Athletics/World Championships:It says a lot about Irish athletics right now that the big star suffers a blow out and straightaway three other performances make up for it. No wonder some people in Osaka are asking what the Irish team are on.
Paul Hession winning his 200 metres quarter-final, Eileen O'Keeffe making the hammer final with her first throw, and David Gillick making the severe cut in the 400 metres first round all had performance-enhancing qualities to them alright, and all perfectly legal - namely self-belief, confidence and an unmistakable sense of belonging on the world stage.
Pity Derval O'Rourke wasn't in the form to share it.
For Hession, yesterday proved particularly satisfying, starting with his second-place finish in the morning heats in 20.46 seconds - easing up, imagine - followed up by a victory in the evening's quarter-finals, his 20.50 looking equally comfortable.
Naturally he'll need to move up another gear in today's semi-finals, but if does make the last eight he'll have fairly shaken up the world of championship sprinting. And he definitely has a chance. Drawn in the favourable lane four, Hession has the 100-metre champion Tyson Gay to his outside, but avoided the other Americans Wallace Spearman and Rodney Martin, plus the Jamaican Usian Bolt.
"It's worked out really well so far, and it will be a real fight in the semi-final, but I'll enjoy it anyway," he said. "I mean there's a really positive attitude in the camp. I've been positive since the start of the season. I've always believed I could make this final. It's going to be tough, but I still think I can. I mean we have stepped it up out here."
With the top four in each race making the final - and Hession ranked fifth of those - it will require something special, possibly an improvement on his Irish record of 20.30. Yet he's oozing confidence after winning his quarter-final: "Yeah, definitely, and it does give you a real boost to win a race. It was tight, and I had to really go for it in the end. It was an important win, and if I ended up third I could have been in any lane for the semi-final.
"I've got to believe I've got a chance. I was a little sore from this morning's heat, but I enjoy racing. There are guys running quicker, sure, but they'll be under more pressure now. I'll just have to go for it, gun to tape. Maybe Tyson Gay and a few more will try to conserve some energy, but for me it's going to be a real tough race. And the same for 12 or 13 out of the 16 left in there. But I can run a good bend, and that's important. If I'm in the mix off the bend hopefully I can come through. I'm not thinking times. Only top four."
Maybe the Japanese mentality is also proving infectious - the idea that anything worth doing is worth doing the best you can - or maybe Irish athletics has simply moved on to another level, but either way what happened in Osaka yesterday was special.
Even as European Indoor champion Gillick could take nothing for granted in the first round of the 400 metres, not with the reigning champion Jeremy Wariner of the US on his inside, and former champion Avard Moncur also in the mix. Only the top three progressed for sure, and Gillick fought hard to be among them when taking third in 45.35 seconds - his second fastest time ever.
Qualification proved incredibly competitive, with 34 of the 58 starters eliminated in the first round, including the top German Bastian Swillims, silver medallist indoors behind Gillick, who ran a best of 45.44 but still missed out.
Like Hession, Gillick faces a daunting semi-final that again includes Wariner, plus the faster qualifier Chris Brown of the Bahamas, the top Jamaican Ricardo Williams, and 44.10-runner Gary Kikaya of the Congo. Only top two plus the two fastest times from the three semi-finals progress, with Gillick's outside lane adding to the challenge.
"It will take an Irish record to get into the final, sub-45 seconds," said Gillick. "That's how difficult it is. But I've taken the pressure off. The team is doing really well, and I just didn't want to go out in the first round. So I'm a bit relieved just to have got through.
"I was up this morning at 6.30, which was hard. I know people at home are getting up at that time to go to work, but you're trying to get the very best out of yourself, that can be hard. It's an evening run next, which should make a difference. It was very warm, 31 degrees at 7.30 this morning, unreal. The sweat was pouring out if me.
"And that was a difficult heat. I'm not top 10, top five in the world, and had to go out there as if I was running for my life. With Wariner inside me, and in fairness, he probably made me look very ordinary. But when he passed I tried to stay with him, and just worked through the home straight - 45-flat to him is a stroll in the park. He didn't burn by me, in fairness to the chap, he probably helped me more than I helped him."
The most comfortable qualifier, however, was O'Keeffe, who hit the required distance of 71 metres with her very first hammer throw - an easy-looking 71.07 - and with that became one of only five automatic finalists. If she repeats that sort of quality in tomorrow's final then for sure she won't be far off a medal. "Definitely," admitted O'Keeffe, who until recently had continued in her job as a part-time nurse, "and I think getting the medal at the World University Games gave me a lot more belief in myself. To do it in my first throw was like a dream. But also tells me that with a few more throws there should definitely be a bigger one in me.
"I have the championship experience under my belt now, and everything felt right in my practice throw. I've just been a full-time athlete since June and it has made a difference being able to train twice a day and get more time to recover."
Today's schedule
(All times Irish; Osaka eight hours ahead)
02:00 am:Women 1500m first round
02:20:Men Long Jump Qualification A
02:40:Women 200m first round
03:25:Women Javelin Throw Qualification B
03:40:Men 110m Hurdles first round
11:30:Women Triple Jump Qualification A
11:40:Women 200m second round
11:45:Women Discus Throw Final
12:00:Men High Jump Final
12:05:Women 5,000m first round (Mary Cullen)
13:05:Women 100m Hurdles Final
13:25:Men 400m Semi-Final (David Gillick)
13:50:Women 400m Final
14:05:Men 1,500m Final
14:20:Men 200m Semi-Final (Paul Hession)
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