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I had calculated to see the 35 km race walk a little begun, and indeed I arrive that it started since 28 minutes. Shortly afterwards the men transit at the 7 km lap: this time the lap is 2 km and they have done an initial lap of one, so the laps are at odd kilometres. I find a place a little further away than at the women's 20, again on the side where the walkers pass on the way back, which is much more crowded than the other as it is easier to reach. At first I had even considered crossing the bridge to the outward side, but then I saw that it was not necessary. Next to me, on one side Spaniards and Greeks, on the other side Germans, Romanians and further on Italians. In the course of the race some Japanese will also come. The Spaniards seem to be the most numerous, immediately followed by the Italians: one also sees a couple of Sardinian flags and T-shirts dedicated to Stano. A steward passes by to ask not to put flags in front of the advertising signs on the barriers, a German complains: "it's the World Championships, what's wrong with flags?"
At the first pass I see, among the men there is a leading group of 16 athletes, with Stano among the first, while Agrusti, Orsoni and even more Giupponi are already behind (the Italians are 4, the defending champion being there). Among the women there is a leading group of 7, then, after two isolated athletes, a larger group, but the Italians are still further back. Palmisano passes besides the course (on the other side), waving to the fans: I only realise this because some Italians are singing a chorus in her honour. At the first passages men and women are clearly separated, then around the 9th km the first men will lap the last women and at the 19th the first, around the 15th km the lapping between women will begin, around the 21st between men. At a certain point it would be very difficult for someone arriving at that point to catch on: at least the leadrers can be recognised because they are preceded by the TV bike.
In the men's race nothing happens for a few laps, then towards the 14th-15th km the Frenchman Quinon takes off, also taking advantage of the women's lapping and arrives to have even a 40-second lead. When he passes before me, however, it always seems to me that he unblocks his knee and when he starts to lose ground he really gives the sensation of running, From my position I do not see the situation of the disqualification proposals, but if some top athlete had been penalised I would have noticed. I read on the swebite of the disqualification of a few second-ranked athletes (in the end the disqualified will be 6 men and 2 women). After the 23rd km the group, reduced to 7 and with Stano in the lead, began to slowly regain ground and shortly afterwards caught up with him. At that point, however, Stano broke away and remained seventh. Of the leaders, he is the one with the most suffering-looking . At 31st km I read that Quinon has lost exactly 3'30", from which I understand that he has been penalised. Shortly afterwards he is disqualified, stops in th middle of the course and draws applause. The Spaniard Martin launches the attack, only Equadorean Pintado and Japanese Kawano resist him. On the last transit before me, Martin has a small lead over Pintado, but it should be enough to ensure him victory.
Among the women, five remain in the lead until around the 20th km, then Spain's Perez launches the attack and only Peru's Garcia Leon resists her for a while. By the 25th km, the podium was already delineated: Perez-Garcia Leon-Ntrismpioti and the gaps were increasing. With each transit, Ntrismpioti is greeted with more enthusiasm by the Greeks next to me. Perez also catches up with some of the men, ending up ahead by nine (out of 34).
I leave at the arrival of the last Italian, increasingly convinced that the two race walk competitions are too similar: this year the winners were the same, even so they were the only ones to finish on the podium in both races, as opposed to four last year.
Tonight, too, my resolutions to arrive for the start of the races fail miserably: I see on the screen the start of the 5000 heat while I am queuing at the controls, a slightly shorter queue than yesterday. Arriving in front of the screen, I see that there are two laps to go, so I decide to watch the end there. The second heat starts while I'm getting my food: this time there was no hot dog and I fell back on a 'pretzel' which didn't have much in common with what we normally know by that name. I had also taken a drink, only to discover that they were handing out bottles of water at the entrance to the stands.
I arrive at my place that the heat is at the second kilometre, it had been announced that it was sold out, but a few gaps can still be seen, again especially in the second deck above the finishing straight. A few Swiss can be seen, but above all a lot of Greeks: at the long jump presentation Tentoglu will be greeted by a roar never seen before for a non-native athlete. In the final, Dutchmen and Jamaicans will also be noticed.
