Five gold medals are to be decided on day 4 of the athletics, and Australia will see our own 2011 IAAF Female Athlete of the Year Sally Pearson in the heats of the 100m hurdles.
In addition, 28 time World Record holder Elena Isinbaeva goes for her third Olympic gold medal in a row, as well as the first appearance of Kenyan 800m superstar David Rudisha.
The Gold Medal Events:
Women’s Pole Vault
When you talk about women’s pole vault, there is really only one person to talk about, Elena Isinbaeva. 28 world records, 2 Olympic golds, 2 outdoor and 4 indoor World Championship golds is the stuff of legends.
However, as her no height in Berlin in 2009 and her poor performance in Daegu in 2011 shows, she is not unbeatable. She has shown that she is in form this year by breaking her own World Indoor Record in February and she looked so much more impressive than anyone else in qualifying.
It should be a case of whether she stuffs up rather than whether someone can beat her.
Australia’s Alana Boyd made it through to the final. She did do it the hard way with two third attempt clearances, though her chances in the final have been improved by the non-qualification of Feofanova and Murer who are ranked 3rd and 4th on the all time list.
Alana has the 5th best performance of 2012 of the girls that made the final and so if she jumps to her ability she will be right in there with a shot of a medal.
My tips are Isinbaeva for gold, Spiegelburg for silver and Bleasdale for bronze.
Women’s Shot Put
The women’s shot put on paper looks like a two horse race between Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus and New Zealand’s Valerie Adams. Between them they have the 11 best throws of the year and their nearest rival is nearly a metre back. While Ostapchuk has the better seasons best she lost to Adams in their last nine encounters including two this year.
Ostapchuk’s best outside of her home country of Belarus is way down on her best at home (which is always suspect) where as Adams just throws a long way where ever she goes. My tips are Adams for gold, Ostapchuk for silver and Kolodko for bronze.
Men’s 400m Hurdles
Our two Australian’s in the semi finals Thomas and Cole did not make it through to the final. But to show how difficult it was to qualify there was someone in the semi final who ran 48.23 (a time that would have won the gold medal in last year’s World Championships) that did not make it to the final.
Out of the eight finalists, only two did not run season’s bests in the semis. Looking at season’s best times and PBs you could only discount Leford Green as someone who will not win the gold. Ahtletes to watch are Angelo Taylor from USA who won this event in 2000 and 2008 and is aiming for his 3rd gold medal in the same event.
Felix Sanchez from the Dominican Republic won the gold in the Olympics in between in 2004. After that race he was finally able to discard a red LED flashing wrist band that he received during the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics, which after his disappointing Sydney campaign he vowed to wear in every race until he won an Olympic gold medal.
My tips are Culson for gold, Sanchez for silver and David Green for bronze.
Women’s 300m Steeplechase
I was going to say that this is the only track distance event where the Africans don’t fully dominate but then Rupp went and won the silver in the 10km and ruined that line. So let’s just say it will be a battle between the Russians and the Africans.
Galkina from Russia, the world record holder and defending champion, is on the way back to form after taking time out to have a baby and in the mean time the Ethiopians and Kenyans have started to close in on her record. One person to watch is Marta Domínguez from Spain.
The former 5000m runner has a habit of wanting to run on the rail just behind the leader and will do anything to protect that spot. I have no idea how she does not get disqualified from races as she simply grabs opponents and shoves them out of the way in her efforts to stay in third place.
I keep waiting for her to get her comeuppance and what better stage than the Olympic final. Australian hope Genevieve LaCaze ran a PB in the heat but did not make it through to the final. My tips are Zaripova for gold, Cheywa for silver and Assefa for bronze.
Men’s 400m
The Australian selectors have been justified in putting 19 year old Steve Solomon into the individual 400m as he ran sub 45 for the first time in the semis and has qualified for the final. The race for gold has opened up after favourite and defending champion Lashawn Merritt pulled up in the heats.
Fellow 19 year old and 2011 World Champion Kirani James looks the man to beat after the semi finals. Other men to look out for are the Borlee twins from Belgium and another 19 year old, the World Junior Champion Luguelín Santos. What is it about 19 year olds and 400m?
