Day 1 – Saturday 19^th August 2023

Never before have I seen what happened at the World Athletics Championships in the last two races of the opening night occur.

First it was the women’s 10,000m where Netherland’s Sifan Hassan was attempting to complete a treble of winning, or at least medalling, in the 1500, 5000 and 10,000 metres. The race began slowly – the first km of 3min30 is one even I can run and Hassan tagged on to the back of the pack. With each passing lap the pace quickened up so that by the last lap it came down to a sprint. As the bell sounded, Hassan pulled away being tracked and challenged by the Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay. Entering the home straight, Hassan was still leading by a metre but clearly tiring. She began to drift out and swung her elbow back into Tsegay’s chest. A second contact unbalanced Hassan and she stumbled and fell twenty metres from the line allowing Tsegay to pass and take gold. Already Hassan’s treble ambitions had gone.

Immediately after we watched the Mixed 4x400m relay where the USA were favoured. Great Britain & Northern Ireland had set a national record while running the 2^nd quickest time in the heats and now had hopes of a medal. For the Dutch, Femke Bol had anchored their team to victory in the heats and seemed to sprint home with ease. At the final baton changeover, the USA and Netherlands handed over almost side by side but then Bol took off to open up a 2-3 metre lead. By the time she reached the home straight little had changed other than GB&NI had slipped 15metres behind but comfortably positioned in 3^rd place for the bronze medal. With fifty metres left, USA’s Alexis Holmes closed on Femke Bol but still hadn’t passed her. As the finish line was about to come into view on screen, Bol began to stumble then fell with the line only metres away. The slow motion replay showed her scraping along the track with a full-on face plant. The fall was enough to allow the USA to pass for gold and then as Bol stood up, Britain’s Yemi Mary John also passed to take silver. To add insult to minor injury, although Bol managed to scramble across the line third the Netherlands were disqualified as she had dropped the baton.

You see runners get clipped in the middle of long distance races and even able to get back up and run. Sometimes they are down and out. I’ve rarely seen an athlete trip and fall at the end of the race. I don’t know what the odds on two runners from the same nation falling while leading in back-to-back races are – but they seem long.