By David Monti, @d9monti | (c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved; used with permission
GLASGOW (01-Mar) — Rough and tumble racing marked the first day of middle distance action at the 19th World Athletics Indoor Championships here at Emirates Arena.
In the men’s 1500m –where advancement to the final went only to the first three finishers in the four heats with no time qualifiers– athletes jockeyed hard for position producing unexpected results. In the first heat Adam Fogg of Great Britain found himself face down on the track inside of the first 20 meters, his number half ripped off, his wrist hurting, and his upper thigh red from “track burn.” The 25 year-old, who ran a breakthrough 3:49.62 mile at the Millrose Games last month, had no idea how he fell.
“Got clipped; don’t know by who,” Fogg told reporters as he lifted the left leg of his racing uniform to show his track burn.
To his credit Fogg managed to catch up quickly, but with three laps to go he began to fade and would only finish sixth in 3:48.47.
“When you’ve gone down like that it kind of catches up to you quickly,” Fogg said. “I haven’t watched it back but I know it wasn’t my doing.”
Meet officials agreed and advanced Fogg –whose heat was won by American Cole Hocker in 3:39.32– to the final.
Fogg’s teammate, Callum Elson, wasn’t so lucky. He got stepped on early in the fourth heat, and could be seen hopping in pain on the track, unable to put any weight on his left foot. His championships were over.
There were also fireworks in the third heat when inside of the final 100 meters Ethiopian teenager Biniam Mehary made contact with Spaniard Mario Garcia, lost his balance, and tumbled to the track. Mexico’s Eduardo Herrera got tangled with Mehary, too, and also fell, but officials only advanced Mehary to the final. Garcia went on to finish third behind Portugal’s Isaac Nader and Canada’s Kieran Lumb.
“It’s roughly how I expected it to go,” Lumb told Race Results Weekly. “I think people aren’t used to just racing for place, and not having the pressure of any small q’s. For me, in some ways, that’s a blessing. I think I do better when I just focus on racing.”
Others to advance to Sunday’s final included Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, the 2018 and 2022 world 1500m champion; Norway’s Narve Gilje Nordas, last summer’s World Championships 1500m bronze medalist; and the USA’s Hobbs Kessler, the reigning World Athletics road mile champion. Kessler was happy about how he raced.
“I definitely had to work for it,” said Kessler, who finished second to Kenya’s Vincent Kibet Keter in the fourth and final heat in 3:39.07. “Some of those 58’s, 59’s felt fast, but once we got clicking down I still had the gears. I’m really happy.”
The women’s 1500m qualifying saw a dramatic fall in the final 10 meters. Four athletes –France’s Agathe Guillemot, Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom, Canada’s Lucia Stafford and Ireland’s Sarah Healy– were running four across in the final 50 meters knowing that only three of them would advance. Just before the line, Healy and Haylom made contact, Healy lost her balance and fell hard to the track, landing on our chest. Stunned, she needed a moment to catch her breath before stepping over the finish line in sixth place. As of this writing she was not advanced to the final by race officials.
“I actually don’t know (what happened),” Healy said. “All of a sudden I was on the floor.”
Guillemot was given the win in 4:11.46 with Haylom (4:11.54) and Stafford (4:11.56) in the other two qualifying positions.
The other three heats went more smoothly. Reigning USA indoor and outdoor 1500m champion Nikki Hiltz won the second heat over Britain’s Georgia Bell by surging hard down the homestretch. Hiltz, the American record holder for the mile, clocked a personal best 4:04.34, while Bell was timed in 4:04.39.
“That last 50 I was, like, should I do it? Should I not?” Hiltz told reporters. The former Arkansas Razorback added: “Winning is like a habit. I knew I had another gear, so like why not? I didn’t even know we were going that fast.”
Third place went to New Zealand’s Maia Ramsden who runs for Harvard University in the NCAA system. She set a national record 4:06.51 in third place while her coach, Alex Gibby, watched from the stands.
“I’m really happy,” Ramsden said. “He and I talked about it before the race. I’ve been really lucky to have some amazing indoor experiences this season. Running at Millrose (where she ran an NCAA-leading 4:24.83 mile) was really cool and kick-started this dream.”
Other key qualifiers for Sunday’s final were Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, who won the first heat in 4:12.38; her teammate Diribe Welteji, who won heat 3 in 4:07.17; and Hiltz’s USA teammate Emily Mackay who finished third in heat 3 in 4:08.04.
“I’m just so happy to be here, and I really wanted to make the final,” said Mackay, who broke into a big smile as she ran down the homestretch. “That was my main, biggest goal.”
Qualifying in the men’s and women’s 800m was considerably smoother, but the American team produced mixed results. On the men’s side both Bryce Hoppel and Isaiah Harris advance to the semi-finals. Hoppel, the reigning national indoor champion, won the second of five heats, passing race leader Abdelati El Guesse of Morocco in the home stretch. He posted a time of 1:46.15 to El Guesse’s 1:46.29, and was able to ease up before the line.
“It felt great,” Hoppel told reporters. “I raced exactly how I wanted to. Put me in the best lane so I could just go find a spot, just cruise it in, and do what I need to do. Just decided to pass someone on the last straight; didn’t really need to, but you never know who’s behind you.”
Harris finished second in the fifth heat which was a bump-and-grind affair. The runner-up at last month’s USATF championships clocked a season’s best 1:46.12, and said that the physical nature of his race was to be expected at a championships like these.
“That’s an indoor 800; it’s always physical,” he said in his post-race interview. “You know, everyone is fighting for the same tiny bit of space.” He continued: “I just wanted to finish top-two, and have no questions about time, and get through with the big Q.”
The winner of his heat was defending champion Mariano Garcia of Spain who put up the fastest time so far at these championships: 1:45.81. However, the 2022 silver medalist from these championships, Noah Kibet of Kenya, was not as fortunate. He finished third in the second heat in 1:46.90, and his time wasn’t good enough to advance.
Also advancing was Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu, who had the world’s fastest time coming into these championships; Sweden’s Andreas Kramer, who sprinted to second place in the fourth heat; and France’s Benjamin Robert, who was the fastest non-automatic qualifier (1:46.16).
The USA women had a tough first round. Neither Allie Wilson (fourth, heat 4) nor Addy Wiley (third, heat 5) were able to advance. Wilson, the reigning national indoor champion, settled into fourth place early in the race and was never able to move up from that position.
“I was just trying to maintain a good position,” Wilson said. She added: “Somewhere in there we must have slowed down and I didn’t react, or anything. Obviously, everyone here has a good kick. So, I tried to move at the end (but) I practically just stayed where I was.”
The top qualifier was home-country favorite Jemma Reekie who blitzed the third heat in a competition-leading 1:59.45, much to the delight of the Glaswegian crowd who roared in approval. Reekie, who trains on this track, said she really felt the support from the fans.
“It’s amazing,” she said, speaking directly to the crowd over the arena’s public address system. “Thanks for the support. It means so much. I hope I can inspire the next generation coming through.”
Right behind Reekie, Italy’s Eloisa Coiro posted the second-fastest time, a personal best 1:59.76 (her first sub-2:00 clocking). Also advancing were Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma and Habitam Alemu, Spain’s Lorea Ibarzabal, and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin, who said she is hoping for a medal.
“I’m expected at least to take home a medal for Jamaica,” Goule-Topping told reporters. “I’m just looking forward to the next round (and) just focus on making it to the finals.”
