MUIR PIPPED IN FINAL STRIDE
Laura just misses a medal in race of the champions
IT was just too much. Laura Muir bobbed and pushed and hassled the strongest field in these Championships but she fell painfully short of her aim of a medal last night, losing bronze in the final stride of the 1500m.
Who knows if the difference was caused by the foot fracture that kept her out for a month earlier in the summer, but more likely it was just the absurd strength of the opposition. An incredible race.
There was a world champion who holds the world record in Genzebe Dibaba, an Olympic champion in Faith Kipyegon, a controversial 800m champion chewing up the extra metres in Caster Semenya and Sifan Hassan, the woman responsible for the three fastest times in the world this year.
For depth it was almost unparalleled; as a challenge for Scotland’s 24-year- old it was a shade too much.
The start was quite something. She surged straight to the front, a statement of intent, setting her own pace rather than singing to Dibaba and Kipyegon’s tune as she had in Rio last year, where she finished seventh.
This time, she was determined it would be different. She led the first two laps in 2:17.11 but then she fell back. She dropped briefly to fifth but was third at the bell. Game on.
Semenya was nowhere, ninth going down the back straight, and Hassan had the lead from Kipyegon. It was brutally close and desperately brave as she entered the final 100m in third place, but just as Hassan faded, Muir was passed by Jennifer Simpson of the US and Semenya in the final 10m.
She had dipped for the line, almost threw herself at it but came up 0.07sec short. Horribly close.
Kipyegon got the title that adds to her gold in Rio and Simpson added a silver to the three major medals she has collected in the past five years. Semenya, with the sprint finish she has demonstrated through the rounds, had surged into bronze.
For Muir there is the consolation of knowing she has another go in the 5,000m later in the week.
The pressure on Muir had grown steadily through the week with each British failure. There is no denying it has been a hard, desperately underwhelming Championships so far for the home contingent, with Mo Farah excelling in the first final and then the square root of zilch ever since.
Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Andy Pozzi and Holly Bradshaw were all held up as athletes who might make the transition from flirting with medals to holding them, but each failed in circumstances that were hardly insurmountable. Sophie Hitchon then joined that list after finishing seventh in the hammer final, which makes it increasingly difficult to see how the team will hit the six medals that UK Sport set as the target.
The team captain, Eilidh Doyle, had attempted to reason away the situation last night with the argument that performances bode well for the future, but it is currently hard to buy into the optimism.
She said: ‘Although we’ve not got medals, you’ve had people like Callum Hawkins finishing fourth (in the marathon). Just missing out. Reece Prescod — first championship — made it to the 100m final. That was just incredible.
‘You’ve also got Kyle Langford who smashed it to make the men’s 800m final. So although we’re not quite making that step on to the podium, that’s the future out there — you’re going to see these guys for years to come.’
Earlier, Danny Talbot and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake stormed into the semi-finals of the 200m, but Zharnel Hughes took a circuitous route out of the heats.
Hughes could only finish fourth in a desperately disappointing 20.43sec — going through as a fastest loser — which perhaps calls into question the wisdom of the selectors in overlooking Adam Gemili, who had come within a whisker of a 200m bronze at the Rio Olympics. Talbot was impressive in hitting a personal best of 20.16sec, crossing a fraction behind Wayde van Niekerk, while Mitchell-Blake was the second fastest qualifier in 20.08sec.
He said: ‘To get through with one of the fastest times is always a good achievement. It felt amazing — the track is second to none, the cheering. Before the race I pre- meditated what I was going to do and just embraced it and it was beautiful.’
Botswana’s Isaac Makwala, who ran a sub-44sec 400m and a sub20 200m on the same night last month, was a shock withdrawal from the 200m after vomiting in the call room with food poisoning. The British team had ambitiously enquired whether they might be able to capitalise in the event of Makwala withdrawing from the 400m by virtue of Matt HudsonSmith being the fastest of the runners to miss out. The appeal was denied.
Meanwhile, Olympic gold medallist Omar McLeod salvaged some pride for Jamaica on the back of defeats for Usain Bolt and Elaine Thompson by winning the 110m hurdles final in 13.05sec, holding off defending champion Sergey Shubenkov.