World Championships.
Power play
In a day devoid of a morning session, there was a treat for everyone who made their way to the Bird’s Nest for the evening's action with a stonking five finals crammed into 150 minutes of intense athletic action.
Ahead of the sporting feast, we used the morning break to go in search of a culinary one. After escaping the tedium of the designer shops, and with the help of some incredibly friendly locals, we found ourselves in real China. Hidden away through a maze of shady alleys we stumbled upon a building that looked a lot like an ancient temple, but was in fact a restaurant.
There was an awful lot of offal on offer – an array of frogs’ legs, pigs’ stomachs and other things we’d really rather not put in our mouths – but we settled for the beef and veg hot pot. It was more Langfang than Lancashire, and one million percent more spicy than the chow mein we’re used to. Turns out that jumps runway isn’t the only red hot thing round here.
Last man standing
And so to the super-condensed evening session. The most dramatic event of the evening was definitely the men’s long jump final, with the big names wilting one-by-one under the pressure. Jianan Wang, Xinglong Gao and Jinzhe Li – the three Chinese finalists – played their part in the dragon-slaying, all going out further than Jeff Henderson and Michael Hartfield in the first three jumps to dump the American favourites out early.
With three locals in the top eight at the half-way stage, suffice to say that the crowd was going absolutely nuts, and the Randy Huntingdon-coached trio looked in the mood to make history.
But Greg Rutherford had other ideas. The European, Commonwealth and Olympic champion flew into gold medal position with a round two 8.29m, and then went out to 8.41m in round four to extend his lead. The Brit was on another level, able to sit out the last two jumps knowing that he had done his job. Visibly emotional after his win was confirmed, the 28-year-old, who has developed a habit of getting wins in by hook or by crook, was bullish in victory. Rutherford is now the most successful long jumper this century, and by some distance.
Haters gonna hate, he just gonna shake (the sand out of his booty).
Your best Bett
On the track came the least surprising surprise of the day: gold for Kenya in the 400m hurdles. After both Nicholas Bett and Boniface Tumuti won their heats on day 1, much to the shock of everyone everywhere, the latter claimed that he could run a 47.10 and win a medal. The world had been warned, and though Tumuti didn’t live up to that hype, his compatriot did.
Bett ran the perfect final, maintaining an ideal 400m race pace despite being drawn in lane nine. He had enough in the tank to pull away on the home straight to take gold in a national record, world leading 47.79. Perhaps the 25-year-old has been taking tips from sprinting steeplechaser Ezekiel Kemboi.
East Africa’s middlers manage
Two world record holders became world champions today, which in itself does not seem that remarkable a statement. But when you examine the circumstances, the wins of Genzebe Dibaba in the 1500m and David Rudisha in the 800m are extraordinarily fantastic.
Rudisha has looked well short of his best this year, and indeed last year and the year before, as he continues to work his way back from a knee injury that nearly ended the Olympic champion’s career. In the final here he was spared having to race Nijel Amos – who has had the rub of him ever since London 2012 – after the Mostwanan failed to make it through the semis. It allowed Rudisha to control the race and trust his kick, something he wouldn’t have dared to do had Amos been around. As well as fitness problems, the Kenyan has struggled with tactics in the past. In Beijing he put all that behind him, and ran his way to a second world title.
Dibaba has never before won a major outdoor medal (unlike her big sis, Tirunesh, who has five world and three Olympic titles) and until last month spent the whole year racing 5ks. After setting a 1500m world record at the Monaco Diamond League, she announced her intention to attempt the double here in Beijing. After dominating a slow-paced, tactical race, the Ethiopian is now half way to that unprecedented achievement. Eek!