Semenya #5 All-Time at 1000m
as Robert Harting Retires
as Robert Harting Retires
copyright 2018, Mark Cullen/trackerati.com, All Rights Reserved
While the track and field
world was celebrating the career of German discus great Robert Harting, a
terrific meet broke out in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.
The ISTAF event is part of
IAAF’s second tier of meets (and the first one covered by this website).
Don’t let the ‘second tier’
part fool you – some of the sport’s greatest stars perform at these meets.
Caster Semenya (RSA) ripped a
2:30.70 1000m, the #5 time in history. Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot was unbeatable
over the last 10% of the 1500m, just as he has been unbeatable in this event
all season. He sprinted away from countryman Ferguson Rotich to win
3:32.37-3:33.21.
“For my season I thank God,”
said the humble and soft-spoken Cheruiyot in an interview with Trackerati. “I am honored tonight
because I close my season well here in Berlin.”
“This is the last race for
me,” he said with evident relief that he had finished so well and now has an
opportunity to rest. “I am going back to build up for next year, but I am all
done for this year.”
Tyquendo Tracey (Jam) won the
men’s 100m in 10.05, while Kim Collins of Saint Kitts and Nevis finished 8th
in 10.45.
He’s 42.
German Aleixo-Platini Menga,
31, suffered the ignominy of finishing behind
a 42 year old man in front of the hometown crowd. He was unavailable for
comment as he was rushed from the stadium to begin the rest of his life in
exile in an undisclosed location.
Dramatic in a different way
was the women’s 100m. Marie-Josee Ta Lou (CIV) turned the tables on
Michelle-Lee Ayhe (TTO), who had won the Diamond League final in Zurich just
three nights earlier; Ta Lou finished a surprising 3rd there. The
times in Berlin were a modest 11.08-11.13.
Orlando Ortega (Por) won the
men’s hurdles in an outstanding 13.15, while Christina Manning (US) won a
squeaker over Germany’s Pamela Dutkiewicz, 12.72-12.73. Olympic gold and silver
medalist Dawn Harper-Nelson (US) continued her farewell tour and finished 5th
in 12.94.
There has been a lot of
online comment about Colleen Quigley’s magnificent 3000m steeplechase time of 9:10.27, which
makes her the 3rd fastest performer in US history behind Courtney
Frerichs (9:00.85) and Emma Coburn (9:02.58).
Far more impressive than the outstanding
time was her win, a stirring competitive dusting of Kenya’s Daisy Jepkemei as
Quigley fought off her repeated challenges. Jepkemei finished 2nd in
9:14.66.
The women’s mile was a hotly
contested event with Portugal’s Marta Pen-Freitas pulling out a win over Kate
Grace (US), 4:22.45 - 4:23.23. A fine showing by the US middle distance corps
with Alexa Efraimson 4th in 4:24.82 and Katie Mackey 9th
in 4:29.81.
Germany closed out the
women’s track events by winning the 4x100m relay, much to the impassioned delight
of the hometown crowd. Kimberly Williams of Jamaica won the triple jump in
14.40 (47-3), while Belarus’ rising high jump star, the surprise European
silver medalist, 20 year old Maksim Nedaskeau, won at 2.30 (7-6 ½). Apparently
he likes to jump in this stadium, as it has now yielded him silver and gold.
Germany fared well in the
throwing events, with European champions Christina Schwanitz (2014 + 2016, shot
put) and Christin Hussong (2018, javelin) 1st and 2nd in
their respective events. The men’s javelin yielded the usual spectacular
results for Germany as Thomas Rohler, Julian Weber, and Andreas Hofmann swept
the podium, with Rohler’s 86.50 (283-9) the winner.
Australia has been on fire
the past several days, and there’s no time like the last five meets of the
season to peak well. Brooke Stratton won the long jump in 6.71 (22-1/4) and topped,
among others, Germany’s 2018 European Champion, Malaika Mihambo, who finished third.
Kelsey-Lee Roberts had an impressive javelin win - by over a meter in 62.70 (205-8) to Hussong’s
61.51 (201-9).
As for the men’s discus
final, take this result and paste it on your wall. You’ll never see Robert
Harting’s name in a discus final again.
The 2012 Olympic gold
medalist famously won the first of three World titles here in 2009 on his last
throw. Today, he almost pulled it off again as he fell just short to his
brother Christoph, the 2016 Olympic Champion, 65.67 (215-5) - 64.95 (213-1).
Props to meet organizers, who
tweaked the schedule in such a way that the men’s discus would finish last, and
for assuring that Harting, no matter his standing, would have the last throw.
"I am especially grateful about the people who let me be the person I really am," said the ever-gracious discus king. "I am really proud that everything worked out pretty well."
"I am especially grateful about the people who let me be the person I really am," said the ever-gracious discus king. "I am really proud that everything worked out pretty well."
Meanwhile, Kim Collins
announced that he, too, would retire after this meet.
Sceptics abound.
A Google search of “Kim
Collins retires 2012-2017” yielded 480,000 results.
Caster Semenya at the 2017 ISTAF Berlin Meet
photo credit: Gallery4/ISTAF
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