Rojas set WR, two-way gold, and 100m surprise
Day 3 has of track and field portion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has concluded, and four event finals with it. Let’s get into it!
Event roundup
Women
Steeplechase first round
100m hurdles semifinals
Long jump qualifier
Hammer throw qualifier
*Shot put final
*Triple jump final
Men
400m first round
400m hurdles semifinals
800m semifinals
*High jump final
*100m final
WOMEN'S STEEPLECHASE (First round)
Bahrain's Winfred Mutile Yavi takes the fastest time of the rounds with a 9:10.80, while all three Americans follow suit. Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs break the 9:20 barrier to move on.
Reigning world champion and world record holder, Beatrice Chepkoech from Kenya had no problem advancing.
Women’s 100m Hurdles (Semifinals)
All I can say is “Dayummmm!”
Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn ran a 12.26 in the semis to supplant herself as the fourth fastest woman in history for the event. In doing so, she also overtakes Sally Pearson’s Olympic record by nearly a tenth.
That’s extraordinarily quick and certainly makes her the gold-medal favorite going into the final.
World record-holder Keni Harrison, rocks a 12.51 and moves on with fellow American Gabriele Cunningham who squeaks into the last qualifying spot with a 12.67.
Women’s Long Jump (Qualifying)
All eyes were on 7-time World Champion and double Olympic medalist, American Brittany Reese. She was able to easily qualify with a longest of 6.86m.
With her, the NCAA indoor record holder, American Tara Davis was able to pop out a first-round jump of 6.85m and head back to the village with minimal effort.
Ivana Spanovic of Serbia qualified with the longest jump of 7.00m, about a centimeter short of 23’ even.
American Quanesha Burks missed out on the final by 4 centimeters while one of the most prominent and well-known long jumpers, Darya Klashina of the Russian Olympic Committee, did not mark after pulling out with an injury.
Women’s Hammer (Qualifying round)
Two-time gold medalist and world record-holder Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland had no problem finding a spot into the final after a first round throw of 76.99m.
Americans Brooke Andersen, DeAnna Price, and Gwen Berry all advance.
Watch out for China’s Zheng Wang as well, as we look to the final in a few days.
Women’s Shot Put (Final)
Things finally clicked for the two-time world champion from China, Gong Lijiao. She medalled in the previous two Olympics (bronze and silver) but she was awarded them after athletes ahead of her had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and were stripped of their medals. Today, she won gold, and she won it outright.
The 32-year-old set a new personal best with a throw of 20.58 to cement her into first place and thus became the first Chinese athlete to win Olympic gold in a field event and the first Asian woman to do so in the shot put.
Raven Saunders of the United States, donning two-tone hair and a hulk mask, took silver with a massive 19.79m.
The staple of all international women’s shot put competitions, Valerie Adams of New Zealand, showed us that age ain’t got nothing to do with it. The 36-year-old mother of two took the bronze with a put of 19.62m and became the first woman to win four medals in a single field event in Olympic history.
Up-and-comer Jessica Ramsey of the U.S., unfortunately, couldn’t keep the shot in the sector and fouled out her first three throws. She will be back.
Women’s Triple Jump (Final)
Mind...blown…
It was bound (pun?) to happen. Yulimar Rojas has been on an unstoppable tear for years. The 6’4” Venezuelan had set the indoor world triple jump record earlier this year and decided she might as well add an outdoor world record as well.
The four-time World Champion and Rio silver-medalist leaped out to unseen territory on her final attempt with a record-shattering 15.67m (51 ft 5 in). That jump bested the previous record by over 6 inches, and her second phase was mediocre at best, so there’s more in the tank.
Finishing with silver and bronze were Patricia Mamona of Portugal (15.01m) and Spain’s Ana Peleteiro (14.87m).
American Keturah Orji finished seventh with a jump of 14.59m on her first attempt.
Men’s 400m (First round)
American Michael Cherry and Michael Norman both move out of the rounds and into the semis with ease.
