by Larry Eder
Christian Taylor, photo by PhotoRun.net
The morning session on Day 5 had some big casualties, among them, Will Claye and Marcus Dendy in the Triple Jump. Here is Alex Mills’ reprise of the morning session on August 26, 2015.
Qualification success for triple jumpers Christian Taylor and Pedro Pablo Pichardo was highlight of the morning session on day five of the IAAF World Championships as they ensured that the competition’s most eagerly anticipated field event will get it’s epic finale.
Competing separate pools, the pairs’ only contact during the competition was when they ran past each other on the runway, nevertheless they will have been keeping tabs on each other’s progress as the made it through as the top-two. On this occasion it was Pichardo, the world leader who leapt the furthest, jumping 17.43m in the third round, though Taylor, the Olympic champion and winner of this title in 2011, was the easier qualifier as he made it through with a second round 17.28m.
Two of their biggest rivals will be missing from the final field however, after both double Olympic medallist Will Claye and seven-time NCAA champion Marquis Dendy failed to make the top 12th finishing in only 13th and 19th place, meaning that the USA can no longer claim a clean sweep in the event.
On the track reigning champions Mo Farah, David Oliver and Eunice Sum all look well placed to retain their titles as they all qualified for the next round of their respective disciplines impressively.
In the men’s 5000m final Farah survived nearly falling over in the last lap to comfortably make Saturday’s final as the second fastest qualifier and indicate his speed once more.
After Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrihiwet won a tactical first heat in 13:45.00, Farah was part of a much faster contest in the second, that was won by teenager Yomif Kejelcha in 13:19.38, with Farah just .06s behind in second. The Britain produced his customary sprint finish to put himself safely out of danger in the burn up for the line that saw all of the top ten athletes in the race run fast enough to make it into the final.
Oliver was very impressive as he began the defence of his 110 metre title in style, coming through round one .1 of a second faster than anyone of his rivals after running 13.15 despite clipping a number of hurdles. Olympic champion Aries Merritt also looked strong in his pursuit to win a first world medal, winning his heat in 13.25. There were also wins for Shane Brathwaite, Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Hansle Parchment.
Following another near-invincible season on the Diamond League tour for the Kenyan, Sum put in just enough to win her heat of the women’s 800m in a swift 1:59.67 ahead of Ukraine’s Olha Lyakhova and Dutch star Sifan Hassan, competing just over 12 hours after winning 1500m bronze.
The best race of the morning came in the first heat however, with the top four athletes all scoring season’s bests, lead by European champion Marina Arzamasova who’s 1:58.69 was the second best time of her career.
On the infield World record holder Anita Wlodarczyk needed just one throw to confirm her qualifying spot in the women’s hammer throw final by launching out to 75.01m to unsurprisingly make it through as the top athlete. There was also quick success for France’s ALEXANDRA TAVERNIER who threw a 74.39 PB and China’s Wenxiu ZHANG with a SB 72.92.
