Warner over 9000, Crouser makes history again, U.S. relay out of final
Day seven of track and field has ended, and it’s a whirlwind of emotions. With only a few days remaining of track and field at the Tokyo Olympic Games, champions were crowned, and disappointment is abound.
Event Roundup
Women
Heptathlon Day 2
High jump qualifying
4x100m relay first round
4x400m first round
*Pole vault final
Men
Decathlon Day 2
1500m semifinal
4x100m relay first round
*400m final
*Triple Jump final
*110m hurdles final
*Shot put final
HEPTATHLON
In case you forgot what happened yesterday, Netherlands' Anouk Vetter put on a showcase and led the field with a running total of 3968 points. Defending Olympic champions and reigning world champion, Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium was close on her heels as well as her teammate Noor Vidts.
We opened up the second day of competition with the long jump. Thiam showed her colors as she let one fly out to 6.60m (21 ft 7-3/4 in) just overtaking American Kendall Williams who finished with 6.57m (). Again, Vetter and Vidts were just behind them as they maintain steady pressure on the field.
Once again, Thiam won the penultimate event, the javelin, with a throw of 54.68m (179 ft 4-3/4 in) just far enough to edge Netherlands' Emma Oosterwegel and Germany’s Carolin Schafer who both set personal bests with throws of 54.60m (179 ft 1-1/2 in) and 54.10m (177 ft 5-3/4 in) respectively. Vetter finished in fourth, maintaining her solid second-place position heading into the final event.
As the gun went off for the women’s 800m run, it was likely Thiam was about to become only the second woman in history to double gold in the women’s heptathlon. Only the American great, and world record-holder, Jackie Joyner-Kersee was able to do so.
Thiam finished in 13th overall in the event, just behind the deadlocked Americans, Annie Kunz and Erica Bougard with a time of 2:15.98 to claim her golden prize. She nets herself 6791 points.
Vetter finished behind Thiam in the 800m, therefore could not find what was needed to overtake her in the end. She finished in your silver medal position with an ending total of 6689.
Going home with the bronze is Vetter’s teammate, Oosterwegel with a score of 6590.
Americans Williams and Kunz finish in 5th and 6th with 6508 and 6420 respectively.
Women’s High Jump (Qualifying)
We had a few scares as we approached the auto qualifying mark of 1.95m, but fourteen athletes were able to advance, including American Vashti Cunningham, the World Outdoor Championships bronze medalist.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, the world leader, World Championships silver medalist Yuliya Levchenko of the Ukraine, and
Fourteen women made the 1.95m qualifying height. World leader Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine, and three-time World Championships gold medalist Mariya Lasitskeneb of the ROC all made it to the final.
Women’s 4X100m Relay (First round)
With a pretty poor final exchange for the U.S., they gave up valuable time against Team Great Britain who rolled by the field in a new national record of 41.55.
The U.S. and Jamaica still automatically qualify with 41.90 and 42.00 seconds ensuring the three best teams over the last 5 years continue forward.
As Jamaica puts together perhaps the best relay team in history with three of the fastest women ever, it makes it that much harder for Team USA missing Sha'Carri Richardson to try and capture gold. As we all know, ANYTHING is possible in a relay, so I’m excited to see what the final has to offer. Also, who each country will be putting into the final.
Women’s 4X400m Relay (First round)
The U.S. team had no problem qualifying into the final, led by Kaylin Whitney, Wadeline Jonathas, Kendall Ellis, and Lynna Irby.
They won their heat in 3:20.86 for the fastest overall time, with Jamaica in second with 3:21.95.
Both Poland and Great Britain will join them in the final and are ones to keep an eye on for medal contention. Both teams ran 3:23.10 and 3:23.99 respectively.
The American team is certainly the heavy favorite and is the safe bet, but never discount the likes of Jamaica and Great Britain this time around. I would assume that both 400m hurdle world record holders, Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad, will be joining the finals team along with Olympic bronze medalist Allyson Felix.
This could be a very fast time if everyone’s feeling somewhat fresh.
Women’s Pole Vault (Final)
What a whirlwind…literally.
The wind made it difficult for vaulters to clear the opening height cleanly, setting up the potential for losses due to countbacks early.
It also saw only four athletes over the bar at 4.70m (15 ft 5 in). It just so happened that the four you would expect to be in contention for the medals were those athletes. Defending Olympic gold medalists from Greece, Katerina Stefanidi, American Katie Nageotte, world champion Anzhelika Sidorova of the Russian Olympic Committee, and Brit Holly Bradshaw battled it out for the podium.
Nageotte, Sidorova, and Bradshaw all made it over 4.85m (15 ft 10-3/4 in) on their first attempts which put the pressure on Stefanidi to skip and attempt 4.90 to get back in contention. She had two more attempts but could not clear and had to settle for fourth on countbacks to Bradshaw who also couldn’t clear 4.90m but was clean through the previous height.
Bradshaw would take bronze for Great Britain.
