Rai’s Redemption
by Mark Cullen
from Seattle
*There's nothing better than an authentic redemption story,
and that’s what the men’s 400m hurdles
brought us on Friday. Even to someone who was already #2 on the all-time list
when the day began.
Rai Benjamin(US) has famously finished second to Norway’s Karsten Warholm at seemingly just the wrong times, including the memorable day in Tokyo in 2021 when he broke the previous world record but still was second to Warhol’s demolishing of it that day.
After today, Warholm’s 45.94 still stands as the world record.
But now it’s Benjamin who wears gold. The US veteran stormed off the final corner just ahead of Warholm and extended his lead with every stride. His 46.46 season’s best turned back Warholm’s nothing-to-sneeze at 47.06.
Veteran Alison Dos Santos was third in 47.26, just two-tenths of a second behind Warholm.
23-year-old Clement Ducos (FR) was fourth another half-second behind, and stamped himself as one to watch in front of the roaring crowd.
At the end of the day, Benjamin’s time was half a second short of Warholm’s world record.
But his Olympic gold medal is just as shiny.
*In case you had wondered about Sha’Carri Richardson, she reappeared on the world stage today with a magnificent – and cheeky – anchor leg in the women’s 4x100m relay.
Behind by about 3 meters after two less than perfect passes, Richardson made that up quickly and even had time enough to deliver a scathing glance to Great Britain’s anchor, Darryl Neita, as they approached the finish line.
Behind the US in first (41.78) and Great Britain in second (41.85), Germany snagged the remaining medal in a season’s best 41.97.
*“It’s happened again for the United States!”
Usually when announcer Leigh Diffey says that, the US has racked up another spectacular success.
Unfortunately, if he says it during the men’s 4x100m relay, it’s disastrous for the US.
And it was, for an unfathomable 5th time in 5 Olympics, the US failed to medal. A botched exchange between Christian Coleman and Kenny Bednarek was the culprit this time.
Taking full advantage was Canada with anchor Andre de Grasse in 37.50; a surprising South Africa was second (37.57) and Great Britain third in 37.61. In a meet of narrow margins, note that the top three finished within 11/100 of a second of each other.
*The Dominican Republic’s Marileiday Paulino won the women’s 400m in a stellar 48.17, the 4th fastest time ever run. It had been a long road to Olympic glory as her two World titles and Olympic silver attest.
Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Nasser, former World champion, was second in 48.53, while Poland’s outstanding relayist, Natalia Kaczmarek, won bronze in 48.98 and should leave other teams quaking in the women’s 4x400m relay on Saturday.
*The United States’ Anna Hall got a disproportionate amount of attention from US national news vendors in the heptathlon, when others like Belgium’s Nafi ssatou Thiam, who won an unprecedented 3rd title in a row, and two-time World champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, deserved far more attention than they got in the US.
Which is why it’s helpful to have Canadian (Vancouver, BC) television in Seattle cable subscriptions – it gives a more international flavor to the events, and you do get to hear Oh, Canada from time to time.
Thiam won by a scant 36 points over KJT, and Belgium scored a rare 1-3 in this event, with Noor Vidst third with 6707 points. Thiam now has
The aforementioned Hall finished 5th after a brain freeze in the javelin when she had a long throw but stepped on the line, apparently unnecessarily, and negated the mark.
In addition to her three Olympic golds, Thiam has two World and three European titles to her credit.
*The women’s shot put reminded us of why we have the competitions. Germanys Yemisi Ogunleye was second coming into her last throw. She threw 20.00m to pass New Zealand’s Maddi Wesche, who stood at 19.86m. When Wesche could not respond, Ogunleye was first and Wesche second.
China’s Song Jiayuan had been in the top 8 of World and Olympic titles twice, and her 19.32 3rd place finish represented a breakthrough at this level.
North Medford (OR) High School’s Jaida Ross – and the University of Oregon’s NCAA champion - missed a medal by four centimeters.
*Men’s triple jumper Jordan Alejandro Diaz Forrtune (ESP) had among his five fair jumps leaps of 17.84, 17.85, and 1786, which is nothing if not consistent! He outjumped pre-meet favorite and World and Olympic champions Pedro Pichardo (Por) by a mere two centimeters, 17.86-17.84. Andy Diaz Hernandez (It) was third in 17.64
Capping a terrific breakthrough year was Salif Mane (US) who won both the NCAA and US Olympic Trials titles this year; he finished 6th in Paris today.
If this report looks like a diplomat’s checklist, you may be right. Each of these three medalists was originally Cuban and changed national allegiance. It was a Cuban sweep – but it wasn’t.
*This seems to be Beatrice Chebet’s (Ken) year. After demolishing the world 10,000m record and becoming the first woman under 29:00 at the Prefontaine Classic in May, she won a hotly contested 5,000m Olympic gold medal earlier this week, dispatching the likes of Faith Kipyegon (2nd) and Sifan Hassan (3rd), and Italy’s sudden star Nadia Battocletti (4th).
Chebet became the third woman in Olympic history to complete the 5k/10k distance double. Just barely; Chebet was easing up at the finish line as Italy’s fast-closing Battocletti was not, and Chebet escaped with the victory by 1/10 of a second, 30:43.25 to 30:43.35.
Chebet joins Tirunesh Dibaba (2008) and Sifan Hassan (2021) as Olympic gold medal distance doublers.
Sifan Hassan completed part two of her distance triple in 30:44.12, with her second bronze medal in the series. She’ll try to win her third medal in the marathon on Sunday.
This was a sit and kick affair as the runners were closely bunched for much of the race, and runners checked each other (hand-checked, that is, to let the other runner know she was there and perhaps too close). Even the US runner Parker Valby took the lead at one point due to the dawdling pace. The pack finally blew apart with less than a lap and a half to go.
Bartocletti, the 5,000/10,000 winner of the distance double at the European Championships in June, has quickly established herself as one to reckon with, and her tactics here today mirrored those of Kenneth Rooks in the men’s steeplechase with the same outcome as each won a wholly unexpected silver.
Thanks Mark
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