Eugene. There are no Swedes on the road tonight.
But six good finals with two real knockout fights, decathlon drama, Ethiopian ecstasy and double relay races.
Click number 1
The two best jumpers in the world before the toilet, Jordan and Andy Diaz, aren’t there. Both are Cubans about to change citizenship to Spain and Italy, respectively.
Pedro Pablo Piccardo has already made a similar change. He won two World Cup silvers with Cuba but won the Olympic gold medal last year with Portugal. Today he won his first gold medal after an amazing show.
Already in the first round he did “Christian Olsson in Athens” and flick the best 17.95 in the world.
– Knocks the rest of the field. Unfortunately, that has already been determined, Olson reported in SVT.
I got it right. Piccardo followed with another nice jump of 17.92 but he was only 18.
Click number 2
Anderson Peters of Grenada reached the final as the favorite, having already turned 90 in the playoffs. In the end, the spear flew 90.21 straight and in the second it increased to 90.46.
Throw that the rest of the domain could not respond to it. The nearest Olympic champion came from India, Neeraj Chopra, who climbed to 88.13 in the fifth round. Four centimeters taller than Czech bronze medalist Jakub Vajdlik.
On a nice finish, Peters improved her winning score to 90.56 on the last throw.
A relay is a relay
The Jamaican women have the three fastest women in the world in the 100 metres. But despite the fact that ring four Kemba Nelson was responsible for a good starting distance (albeit with a slightly long gear), they couldn’t take the gold medal.
Instead, it was the home team that stood almost in perfect succession with the team of Melissa Jefferson, Abby Steiner, Gina Brandini and Tawanisha Terry. Brandini, a former University of Oregon student, made a hard turn at home and ran from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, giving Terry a lead that Sherica Jackson couldn’t match.
The third was the German national team after British star Dina Asher-Smith injured her third leg.
“Relay is really a relay”
If the USA win came as a shock to the women, what to say about its men’s counterpart. Everyone expected that the home team, which swept the podium in both the 100 and 200 metres, would return with victory. But Canada wanted otherwise. A team of Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre de Grasse put together a perfect race and when Marvin Brassey couldn’t make the perfect move to the final stage, De Grasse was able to get through and then put off the race.
A real change of scenery after de Grasse exited early in the 100m and then fired in the 200m.
Bronze went to the British team.
Tough end to first day of decathlon
The first day of the decathlon was dramatic. Marcus Nelson did quite a bit in the long jump before he had to retire. In the same distance event, world record holder Kevin Mayer was one step away from zero but made it through.
Instead, it looked set to be Canada’s Damien Warner able to advance towards the long-awaited World Cup gold. But the Olympic champion was lying on the track 150 meters after the last 400 metres. The opposite went on Warner who came out of the back road.
In the same race, Puerto Rican player Aiden Owens-Delierem put in a solid effort to win in 45.07, the second best time ever in a decathlon.
– I can’t explain how it happened, but I trained for it and have the support for it. I’m glad to be there and represent my country, he says in SVT.
He also holds the lead halfway ahead of Warner Pierce LePage and USA native Zach Zemik. But Kevin Meyer and reigning hero Niclas Cole also lurk there in the Reeds, who are enjoying much better second days.
Emmanuel Currier is a double champion
Emmanuel Currier, just like the three-stage winner, Piccardo, won the Olympic gold in Tokyo and managed that feat as well to win the subsequent World Cup title here.
Marco Arup led the field up to 600m but with 200m remaining, Currier changed his pace in the race he was clearly the strongest.
– I was expecting someone to come – but no one did. I’ve never been in training, but in the races it’s like magic.
The winning time was 1.43.71, behind Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and taking the silver for Arup.
He fell into his loneliness
After a protest, Anna Zagré had the opportunity to re-walk her hurdles alone on the court.
It ended in a violent fall over the finish line.
Read more about the drama here!
Ethiopian Orgasm
Ethiopia won the 10,000m by world record holder Letsenbet Gede. She was one of the many candidates even in the middle of the distance. But this time she was the one who watched her compatriots celebrate. In a tactical sprint, the last 400m was a battle where Sevan Hasan tried to keep up with the pace, but when she couldn’t stand it, Gudav Tsegae took over and took home his first WC gold.
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet came second and Tsegai Dawit Seyoum’s teammate third. After that, a little slack erupted inside as several leaders and spectators ran out carrying flags. A man raised both Ethiopian medals while carrying the flag of the Tigray region. The region is the epicenter of a very bloody and ongoing civil war. Then security guards and police kept him and two other commanders off the track.
Gudaf Tsegay and Letsenebet Gidey both come from the region where it is estimated that half a million people died as a result of the war and subsequent famine.
Medals candidates have been eliminated
The 4x400m trials were eventful. On the women’s front, the Netherlands with Fimke Paul and Lake Claver on the team were potential medalists despite two weaker cards. But this dream was already shattered in trials. Leike Klaver’s transformation turned into Cathelijn Peeters. Fimke Ball was responsible for a strong pickup and took the team in third, but the team had an incorrect change regarding the pin scramble.
On the men’s side, it was Botswana that found itself in a bind. Zibani Ngozi dropped the baton just before the substitution and it took him a long time before he could hand it over to his compatriot and so the medal candidate was gone.