SHELLY-ANN FRASER-PRYCE continued the Jamaican domination of the sprints on the third day of the World Athletics Championships in Beijing. Twenty fours hours after the sensational victory by compatriot Usain Bolt in the men’s event, the shortest woman in the field destroyed the opposition to defend her 100m title in by a clear metre in 10.76 seconds.
The diminutive double Olympic champion scorched the opposition with a sensational first 20 metres. Holland’s Dafne Schippers made up ground in the later stages to take the silver medal in a Dutch record of 10.81 seconds and there was some consolation for the formerly dominant Americans as Tori Bowie claimed third in 10.86.
The men’s steeplechase went to form as the flamboyant Ezekiel Kemboi led home a Kenyan a probably unprecedented cleansweep of the top four places. It was no surprise either when another Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s 10,000m.
Similarly favourite Caterine Ibargüen comfortable picked up Colombia’s first gold medal at these championships in the women’s triple jump. However, there was a shock in the men’s pole vault when Canada’s Shawnacy Barber cleared 5.90m at the first attempt to relegate French world record holder Renaud Lavillenie to joint third.
Earlier in the morning session, there was disappointment for Ireland’s “steeple chicks” in the heats of the 3000m steeplechase with all three suffering in the Beijing heat. Kerry O’Flaherty, Michelle Finn and Sara Treacy all battled bravely in their respective preliminary rounds but found it hard coping on the global stage.
O’Flaherty had the advantage of being drawn in the third and final heat. Although only the first three finishers were guaranteed a place in the final, she would have known what was needed to secure a spot as one of the six fastest losers.
After remaining solidly at the tail of the lead bunch for opening two laps, the Newcastle athlete started to slip out the back after a fast first kilometre reached by Turkey’s Tugba Guvenc in 3:05.66.
Qualification was soon a distant pipe dream for the 34-year-old Loughinisland woman who found herself 100 metres back on the leaders after two kilometres. After that it was a question of pride and survival as she dragged her tired body to the finish line as the temperature surged toward 30 degrees.
After a final agonising lap, relief came in the end as she broke the electronic beam in 13th with a 10:05.10 timing. That was her slowest mark this year and well behind her best of 9:42.61 set in Letterkenny last month. Hyvin Jepkemoi of Kenya was the heat winner in 9:26.19.
“Thank you to everyone for all the support, today was amazing competing against the world's best,’ said O’Flaherty.
“I'm disappointed with my time, but I went out to race the race. It's been a fantastic experience and a great stepping stone for the Road to Rio.”
Michelle Finn was in the first race but struggled to ninth place in 9:55.27 while Sara Treacy finished 13th place in the second heat with a 9:48.24 clocking. The wisdom of sending three Irish representatives in the steeplechase may be questioned when Britain did not send any despite their number one Lennie Waite being faster than all the Irish girls this season.
Irish-American Tori Peña, who qualifies to represent Ireland on account of a Derry granny, finished 20th overall in the women's pole vault qualification with a best height of 4.30m. See results.
