From The International Herald Tribune: In the 400, with last stride, silver turns into gold BY CHRISTOPHER CLAREY MOSCOW — Six days of competition remain in these world track and field championships but the suspicion is that the race of the meet has been run. It came on Monday night in the women’s 400, and it did not look like much of a classic when pre-race favorite Amantle Montsho of Botswana emerged from the final curve with a healthy lead and plenty of impressive results in 2013 to carry her toward the finish line with conviction. But Christine Ohuruogu, the captain of the British team this year, has long been a formidable finisher: confident in her strength and her back-half closing power. With 70 meters, or 230 feet, to go, she was still three strides behind Montsho but as the meters flew by, she steadily, steadily closed the gap. With five meters remaining she still looked destined for silver but her last surge and the extreme lean that went with it were barely enough to create some doubt. It was too close to call immediately but Ohuruogu was hardly beaming like a likely winner as she stood, hands on hips past the finish line. The handshake with Montsho was cordial, but then a name finally flashed up on the electronic scoreboard. It was Ohuruogu’s, giving her a second world outdoor title to go with the one she won in 2007. Hundredths of seconds are usually more than enough to determine 400-meter champions, but this duel required thousandths with Ohuruogu winning in 49.404 seconds and Montsho losing in 49.408. The bronze medal went to Antonina Krivoshapka of Russia in 49.78. ‘‘I did not see Christine coming from behind,’’ Montsho said. ‘‘I think if I knew that I would pull my chest forward and I would have made it. She knows how to run and how to plan the race. She is very strong in the finish.’’ Based on career results, it was no upset: Ohuruogu also won Olympic gold in 2008 and a silver behind Sanya Richards-Ross in 2012. Montsho, a nomad who has had to train far from her native Botswana in search of the right conditions, has yet to win a major global title. The surprise was that a year after her draining Olympic season, the 29-year-old Ohuruogu was able to find the energy and motivation to produce a national-record time in the year after with another meager crowd in Moscow providing little outside energy to draw on. But even in a stadium that was much less than half full, she was full of emotion on the medal stand, wiping away tears with her latest gold around her neck. ‘‘It’s like a dream; it’s too much,’’ Ohuruogu said. ‘‘After the race I did not want to get too excited until I knew for sure that I won, until my name got out first.’’ The bigger surprise on Monday came in the men’s pole vault where reigning Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie of France, who had cleared 6.02 meters, 19.7 feet, in London last month, had to settle for silver. He could fly no higher than 5.89 meters on this cool evening in Moscow. Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany also cleared that height but was the clear winner on the countback with no misses on his early attempts. Holzdeppe greeted victory by stripping off his singlet and sprinting off the track and toward the lower section of stands. Lavillenie lay on the crash pad, his hands over his face, and later got a consolatory hug from his younger brother Valentin, who was also in this final but failed to clear a height. There would be no faltering from Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women’s 100. The powerfully built Jamaican does not have the global profile of her fellow islander Usain Bolt, but her results in the 100 have been remarkably similar. Like Bolt, she now has won two world outdoor titles in the 100 and the last two Olympic gold medals in the 100. On Monday, Fraser-Pryce had the lead at the 10-meter mark and built on it from there, winning in 10.71 seconds the year’s fastest time. Murielle Ahouré, a globe-trotter who represents Ivory Coast but has lived in France and the United States, took the silver medal in 10.93 seconds with Carmelita Jeter, the defending world champion, finishing third in 10.94. Some familiar threats were missing from the 100 in Moscow. Former world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica has tested positive for a banned substance, reportedly a diuretic, and has been suspended from competition. Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago came to Moscow but flew home before the first round was contested on Saturday and on Monday, the athletics federation of Trinidad and Tobago confirmed in a statement that her absence was ‘‘related to doping matters.’’ The federation declined to provide further details, but what is clear is that two of the three women who won medals in the 100 at the 2011 world championships are now facing drug bans. Campbell-Brown won the silver medal behind Jeter in Daegu. Baptiste won the bronze and had run the third fastest time this year. Baptiste trains in the same Florida-based group with Tyson Gay, the American sprinter and former world 100-meter champion who is facing a doping ban as well after failing a test for an as-yet-unannounced substance earlier this season. Other winners on Monday included David Oliver of the United States in the men’s 110-meter hurdles in 13 seconds flat and Valerie Adams of New Zealand in the women’s shot put with a throw of 20.88 meters. Adams, a towering presence at 1.93 meters, has been the dominant thrower of her generation. She had to wait for her last gold medal, which came at last year’s Olympics but only after the original champion, Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus, was stripped of the gold after a positive test for an anabolic agent. But this time Adams received her gold medal — her fourth straight in the world championships — on the night she won it. Now for the disheartening news: she received it shortly after 10 pm in Moscow with Luzhniki Stadium almost completely empty. She sang along with her national anthem anyway. ‘‘It’s a great venue,’’ said Ashton Eaton, the American who won the decathlon here. ‘‘Just nobody’s in it.’’ ◼ Get the best global news and analysis direct to your device – download the IHT apps for free today! For iPad: itunes.apple/us/app/international-herald-tribune/id404757420?mt=8 For iPhone: itunes.apple/us/app/international-herald-tribune/id404764212?mt=8
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 23:41:26 +0000
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