- Oct 14, 2006
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Morning session
The first morning of the athletics has finally arrived; the wonderful Olympic stadium gets its first sporting use of the games with the Heptathlon taking centre stage on this opening session.
The first event on the track was indeed the Heptathlon, and the first discipline being the 100m hurdles. The first emotion anybody watching will have endured is pure astonishment at the unbelievable capacity crowd and more noticeably the noise that it generates. The first recipient of a home ovation came in the second heat in the shape of Louise Hazel. The atmosphere upon her name being called out was electric and she flew out of the blocks attacking the first 5 hurdles with vigour. Unfortunately she tied up ever so slightly and ran 13.48, which was still a seasons best. Given her start though she will certainly feel that she was unable to quite utilise her performance and squeeze the maximum points out of this event.
Next came a look into British athletics future as the young athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson ran in the next heat. Hopes for this young athlete grow daily after she beat Jessica Ennis’ junior record recently. She certainly has the talent to go all of the way and these games will be if nothing else a huge learning experience for her and will stand her in good stead for the future. Upon her announcement the crowd again responded with a chorus of noise, to the point that the young athlete was clearly overwhelmed and exclaimed “oh WOW” visibly. She ran an encouraging race and achieved a personal best time of 13.48.
Then came the moment a nation has been waiting for, you could almost say that this signals the real start of the games for some fans; Jessica Ennis, the face of the games, was announced to the crowd! To put it simply the crowd went nuts! The roof was literally nearly blown off.
Drawn in lane 7 with most of her main rivals in the same heat, Ennis was in need of a blistering start to her campaign in what is her favourite event. She most certainly didn’t disappoint. Ennis stormed to 12.54!! The best time ever by a heptathlete, and a time that Colin Jackson remarked “would qualify her for the individual 100m hurdles final”. This time is a new British record in the hurdles she managed to knock two tenths off of her personal best, the perfect start. Chernova thought to be her closest rival was a second behind, and therefore gives Jessica Ennis a healthy lead going into the next rotation. One rival who was very encouraged by her performance was reining Olympic champion Dobrynska who is not renowned for her hurdling but ran sharply before slightly tieing up towards the end to post a new seasons best of 13.57. While the time was not noteworthy it is clear she is in very good shape which is ominous with her strengths coming on day two of the event.
The next home hopes to grace the track were the men’s 400m hurdlers. All three athletes will have high hopes of reaching the final. World, European and Commonwealth champion Dai Greene ran in the third heat from the narrow lane 1. A raucous applause greeted him as he prepared to embark on his journey to complete his set of titles, only the Olympics title has so far eluded him. He looked very easy winning in 48.98 after easing up over the last 30m.
Rhys Williams ran in the next heat alongside favourite Javier Culson. Culson ran extremely comfortably winning the heat in a time much quicker than the earlier heats, but unfortunately Rhys Williams finished a disappointing 5th and had to rely on a fastest loser spot even though he had run a seasons best, in what was the fastest heat. Regardless of him getting through it seems very unlikely that he will progress past the semi final stage from what is likely to be a poor lane draw. Jack Green ran well relying on his finishing speed to come home second in his heat.
All the main protagonists made it though along with the British athletes, notable performances came from US champion Tinsley, former Olympic champion Sanchez and two-time Olympic champion Taylor who all looked extremely comfortable.
Another British medal hope was up next on track as the heats of the women’s 400m commenced. Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu came second in her heat after easing up and looked very strong in doing so, adding fuel to the belief that once again she is ready to peak for a major competition final. Shana Cox and Lee McConnell qualified in third from their heats and will struggle to get much further on this evidence.
The major rivals for Ohuruogu are expected to be World champion Montsho and Richards-Ross and both looked impressive in winning their heats, as did the Jamaican hopes Whyte and Williams-Mills.
British hope Aldama qualified for the final of the triple jump with ease by jumping 14.45 with her opening jump, but there was disappointment in the field events as Carl Myerscough failed to qualify for the final. Alex Smith had mixed emotions in the Hammer throw as he threw well reaching just under 75m. This was very low in his pool and with another pool yet to come, his chances were bleak. However, this was suprisingly far enough to reach the final, after only two people qualified from the second pool of athletes leaving Smith 12th. Stokes enjoyed the 300m steeplechase but was never in the same race as those who challenged to qualify for the final. He ran in a heat that contained Olympic champion Kemboi, who ran a very strangely paced race and looked, distracted by off track problems, but still qualified.
The session ended much in the same way as it began after the heptathlon girls returned with the high jump. There was early misery for Louise Hazel as she failed at just 1.62 capping of a slightly disappointing morning for her. Both Ennis and Johnson Thompson suffered no such early problems though, as they progressed to the later heights. Ennis managed to jump 1.86 which is a very solid showing and will please her even though she came so close with her second attempt at 1.89. Ennis ensured that she finished the session in front of the field, so is right on course to fulfil her dreams. Johnson Thompson enjoyed a storming performance in the high jump finishing with a great height of 1.89m a new PB, putting her 3rd overall, an amazing start. A major rival to Ennis for the gold Chernova disappointed once again in the high jump reaching just 1.80m, though she still has all of her strong events yet to come despite her being outside the top 10 presently. USA athlete Fountain continued to have a great first day in the high jump and has certainly thrown her hat in the mix for medals.
For the British athletes it was a very successful opening session, and overall so far there is yet to be any shocks of note.
