Day 6 (20th) Morning Wrap

Brought to you by Edward Ovadia who is in Berlin with official IAAF accreditation covering the championships for Runnerstribe.com

It was a short morning program today, with only two non-decathlon events. But the first was of great interest to all Aussies - it was the mens pole vault qualification, with the injured Steve Hooker lining up to test the water. Injuring his adductor and hamstring last week, Hooker has been resting and rushing to recover for the qualification today. The plan was to jump just one height, no warm ups, hoping that 5.65m would be enough to make the final. Hooker only needed one jump to clear it, but was in a lot of pain on the landing, and took a long time to get back up. He's into the final, but how well he can do, or even if he takes his place there is something we will have to wait and see.

Renaud Lavillenie of France looked very good in the second qualifying group, and didn't miss a height. With Hooker injured, he may well be the one to beat.

Hooker: "I was not great. I was just looking for a clearance. I felt tight after I fell on the mat. I am not sure about my appearance in the final. I'm jumping well, it's just that I'm not health. I don't know if there are more than one or two jumps in me. Definitely it's not going to be an option for me to do any warm-up jumps. I think if I do a warm-up jump and then have wait an hour to start competition it's not good for me."

Lavillenie: "I had everything under control. The qualification is done. This is really a pleasure, it was was important to do it with so few jumps."

Then came the mens 800m, with several backing up from last night's 1500m final, including Asbel Kiprop, and the winner Yusuf Saad Kamel. Everyone who should have qualified did so, with Kamel looking good after winning his first world title. The fastest heat was won by Gary Reed in 1:45.76, but all the top runners were taking it easy.

Kaki: "The race was not fast. It was just for qualification."

Ali: "This was a good race so if it goes like this I think it is going to be very good result. I will try my best to qualify into the final. It will be already Ramadan but I will do my best."

Kamel: "This first heat I ran very easily. But honestly, I did not sleep last night because I was very excited because of yesterday!"

Kiprop: "I am not OK."

Rudisha: "I feel well. We started well and we'll continue well. The semi is going to be very tough with only the top two as automatic qualifiers."

 

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'Hills are speedword in disguise '
Frank Shorter