Kilty survives scare to defend title
False start has Englishman worried, but it’s his team-mate that is forced to sit out of the final By Mark Woods
RICHARD Kilty is a force of kinetic nature but now a father foremost. The image of a renegade has long been obliterated with the Teesside Tornado now among the most-respected members of the UK’s athletics elite among his peers.
He is almost unstoppable when sprinting with a roof above his head. And the 27-year-old bolted to a second successive 60 metres title at the European Indoor Championships last night, all speed, all strength, all presence.
It repaid the faith of the UK Athletics selectors who looked past the latest in a string of false start disqualifications at last month’s trials to take him to Serbia. This time, it was team-mate Andrew Robertson who twitched too soon and was ejected, watching forlornly from the sidelines as Kilty surged through the field to win in 6.54 seconds with Theo Etienne down in fifth.
Back home, his baby son Richard will have been oblivious. One day, his dad can show him such trinkets and have stories to tell.
“I’ve done it for him,” Kilty said. “I was feeling a little nervous, I’ve never defended a title. I pulled out my phone and looked at a picture of Little Richard and I thought to myself ‘no matter what happens here, when I go home Monday he’s going to be smiling’. It made me feel that it was just another competition. It completely took my nerves away.”
The brutal unforgiving nature of
the false start rule adds an extra layer of fear. When the first callback came, all eyes shifted to the Englishman due to prior convictions.
He said: “My fiancee said ‘please don’t false start’. My manager told me the starting blocks were so sensitive. Reaction times are down. In 2015, I had a false start. That wasn’t happening again. I was worried it could be me because everyone left the blocks at the same time. I said ‘please not me again’.”
After exiting early at his championship debut at this event in Prague two years ago, Allan Smith made amends by reaching his first major final by taking eighth place in the qualifying round of the high jump.
The 24-year-old Scot, yet to turn raw talent into achievement, cleared 2.25 metres to earn an appearance this afternoon and a return on his decision to keep pushing despite losing his Lottery funding last autumn.
“I’m very pleased, it’s my first European final, so that’s progress,” the UK champion said. “That was probably the easiest 2.25m of my life. I had a shaky 2.21m and nearly missed that because I cut my curve slightly, but coming into the higher heights I just need to stop sinking at take-off.”
Chris Kandu crashed out, but London 2012 bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz will join Smith in the final with a medal in mind.
“If I land my last four strides it will happen at the higher bar, so I know what I’ve got to work on,” he said.
Tom Lancashire was fifth in the 1500m final but rued a chance squandered. “I felt like I should have been strong enough to deal with that kind of race, but I had too many changes of position and I was a bit too focused on that at the start of the race. They ran a really quick last 800m and it’s not like I was beaten by slouches, but I’m just gutted.”
In 2015 I had a false start. That wasn’t happening again, I was worried it could be me because everyone left the blocks at the same time. I said ‘please not me again’