By the Skin of his Teeth
by Mark Cullen
from Seattle
There were only three finals at today's Olympic Games, but oh what finals they were.
Up first was the women’s high jump, an event that reached stratospheric heights in July when Ukraine’s Yaroslava Manuchikh broke Blanka Vlasic’s 37 year old world record.
Nothing will stamp you as Olympic favorite like breaking a world record. Nothing says potential dominance like a world record height of 2.10 (6-10¾).
At the same time, 2.0 meters (6-6¾) has been the dividing line in recent women’s high jumping, separating the very good from the great.
And sure enough, today a remarkable six women jumped 1.95m (6-4¾) to make this a historically deep meet. But it gets even better. Two jumped 2.0 meters, and gold and silver were settled between them.
Manuchikh was clear through two meters while Nicola Olyslagers (Aus) took three attempts to clear 2.0 meters. Those first two missed jumps were, ultimately, the difference between gold and silver.
Similarly, the battle for bronze among the six at 1.95 was decided on the countback – that is, who had fewest misses. Iryna Geraschcenko (UKR) and World champion Eleanor Patterson (Aus) emerged as bronze medalists by clearing 1.95 on their first attempts.
Interestingly, first and second were from Ukraine and Australia. And third and third – yes, a tie! – were from Ukraine and Australia.
Patterson now has a ‘complete set’ of major meet medals: World gold and silver, and Olympic bronze. Today, Manuchikh added Olympic gold to her World gold and silver collection, while Olyslagers now has two Olympic silvers and a World bronze.
Display cabinets, anyone?
A notable 5th was Vashti Cunningham (US) who is noted for her indoor jumping prowess. She has a complete set of Indoor medals.
Men’s hammer throw
This one was over early.
Canada’s Ethan Kratzberg is becoming the generational hammer throwing talent many observers thought he might be.
One throw and any thoughts of a close competition were gone. Kratzberg’s first round 84.12 (276-0) separated him from the field by a massive 4.15 meters
(13-7¼). No one else surpassed 80 meters (262-5) today.
The Nanaimo, British Columbia, native also won gold at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
Which isn’t to say it wasn’t otherwise an engaging competition – it’s just that it clearly was for silver and bronze.
Hungary’s Bence Halasz had an exceptionally good series, highlighted by his first round 79.97. He had three throws over 79.00 meters, and every throw was fair.
Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan had five of six throws fair, with two over 79m. Halasz and Kokhan won silver and bronze, respectively.
Rudy Winkler (US), 6th, started well at 77.92, only to foul four of his next five throws.
Was there a bit of a changing of the guard today? Poland’s dynamic duo of Pawel Fadjek and Wojciech Nowicki, who dominated this event for a decade, finished 5th and 7th. They are both 35 years old; the three medalists are 22, 27, and 23.
Today’s men’s 100m semis and finals produced some of the greatest depth in any 100m races ever run. Noah Lyles (US) led the statistical hit parade with a 9.79 victory over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson.
The unlikely margin of victory of was 5/1000 of a second. Thompson also ran 9.79, though Lyles’ 9.79 was faster than Thompson’s 9.79.
Go figure.
Fred Kerley (US), who moved down from the 400m several years ago and won the World title in Eugene in 2022, won bronze.
With last summer’s World title to go with Olympic gold, Lyles has established himself as the fastest man on earth. As a mild favorite in the 100m event who won, he is expected to dominate the 200m in what is widely viewed as his better event.
Now for the stats.
Tomorrow brings us 4 intriguing finals, with the women’s discus, men’s pole vault, and women’s 5,000 and 800m runs. Does this mean you can’t attempt a 5,000/800 double?! Ask Sifan Hassan, whose 5,000 tomorrow is part one of her 5,000/10,000/marathon triple.
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