The Ultimate Championship – day 2 overview
I said last night that the program might not have had enough to fill its three-hour slot. I couldn’t have said that criticism this evening. It was all action, high quality, and demanded your full attention the whole time. It helped that there were 9 finals – six track and three field – and that the program finished with two 100-meter races, with their semi-finals earlier in the evening.
The two middle-distance women’s races did not disappoint, with Audrey Werro and Klaudia Kazimierska repeating their Diamond League wins from last week. Marileidy Paulino won the women’s 400 with her characteristic slow start followed by a storming finish. She reminded me of Christine Ohuruogo (2008 Olympic champion, 2007 and 2013 world champion). I messaged Christine after the race and got the reply, “It’s funny when people comment that Paulino hasn’t gone off as quick as the others. And I wonder where we’ve seen that before!”
Busang Collen Kebinatshipi won the men’s 400 in a Botswana national record of 43.39, then did a few press-ups to show he wasn’t even tired.
In terms of semi-finals, the three fastest in the men’s 400h were Alison dos Santos, Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin, setting up an eye-watering final for Sunday. The two fastest in the women’s were Jasmine Jones and Emma Zapletova, with Dalilah Muhammad making the final for probably her last ever race. Mark English was fastest in the 800m, but Wanyonyi will still be the man to beat. The top-four prelims made for excellent racing rather than time trials, which favor those in the second race.
The program ended with two 100m finals, with Melissa Jefferson-Wooden winning in 10.62 and Kenneth Bednarek completing a US double in 9.85.
In the field events, Haruka Kitaguchi won the javelin throw with a Japanese record of 68.92. Miltiadis Tentoglou won the long jump with 8.35 but only beat Bozhidar Saraboyukov by 1 cm. Sandi Morris won the pole vault with 4.95. (See separate post.)
From a British perspective, it was overall a disappointing day with neither Max Burgin nor Ben Pattison making the 800 final. Lina Nielsen did well to make the Ultimate and was never going to make the final – similarly, Romell Glave and Jeremiah Azu. Amy Hunt will be disappointed to finish last in the W100 final, but she was never going to make the podium in such a fast race. Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell came second to tough opponents, but earlier in the season, both would have hoped for better. Matt Hudson-Smith started well but finished fifth in the 400.
