It was just before 11.10am Paris local time when Cathal Doyle stepped out into the Stade de France, the first of three Irish runners in action in the Olympic men’s 1,500 metres heats, and it soon become perfectly evident just how exceptionally competitive the event has become.
With only the top six in each of the three heats making Sunday’s semi-finals, there was absolutely no room for error, and although Doyle positioned himself well mid-race, he finished ninth in 3:37.82, that heat won by Britain’s World champion Josh Kerr in 3:35.83.
Then came Luke McCann, who poured everything into the last 100m to finish eighth in heat two, running 3:35.73, before Andrew Coscoran found himself distanced over the last 400m of his heat, visibly struggling, and he finished at the back in 15th place, clocking 3:42.07.
It means the Irish trio all go into the new repechage round, introduced at the Olympics for the first time, set for Saturday evening (6.15pm Irish), offering them another shot at qualifying for Sunday’s semi-finals, but with an extra race in their legs.
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McCann however is not a huge fan, despite getting that second shot, and was dripping in sweat as he came through the mixed zone shortly after.
“I’m a bit of a sweat monster myself anyway,” said McCann, his heat won in 3:35.21 by Ethiopian Ermias Girma. “It’s not what I came to do but it is what it is. I’ve been preparing for rounds back-to-back for the last three years so I guess that gets tested tomorrow.
“I don’t think any athlete in that village really thought about a repechage, nobody goes out to lose, everyone’s got the semi-finals planned in their heads. I’ll get back, regroup and figure out how best to manoeuvre the repechage and go again.
“The confidence is there, I know it’s there, that’s what the goal will be. It’s the first time for the repechage, it’s usually top eight, and I was eighth there. If this was any other Olympics I’d be through already. Nobody really asked for this, but it is what it is.”
Doyle admitted the Stade de France presented a racing atmosphere never before experienced: “I decided to hug the rail for as long as I could and then because it wasn’t that quick, I probably let too many go by me. Down the backstraight I was trying to be patient even though there was a gap opening.
“That certainly gets you used to the crowd, but I’ll have to get myself a bit further up tomorrow. That’s my Olympic final now. And I didn’t sleep at all last night, even though I didn’t feel nervous, deep down you probably are. Hopefully I can run a bit freer tomorrow.”
Coscoran didn’t disguise his disappointment, where defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen from Norway cruised through in third, his 3:37.04 a mere jog, but even at that pace the Dublin athlete was struggling.
“I’ve had a few disruptions this year unfortunately, in terms of injury and sickness,” he said, “and generally my strength is consistency in training, and building aerobic strength. The disruptions threw things off a bit, not ideal preparation.
“I felt I was battling with my legs, was constantly fighting to stay in the mix, just didn’t have it today. But I’ll go in the repechage, I have to. It’s the Olympics at the end of the day, so going to give myself the chance, I’ll keep fighting anyway.”
For now at least all three get to fight again tomorrow night.
Ingebrigtsen came through the mixed zone wearing a face-mask, taking every possible precaution against illness, and has already stirred up his rivalry with Kerr again by saying there is no rivalry
“It’s hard to refer to him as a rival when he’s never there,” Ingebrigtsen said. “He is known as the Briton who never competes. I try to participate in as many races as I can, and I want to be here to entertain. It’s great to be a part of this.”
