There was British disappointment when Amber Anning had to withdraw from the 400m with injury. Remember, the same thing happened with Max Burgin, who was unable to compete. To slightly misquote Oscar Wilde: “To lose one athlete may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.” The only consolation is that it gave Charlotte Henrich an unexpected opportunity to run in the final and come sixth – aged just 19.
For those of us old enough to remember Jonathan Edwards ‘ 18.29 leap and then Christian Taylor and his 18m jumps, the triple jump has been hard to watch recently. Tonight Andy Díaz Hernández leapt to 18.15. Of course I didn’t see it, as I was watching the track, the high jump, and doing interviews… and he didn’t tell me he was going to jump that far!
It has been a bad two weeks for two of my favorite Scottish athletes, Jake Wightman and Laura Muir. Neither did themselves justice in the Commonwealth Games, and The Europeans did not go well either. Laura failed to reach the 1500 final as she struggled to recover from an ankle injury. She said ruefully: “I haven’t missed a training session all year except in the only two weeks that really mattered”.
Jake Wightman commented: “I just don’t understand why I felt so bad again. I’ve had a couple of really good sessions, and I thought that was enough. I’m disappointed, very disappointed.”
The women’s High Jump was not a classic competition. It was cold and windy, and with 15 athletes, meaning a lot of jumps. Through it all shone Yaroslava Mahuchikh, for whom 1.97 was enough tonight.
The Heptathlon was not of the highest world-class caliber, but if there is an athlete worldwide who radiates more enjoyment of her job than gold medalist Kate O’Connor, I have not seen her! She has reason to smile, with gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and European Champions in three weeks.
