I know it is not sprint related BUT;
Australia’s Craig Mottram has become the first non-African man in 18 years to win a medal in the 5,000m at the world athletics championships.
Mottram flew home to win bronze in 13 minutes 32.96seconds, behind Kenyan Benjamin Limo who won in 13:32.55.
Ethiopia’s Sileshi Sihine was second in 13:32.81.
Mottram is the first white man to win a medal in the 5,000m at the world championships since Portugal’s Domingos Castro won silver and Britain’s Jack Buckner the bronze in 1987.
“There’s that history about it, the Africans have been the best over the last 10 years or so, but not any more,” Mottram said.
“It’s a relief, to be honest. It’s been a really long day and I was really looking forward to getting it out of the way and to come here and perform in front of a crowd that’s probably more excited about my bronze than the winner.”
After the race was run at a very slow pace, Mottram made his move with 300m to go and raced for the front.
He was in a tight pack going round the final bend with Limo, Sihine and Kenya’s defending champion Eliud Kipchoge and turned into the home straight in second place.
AdvertisementAdvertisementBut the Africans swept by him and he faded to fourth with 50m to go and looked headed for fifth before pushing home strongly to reel in Kipchoge with five metres to go and touch him out for an historic medal.
“I thought I was gone, I thought I was going to finish fifth,” Mottram said.
"Then they just started slowing down and I got there.
"The plan was to go before the bend and get in a winning position and I did alright, I couldn’t quite get in the lead and I was just trying to stay relaxed down the bend and save something to come on in the straight with.
"It worked, we didn’t quite win but I’m pretty happy with a bronze medal.
“Any medal was going to be a big win for me.”
Now that he has made the breakthrough, Mottram, 25, said he was confident he could win more medals, including gold at major championships in the future.
“Definitely, I’m only going to get bigger, better, stronger, fitter, faster,” he said.
Mottram’s bronze was Australia’s only medal at the championships, the worst performance since the 1991 team came home from Tokyo empty handed.
Australia finished 33rd on the medals tables and 29th on the points table with 14 points from one bronze medal, a fifth, a sixth and an eighth.
Apart from Mottram, the men’s sprinters carried the flag for Australia in Helsinki.
The 4x100m relay team finished fifth, Patrick Johnson came sixth in the 200m final and John Steffensen was eighth in the 400m.