Drawing strength and inspiration from her late grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor, Australian walker Jemima Montag has dug deep to claim the 20km silver medal at the world championships in Budapest.
The 25-year-old followed eventual gold medallist Maria Perez when the Spaniard made the decisive break from the lead pack at the 15km mark on Sunday morning in historic Heroes Square.
Having already received one red card, Montag had no intention of risking disqualification by chasing down Perez.
She chose instead to lock in the silver, making her Australia’s first female walking medallist at a world titles since Kerry Saxby-Junna in 1999.
And Montag had her grandmother Judith there in spirit every step of the way in the form of a bracelet on her left arm which was previously part of her late relative’s necklace.
“I feel especially close to her, being in a country where a lot of Holocaust survivors came and were involved in,” she told reporters.
“She fled to Paris after the war (after surviving the hell of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp) and then came to Melbourne.
“We lost her just before the Tokyo Olympics, so it’s been a couple of years now.
“But this bracelet, when it moves up and down my arm, it’s just a direct, physical reminder each lap that ‘yes, this is hard, but what she went through, you can’t even compare’.
“One of the things that I wrote on my water bottles for my helper to read out to me was ‘no regrets’.
“Nana, and my grandpa went through indescribable torture for years to give my dad and then me an opportunity to give this life a crack. And I want to give it a crack. I don’t want to settle for fourth again like last year (at the world titles).”
Perez was a deserving gold medallist in one hour 26 minutes 51 seconds.
Montag set an Australian record of 1:27:16 and Italy’s Antonella Palmisano was third.
Montag is also a two-time Commonwealth champion who has been steadily building up to this breakthrough performance on the global stage, having finished sixth at the Tokyo Olympics and fourth last year in Eugene.
“I’ve learned from the last few world champs and the Olympics that when that move is made at about 15 kilometres it’s the winning move,” said the Australian.
“The last three majors I haven’t had the training evidence or the self-belief or the technical backing to go with it.
“This year, our prep has been watertight; we’ve gone places we haven’t gone before in training.
“Speaking to my psych the last few days, the idea was just be willing to go for it, be willing to hurt in that last five.”
Rebecca Henderson was 33rd in 1:35:51 and the third Australian, Olivia Sandery, was disqualifed.
Meanwhile, a disappointed Rohan Browning is already looking ahead to next year’s Paris Olympics after again coming up short in his bid to qualify for a maiden major 100m final.
The best and most consistent season of the 25-year-old’s career ended on a flat note as he finished fourth in his world championships semi in Budapest in 10.11 seconds – the same time he ran in the opening round the previous day.
As it turned out, Browning would need to have equalled his PB of 10.01 to have booked a spot in the title race – a task he felt was well within his grasp.
“I am just really disappointed,” he said. “I definitely felt like I was in shape to run a lot better. I felt like I had 60 metres of a really good race and the rest was really the reverse of yesterday. There are things to work on for the Olympics.”
Browning and his coach Andrew Murphy had figured it was an advantage to be drawn in the adjacent lane to defending world champ Fred Kerley, as it could have helped drag the Australian under 10 seconds for the first time.
But Kerley also performed below expectations, with his time of 10.02 not good enough to advance.
Browning has taken heart from getting his average 100m time down to its best-ever level in 2023 – but in the end that average of 10.11 wasn’t quite good enough.
“It felt quicker,” said Browning.
I knew sub-10 would be the benchmark to progress and that is where it ended up being more or less.”
Middle-distance star Jessica Hull held her own in a lightning-fast women’s 1500m semi to book her spot in the final on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEST).
Hull was in the top six automatic qualifying spots throughout, crossing the line in sixth spot in three minutes 57.85 seconds – little more than half a second outside her personal best.
Kenyan world record holder Faith Kipyegon was the fastest qualifier in 3:55.14 while Sifan Hassan also eased through, less than 24 hours after the Dutch superstar fell in the 10,000m final with the gold medal almost within her grasp.
“It’s brutal – 3:57.8-something for me in that heat is nuts,” said Hull.
“I think last year maybe three women ran that fast and now you have to run that fast to make the world championships final.
“The sport is levelling off, I think we’re about a year behind the men in terms of how deep and tough it is.”
Young Australian Abbey Caldwell smashed her PB with a run of 3:57.79 but she still missed a berth in the final, as did countrywoman Linden Hall.
Adam Spencer’s major championships debut came to an end in the men’s 1500m semis.
In other day-two action at the National Athletics Stadium, Brandon Starc held his nerve to book a spot in the men’s high jump final.
The 2018 Commonwealth champion and Tokyo Olympics finalist needed a successful last-ditch clearance at 2.28m to ensure he would advance.
Drawn alongside US sprint queen Sha’Carri Richardson, teenager Torrie Lewis was handed the toughest of tasks on her major championships debut.
The flying Richardson led all qualifiers into the women’s 100m semis in 10.92, while reigning national champ Lewis was sixth in her heat in 11.45, well outside her personal best of 11.23 set earlier this year.
Fellow Australian Bree Masters (11.43) was also eliminated.
© AAP
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