The first foeld event is, as aid before, long jump. After eight jumps of no more than 8 metres, it is Tentoglu's turn. He takes off with a good margin and it is immediately apparent that he goes very long, although I did not think so: 8.50! Pinnock immediately replied with 8.40, also taking off in advance, In the second round Pinnock does 8.50 and takes the lead for the second measure, while the other two Jamaicans took third and fourth place. The outcome of Ehammer's jump, which was very long in the eye, is held in abeyance, so that they move on to the next: then they will both be declared fouls. From the third to the fifth round not much happens: only Tentoglu makes two good jumps, which however do not change the ranking. So we arrive at the last jump: at the turn of the Chinese Wang, while the scoreboard asks for applause, he instead asks for silence. However, he does not improve. Gayle equals the other Jamaican at 8.27: both first and third place are decided on countback. It comes down to Tentoglu: his jump seems long, but not to take the lead, instead it is 8.52. The Greeks celebrate, but it's not over, there's still Pinnock, but he does 8.39: not enough. On the one hand for the first time in five years we had two over 8.50, but on the other hand with 8.05 one came fifth and with 7.94 eighth
The track events continue with the semi-finals of the 200, first women's, then men's. Kaddari is in the first: she arrives at the straight in line with the 4 of the inner lanes, the poorest and more or less stays there, She closes seventh (then sixth after a disqualification), but 8/100 from fourth. Wilson goes below 22", Jackson beats Richardson, as in the 100. When it comes to the second men's semi-final, I see that they announce the third, so I wonder if I've missed something (or if I'm just going senile). I then read that the first was postponed after the other two, they don't explain why: I find out later that it was because of an accident between the shuttles transporting the athletes. Apart from Lyles who did 19.75 in control, disappointing results: one got to the final with 20.21 and with 20.10 with which Tortu had been the first out last year, one was the first of the repechaged.
The other field event, the women's hammer, was the most eagerly awaited competition, by the Italians because of Fantini and by me in particular, because in addition to hoping for Fantini I wanted to see my old acquaintance DeAnna Price, whom I had met in Doha. At Fantini's first throw I was thrilled because at the start it seemed to fly very far, instead it stopped at 71.94. The first round ended with the throw of the Canadian Rogers which was a category apart: 77.22. The American Kassanavoid came close to her with 76.00 and then 76.36, but she made three more throws which would have been enough to win, In the second round, Fantini improved to 73.85: fifth, with the podium at 33 cm Meanwhile, Price, after two fouls, gets to seventh place in the third attempt and to third in the fifth, moving Fantini down to 6th, with a throw which I will not see as I was busy following the 800. At the end she went to hug first the other medallists, then her husband-coach in the stands.
Meanwhile on the track, the semi-finals of the men's 800 were taking place. In the second, Tecuceanu comesin last on the final straight, but manages to fight his way through to fourth place, with a personal best. In the third, Barontini seemed to lose contact at the start, due to the high pace, but he arrived at the last 100 in the pack and at one point looked like he could finish third. He finished fifth, 11/100 from qualification.
This brings us to the finals. We start with the 100hs: in the presentation Amusan receives some booing (but less than aapplauses). Harrison starts off strong, then Camacho-Quinn overtakes her and it looks to me as if she has won, but I had not noticed Jamaican Williams in lane 2, who returns to victory after 8 years, Amusan never in the race, Jamaican fans now get noticed: there are two groups of them in the first deck, on the finish side. The Jamaican party will be doubled with the 400, which confirms the predictions of great balance: at the start Norwood seems to be ahead, then Hudson-Smith enters the straight slightly ahead, but is overtaken by Jamaican Watson.
And finally, the women's 400hs. The Dutch flags and banners in honour of Bol come out: the fans are mostly in my sector, I have some in front and behind. The Dutchwoman arrives on the straight with a lead that is less clear-cut than one might have expected, but which increases in the last 100 metres. She wins with a 51.70 which seems normal today, but let's not forget that four years ago it would have been a world record by more than half a second. Folorunso is clearly last at least until the seventh hurdle, but as she enters the straight it becomes clear that she can come back at least on one. In the end she comes back on two and finishes sixth in 54.19: worse than yesterday, but better than the previous Italian record.
The crowd can also be seen, and perhaps above all, on the way out: there is a queue to get in at the tram stop, In the pizzeria near the hotel there is a group with Tentoglu T-shirts. And tomorrow the morning session is back, with the decathlon.
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