The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Night of drama for Lynsey Sharp at the World Athletics Championships in London
Scots runner will line-up in final after successful appeal against disqualification
Lynsey Sharp will run in the 800m final at the World Championships after British Athletics won an appeal against her disqualification.
The 27-year-old was kicked out after pushing Charlene Lipsey when their arms interlocked on the line in the semifinal to initially deny her the chance of racing in tomorrow’s final.
But British Athletics’ appeal was upheld and Sharp, who was taken away in tears, will run in the final as a fastest loser.
Her time of one minute 59.47 seconds was fast enough but Sharp faced an anxious wait after being in breach of rule 163.2.
“As far as I’m concerned, I can’t remember anything different to any other race I’ve been in,” she told BBC Radio 5 live sports extra before the appeal result.
“There have definitely been times I’ve been affected more than I affected anyone in that race. I’ll have to go back and look at it.
“I’ve been in a lot of scrappy races this year and would put my hands up and say I did something, but I honestly can’t remember anything.
“I got kicked in the heats – it’s part of middle-distance running. I was so desperate to get there, I was ready to hit the floor, I didn’t intentionally run into her.”
Adelle Tracey failed to qualify, despite running a personal best of two minutes 00.26 seconds, after she came sixth in the first heat, while Shelayna OskanClarke bowed out.
Chris O’Hare reached tomorrow’s 1,500m final after coming fourth in his semi-final heat but Jake Wightman missed out.
Lorraine Ugen, who was tipped to have an outside chance of a medal, came fifth in the long jump.
The 25-year-old qualified in third but could only jump 6.72m, 30cm behind winner Brittney Reese.
Ugen said: “I am actually kind of disappointed. I know that two years ago, coming fifth in the world, I would’ve been happy with it, but this year it wasn’t as satisfying.
“I know that I wanted to come out here and get a medal. Throwing away so many jumps by fouling and not getting everything together is disappointing.”
Ashley Bryant is 16th in the decathlon on 4,010 points following the high jump and 400m – 377 points behind leader Kevin Mayer from France.
The 26-year-old cleared 1.99m before running 49.24 after wrapping up the first day.
He ran a season’s best of 11.14 in the 100m, leaped 7.26m in the long jump and threw 14.09m in the shot put yesterday morning.
Bryant has the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault and 1,500m to come today.
He said: “It was a solid day. I expected to push on but it hasn’t exactly come like that.
“I still think I can dig it out on day two. It was good, just not the amazing I was expecting to bring. I definitely think I can PB on Saturday.”
Earlier in the day Robbie Grabarz – who won bronze at London 2012 – qualified for tomorrow’s high jump final.
He was one of only six to reach the qualifying height of 2.31m as the British squad search for just their second medal of the competition.
Grabarz also defended his teammates and insisted criticism towards the squad over the lack of medals in London was too harsh.
“If you look at the ages of people, their
world ranking coming in, potentially (it is too harsh),” he said.
“It’s different, you’ve got no Jess (Ennis-Hill) or Greg (Rutherford) and Mo (Farah) went very early on. It’s been a lull for medals but have people been really under-performing that much? No, I don’t think so,” he said.
“Athletics is changing, this team is young. Everyone is here to do their job and people are trying their best. They have prepared well,” he added.
“Everyone seems happy and positive so it’s a good place to be.
“For some it’s their first championships and it’s different in a championships.”
Sir Mo Farah will compete in the 5,000m final this evening.
Other finals on the penultimate day of competition include the women’s high jump and 100m hurdles, the men’s javelin, and the men’s and women’s 4x100m relays.
You can help the next generation of young British athletes by getting involved in SportsAid Week this September with London 2012 hero Greg Rutherford MBE. Find out more about how you can support the week of fun and fundraising by visiting www.sportsaid.org.uk/sportsaidweek