ATHLETICS: Australia’s Madeline Hills and Genevieve LaCaze have run their hearts out to record top-10 finishes and both set new personal bests in the women’s 3000m steeplechase final.
Running in stifling conditions at the Olympic Stadium, the duo were the first two Australians to ever qualify for the women’s Olympic steeplechase final and they gave it their all to finish seventh and ninth respectively.
It was two special runs from two world-class competitors.
Hills, 29, powered home over the final laps to clock nine minutes, 20.38 seconds, while LaCaze took almost two seconds off her PB to cross the line in 9:21.21.
Ruth Jebet, the 19-year-old from Bahrain, won gold in a personal best time of 8:59.75, just missing out on the world record.
Hyvin Jepkemoi from Kenya won silver in 9:07.12 while Emma Coburn of the USA won bronze in 9:07.63.
“I’m rapt. You always have these things at the end of your race you want to critique immediately but I just want to stop and just take it all in and be so happy where I’ve come from and where I am now,” LaCaze said.
“I know there’s so much more in the future, but hey, ninth in the world, if you had told me that at the start of this championship I would have told you you’re dreaming, I’m so happy.”
Hills collapsed over the line after she took more than a second off her PB, noting she was not going to leave anything in the tank despite the tough conditions.
“After the heat (run) I had no response whatsoever until I saw my husband and burst into tears and it was just hey, I’m not going to be standing there wondering where I would have finished,” Hills said.
“We decided if I finished last in this race and I tried really hard I’d be more than happy with that.
“I had to collapse over the line, I think that may be my first collapse over the line moment, so that’s a breakthrough in itself.”
In a great morning session for Australia, Ella Nelson won her way through to the semi-finals of the women’s 200m.
Competing at her first Olympics, Nelson ran a beautiful bend to come home second in her heat in a time of 22.66 seconds, behind Bulgaria’s Ivet Lalova-Collio in 22.61.
It was a confidence-building run for Nelson, who has been battling a recurring hamstring injury leading into the Games.
“It was really fun, I’m so happy just to have completed that race,” Nelson said.
“I haven’t raced since April, so coming in here I was just super nervous.
“I had to really think about my race plan last night and go through the motions.
“I ran a bit scared but I am definitely going to improve on that into the semi.”
Nelson said the performance has given her the belief that she can push as hard as she can in the semi to try and become the first Australian to reach the women’s 200m final since Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and Cathy Freeman at the Sydney 2000 Games.
“It completely interrupted my year, as great as it was,” Nelson said about her two hamstring tears.
“It’s been a really big year of big ups and downs, but saying that I’m an Olympian, I made it here, I finished the race and I’m through to the next round so I could not be happier.”
Tonight’s session at the Olympic Stadium starts at 20:30 (9.30am AEST Tuesday, 16 August) and features Australia’s Dani Samuels in qualifying for the women’s discus and Lauren Wells in the heats of the women’s 400m hurdles.
David Taylor
olympics.com.au