Wild, scrappy race costs Johnson
NEW DELHI: In a race marred by controversy, Jakarta Asian Games champion in 1,500m Jinson Johnson clocked 3:39.86 seconds—more than four seconds off his personal best —to finish 10th in his heat and 34th overall out of 43 competitors at the World Championships in Doha on Thursday.
The top six in each of the three heats and the six best losers advanced to the semi-finals.
The Army runner stayed with the leading bunch for a major part of the race but suffered a setback after Ethiopian Teddese Lemi tumbled in the last lap and Johnson had to sidestep the 20-year-old to avoid a crash. “I was right behind Lemi when he fell. I lost my rhythm and concentration following the incident,” said Johnson over the phone.
Lemi and Norway’s Filip Ingebrigtsen were involved in a rough tackle with the latter even seen punching the Ethiopian in the back with his left hand. Lemi tripped and fell, which upset the rhythm of those behind the leading group. Ingebrigtsen finished fourth (3:37.26 sec) and qualified for the semis despite runners questioning the race stewards’ decision to not disqualify the Norwegian. Lemi finished behind Johnson with a time of 3:41.32 seconds but received a wild card for the semi-finals.
Lemi led the field for first two laps, clocking 57.32 sec for the first lap and covered 800m in 1:58.22 sec. Thereafter, Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot took charge and crossed the 1,200m mark in 2:56.44 sec. He was the first to cross the finish line in 3:36.82 sec.
Australia’s Matthew Ramsden too had a nasty fall in the same race and finished 13th out of 14 competitors with a time of 3:47.59 sec. Ramsden lodged a protest and was given a wild card.
Johnson failed to produce his trademark kick in the last 200m and couldn’t repeat his personal best of 3:35.24 sec he had clocked four weeks ago in Berlin. “I wasn’t expecting this kind of result. I had prepared well for this occasion...I would say it was a bad miss,” he said.
Johnson’s aim in Doha was to clock 3:35.00 sec to have a chance to qualify for the 2020 Olympics. “My race strategy was to stay with the leading group and kick home from the 200m mark. That is what I’m best at. But I couldn’t shift gear and was four seconds off my personal best of 3:35.24,” said Johnson.
The 28-year-old national champion said he had learnt a lot by running with the best in Doha. “This (race) will prepare me better to handle situations where runners push fast, then slow down and again push hard from the bell,” he said.
In August, Johnson had shifted his training base to Colorado Springs (USA). He will finish off his season in Wuhan (China), where he will take part in the World Military Games starting October 18. “I hope to pace myself better there,” he added.
Another 2018 Asian Games champion, shot putter Tejinderpal Singh Toor too crashed out as his best effort of 20.43m wasn’t good enough to fetch him a final berth. The automatic qualifying mark was 20.90m. Toor finished eighth in Group B qualification and 18th overall out of 34 competitors. Only the top 12 advance to the medal round. The Punjab thrower has a personal best of 20.75m, a national mark.