World Championships Day 9: Great food (finally) and Relays that work (sometimes)

The penultimate day. As tired as I was last night, I still woke up at 0500. Oh well. 

My vantage point for the women’s 100 m hurdles, a nice view from up here…

Lots of wreckage in the heats, including two of the four Americans. Yikes….Nia Ali was easily leading, when she buried flight #9 and ate Mondo. Quite shaken up….Then Alysha Johnson tattoos the first hurdle and stops. A few other athletes hit the deck hard as well. 

Track is a contact sport. 

Here’s Olympic Champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn after winning her heat (and being held up by NBC’s Lewis Johnson). 

She looks happier being interviewed by this Asian crew. 

And oh by the way…

A bit o’ clarification: Jasmine’s mom was two years behind me at Somerville (NJ) High School. I introduced myself, then Jasmine Face Time’d her mother on the spot, and I was able to say hi after almost 40 years!

No more lunch in the dining hall. Just can’t do it anymore; fortunately, food trucks outside the track are doing some good things…

African Cajun tacos….who knew? 

We use ‘prisms’ to mark the break line for the 800m and 4x400 relays. More like a green rectangle that we place at specific spots on the track…Dave and Jeannie are the subject matter experts. 

The dorm has two parking spaces out front that require no permit on weekends. More importantly, no one knows about them. I do…

My man Ishmael is the hurdle crew chief; those folks do a precise job EVERY TIME. After last night’s excitement, they went to celebrate at a local restaurant. Ish noticed Sydney’s sister there, so he told her that the entire crew was there to celebrate. Sis texted sis, and in short order the world record holder shows up to thank the whole crew. 

How cool is that? (Answer: pretty)

A better shot of Legend’s hijinks from last night: 

First event of the evening session is a do-over; one of the pileups from this morning’s hurdle heats caused some interference, so a runner is given a chance to qualify in a solo heat. Just an individual time trial….problem is, she chunks the final hurdle and goes down. 

The US women show up big-time and lay waste to the vaunted Jamaicans in the 4x100 relay. Abby Steiner puts 0.24 into reigning Olympic Champion Elaine on the backstretch leg. 

I still need to read that sentence again. 

Meanwhile, on her home track, UO grad Jenna Prandini puts it to multiple gold medalist Shelly Ann on the final turn. Jamaica makes a charge in the homestretch but comes up short. That was one spectacular race!!

The US men show up and exceed expectations. Translation: they didn’t drop the stick this time, but two horrible baton passes doom them to second place. On paper, they had no peer, but exchanges are a thing. They’re lucky they weren’t DQ’d, as the last pass was clearly out of the zone. Oh well….baby steps. 

I feel really bad for the British and Italian teams. Not because of their results….but because they must have made their travel plans late. While most teams are in the fancy, air conditioned, well stocked new dorms near the track, those two teams are housed in stifling hot Carson Hall with the officials….and the nasty food. 

One more day. Women’s 800, Men’s Pole Vault, Men’s 5000, both 4x4 relays. 

Gonna be a burner. 

And the worst thing that happened all day? This morning, I thought I grabbed my multivitamin gummies, but instead I bit into a fish oil capsule. 

That’ll wake you up, all right. 

Day 8: A Cuban embargo lifted, an airborne Mac, and Syd the Kid

Day 7: An American Record, and Old Friends

Day 6: Cuff, Link, and Butkus

Day 5: Errant Photographers, and a kid who finally listened to Dad

Day 4: Don’t you hate it when your clothes don’t fit (and errant photographers)

Day 3: Marathons, Dance Cams, and not enough caffeine

Day 2: Celebrity Day at the Track

Day 1: Preview