By A Correspondent
Peters takes javelin gold, Chopra gets silver
In the battle between the Olympic champion and the World champion, Anderson Peters won the javelin gold to the disappointment of millions of Indian fans in the World Championships at Hayward Field, Eugene, USA, on Saturday.
As the ten-day championships neared its end, the US dealt a stunning blow to the gold medal aspiration of Jamaica in the women’s 4x100m relay, while the Canadians did the same to the Americans in the men’s shorter relay.
China added a bronze on the penultimate day of the championships through Zhu Yaming, the silver medallist from Tokyo Olympics, with Pedro Pablo Pichardo of Portugal, the Olympic champion, all but killing the competition with an opening leap of 17.95 metres.
After having done very little through the season, Kenya’s 27-year-old Emmanuel Kipkurui Korir , waited for his final charge from about 250 metres out in the 800m final and won in the end in a season best 1:43.71. He was unstoppable on the home straight despite great efforts by Djamel Sedjati and Canadian Marco Arop who settled for the silver and bronze respectively.
Quite uncharacteristically, Neeraj Chopra fouled his first attempt in the javelin final. That set up the stage for a head-start for Peters who had been in awesome form this season. The question was will he able to come up with the 90 metres that he had been throwing this season on a big stage like the World championships.
The Grenadian answered that in great style. He unleashed an opening-round throw of 90.21m and followed it up with a 90.46m to throw the gauntlet down. He knew that he had almost defended the title he won in Doha and only the formalities remained. “Defending a title is not an easy task; I had to push myself,” said the 24-year-old. “I was pretty happy that I managed to do it, although I was hoping for longer throws today. I just wanted to go out there and enjoy the event and to put on a show. This is my second gold, so I am very grateful for that.
“Most throwers prefer the wind from behind but today we had a head wind, so it was a bit challenging but I pulled it off,” Peters said. “It was not really important to beat anyone in particular but it was good to go out there and have fun.”
Anderson is only the second athlete to win back-to-back javelin titles in the World championships behind Czech great Jan Zelezny, the world record holder. Zelezny won in 1993 and 1995.
Chopra was lying fourth till the end of the third round with Czech Yakoub Vadlejch (88.09m) and German Julian Weber (86.86m) ahead of him. In the fourth, however, the Indian came up with a throw of 88.13m that pushed him up to the silver position. That is where he ended and the others could not come up to that in the rest of their throws.
“It might have looked easy but Anderson must have put in huge effort to cross 90 metres. He is world leader this year, throwing very good throws, several above 90 meters. I am happy he has worked so hard. This is good for me too, I have (had a) good competition,” Chopra said.
“I have to congratulate Peters and Jakub,” said the Indian star who has risen to iconic status back home following his epochal Olympic victory in Tokyo, India’s first medal ever in the quadrennial games.
“I didn’t feel good during my first three throws. My warm-up was not good; I felt something in my groin during my throw but I think it is OK. Throwing in this wind was also a learning experience. But we have the World Championships again next year, so I will try to do better in Budapest,” said Chopra.
Peters now has four throws over 90 metres (finals only, not counting within series), with the 93.07m at Doha in May last ear as his best.
Chopra , in the meantime, recorded his fourth best throw with today’s effort of 88.13m, with his 89.94m achieved at Stockholm in June this year standing as the national record. The 24-year-old Indian was hoping to reach the 90-metre mark this year, and he was confident he would reach there.
Chopra is only the second Indian to win a World championships medal. Back in 2003 Paris edition, long jumper Anju George had won the bronze.
Like Peters in javelin throw, Pichardo all but clinched the triple jump gold with his opening jump of 17.95m, a world lead.
Hugues Fabrice Zango who won the first Olympic medal, a bronze, for Burkina Faso last year in Tokyo, took the silver with a 17.55m while Zhu Yaming’s bronze came in a season best 17.31m. Cuban Lazaro Martinez who was sixth in the world this year with 1730m, finished without a valid jump.
In what turned out to be a kick-and-sprint-to-finish from about 220 metres out in the women’s 5000m, double Olympic champion Sifan Hasan made the first move on the back but she just could not match the Ethiopians and the Kenyans on the final straight and finished a disappointing sixth. She had won the distance double in Olympics last year.
Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia added to her World Indoor title this year in a modest 14:46.29 while Kenyan Beatrice Chebet (14:46.75) was just behind with Ethiopian Dawit Seyaum winning the bronze in 14:47.36.
Emmanuel Korir of Kenya, who won the Olympic gold last year, was once again the champion in the men’s 800m, coming from behind with a little more than 200 metres to go for the finish and turning out unbeatable in his final ‘kick’ on the home straight. He timed 1:43.71.
Despite the presence of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson and Shericka Jackson in its line-up, Jamaica could not catch up with the US in the women’s 4x100m relay. Twanisha Terry had a tough time holding off the newly-crowned 200m champion Jackson at the finish, but the American just hung on. It was 41.14s for the winner and 41.18s for the silver medallist.
The US men, tipped to win the gold, had to concede defeat to Canada for whom Andre De Grasse ran a blistering 8.79s anchor, holding off Marvin Bracy. Canada was timed a world-leading 37.48s, with the US taking second in 37.55s and Britain third in 37.83s. De Grasse had earlier withdrawn from the 200m heats apparently not sure of his form but said he would run in the relay. It turned out to be not just a good decision for himself but his team.
The decathlon’s opening day’s action saw the unfortunate mishap of Damian Warner of Canada, who apparently pulled a muscle as he crossed the first bend in the 400m and slumped to the track. As he was approached by medical staff, the Olympic champion slapped his right hand on the track in disappointment before being helped off the track.
