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| Munich's fantastic finale
Sunday was a great way to end what has been a wonderfully enjoyable championships.
The sprint boys looked particularly good. There was a slight concern when we saw Tony Jarrett warming up and heard that Darren Campbell's hamstring was giving him a few worries. With Jason Gardener and Allyn Condon having declined selection, the team would suddenly have looked in a spot of bother had one of the guys pulled out.
The question mark over the 400m team was not one of selection but simply a matter of who ran which leg. It's one for them to think about in the future. I'm not convinced that you get the best out of Matt Elias when you have him on the second leg. Apparently there was a very late change of plan. Until last night, Daniel Caines was going to run the second with Matt on the anchor. Both relay teams have strength in depth, but the 400m line-up we saw on Sunday was just about as good as you can get.
I really enjoyed the men's 800m. What a great race. Andre Bucher put in a brilliant performance. If he was just a little fitter... Then again, no-one would have beaten Wilson Kipketer. It sounds like an obvious thing to say when he's the world record holder, but he is one of the greatest middle distance runners there's ever been. I love to watch him run, and I just hope he can stay fit and healthy for a couple of years and win the Olympic gold his talent deserves.
Ayhan tried the same tactics at the World Championships last summer, going off fast and trying to hang on, but she wasn't strong enough. This time she was. Szabo clearly thought she could sit with her and then kick off her shoulder on the home straight, but the magic of last year wasn't there. Neither woman had run a 1500m this season before Sunday, but to me that is less significant than the fact the Ayhan had barely raced at all. I guess she knows what suits her - and you can't argue with the scalp of Szabo and a gold medal, can you? |
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