Day 2 of the Osaka World Athletic Championships promised to provide fireworks towards the end of the day in the 'Blue Ribbon' event, the 100m. To get straight to the result, America's Tyson Gay won howver it was a bit of a damper with Jamaica's Asafa Powell failing to deliver a performance that justified his status.
Previously during the week, there was an article where the author mentioned; "What a Trouper", Powell was. Powell had allegedly stayed out in the pubs and clubs till 2am and then 4 1/2 hr later was putting in a training session. I was most critical of the article and warned that if Powell failed to deliver Gold that the incident will come back to haunt him. Nuff said.
Turning our attention to the other performances of the day and the 'Golden Darling of Athletics', Sweden's Carolina Kluft, took Gold and this time in a new European record score. The enthusiasm and delight of the heptathletes has been seen as a major highpoint of the Champs so far. Jätte bra.
Before moving to my Athlete of the Day, I would like to mention the satisfaction the Women's 800m semi finals brought me. In Kenya's Janeth Jepkosgei and Belarus' Sviatlana Usovich, we have 2 lasses who have added much excitement to the 2 lap event with their aggressive front running tactics. The final should be a thriller however we know that there can be only one winner and their similar tactics may be the 'death' of each other, opening the door for another. Jepkosgei starts as favourite and I still have the 'legend' Maria Mutola in with a shot.
There was high drama in the Men's 3000m SteepleChase qualifiers with Austria's Günther Weidlinger crahing face first against the barrier. The accident looked agonisingly dangerous and fortunately he has escaped with no serious neck or other injuries albeit a split lip and an inability to chew a hamburger for a short while. Thank heavens.
Now for our athlete of the day. Please, realise that Time-to-Run is, currently, primarily a site covering distances from 800m to the marathon, that is our main focus however when a performance comes along which is eye catching and touching at the same time we are quick to acknowledge. New Zealand 's Valerie Vili is our athlete of the Day with her last round heave to capture the Women's Shot Put . Power to you Valerie, long enjoy the feeling of triumph in capturing your World Athletic Championship title.
Well, that's all for this sum up and we will bring you day 3 tomorrow.
The reports may be a bit slow in their placement on the main site however everything shall be in place in due time
Thanks and enjoy the spectacular athletics
TheEd.
