Daegu Wrap-Day Two: Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Ibrahim Jeilan and Brittney Reese

The biggest shock of the day was the obvious disqualification of the great man Usain Bolt. The world watched in sheer disbelief as the defending champion and record holder jumped the gun, pulled off his vest and walked from the track in clear frustration. The only explanation I can come up with is, Bolt knowing his penchant for bad starts, tried too hard to ensure he wasn't left in the  blocks. The result, a devastating false start. In hindsight he will tell himself that sitting in the blocks would still have put him in gold medal contention and it wasn't really worth the risk. This was very hard to watch but Bolt still has his pet event coming up, where I'm sure he will rebound.



The young Yohan Blake, however rose to the occasion to run a brilliant race. Blake didn't get the best of starts but got to the front by the 50 metre point, powering away to 9.92secs into a headwind. Walter Dix did one better than predicted, grabbing silver in 10.08sec. While veteran and former world champion Kim Collins ran exceedingly well for bronze in 10.09 sec. Collins gets a well deserved nod for medalling in what is his 9th world championships.

The Frenchman Lemaitre ran admirably for 4th. I 'm not quite sure what happened to Jamaica's Nesta Carter who finished dead last in 10.95, really just jogging to the line. I must point out that France got two men to the final which which I think will prove interesting in the 4x100m relay.

The next revelation of the day, came in the men's 10,000 meters. Ethiopia's relative unknown runner  Ibrahim Jeilan pulled off an unbelievable win to take the race in 27:13:81 upsetting pre-race favourite Mo Farah who finished second.

 
The race did not get off to a spectacular start, with a rather conservative pace maintained throughout. As is customary in these long distances, the real excitement started in the last two laps. Britain's Farah took a commanding lead, holding off the challenge of Ethiopia's Imane Merger. At this point I honestly thought Farah, (ahead by a good 7metres) had it in the bag. However with about 100m to go, Jeilan who had dispensed of his team mate, began to challenge Farah's lead. In full on sprint mode Jeilan not only caught put passed Farah literally steps away from the line.

The look on Farah's race was heart breaking really. He ran a brilliant 53 second last lap but today it was just not good enough. Jeilan would not be denied. Ethiopia finished 1st and 3rd. Defending champion Kenenisa Bekele who had not run for two years, did not finish.

The women's long jump was also entertaining. Defending champion USA's Brittney Reese jumped herself to yet another victory. Her opening jump of 6.82m was enough to secure the gold medal.  Rissia's Olga Kucherenko got the silver with 6.77m and a joyous Ineta Radevica from Latvia was 3rd with 6.76m


This was indeed a telling day at the championships, I think the most important lesson athletes should take away from this is "nothing is guaranteed". Interesting times are ahead.