Porter steps up to challenge in GB medal hunt
THE biggest cheer for a British athlete had greeted stripy jumper-wearing Mo Farah — cajoled into waving at the roving camera as it found his familiar face. Like many of Britain’s biggest stars he opted not to compete at the World Indoor Championships in Portland, instead attending as a fan and paving the way for lesser-known athletes to lead the medal charge.
Lorraine Ugen and Tiffany Porter obliged with bronze medals, upgrading from fifth place finishes at the World Championships in Beijing last summer. But sprinter James Dasaolu who has promised so much on so many occasions, was left rueing another missed opportunity.
Ugen, who once described her long jumping technique as resembling a ‘dangly spider,’ was all poise, leaping to a personal best 6.93metres with her penultimate attempt. A thrilling finale saw American Brittney Reese jump 7.22m at the death, the longest distance in the world for three years, to claim gold ahead of Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic.
‘I wanted to make the podium and I had the confidence to do it so I’m really glad it has happened,’ said a breathless Ugen afterwards. ‘It just gives me a lot of confidence going into the Rio Olympics knowing that I’ve done it.’
The 24-year-old can only hope to develop into as reliable a championship performer as Porter whose bronze in the 60m hurdles was her seventh international senior medal.
Porter had a long wait before she was confirmed in third in 7.90sec behind Americans Nia Ali and Brianna Rollins. She was eyeing a burger and a glass of wine to celebrate before returning to the grind. ‘I need to go back to some heavy training,’ said Porter, ‘Outdoors has always been the major focus. Rio is the big goal.’
Dasaolu was also looking ahead to Rio after being disqualified for a false start in the 60m semi-final. Last year the 28-year-old prematurely eased down in the 100m heats at the World Championships in Beijing. Here he fluffed his lines again.
‘It’s extremely frustrating,’ he said, ‘This was the bounce-back chance for me as 2015 wasn’t the best for me. I’ve now got the summer to amend things now.’