The first morning of the athletics has finally arrived; the wonderful Olympic stadium gets its first sporting use of the games with the Heptathlon taking centre stage on this opening session.
The first event on the track was indeed the Heptathlon, and the first discipline being the 100m hurdles. The first emotion anybody watching will have endured is pure astonishment at the unbelievable capacity crowd and more noticeably the noise that it generates. The first recipient of a home ovation came in the second heat in the shape of Louise Hazel. The atmosphere upon her name being called out was electric and she flew out of the blocks attacking the first 5 hurdles with vigour. Unfortunately she tied up ever so slightly and ran 13.48, which was still a seasons best. Given her start though she will certainly feel that she was unable to quite utilise her performance and squeeze the maximum points out of this event.
Next came a look into British athletics future as the young athlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson ran in the next heat. Hopes for this young athlete grow daily after she beat Jessica Ennis’ junior record recently. She certainly has the talent to go all of the way and these games will be if nothing else a huge learning experience for her and will stand her in good stead for the future. Upon her announcement the crowd again responded with a chorus of noise, to the point that the young athlete was clearly overwhelmed and exclaimed “oh WOW” visibly. She ran an encouraging race and achieved a personal best time of 13.48.
Then came the moment a nation has been waiting for, you could almost say that this signals the real start of the games for some fans; Jessica Ennis, the face of the games, was announced to the crowd! To put it simply the crowd went nuts! The roof was literally nearly blown off.
Drawn in lane 7 with most of her main rivals in the same heat, Ennis was in need of a blistering start to her campaign in what is her favourite event. She most certainly didn’t disappoint. Ennis stormed to 12.54!! The best time ever by a heptathlete, and a time that Colin Jackson remarked “would qualify her for the individual 100m hurdles final”. This time is a new British record in the hurdles she managed to knock two tenths off of her personal best, the perfect start. Chernova thought to be her closest rival was a second behind, and therefore gives Jessica Ennis a healthy lead going into the next rotation. One rival who was very encouraged by her performance was reining Olympic champion Dobrynska who is not renowned for her hurdling but ran sharply before slightly tieing up towards the end to post a new seasons best of 13.57. While the time was not noteworthy it is clear she is in very good shape which is ominous with her strengths coming on day two of the event.
The next home hopes to grace the track were the men’s 400m hurdlers. All three athletes will have high hopes of reaching the final. World, European and Commonwealth champion Dai Greene ran in the third heat from the narrow lane 1. A raucous applause greeted him as he prepared to embark on his journey to complete his set of titles, only the Olympics title has so far eluded him. He looked very easy winning in 48.98 after easing up over the last 30m.
Rhys Williams ran in the next heat alongside favourite Javier Culson. Culson ran extremely comfortably winning the heat in a time much quicker than the earlier heats, but unfortunately Rhys Williams finished a disappointing 5th and had to rely on a fastest loser spot even though he had run a seasons best, in what was the fastest heat. Regardless of him getting through it seems very unlikely that he will progress past the semi final stage from what is likely to be a poor lane draw. Jack Green ran well relying on his finishing speed to come home second in his heat.
All the main protagonists made it though along with the British athletes, notable performances came from US champion Tinsley, former Olympic champion Sanchez and two-time Olympic champion Taylor who all looked extremely comfortable.
Another British medal hope was up next on track as the heats of the women’s 400m commenced. Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu came second in her heat after easing up and looked very strong in doing so, adding fuel to the belief that once again she is ready to peak for a major competition final. Shana Cox and Lee McConnell qualified in third from their heats and will struggle to get much further on this evidence.
The major rivals for Ohuruogu are expected to be World champion Montsho and Richards-Ross and both looked impressive in winning their heats, as did the Jamaican hopes Whyte and Williams-Mills.
British hope Aldama qualified for the final of the triple jump with ease by jumping 14.45 with her opening jump, but there was disappointment in the field events as Carl Myerscough failed to qualify for the final. Alex Smith had mixed emotions in the Hammer throw as he threw well reaching just under 75m. This was very low in his pool and with another pool yet to come, his chances were bleak. However, this was suprisingly far enough to reach the final, after only two people qualified from the second pool of athletes leaving Smith 12th. Stokes enjoyed the 300m steeplechase but was never in the same race as those who challenged to qualify for the final. He ran in a heat that contained Olympic champion Kemboi, who ran a very strangely paced race and looked, distracted by off track problems, but still qualified.
The session ended much in the same way as it began after the heptathlon girls returned with the high jump. There was early misery for Louise Hazel as she failed at just 1.62 capping of a slightly disappointing morning for her. Both Ennis and Johnson Thompson suffered no such early problems though, as they progressed to the later heights. Ennis managed to jump 1.86 which is a very solid showing and will please her even though she came so close with her second attempt at 1.89. Ennis ensured that she finished the session in front of the field, so is right on course to fulfil her dreams. Johnson Thompson enjoyed a storming performance in the high jump finishing with a great height of 1.89m a new PB, putting her 3rd overall, an amazing start. A major rival to Ennis for the gold Chernova disappointed once again in the high jump reaching just 1.80m, though she still has all of her strong events yet to come despite her being outside the top 10 presently. USA athlete Fountain continued to have a great first day in the high jump and has certainly thrown her hat in the mix for medals.
For the British athletes it was a very successful opening session, and overall so far there is yet to be any shocks of note.