The highlight of the World Championships in Budapest was worth waiting for. The speed of the final kilometer of the steeplechase was breathtaking, writes Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen Sports journalist
Athletics World Championships 19.8.–27.8. Ylen channels. See the schedule and broadcast information of the games at this link.
The fourth night of the World Championships in Budapest offered delicacies both on the field and on the track: By Faith Kipyegon an increase in the last 700 meters from a pace of 4.07 to the third fastest time in the season’s world statistics at 3.54.87. Hawaiian Laulauga Tausaga-Collins just shy of a record improvement of four meters and the women’s discus gold with a result of 69.46. A jump of 95th place in the all-time world statistics.
Having already melted everyone’s hearts at the Tokyo Olympics by Gianfranco Tamberi the fulfillment of the career at the highest place with the first World Championship gold. A 20-year-old Norwegian by Håvard Ingvaldsen rise from the time trial spot to the 400m final, when the Olympic champion Stephen Gardiner let the defenders betray him in front of the escape. by Matthew Hudson-Smith the fierce tearing with which the bespectacled man of the GDR Thomas Schönleben The European record of 44.33 went down in history at the age of barely 37.
The most anticipated of the evening
But the most anticipated of the evening was the men’s steeplechase and the ME man Lamesha Girman as well as a prized race runner By Soufiane El Bakkal duel, the highlight of the entire World Cup.
The Moroccan claimed his third consecutive global championship gold with a time of 8:03.53. The last kilometer of the top two must be the absolute hardest bets in the endurance sports scene this year: 2.29, or about 7.28 pace. If El Bakkali had seriously run to the finish line, the kilometer speed would have dropped by about a second.
Such a trot has not often been seen in steeplechase history. For comparison, Girma’s final kilometer in the ME run on June 9 was 2:40, when the digitals finally stopped at 7:52.11.
Ezekiel Kemboi The World Championship record of 8:00.43 was maintained by a good margin; it was born in a very different structure in the final in Berlin in 2009.
Of course, this does not only apply to steeplechase, but luckily for those who invest in that sport, there are also EC medals every two years. No European has ever run under the eight-minute phantom limit, certainly not any other non-African.
Changing power relations
The strength ratios of the men’s steeplechase and the women’s 1500 meters, which was decided before that, have interestingly changed. The World Steeplechase gold has now been awarded 19 times, and 15 times it has been won by a Kenyan or at least a Kenyan-born runner. Now the scepter is firmly in Morocco and Ethiopia.
Similarly, in the women’s 1500 meters, Kipyegon’s World Cup gold is very surprisingly only Kenya’s third in the sport. If Kipyegon is motivated to continue his career and is allowed to do it healthy, it is difficult to see who would put him on a parade trip in the next few years.
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