Editor’s note: Rain or shine, RBR senior writer Stuart Weir has been covering the Commonwealth Games, aka “the Friendly Games,” for the past week. We thank Stuart for his observations, and wish we could have enjoyed a dinner of haggis and some accompaniment with the aforementioned Scottish dish.
Women’s mile semi-finals
The two women’s mile semi-finals provided great excitement on the 4th morning of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. 23 athletes were chasing 12 places in the final. No time qualification, just the first six in each semi. No advantage to the second race through knowing the time needed for time qualification; just 11 or 12 athletes knowing that you had to finish in the top 6 or go home.
Being the Commonwealth, there were 7 British athletes representing three different nations – teammates at the European Championship next month but “enemies” in the Commonwealth Games. Three from Scotland, two from England and two from Wales.
The two races were quite different. In the first, the gap from winner to 6th place was 5 seconds. In the second, it was less than one second. We finished up with three Australians (including Jess Hull), three Kenyans (I have heard that Kenyans are quite good at the middle distance), two Canadians and a South African, alongside two Scots and a Welsh runner making the final. That represented a disappointing performance with just three of the seven British athletes progressing.
There were a lot of season’s bests and personal bests, but then most athletes rarely run the mile. It is difficult to know if that extra 109 m made any difference to the outcome.
I was enormously impressed with Jemma Reekie, who had not run well in the 800 semi-final last night and found herself out again next morning. Reekie was determined to run a positive race for her home crowd, going out fast and then holding her position to qualify with three seconds to spare. Ava Lloyd (Wales) ran a brilliant race, showing remarkable maturity for a 20-year-old, to hold on to 3rd place in the bunched second race.
The final qualifying place in that second race went to Sara Calvert (British champion at 1500), who held off Erin Wallace by 0.04 seconds.
Erin Wallace (4:32.08), Katie Snowden (4:33.46), Melanie Courtney-Bryant (4:39.50) and Revee Walcott-Nolan (4:44.93) all failed to qualify and were left thinking they could have done better.
An excited Sarah Calvert said afterward: “Positioning early on was just as I prepared with my coach. But then in the last half I don’t know what happened; I just lost a bit of focus and let too many people come around me. I don’t think I realized how many people were right there. It was a bit stupid of me, but I managed to hang on. If only I could have taken Erin into the final with me, that would have made it better. I feel like my fitness is there and I felt good. The issue was the tactics, so hopefully that’s just a conversation with my coach before Saturday”.
Ava Lloyd surprised many people with her performance – perhaps herself: “I’m absolutely buzzing. It can be super tough to qualify, but I knew I definitely had it in me, so to absolutely pull it off and execute like that, I’m super excited. I knew I was on the inside, so I would have to get out, or I’d get swamped. I’ve been in quite a few tactical races, so I’m just wanting to put myself in a good position”.
Lloyd also paid tribute to Wales’ team-captain Melissa Courtney-Bryant: “Melissa has been amazing. It’s so nice to have someone else in the event, and I feel like she’s just really helped guide me through the process, and as a captain she’s been absolutely brilliant at the warm-up track and training track, and the spirit she brings is so good”.
There was disappointment for the experienced Katie Snowden, who was returning to Glasgow where she had won the Youth Commonwealth Games 800m gold. She said:
“It’s amazing. To come back here and try to qualify for the final is really special, especially with nearly a home crowd. This morning I knew I didn’t feel very good, but I still wanted to come out here and give it my best shot, which I did.”
Two great races and a final to come.
