by Stuart Weir
Katerina Johnson-Thompson, photo by PhotoRun.net
Alysha Newman, photo by PhotoRun.net
Danniel Thomas-Dodd, photo by PhotoRun.net
The women’s performances on Friday, April 13, 2018 from the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games featured the heptathlon, shot put, pole vault and 100 meter hurdles. This article is about the Stuart Weir, our friend from England.
Women on Friday
2018 has started well for Katarina Johnson-Thompson. She followed victory in the World Indoors Pentathlon with gold in the Commonwealth Games heptathlon at Gold Coast. Previously her global championship performances might be summed up as “good but no cigar” – or medal.
At the Beijing 2015 World Championship she was in medal contention when she fouled all three long jumps – her strongest event. To be fair she vehemently argued that one of the jumps was not a foul but her appeals were rejected. In Rio 2016 she performed solidly for sixth. At the London 2017 World Championships she finished fifth having failed with a high-jump attempt at 1.86. A few days later in the stand alone High Jump, she cleared 1.95. 5th after HJ failure 1.86 then 1.95 in open HJ.
Of the Commonwealth gold she said, “It has been a very emotional day for me. I’m so happy to finish the heptathlon and win the gold; it is a relief to complete all the events. I felt something in the 200m last night and then I started to feel it more today. It hurt during the 800m but I just carried on.
“I’m so proud of myself for coming here in April and doing well with season openers. I haven’t had chance to do a lot of training since World Indoors so I’m happy to be competitive and winning the title here. I’ve got 16 weeks to build on this and be ready for the Europeans”.
Ayysha Newman (Canada) won the women’s pole vault with 4.75 with Eliza McCartney (New Zealand) second. Showing the lovely camaraderie which exists between pole vault rivals, Holly Bradshaw (England) who was fourth said: “We’re all really good mates, so whilst I’m disappointed for myself, I’m even more elated to see them doing well. It’s an individual sport, so we don’t really impact each other, so it’s nice to see each other doing well”.
Valerie Adams failed in her attempt to win an unprecedented fourth successive Commonwealth athletics title. Her silver was her fifth successive Commonwealth Games shot put medal. The winner was Danniel Thomas-Dodd of Jamaica (19.36), confirming the impression that the Jamaicans are winning everything but the sprints!
Oluwatobiloba Amuson (Nigeria) won the 100m hurdles with Danielle Williams and Yanique Thompson, Both Jamaica taking silver and bronze)