After one miss, Nageotte was able to clear 4.90m (16 ft 3/4 in) and forced Sidorova to skip and take her last attempt at 4.95m (16 ft 2-3/4 in) to keep her hopes of gold alive. Unfortunately for her, it wasn’t to be today. She finishes with silver.
Nageotte takes home a surprising gold, especially after her teammate Sandi Morris, was unable to get out of qualifying. Team USA brings it home and becomes the only vaulter to ever win gold at the Olympics with two misses at an opening height.
DECATHLON
Damian Warner of Canada lead Day 1 with 4722, having absolutely steamrolled through the first five events. That didn’t stop there. Warner opened Day 2 today with another Olympic decathlon-best of 13.46 seconds in the 110m hurdles, netting him another 1045 points to his overall total. World record-holder, Kevin Mayer of France had the second-best run of the group with the only other sub-14 second time.
The Czech Republic’s Jiri Sykora took the number one spot with a throw of 49.90m (163 ft 8-1/2 in) in the discus ahead of both Lindon Victor (49.75m) of Grenada and Warner (48.67m).
American Zachery Ziemek cleared 5.30m (17 ft 6-1/2 in) in the pole vault to place second behind Estonia's Maicel Uibo who cleared 5.50m (18 ft 1/2 in). Mayer was third with 5.20m (17 ft 1/2 in) and Warner finished with a personal best-tying 4.90m (16 ft 3/4 in).
In the javelin, Mayer threw a 4-foot PB to place second in the event, only outdone by Karel Tilga of Estonia who threw a massive 13.5 foot PB of 73.36m () and added a cool 941 points to his total. American Garrett Scantling nearly also threw a personal best of 69.10m (226 ft 8) for fourth.
The final gut-wrenching event of the decathlon was the 1500m run. Warner needed 4:33.80 to become the fourth man in history to break the 9,000 point barrier, and he was already almost guaranteed to break the Olympic record barring anything catastrophic.
Warner sprinted down the homestretch in a time of 4:31.08 to complete both tasks and take gold for Team Canada. His final score was 9018 points.
Kevin Mayer held on for his second Olympic silver with 8726 and Australia’s Ashely Moloney captures bronze with 8649. Scantling had a very impressive showing for fourth, narrowly missing his personal best and a podium position with a point total of 8611.
Men’s 1500m (Semifinals)
What’s with all the Olympic records and near record-shattering times run by all the distance runners in these semis?
Regardless, Abel Kipsang of Kenya decided he wanted one so he went out and ran a 3:31.65 for a new Olympic record. As you can imagine, this was the fastest time in the semis and he’s safely through to the final which is bound to be a scorcher.
I don’t say that because of Kipsang in particular, but he and those who followed him into the final.
Seven men, all in that heat, ran under 3 minutes and 33 seconds. Creating what might just be the fastest lineup of all time.
Among them Jakob Ingebrigtsen — who I might put my money on to win the whole damn thing — Stewart McSweyn of Australia, Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman of Great Britain, Adel Mechaal of Spain, Cole Hocker of the U.S., and world champion Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya.
Here’s what I didn’t expect, American and defending Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz did not advance. He has a best of 3:30.40, but that heat was just too fast. It didn’t look like Centrowitz had anything left in the tank the last 250m.
While he still ran a season’s best, it’s hard to compete with a field of athletes that all ran 3:33 in a semi.
Men’s 4X100m Relay (First round)
In perhaps the most disappointing result for the U.S. men’s track and field team this Olympiad, the 4 x 100m has failed to make it to the final, placing a staggering sixth in their heat.
Relays are generally run in the qualifying rounds by more of a ‘B Team’ to allow for those who are going to be competing in the final to rest or to move through their sprint finals. At least, in the case of deeper squads like the American team.
Without team staples like Justin Gatlin, Mike Rogers, Christian Coleman, and more recently Noah Lyles, Team USA had to put most of its hopes of qualifying on who? Oh, that’s right, the world number one, three, and four runners: Trayvon Bromell, Ronnie Baker, and newly-minted Olympic silver medalist Fred Kerley.
Cravon Gillespie, who anchored, has also run sub-10 seconds this year for the open 100m.
The U.S. men’s 4 x 100m relay teams have been consistently and reliably poor performing in international competition for nearly two decades and it’s high time we do something about it. We can continue to use the excuse that our team is so deep we don’t know who we are going to put on the team and practice consistently with, all we want, but it’s not going to fix the problem.
The handoff between Kerley and Baker at the second exchange could have been the thing that really broke the team’s chances, but it wasn’t the best on any leg throughout.
Jamaica, China, Canada, Italy, and Great Britain all looked stellar in the round and should make for a very exciting final. My money might be on Great Britain though. They’ve looked so strong and consistent over the last few years, and that qualifier, though not as fast as the other four teams, was impressive.
We’ll also keep our eyes on Team Canada with Aaron Brown and Andre de Grasse who will certainly make it a close one. It’s hard to bet against Jamaica. They should be up there, but they have a few big holes missing from the usual lineup.
