Daegu Day 7: Bugger! And curse takes down two

Mitch Watt fell one place and 12 centimetres short in his quest for a gold medal in the world championships long jump final, beating his own bronze medal from Berlin as the best Australian performance in the event, and equalling the Olympic silver medal performances by Theo Bruce (1948), Gary Honey (1984) and Jai Taurima (2000), as the best Australian performance in a global championship.

The fact that he lost to the winning-est man in world championships history – Dwight Phillips now has four gold and one bronze from five consecutive finals – will have been of little consolation. Nor that he has battled an ankle injury in his take-off leg for most of his time in Europe any excuse.

Phillips lived up to his bib number – 1111 – and there was little Watt or anyone else in the competition could do about it.

Indeed the last four rounds were as deflated as Australian spirits. Watt could not find anything, try as he might. Nor could anyone else. Phillips’ winning jump came in the second round, as did Watt’s silver medal performance.

Zimbabwe’s Ngonidzashe Makusha wrapped up his country’s first world championships medal, the bronze, even earlier. His first-round 8.29 stood up all the way through. He also had an 8.14 from 26 centimetres behind the board in the third round, an 8.40 jump presuming that technology is centimetre-perfect.

None of the top eight improved after the second round.

So there it was. A lacklustre championships for Australia got a lot better, but still failed to hit the jackpot. Still, one more medal and we have matched Colombia.

That could come in the 100 metres hurdles final on Saturday night. Sally Pearson has a habit of producing first-round zingers – she charges out boldly where others ease their way into things. But her 12.53 in the heats on Friday morning suggests she will be wearing a medal of some colour on Saturday night.

And there was a sixth place in the javelin final from the under-rated Kimberley Mickle. What a final this one was, with Maria Abakumova of Russia just 29 centimetres short of the world record in taking the gold in 71.99 metres and Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic second with 71.58.

But what really caught the eye were the two ‘show me what you’ve got, and I’ll beat it’ performances by Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya in the women’s 5000 metres and Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica in the women’s 200.

Cheruiyot ran in front of Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar and Sylvia Kibet of Kenya for the last three laps of the 5000. ‘You think you’ve got the kick’, she challenged Defar, ‘let’s see if you have.’

Defar, of course, had no hesitation in adopting the kicker’s role. Ultimately, she also had no kick, at least not one explosive enough to get past Cheruiyot.

With a sub-59 second final 400 Cheruiyot became the first double champion of these championships and emulated Tirunesh Dibaba in Helsinki in 2005 in winning the 10,000 the same year she made her debut at the distance. What a year it has been for her – the world cross-country title, a win at the Kenyan championships (almost as tough as the world final!) and now a distance double in Daegu.

Kibet also got past Defar in the final straight, so the medallists finished in the same order as they had in Berlin two years ago. The pendulum in women’s distance running has certainly swung decisively Kenya’s way.

Campbell-Brown likewise faced two American opponents, the silky smooth Allyson Felix and the threateningly powerful 100 winner, Carmelita Jeter. As they entered the straight, Jeter in four and Felix in three were poised to strike at Campbell-Brown out in lane five. But the Jamaican, who runs with a pronounced forward lean, somehow leaned even further and accelerated away. She has won two Olympic gold medals at 200 and one world championship 100, but you can bet her first world gold at 200 was as big a thrill as any of them.

The Jamaican star did have some outside assistance. The ever-ambitious daily program upped the ante on its curse, this time taking them out in pairs. Jeter and Felix were on the cover. Neither of them won.

What can they do for 50km walk day. Surely it must be three Russians.