Fellow American, and world-leader, Randolph Ross, ran too conservatively the last few meters and allowed himself to get passed up. He ended one place outside of qualifying and will have to watch from here on. Hopefully, Team USA will use his speed and fresh legs on the 4x400m later in these games.
World record-holder and defending Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk also cruises to a heat victory and will be moving on. With him, other big shots like Issac Makwala, world champion Steven Gardiner, and former world champion Kirani James head to the semis.
Men’s 400m Hurdles (Semifinals)
We got our first glimpse of what’s to come, as world record-holder Karsten Warholm of Norway and Rai Benjamin of the U.S. gave us an early rematch of the 2019 World Championships duel. Much the same, Warholm held off Benjamin in an easy 1-2 warmup run. Both saving up for what we can all guess will be something special in the final.
Alison dos Santos of Brazil and Abderrahman Samba of Qatar make it through with no issue and in extremely fast times. We now have the dream matchup. Four of the fastest men in history in the same final, and they all look peaked to run like bats out of hell.
Americans Kenneth Selmon and Dave Kendziera were unable to make it through on time.
Men’s 800m (Semifinals)
Clayton Murphy of the U.S., Peter Bol of Australia, Emmanuel Korir of Kenya, and Patryk Dobek of Poland are some of the headliners that made it through to the final.
Fellow Kenyan, Ferguson Rotich, ran another blazing 1:44.04 this round which makes me think he might be poised to unleash the beast in this final.
In an unfortunate turn of events, both Isaiah Jewett of the U.S. and the third-fastest man in history over 800m. Nijel Amos of Botswana, got their feet tangled with about 100m to go and were effectively out of the race. Both stood up and finished the race together in arms.
Later, the officials ruled that Amos had been impeded by Jewett, and because he’s the fastest man in the world this year, he’ll be able to compete in the final and shoot for another title.
Men’s High Jump (Final)
This was perhaps even more inspiring and heartfelt than the 800m semi. Both Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of France were tied after clearing 2.37m (7 feet 9-1/4 in) and were going to go into a jump-off to decide the gold and silver medals.
As the official came over and was explaining the next steps, Barshim asked if instead of doing a jump-off if it was possible to share the gold. The official said if that was something they both agreed on then they could. Barshim said let’s just share it and Gianmarco, overcome with joy, screamed and jumped into Barshim’s arms as they both cried and celebrated victory in their respective camps.
I won’t lie and say it didn’t bring a tear to my eye. It was truly a moment of pure Olympic sportsmanship and love.
Also clearing 2.37m, Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus took home the gold, after missing an attempt at both 2.19m and 2.35m.
American JuVaughn Harrison captured seventh with a clearance at 2.27m but still has long jump a long jump final to compete in.
Men’s 100m
Semifinals
American Trayvon Bromell once again found himself waiting to see if he qualified. He took off early and got ahead, but quickly was run down in the last bit of the race to finish out on the auto qualifying spot. He ended out of the final by just one one-thousandth of a second.
As much as we all would have loved to see him win gold, as we expected he would, this is athletics and now that he’s healthy we should be seeing much more of our favorite comeback story.
Luckily the U.S. men were able to qualify Ronnie Baker and Fred Kerley along with other massive talents such as Marcel Lamont of Italy, and Andre de Grasse of Canada. All qualifiers were 10.0 seconds or faster.
Final
Well, that was surprising.
Given the impressive and consistent times coming from Ronnie Baker, my money was on him after Bromell fell out. Baker only finished in fifth place led by your new gold medalist, Italy’s own, Marcell Jacobs.
Jacobs flew through the line in a personal best 9.80 seconds, ahead of Fred Kerley in 9.84 and Andre de Grasse in 9.89 seconds.
I can’t wait to see what else Jacobs can do in the 100m in the future. I’m also looking forward to seeing more of Fred Kerley and if he steps back up into the 200m/400m range. De Grasse will also be contesting the 200m, against a stacked field.
What are you all looking forward to next?