Men’s 400m (Final)
Team USA gets handed a big ‘L’ in an event that is historically dominated by Americans.
The United States has medaled in twenty-three of the last twenty-eight Olympic Games. In fact, winning the gold in nineteen of those, and sweeping in five.
This time around, the U.S. was denied a medal, finishing in fourth and fifth place.
Reigning world champion Steven Gardiner was my odds on favorite to win, given how he looked through the rounds. He seemed very controlled and bouncy, easing up with plenty of distance between him and the next fastest competitor.
He did much the same in the final, taking the gold in a spectacular time of 43.85 seconds.
Who I expected to be a solid second for silver was American Michael Norman, who hasn’t quite found the luster he had a few years back in the one-lap death race. He’s been running amazing short sprint times but hasn’t recaptured that sub-44 in a bit.
Norman couldn’t quite run his signature homestretch rally and ended up in fifth with a respectable 44.31 just behind teammate Michael Cherry who ran 44.21.
Behind Gardiner for the silver was Colombia's Anthony Zambrano who ran a brilliant second half to pull ahead of the rest with a finishing time of 44.08. He had run a personal best, national, and area record of 43.93 in the semifinal to send some signals.
Just behind him with the bronze, was Grenada’s Kirani James in 44.19. He also ran a ridiculously fast semifinal with 43.88. Rare form for a man everyone thought would challenge the world record. James was the gold medal winner in 2012 and the silver medalist in 2016. Now he has the colored trio to finish the collection.
Men’s Triple Jump (Final)
As we continue to point out with a heavy heart, the mainstay and six-time world and Olympic gold medalist Christian Taylor, is not competing due to injury.
But two-time world silver medalist Pedro Pichardo of Portugal, two-time Olympic runner-up Will Claye of the U.S., and world indoor record holder Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso are, and boy what a wild ride.
Pichardo had the meet won after his very first jump out to 17.61m (). He was able to extend that lead significantly on his third-round jump with an impressive 17.98m ().
Surprisingly, Zhu Yaming had the meet of his life and knocked one out of the park on his fifth round jump of 17.57m () for a personal best, and a silver medal for China. He took every inch of the board in a round that saw him miss the Chinese national record by 2cm.
Zango popped out a 17.47m () for the bronze, giving his country its first Olympic medal.
Claye finished in a disappointing fourth but with a season’s best 17.44m (). It’s not all that disappointing given how incredible it is to have come back to this level after having torn his Achilles in the same manner as Christian Taylor, about a year and a half ago.
Men’s 110m Hurdles (Final)
Stunned.
In a complete upset, one I did potentially foreshadow after the qualifying round, Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment took down the near undefeatable Grant Holloway of the United States.
Holloway came into the final having not lost a race indoor or outdoor in nearly two years and is the reigning world champion. He is also the world indoor record holder and missed the world outdoor record by 0.01 seconds a few weeks back.
What caught my attention the last round was just how easily Parchment was able to make up ground on Holloway even after being left behind after six hurdles. In fact, it looked like he could have easily overtaken Holloway then had he not slowed down just to get the qualifier.
Parchment takes the upset in a time of 13.04 seconds to capture gold for Jamaica. His teammate, Ronald Levy sneaks into third for bronze with 0.04 seconds over American Devon Allen. Jamaica finishes 1-3, the U.S. in 2-4.
Levy just misses the silver by 0.01 seconds behind Holloway’s 13.09
France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagardge misses the podium but finishes fourth with 13.16.
Men’s Shot Put (Final)
He’s just a freak. A once in a lifetime game-changer.
World indoor and outdoor record-holder, and defending Olympic medalist Ryan Crouser has been the most dominating shot putter in the world over the last two years. Having not lost and only throwing a series less than 22.50m indoor or outdoor, four times in the same time span. He’s like a videogame cheat code character.
Well, he did it again, and this time for his recently deceased grandfather.
Crouser opened up with a 22.83m (74 ft 10-3/4 in) throw, which would ultimately seal the deal from the start. But it didn’t stop there. That throw alone broke his own Olympic record of 22.52m, oh, and so did all five of his other throws during the final.
The most special moment was Crouser’s final throw, for which he unleashed a massive 23.30m (76 ft 5-1/4 in), only 7cm behind his world record, and again smashes the old record by Randy Barnes that stood for 21 years until only a few short weeks ago.
We have ourselves the exact same podium as Rio in 2016 and the same three men, albeit in different positions, from the 2019 World Championships.
American Joe Kovacs, the 4th furthest thrower in history and the man who took gold by 1cm in 2019, grabs a silver with a fantastic throw of 22.65m (74 ft 3-1/2 in).
Tom Walsh of New Zealand grabs himself another bronze with a final round throw of 22.47m (73 ft 8-1/2 in).
Darlan Romani from Brazil just misses out on a medal for the third major championship in a row and American Patten Otterdahl places 10th with only one marked throw of 20.32m (66 ft 8 in).
