Silence can be golden for Mo
coach,
TODAY’S ACTION Men’s 100m (preliminary round) Men’s discus (qualification Group A) Men’s long jump (qualification) Women’s 1500m (heats) Women’s pole vault (qualification) Men’s 100m (heats) Men’s discus (qualification Group B) Men’s 10,000m
7PM 7:20 7:30 7:35 7:45 8:20 8:45 9:20 first night. And he should, having comfortably dealt with whatever tactics his Kenyan and Ethiopian rivals have used to try to destabilise him over the past five years.
Some critics say his achievements have come in an era when the top runners from the African countries that dominated the distances have switched their focus to the more lucrative road-running circuit. It is that circuit which Farah will focus his attentions on after the championships, returning to the Great North Run in September while looking set to sign a deal to run in next year’s Virgin Money London Marathon.
After Farah, Britain is not overly-blessed with medal prospects in London, with Laura Muir perhaps the best chance in the 1500m and 5,000m.
The Scot gets her campaign underway tonight in the 1500m heats, as does Holly Bradshaw in the pole vault qualifying. Bradshaw, 25, having revealed an obsession with Lego, believes she has put the building blocks in pace to finally win a major championships medal after four years of operations.
The Preston-born athlete said: “I just love it. It kept me going through my injuries. I had Tower Bridge, a Ferrari, a Mini. The only problem is I lean over to build it and then my coach asks why I am so stiff.”
CJ Ujah looks an outside bet to medal for Britain in the 100m, as Bolt begins his quest for a 12th world gold tonight with chief rival, Canada’s Andre De Grasse, having pulled out of the championship with a hamstring injury. De Grasse won 200m silver, 100m bronze and 4x100m relay bronze in Rio and ran a wind-assisted 9.69 seconds in Stockholm in June. He said: “Injuries are a part of the sport and the timing of this one is especially unfortunate.”
Britain’s Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, the European No1, could also be a medal contender in the 200m – and a growing strength in sprint depth might bring a relay medal if they can get the baton round. Same for the women’s quartet.
Sophie Hitchon will aim to repeat her Rio hammer bronze while it will be fascinating to see what the move to France has done for Katarina Johnson-Thompson in the heptathlon and high jump. In the multi-events, she faces the brilliant Belgian Nafissatou Thiam, who won Olympic gold and in May triumphed in Gotzis with 7013 points, the first woman to break the 7000-barrier for a decade.
Yet Britain are already guaranteed one heptathlon gold – the medal Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill will receive on Sunday from the 2011 World Championships upgrading her silver after the disqualification of Russian Tatyana Chernova.