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by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field—October 5
1930—France’s Jules Ladoumègue became the first man to break 3:50 for 1500-meters by running 3:49.2 in Paris, taking almost two full seconds off the previous World Record of 3:51.0, which was set by Germany’s Otto Peltzer in 1926.
Finishing 2nd in the race was Italy’s Luigi Beccali, who would win the gold medal at the 1932 Olympics (bronze in 1936). He would match Ladoumègue’s 1500 record in 1933 before taking sole possession by running 3:49.0 a week later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Ladoumègue
2019—Four meet records were set on another spectacular night at the World Championships in Doha,Qatar.
The standout event was the Men’s Shot Put, with only one centimeter separating the three medalists, all of whom joined the exclusive 75-foot club. Winning the gold and silver medals were Americans Joe Kovacs (75-2 [22.91]) and Ryan Crouser (75-1 ¾ [22.90]), while the bronze went to New Zealand’s Tom Walsh (75-1 ¾ [22.90]).
Here’s how this monumental event unfolded:
Round 1—Crouser set a Championship Record of 73-4 ½ (22.36) with the opening throw of the competition, but that
paled in comparison to Walsh’s huge opener of 75-1 ¾ (22.90). Kovacs opened with a modest 68-7 (20.90).
Round 2—Brazil’s Darlan Romani moved past Crouser into 2nd with what would be his best mark of the competition—
73-11 (22.53). Crouser and Walsh fouled, while Kovacs improved to 70-11 ¾ (21.63).
Round 3—Crouser matched his opening toss of 73-4 ½, Romani threw 72-3 ½ (22.03), Kovacs threw 69-8 ½ (21.24),
and Walsh fouled again.
Round 4—Crouser moved back into 2nd with an improvement to 74-7 ¼ (22.71), a mark that would eventually give him
the edge over Walsh as a better 2nd mark, Kovacs also improved, to 72-3/4 (21.95), moving into 4th ahead of
teammate Darrell Hill (71-1/2 [21.65]/3rd round), Romani, now in 3rd place, threw 72-7 ¼ (22.13), while Walsh was called for a questionable 3rd foul.
Round 5—Kovacs threw 71-11 ¾ (21.94), Crouser and Romani fouled, and Walsh finally got a 2nd fair throw—a solid
74-1/4 (22.56)
Round 6—The best was saved for last. Kovacs was the 1st of the big three to throw in the final round and he let loose with
a personal best of 75-2 (22.91) to move from 4th to 1st! He then had to watch the remaining throwers, knowing
that his tenuous hold on the gold medal could be taken away by either Crouser or Walsh. And it almost happened, with Crouser reaching out to his own personal best of 75-1 ¾ (22.90) to move from 3rd to 2nd. Walsh fouled for a 4th time and had to settle for the bronze medal, since Crouse had a better 2nd mark.
Kovacs made his way to the stands to get a congratulatory kiss from his coach (and wife!) Ashley Muffet.
https://spikes.worldathletics.org/post/joe-kovacs-ashley
“Coming into this competition, I was hoping for a PB, and then I saw Ryan throwing far and the others throwing far,” said Kovacs, who took Olympic silver in 2016 and world silver in 2017. “I just cannot be happier to get the gold medal. This is definitely the final that made history.”
“It was an unbelievable competition with a lot of fireworks in round six,” added Crouser. “Across the board it was unbelievably deep. I have never seen anything like this and 22.90m in the last round was an unbelievable throw for me.”
Walsh, meanwhile, was content to take bronze in such a high-quality competition.
“I am not angry, I am very happy with my throws,” he said. “I don’t think they were the perfect throws, but they really deserved it. I still can’t quite believe it.”
Mixing the old with the new, a U.S. team of 100 winner Christian Coleman (23), Justin Gatlin (37), Mike Rodgers (34), and 200 winner Noah Lyles (22) won the Men’s 4×100 and set a Championship and American Record of 37.10. Only Jamaica’s World Record of 36.84 is faster.
It was the deepest 4×100 race in history, with the next 4 teams setting best-ever-marks-for-place:2.Great Britain-37.36 (European Record), 3.Japan-37.43 (Asian Record), 4.Brazil-37.72 (South American Record), 5.South Africa-37.73. And Canada set a best mark for 6th when it ran 37.91 in its heat—and didn’t qualify for the final!
A week after winning the 10,000, the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan completed an unprecedented double by winning the Women’s 1500-Meters with a CR of 3:51.95. Winning silver and bronze were Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon (3:54.22/National Record) and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay (3:54.38).
Shelby Houlihan was disappointed with her 4th-place finish, but she did come away with an American Record of 3:54.99. Teammates Jenny Simpson (3:58.42), the 2011 Champion, and Nikki Hiltz (4:06.68) finished 8th and 12th.
Hassan moved into the lead with 3 laps to go and led a tightly bunched field through fast splits of 63.51, 2:05.95, and 3:07.36 before pulling away on the backstretch and covering her last 400-meters in 59.36! Her win came just a few days after her coach, Alberto Salazar, had been suspended by USADA for doping violations.
A 4th Championship Record was set by Kenya’s Hellen Obiri, the defending champion, who won the Women’s 5000-Meters in 14:26.72. Fellow Kenyan Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi finished 2nd and 3rd was Germany’s Konstanze Klosterhalfen (14:28.43). Americans Karissa Schweizer and Elle (“Ellie”) Purrier set personal bests of 14:45.18 and 14:58.17 while finishing 9th and 11th, respectively.
Venezuela’s Yulimar Rojas (50-5 ¼ [15.37]) won her 2nd straight World title in the Women’s Triple Jump. Winning silver and bronze were Jamaica’s Shanieka Ricketts (48-11 ½ [14.92]) and Colombia’s Caterine Ibargüen (48-4 [14.73]), the winner in 2013 and 2015. Americans Keturah Orji (47-5 ¼ [14.46]) and Tori Franklin (46-2 ½ [14.08]) finished 7th and 9th.
A Jamaican foursome of Natalliah Whyte, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jonielle Smith, and Shericka Jackson won the Women’s 4×100 with a time of 41.44. 2nd and 3rd were Great Britain (41.85) and the U.S. (42.10).
To avoid the ever-present heat in Doha as much as possible, the Men’s Marathon started at 11:59pm on the 5th and finished on the 6th. Finishing 1-2 were Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa (2:10:40) and Mosinet Geremew (2:10:44). 3rd was Kenya’s Amos Kipruto (2:10:51). Great Britain’s (and Scotland’s) Callum Hawkins (2:10:57) came from far off the pace to take the lead shortly after the 40k mark, but wound up in 4th, just as he did at the 2017 Worlds.
World Athletics
Videos: MSP Best Throws Highlights/Post-Event Interviews
WTJ W1500 W5000 W4x100 M4x100 Highlights MMar(full race)
T&F News Coverage(for subscribers): MSP W1500 W5000 W4x100 M4x100 WTJ M-MAR
