ATHLETICS: Whoever decided running was good for the heart obviously hadn't considered the qualifying rounds of the World Indoor championships.
Both Alistair Cragg and James Nolan raised the pulse to dangerous levels during yesterday's opening sessions, including those of us up in the media seats.
Cragg had to endure a near fatal stumble before securing his place in tomorrow's 3,000 metres final, but that hardly matched the drama of Nolan's 1,500 metres heat, which saw him bounce around the field before winning. Nolan goes in his final today and in this form anything is possible.
In between, however, David Gillick, dropped those pulse levels back to normal when failing to progress from his 400 metres heat. The European Indoor champion never even got going and his lack of races ultimately proved his downfall. So after a long and testing day inside Moscow's old Olympic palace the Irish medal expectations have been unexpectedly shifted.
Cragg's trouble began with about a third of his heat left to run. He suddenly clipped the athlete in front of him, dropped from fourth to 10th within the next 200 metres and looked to be out of it. Yet he slowly recovered his stride and finally finished up fourth - exactly what he needed to guarantee qualification.
His relief was evident afterwards, but Cragg knows he can't afford another mishap if he's to figure in the final. The 3,000 metres is without doubt the most competitive event in Moscow, featuring the world leaders over 5,000 metres (Eluid Kipchoge), steeplechase (Saif Shaheen), and 10,000 metres (Kenenisa Bekele) - and a few other scary prospects.
It was while moving to the front of the field alongside Kipchoge and Shaheen that Cragg unwittingly ran into the back of the Ugandan athlete Isaac Koprop as he tried to come around him.
"Yeah, I just ran into the back of him," he said, "and man, hit him hard. My left leg was totally taken out, so I hit the track really hard with my right one. I just had to see what happened, and assessed my body. But they weren't really moving that quickly up front, so I just picked them off one by one. Once I got back in control I think I still qualified comfortably. Maybe I panicked a little but I wanted to get my legs back, because my whole body went to jelly for a while."
He only passed the Austrian Gunther Weidlinger in the final strides, but in taking fourth in 7:53.74 Cragg did more than enough to qualify, as the next four also went through as fastest losers. Kipchoge took the win in 7:52.57, with Tariku Bekele - younger brother of Kenenisa - next in 7:52.58.
The elder Bekele took the second heat in 7:54.85, and assuming his brother will help him out in tomorrow's final is the athlete to beat - but only just.
Nolan's delight at making the 1,500 metres final was written all over his face. He looked hopelessly boxed in with two laps with remaining, yet somehow surged his way to the front at the bell and held off the rest of the field to take the win in 3:44.67.
"Tactically it was hard," he said, "and I was getting a bit worried. There was a lot of bunching and barging, but my plan was to hit with 300 metres to go, and hit it really hard. I was still boxed then in, but coming into the straight for the bell I gave it everything. And I was surprised at how powerful I felt when I did kick. I was able to take off, and it's been a while since I was able to do that."
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