ATHLETICS: A first place finish for Rachael Pace and second for Michael Mullett kick of a great day for the Aussies on day four of the athletics.
On a hot morning at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre, Pace was first up in her B final for the women’s 100m hurdles.
The New South Welshman was the quickest coming into the race, and had her nerves tested when one runner false started.
As they lined up for the second time, Pace was slowest off the blocks. Despite this, she was able to power down the track, clocking a time of 14.07secs, nearly a quarter of a second faster than second placed Steffi Murillo of Peru.
“It’s really good, it’s a bit hard competing in the morning and getting up early. It’s great being right in front of a huge crowd like this and running for your country,” Pace said.
“The heat really gets to me, I try to focus on the race but it’s really hard when it’s quite humid.”
Though a B final is not exactly what the 16-year-old was after coming into the Games, she still recognizes the lessons that can be learned from competing on this enormous stage.
“I learned to cope with the crowd and the noise and to block out everything, even with the false start you just have to make sure you regain yourself,” the teen said.
“I support it [B finals] one hundred percent, every athlete deserves the opportunity to race again, even if they mess up their first race. It’s really good to be able to prove that you’re better than one race.”
In the A final of the women’s 100m hurdles, France’s Laura Valette took the gold, with the silver going to Elvira Herman of Belarus and bronze to Chloe Beaucarne from Belgium.
Next up was Michael Mullett in the B final of the men’s 400m. At the firing of the gun, the 17-year-old Victorian started well and sat himself in the middle of the pack where he remained for the first half of the race.
As they rounded the final bend, Mullett caught the leaders. As hard as he tried, Mullett was unable to edge out Jason Yaw from Guyana, who took out the B final.
“It was better than my first heat, that was my goal in the B final, to come top two. Top ten in the world so I’m pretty happy,” Mullett said.
“I just wanted to redeem myself, not let my family down and get some pride back. Being here, being in this massive stadium against the best in the world, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
In the A final of the men’s 400m, Jamaica’s Martin Manley took out the gold, with Karabo Sibanda of Botswana taking the silver and Henri Delauze from the Bahamas with the bronze.
Hopefully after a successful morning, this will set the pace for the evening session, where four A finals will be contested by Aussies, including Trae Williams and Sam Geddes in the main event, the men’s and women's 100m sprint. Williams is the fastest qualifier in the men's event, as is Jessica Thornton who races in the 400m A final. On the field, Shemaiah James will be going for gold in the men's high jump.
Sam Rawlings
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam
