REALITY CHECK
Brits fall well short of medal standard
AN EVENING that started with Jessica Ennis-Hill collecting a backdated gold medal concluded with the sense that the current generation of British athletes are painfully short of where they need to be.
This was a chastening session for the home contingent as Andrew Pozzi, Holly Bradshaw and Katarina Johnson-Thompson all failed to turn potential into medals.
Johnson-Thompson yet again blew her shot on the biggest stage, finishing fifth in the heptathlon.
Her pain will come from knowing that had she not botched the high jump on Saturday, this would have been a different tale. She is ordinarily so strong at the discipline that her 1.98m clearance at the Rio Olympics would have been high enough to win the standalone event.
On Saturday, the best she could do was 1.80m, coughing up 233 points on her personalonal best and with it her chances off a medal. She missed out on silver by 138 points, with Nafis-afissatou Thiam of Bel-elgium adding gold toto her Olympic title.
By Sunday, thee damage had been done, so despite finishing second in the long jump, third in the 800m and per-forming reasonablyy in the javelin, it wasas eventually a familiarliar feeling after the disap-isappointment of comingg sixth in the Rio Olympics.
Johnson-Thompson said: ‘What I take away more than anything is my change in attitude, that I’m able to bounce back and give it my all. In the past I’ve tried to bounce back from disappointment but have been kind of defeatist.
‘I feel like it will happen one day. I just don’t know when.’
Ennis-Hill’s former coach Toni Minichiello said: ‘I think she has gone from being a probability in the previous Olympic cycle to a possibility because the standard has risen. Having competed in 2012 she is one of the established competitors now, and it is a tough group.’
The disappointment was shared by Bradshaw, who came into the polep vault cclaiming she wawas one of six witwith a realistic capacapacity for gold. She fifinished sixth. The 225- year- old came in at 4.55m4 metres and cleared with her first attempt, but took three goes to clear at 4.65m and then bombed out at 4.75m. She lost out on bronze by virtue of a countback.
She said: ‘I feel heartbroken. I’m in the best shape of my life and I didn’t take advantage. Bronze going at 4.65m is not the best standard, so I am gutted I didn’t take advantage of the low height.’
The same feeling was shared by Pozzi, the European indoor champion, who failed to make the 110m hurdles final. He led until the final 10m of his heat but was edged out by one hundredth of a second, finishing in 13.28sec.
He said: ‘I didn’t do what I could have done, I didn’t do what I should have done. I was ready to make the final and I didn’t so that’s the bottom line.’
With a target of six medals, Britain are now increasingly reliant on Mo Farah, Laura Muir, Sophie Hitchon and the relays.
Callum Hawkins produced an excellent run to finish fourth in the marathon — equalling Britain’s highest place at a World Championships for the distance.
His run of two hours, 10min and 17sec took 35 seconds off his personal best and raises the prospect of a fascinating head-to-head with Mo Farah, who will be focusing solely on the road from next year.
Hawkins said: ‘I wanted to maybe sneak a medal and to actually see it as I was finishing makes it a bit tough. Maybe I need a few more years — I’m still only 25.’
There was disappointment for Britain’s sprinters, with Daryll Neita, Asha Philip and Desiree Henry all failing to progress from the 100m semi-finals.