by Stuart WeirStuart Weir wrote this piece, his seventh on the Doha DL about the British performances in Doha. Stuart Weir is covering the Birmingham DL this weekend.
Dina Asher-Smith, photo by Diamond League AG
Daniel Rowden, photo by British Athletics
Naomi Metzger, photo by British Athletics
Brits in Doha
Dina Asher-Smith was third in the 200m in 22.37. She told me: “The race was all right. It’s nice to be here and to be opening in the warm. I would’ve loved to have gone a bit faster but at the same time, it’s my first 200m of the year. To race well you have to race-fit. I have never run in such windy conditions in my life. I am not surprised that the PV was called off. But it was the same conditions for everyone so it did not mean anything for the race. The results stand but yes, windy, windy, windy. All you do is try to stay relaxed and run your own race. You have to stay relaxed and maintain your form despite what is going on around you. I started the season with a 400, then 300, now a 200 and next week 100 in Birmingham – the full range”.
Beth Dobbins, photo by British Athletics
Beth Dobbin was sixth in the 200 in 23.06.
Daniel Rowden was showing great promise about three years ago when he was taken seriously ill. Now happily recovered he is very much on the up. I remember talking to him in Tokyo where he narrowly missed the Olympic 800 final. He told me in frustration that he had made one mistake, got himself boxed in, and could not recover. He added with great frustration that he was not even tired at the end. Of course, one only learns to race by racing and it was a valuable lesson.
Daniel Rowden, photo by British Athletics
In Doha he was fourth in 1:49.56 less than half a second behind the winner, Noah Kibet, but ahead of Ferguson Rotich and Donovan Brazier. He took a number of positives from the race: “It was a very weird race, the first of my season, and good to get a run-out against world-class opposition. The wind was a bit crazy. I ran well but I’ve still got a bit of work to do. Tonight was about racing not about time. I didn’t run with quite as much confidence as I wanted to but it’s a start.
“From tonight I learned that I need to be more confident but that I can’t mix it with the top guys. And that’s what I need to do in my next race which is in Birmingham. I am keen to do as many Diamond Leagues as possible but it depends on whether I get into them. I will take the opportunities that I get”.
Naomi Metzger tells a great story of how she looked at a start list earlier this year and saw the name “Naomi Metzger”. She was intrigued as it was an unfamiliar name and she thought she knew all the triple jumpers. Then it dawned on her. Miss Naomi Ogbeta had become Mrs. Metzger!
British champion multiple times she has struggled to make championship qualifying distances. This year the Commonwealth and Europeans look for realistic goals even if the worlds seem like a long shot.
Naomi Metzger, photo by British Athletics
In Doha, she was 8th with a best of 14.24, with three jumps over 14 meters. She jumped beyond her PR but with an illegal wind. But with the wind registering from +2.8 to +5.7 for her series of jumps it is debatable how much of a help it was. Metzger’s assessment of her evening’s work was: “It was very windy and I feel that I’m always doing windy competitions but it was a great atmosphere and I’m happy to have done what is a pretty good jump for me. One of the best that I’ve ever done it was a really tough competition but great for me to compete against world-class athletes. I don’t I often get to compete against those ladies so that was really good”.
While her “PR” was not legal because of the conditions, the wind doesn’t always help: “No it was really hard to get on the board. I had files and my best jump was actually 20 centimeters behind the board. It’s a bit frustrating but I know that when I get more experience competing in these conditions I’ll know better what to do. But I was still happy that I was able to jump pretty well. Tonight gave me a lot of confidence that if I had hit the board I would have been up there among them. It showed me that as I get more experience I can keep upping my game. To produce one of the best jumps of my life here tonight is really encouraging and hopefully, I can keep improving”.
