Spikes10 Aug 2017


London Wrap VII

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Christian Taylor Can't Half Triple Jump 2

The sun returned for day seven of the IAAF World Championships, where once again we were reminded that no sport delivers drama quite like athletics. This is what happened on a blissful evening in the London Stadium.

Main image: Christian Taylor triple jumping to a third world title. The American also has two Olympic titles and is number-two in the all-time rankings. As one Twitter user put it: "Better check Old MacDonald's farm, because there's a GOAT missing! šŸ"

Ninety night

 
Johnannes Vetter London One Throw

It was an short night’s work for javelin thrower Johannes Vetter. Throwing seventh in group A, the big German barely broke a sweat, unleashing a mammoth 91.20m throw to get the biggest of Big Qs to the final.

That mark is just 1.60m short of world record holder Jan Zelezny’s championship record. With six throws in the Saturday’s final, and with direct competition from his teammate, Olympic champion Thomas Rohler, we could be in for something special.

Queue for the Q

 
Photo Finish Women's 5k Heat 2 London

There are twelve and half laps for places to be sorted out in a 5000m, but in heat two of the women’s qualifiers tonight they chose to leave it until the final inch to decide who placed where behind 1-2 finisers Letesenbet Gidey and Sifan Hassan.

Officials had to get the magnifying glass out to see who had come through between Shelby Houlihan, Eilish McColgan, Margaret Kipkemboi and Karoline Grovdal. Grovdal was the athlete who missed out on the Big Q, though she needn’t had worried – her 15:00.44 was enough for a time qualifier for a spot in final.

Champion’s character

 
Kori Carter Wrap SPIKES London 7

Kori Carter and her split-personality broke the internet earlier this week. The American – an avid squirrel fan who set up an Insta for her dog – demonstrated she can make us smile in many ways.

The 25-year-old won gold in the final, running a perfectly judged race to hold off Olympic champion and world leader Dalilah Muhammad. Carter, who fell at the 2015 world championships and missed a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympics, demonstrated that she’s a lot more than just than an internet meme.

Back on the bike

 
Katarina Johnson Thompson Wrap 7

In the heptathlon last Saturday, Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s challenge was undone by a poor showing in the high jump, where she only cleared 1.80m.

No such hassle in the individual high jump qualifiers tonight, where she brushed that disappointment under the mat, getting up and over 1.92m with just one failure all evening.

“When you fall off a bike you have to just get up and get back on it straight away,” she said afterwards. Let’s see where the cycle path leads in Saturday’s final.

Boyakasha!

 
Ramil Guliyev SPIKES Wrap 7

Sasha Baron Cohen takes up many guises, but who knew he had a championship winning 200m in him?

In a race by twin narratives – Wayde van Niekerk’s quest for the Michael Johnson double and Isaak Makwala’s press up partyAli G look-a-like Ramil Guliyev slipped very much under the radar in the build up. Come the race, he showed he had the most running in him as they came off the curve, demonstrating powerful speed endurance to win Turkey’s first ever world title.

“It didn’t bother me that the attention was on [the others],” he said post-race. “Maybe at the next competition everyone will look at me instead.” That’s for sure.