30th August 2011

TUESDAY ACTION FROM DAEGU

 

30 August 2011

In Tuesday morning’s action from the Daegu Stadium a lifetime best in the long jump from Jessica Ennis (Coach: Toni Minichiello) meant that the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team’s hopes of a further World Championship medal in this evening’s  session were very much alive.

But a challenging javelin competition means that the defending World Champion will have her work cut out to make gold ahead of strong Russian Tatyana Chernova.

Earlier, in the long jump, Ennis proved her championship credentials once again with a lifetime best mark of 6.51m for 1010 points. Having opened with 6.27m, it looked worrying when her closest rival Chernova flew out to an impressive 6.61m, but Ennis’s response showed that she wasn’t going to release her grip on the gold medal without a fight.

Louise Hazel (Aston Moore) meanwhile leapt to 6.25m for 927 points, and maintained her strong showing with a move up the leaderboard.

After five events Ennis remained in first position ahead of Chernova with 5088, a 118 point advantage over the Russian. Hazel climbed to 13th position with 4561 points.

The came the javelin – an event where Chernova was expected to play catch up with a superior PB when compared to Ennis. Chernova threw in the first pool, and landed a 52.95m throw – gaining 917 points.

Ennis however struggled and her best throw of 39.95m took a points haul of 666 points. Hazel fared slightly better with 41.75m for 701.

It means the two British representatives go into tonight’s seventh and final event the 800m with Ennis in second on 5754 points and Hazel in 16th with 5262 point – Ennis 133 points behind Chernova.

In the women’s 5000m heats Helen Clitheroe (John Nuttall) was unable to recapture the form that she demonstrated at the Aviva London Grand Prix in qualifying for the World Championships, in what proved to be a tough world championship qualifier.

With Ethiopian Meseret Defar kranking up the pace over the closing laps towards her 15:19.46 victory, Clitheroe became detached from the lead group and crossed the line in eighth with 15:37.73. It meant she was forced to play the waiting game as the second heat unfolded.

Fortunately for the European Indoor champion, the second race was run at a similar pace, and she slipped inside the last fastest loser spot to secure her place in the world final, however she was not pleased with her qualifying performance:

“It was very hot and I struggled a bit in the last part of the race so I’m pretty gutted to be honest,” she said.

“I should be able to run that sort of race – no excuses though, it just didn’t go right.

“It’s a tough event in terms of qualifying but I did feel I could be closer to the top five. I didn’t look at the clock today I just raced the race.”

Another successful qualifier from the morning’s action was triple jumper Yamile Aldama (Frank Attoh), whose first round 14.35m was enough to see her through to Thursday night’s final in fifth position out of the two qualifying pools:

Aldama – making her Aviva GB & NI debut was thrilled to have made light work of qualifying:

“Wicked is the only thing I can say. It’s destiny that I’m here and I’m happy and I’ve made the final.

“It was great to put the GB vest on – it was very exciting and very emotional.

“Tomorrow is my youngest son’s birthday so hopefully I can give him a very good birthday present. I will go out there and do my best in the final.” 

There was disappointment for other Aviva GB & NI team members this morning at the qualifying stages.  In the men’s 1500m heats James Shane (Martin Brown) struggled in the world class field finishing tenth in his heat in 3:41.17

“I just didn’t have it in my legs, I wasn’t up to it today. I gave it everything I could,” he said

“I’ve learnt a lot here and I will eventually take some positives out of it. I need to improve and I know where I need to work on and I need to make sure I’m ready for these sorts of races.”

In the men’s high jump, Olympic finalists Martyn Bernard (Dan Pfaff) and Tom Parsons (Fuzz Ahmed) both struggled with Bernard exiting the competition with a best height of 2.21, whilst Parson’s managed 2.25m – neither good enough to reach Thursday night’s final.

Bernard said: “It’s been a tough year I’ve had a few injury problems.

“Coming into this after Crystal Palace I was struggling with my knee and I did loads of work out here to get it jump-able and I think it was but my knee is really sore right now.”

Parsons reflected on a high quality qualifying competition:

“It’s probably the best qualification standard in history of high jump but still I should be able to jump those sort of heights as I felt good but I just didn’t pull it out.

“I like the heat, it might be a bit energy sapping but it just wasn’t to be today. I will carry on and work harder and harder.”

World Championship action featuring Aviva GB & NI team members continues on Tuesday evening and includes, amongst others,  Hazel and Ennis’s last heptathlon discipline – the 800m  – plus the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles semi finals featuring Dai Green (Malcolm Arnold) and Perri Shakes Drayton (Chris Zah).

Aviva GB & NI medals so far:

Sunday 28 August Mo Farah Men’s 10,000m Silver 

Monday 29 August Andy Turner Men’s 110mH  Bronze

Top 8 finishes

Monday 29 August William Sharman Men’s 110mH  5th

UKA will provide daily news reports from the 2011 World Championships on www.uka.org.uk and quotes from Aviva GB & NI athletes as well as regular updates via twitter @uka_athletics and Facebook www.facebook.com/UKAofficial
For full results visit: http://daegu2011.iaaf.org/Home.aspx  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aviva GB & NI medals so far:

Sunday 28 August        Mo Farah           Men’s 10,000m              Silver

UKA will provide daily news reports from the 2011 World Championships on www.uka.org.uk and quotes from Aviva GB & NI athletes as well as regular updates via twitter @uka_athletics and Facebook www.facebook.com/UKAofficial

For full results visit: http://daegu2011.iaaf.org/Home.aspx