By Şevket F. ERBAY from Stade de France
The seventh day of athletics action witnessed five champions from different nations at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The day started early in the morning in Trocadero with the inaugural mixed marathon relay race walking event and ended in the stadium in a dramatic way.
Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali, who ended Kenyan domination in Tokyo in the steeplechase, adds another chapter to his fantastic success list. El Bakkali became the only second man to have back-to-back steeplechase titles after Volmari Iso-Hollo's 1932-36 double.
He arrived in the final with a modest 8:09.05 season best but still managed to conclude his hard-looking task on a title defence. Amongst the eleven African athletes, El Bakkali remained with the group until the end, as he just cleared the field in the last 100 metres. But his job suddenly gets easy because of his biggest rival, Lamecha Girma's nasty fall with 200 metres to go. The Ethiopian world record holder hits the barrier while preparing for the final push and leaves the track on a stretcher.
Quincy Hall was another hero of the day. He came to the games as number two in the world and performed good performances here at the Stade de France on the way to the final. But Matthew Hudson-Smith of Britain has the man to beat. The season leader, Hudson-Smith, focused on breaking the 100-year British curse in the event. Even though he almost did it with a few yards to go. But Hall climbed the places quickly in the last 50 metres - covered in 5.94 secs according to the transponder - while clocked 43.40 at the finish line. It marked him in fourth place all-time behind Wayde Van Niekerk, Michael Johnson, and Harry Reynolds, and he brought back the title to the United States after 16 years. Although Hudson-Smith got an amazing mark in 43.44 - a new European record but did not win the Olympic title. Zambia's Muzala Samukonga clocked a 43.74 national record as he became just the second Olympic medallist from his country, while Jereem Richards also renewed his national record in 43.78. However, the quest for the fourth successful medal of all-time great Kirani James failed. He finished fifth in 43.87 - slightly worse than the Tokyo 2020 gold medal-winning time.
Jamaica has yet to impress the world in the sprint finals but they bagged second throwing medals in five days and, yes, it's a gold this time! The unknown college-level thrower Roje Stona, who has only a few CARIFTA and NACAC U23 medals until today, beat world record holder and overwhelming favorite Mykolas Alekna at Stade de France. Stone threw precisely 70 metres (70.00) to break the Lithuanian short-living previous Olympic record of 69.97, which was 69.89m when the session started, owned by 2004 champion Virgilius Alekna, father of Mykolas.
Stona assumed the title of first-ever throwing Olympic champion from an oriented Caribbean nation as his other teammates finished ninth and tenth in the final.
The evening session started a little early due to the 19-strong pole vault women's final. After a three-hour gruelling battle, Australia's very own Nina Kennedy defeated defending Olympic champion Katie Moon and hailed as the new Olympic heroine. The 27-year-old Western Australian cleared 4.90 metres on the first attempt, while Moon failed to make both 4.90 and 4.95 metres. Both athletes shared world championships gold in last year's Worlds as equal winners as Kennedy now overpowered her American rival.