My tips are James for gold, Johnathon Borlee to produce his heat form again and win silver and Santos for bronze. Solomon will probably run another PB, I mean why not!
Other Australians
Sally Pearson commences her run towards a gold medal today in the heats of the Women’s 100m Hurdles. Qualifying should be a formality for the red hot gold medal favourite. Her race should be on at 7:33pm Australian EST.
Julian Wruck, Scott Martin and Ben Harradine line up in the qualifying for the discus. Harradine came 5th at the 2011 World Championships and should get through to the final while the two other boys may struggle.
Jeff Riseley has drawn World Record holder David Rudisha’s heat which sounds bad but is actually a good thing. His heat will be fast and Riseley has the second quickest season’s best and so a fast race is better than a tactical sit a kick for him. He should qualify for the second round.
We have two representatives in the women’s 1500m, Zoe Buckman and Kaila McKight. It would be a very impressive effort if either girl is able to make it through. Another person to watch is Steven Hooker’s girlfriend Ekaterina Kostetskaya who is normally an 800m runner but is stepping up to the 1500m this Olympics.
Lauren Boden made it through to the semi finals of the Women’s 400m hurdles but she was not happy with her run and she will need to run a PB to make the final, which is unlikely based on her heat performance.
knackers
Guest
Do you really think Australia has the luxury of making relay finals without fielding it's best team ? Track is noit swimming
Cam Baker
Roar Rookie
Sally won her heat in the fastest time ever for a heat at the Olympics.
Dale Bickham
Guest
I too agree with tough stance. Solomon was going to get picked especially after his top form at world juniors. Cam would you want to argue with adams?
Cam Baker
Roar Rookie
An interesting side note to the women's shot put. New Zealand apparently forgot to put in an entry for gold medal favourite Valerie Adams. However the IOC allowed her name to be entered in the last few days and put it down as an administrative error.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Steve Solomon has made the selectors look like geniuses! Brilliant running, and a really good sign for the 4x400m relay. Probably means he'll need to sit out the relay heats and rest up, though. Cole or Thomas for a run? The nation can commence nervous hand-wringing while Sally Pearson is competing. I am excited and incredibly nervous for her. There have been a lot of really good performances by Aussie athletes so far. You've got to love seeing athletes producing PBs on the biggest stage.
jameswm
Guest
That was a really stupid and pointless decision, when the guy was there anyway.
Matt F
Roar Guru
I'm not sure why Ross wasn't allowed, given we have nobody in the event and that he's over there anyway. I can only assume it's because he isn't going to be around in Rio and they're trying to be consistent in the whole "look to Rio" idea.
jameswm
Guest
OK I've got no huge problems with favouring younger guys who are still on the up. Honestly, there was no wasy Tamsyn was going to run better than she has been. Still - Ross definitely should have run. He is there anyway for the relay, and was only just off an A qualifier. Why not let him run?
Moses
Roar Rookie
I think that's it: be selective about which B-qualifiers you send. If you're at the other end of your career to Solomon, like Manou or Ross or Steffensen, you should only be sent with an A time.
Matt F
Roar Guru
I actually think that it is a good motivational tool. Solomon didn't make the A-qual time but worked hard and continued to improve his times. The precedent has now been set. If you don't run an "A" time in the trials but are young and show good improvement in between the qualifiers and the games then you can still get picked. That sounds like a good incentive for young athletes (given that part of the reason he was picked is because they had an eye on Rio 2016) who aren't quite at the level that they need to be at right now, to put in the hard work and improve their times.
jameswm
Guest
Sure Moses - but Steve Solomon was only a B qualifier and has made it to the final. They weren't going to put anyone in the 400. This suggests we SHOULD pick B qualifiers, because they might just pull out a big one when it matters. I think the tough love hurts the motivation factor for the youngsters. If it's a decent B qualifier, take them. Imagine training for 4 years and missing out by a smidgin.
Moses
Roar Rookie
Thank you for that round-up. Isn’t it great to see our track runners setting PBs. Ok they won’t win medals but they’re overperforming and clearly aren’t just there to have fun. As I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong), Athletics Australia decided this year to pretty much ignore all but a few B qualifiers. The tougher love seems to be paying off.