World Athletics championsips in Doha - Day 3

Clicca qui per la versione italiana I linger to write Saturday's story and arrive at the stadium just before 8pm. I can enter just before the first race starts, the women's pole vault. I'm not sure I sat in the right seat because blocks are called in another way, compared to what is written on the ticket and I don't see the row number written, but the neighbors guarantee me that it is mine. I am in a beautiful position: right in line with the finish line: it is the advantage of not being a crowded world championship: when will I have another chanche like this? A few rows before me theris a large group of Jamaicans: when they play the Jamaican anthem (for Gayle) it will be heard singing, when they play the American one it will not, even if I believe that in the stadium Americans were still more than Jamaicans. I'm also sitting near commentators' seats: I'm looking for the Italian ones, but I don't see them. Then I realize that those closest to me do not have microphones and therefore must be journalists: the commentators are one block away. We start with pole vault: the finalists are 17 and the progression is very fast: the second height is already at 4.70, the third at 4.80. It's not sure that this will make it faster, because the consequence is that no one passes any height. The level remains very high: 12 clear 4.70, 6 succeed at 4.80. They arrive in 3 to 4.95: Sidorova and Morris, who never made a miss, and Stefanidi, who left two attempts at 4.90. Sidorova wins, cliearing it on last attempt. The scoreboard will always show the situation, jump by jump: nicel for a fan of vertical jumps like me, but to do so they neglect other events, like triple jump.

Then there are the heats of 200. Infantino loses contact at 150 and arrives far behind, Desalu misses direct qualification: he is the second best time, out of three, and two heats are left. In the penultimate one finds a place, in the last one the fourth is quite close to the first and I begin to fear, but he does not overtake him.

After 200 I go to get something to eat: this time there is a bar inside the stadium, just outside the grandstand, even if it doesn't have much choice. Return for the long jump victory ceremony. Ceremonies are made with virtual flags, I find it horrible

While I was at the bar there must have also been the ceremony of the women's hammer: the gold medalist, DeAnna Price comes to sit in the attendance and hugs everyone (me too). She was truly splendid: finally one that appreciates common spectators, and also cuddles them: she will remain my idol for the rest of her career!

Then there are the semi-finals of the women's 100 and men's 800. In the latter, home fans can also be seen, since a Qatari is engaged. 800 is perhaps the only race where I miss my binoculars, I am in such a good position that I see almost everything well. Then we get to the final of the mixed relay, where the USA go below 3'10 "(not much more than our men's team did a few years ago ...) and Poland tries to surprise by playing the men first: it stays in the lead until the middle of the fourth leg, then it is absorbed by the group.

There is also the triple jump, another race of sky-rocketing level, which unfortunately I can't follow much, being on the other side (with the landing covered by the metric bar): even on the screen you won't see many jumps. Taylor starts with two fouls, in the third he is saved and in the fourth he shoots 17.86. Then he will improve again, but I won't see him because the conjunction with race walk forces me to go out first.
I go out around 10.50 pm, giving up the women's 100 final and the last two rounds of triple jump, and I head towards the Corniche for the race walk. When I see athletes warm up (as if it was needed ...) I would like to get off, but the taxi driver insists that he can take me closer, and in the end he is right: this time I get to the race area quite quickly, despite another deviation imposed by surveillance .

Arriving, I find that the race has been postponed to midnight. I think I could have gone out a little later, but I couldn't have seen the final of 100 anyway, also because they would all come out and it would have been more difficult to find a taxi. It's still hot and humid, maybe a little less than yesterday, but on the other hand it will remain that way for the whole race. This time I had stocked up on water, but then I left it at the hotel (I am incorrigible, I know). There are a few more people than yesterday, even common spectators, especially Chinese. They also removed the pedestal on which yesterday we could sit. I meet New Zealand walker Quentin Rew, 11th yesterday, and ask him how he feels the day after: he replies "It's tough". I also know a couple of Guatemalan fans, even if only she is really Guatemalan (but she doesn't show it)

Palmisano loses contact already at the second kilometer, but for a while she always remains a few seconds behinds, so much so as to give hope that it is a waiting position. Instead at the 9th kilometer she loses contact seriously, even if she rallies in terms of positions. For a while she seems able to reach at least 8th, but then she loses contact also from the second group and closes 13th. Near me the coach of a Canadian and an American, who are among last, but he continues to tell them that they are going well. Indeed, the American , having been last for long, will manage to put four people behind her.

It ends with a Chinese domination, to the delight of the attendance: for a while two South Americans resist, then they give up too. Triplet, which would have been quater without a disqualification. And to say that we have not won 3 medals in a world championship since 2007 ...