World Athletics Championships in Doha - Day 6

Clicca qui per l'edizione italiana This time I arrive knowingly late to catch up with the blog. The taxi driver who takes me to the stadium is Ugandan, but he does not know that his country won one gold two days ago. I also have to do the usual double round to get in, so I miss all the heats of decathlon's 100 I arrive when the women's shot put is over half.

I'm back at the finish line. Next to me two Frenchmen, a group of Australians a little further. Later a couple will arrive, with a little girl, who looks more like their granddaughter than their daughter. It is a day of multiple events, for the first time both on the same days, and therefore there is the multiple events' attendance, with nationalities different from the other days: we see many Estonians and even more French than usual. Behind me there is a group that speaks an incomprehensible language: I think they are Estonians, but then for the 5000 they take out their flag and I discover that they are Danish. They say that they only have two athletes (and I complain if there are no Italians in a session ...), but I check that they mean in individual track & field events: they also have a marathon runner and the women's 4X100. Their athlete will end up in the slowest heat and will be among the first of the excluded.

The first race on the track I see is the 100hs of the heptathlon, where Williams shoots a tome which would be worth at least the final in the single race. The heats of women's 1500 follow: in the first one the leading athletes arrive so relaxed that I think there is still one lap a lap. In fact, 6 qualify, plus 6 times: I don't think it makes much sense to do 3 rounds in the 1500s, unless you widen the field of participants. The decathlon continues with the long, of which I do not see much, being on the other side. The same athlete seems to compete in both groups, but this depends on the fact that on the scoreboard the athletes always appear with only their surname, so if there are homonyms they are confused, and here there are two Williams (the picture is from HJ, where on of them will clear 4 heights all on third). It has already happened in the qualifications of PV with the Lavillenie brothers.

The program is more dense than the other days: there are no pauses, and it is also quite rare that there is only one event in progress: apart from the end of the day, it will happen a little with the heptathlon HJ and, for shorter periods, first with discus and then with hammer. The Italians competing are 6, but to see the first one you have to wait 3 hours, since Osakue is in group B of the discus qualifications. Group A starts with the first and third that throw and qualify directly, but the other performances are more human and make me think of a difficult qualification, but not impossible for the Italian. Osakue's turn comes, and she makes a disappointing 57.55. At the moment she is 12th, but we are not even in the middle of the first round. After her throw, I go to get something to eat. Having already tried the bar closest to my block, I decide to try the one a little further, which is called "Addiction café". Here it seems that it is a crime to display the menu: everyone keeps it on the counter or delivers it to customers in the queue, on paper, like now, or on a tablet. I discover that it serves almost only sweets: I take one of the few savory products, a cheese croissant in which the cheese will feel very little, and a cheesecake.

While I am away, Thiam and KJT continue their duel in high jump: they will stop at 1.95, but they will always do better than 5 men. After the first round, Osakue should already get close to her PB to pass, after the second PB would not even be enough. However, I am confident that she will improve a little, but nothing: two short throws, which she will make fouls.

The first track race of the evening is the 110hs semi-finals. First Holloway seems to be making a stratospheric race, then Shubenkov recovers and comes close to him, and it turns out that it was the others who did badly: 3rd clocks 13.47. Fofana is in the second: he fights, remains in the group and in the end he comes sixth (to me he seemed fifth, and this time I don't have the excuse of perspective).

We arrive at the race in which we had more hope: the 400 semi-finals. Re is in the first: in the second bend he seems to give in and I think he spent too much in his heat, but in the final straight he comes back up to third place, and with 44.85! I think maybe it won't be enough, but anyway he did everything he had to. In the second I am impressed by Gardiner and James who quietly closed, looking at each other, in 44.13 and 44.22. The third does better than Re, so it is necessary that in the last semi-final the third makes worse, but it will not be so, despite Norman's collapse: Re is first of the excluded from a final with 5 Caribbeans and no European. Very good anyway. Something similar will happen in 400hs, with the Italians doing what thy can (with Folorunso in the race until 350), but it will be not enough

The only field final is men's hammer throw, which for the first three rounds goes almost unnoticed, except for the home crowd, as there is a Qatari who arrives 9th. A Brit first makes a throw that would have been worth the silver, but foul, then another one, out of secto,r that would have been enough to enter the 8: he co mes10th. Almost everything happens in the fourth round, just when the decathlon's HJ is over and it's the only event left: of the 8 finalists (all Europeans) 6 improve, with the Ukrainian junior over 77 meters and 5 change position. The positions will remain the same until the end: you get second with a measure with which in 2007 you did not enter the top 8 (then there was some disqualification ...). Two track finals. First the women's 200 women: no light gamefor them, only entrance between fireworks. Among the finalists there is an Italian name, but unfortunately it is only the of the Bulgarian Lalova-Collio's husband. As yesterday in the 800, onlyone of the possible favorites is left, Asher-Smith, who wins. Behind her, vacuum: with the Italian record one would have come fourth. Only thanks to Kambundji's bronze I realize that one of my neighbors is Swiss.

For the 110hs they play the usual light games, but without writing the names on the final straight, as there are the hurdles. A Holloway-McLeod duel is looming, but at the 8th hurdle the Jamaican starts to stumble, then at the 10th he definitely loses his balance, also hitting Ortega. Distracted by this, I only notice that Holloway wins, I don't see what happens behind him. The saying that after the college season you have no more energy for the rest of the year for Holloway is not worth.

This time however the last race is not a final: there are still the decathlon's 400. I'm a little undecided whether to stay, in the end I do. The stadium empties a little (not that first it was full , but less than I expected.

And tomorrow another "continuous" schedule, and until past midnight.