Sunday, August 28, 2011

Daily Daegu: Bolt false starts, Eaton finishes fast

Channeling teammate Andrew Wheating
(TrackAndFieldPhoto)
Day 2 at Daegu had many highlights, but one lowlight; Usain Bolt false starting in the 100. What a letdown! Something tells me he'll be sitting in the blocks in the 200 until the field is 5 meters up. Ashton Eaton's 60 second final 400 in the 1500 of the Decathlon was impressive. He wanted Silver and he got it. His strong 4:18.94 was enough to jump Cuba's Leonel Suárez on the medal stand to get one step closer to repeat Gold Medalist, Trey Hardee. Walter Dix was also second best in the 100, behind Jamaica's Yohan Blake.

On the distance front, an Ethiopian man won the 10,000, but not the one you'd think. Ibrahim Jeilan came out of nowhere and kicked down Mo Farah in the last 40 meters to take the gold. It was pretty gut-wrenching to watch Farah get passed at the end, but he'll be in contention for the win in the 5000 in a few days. Kenenisa Bekele stepped off the track with 10 laps to go, citing lack of fitness, but happy he gave it a shot. Galen Rupp hung in there until about two laps to go and proceeded to take seventh overall. A nice showing, but not what he was hoping for. He lapped Matt Tegenkamp and Scott Bauhs in the process, which tells you all you need to know about how their day went.

In the prelims, all three American Women advanced in the 1500, with Morgan Uceny, Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson all getting automatic qualifies to the semis. Nick Symmonds looked great in the 800 and will be the only American in the final as Khadevis Robinson failed to advance.

Day 3 kicks off this evening with the Men's Steeplechase prelims. Dan Huling, Billy Nelson and Ben Bruce will have their hands full, but hopefully can find their way into Thursday's final. That's the only distance race of the day, but there will be finals in the Women's 400, Men's 110 Hurdles and Women's 100 to close the day.

You can watch on television and online via Universal Sports. Results are on the IAAF's Daegu site.

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