Märt Israel gets an unexpected fourth place in discus at World Championships...
Israel, competing in his third straight world championships, made the final after throwing 210-7 (64.19) in yesterday's qualifying round.
After three rounds, Israel found himself in fifth place with a toss of 211-0 (64.31m), before unleashing his best throw of 213-11 (65.20m) in round five to suddenly find himself in contention for a medal entering the final round.
However, he ended the competition with a foul, as Iran's Ehsan Hadadi hung on for third place with a toss of 216-9 (66.08m).
Germany's Robert Harting successfully defended his world title with a toss of 226-3 (68.97m) and Israel's training partner Gerd Kanter was second at 219-8 (66.95m).
Here's a video of Israel, who competed for the Huskies in the 2006-07 season in the mixed zone talking about his accomplishment Tuesday night.
Another former Husky, Norway's Ingvill Måkestad made her first world championship final in finishing fourth in 4:08.03.
Måkestad positioned herself near the front and stayed there the entire race to ensure a spot in Thursday night's final.
"I wanted to make sure I had my space. I thought that tonight was going to be my best shot, to get up front and slow it down, then see if someone else would go and pick up the pace."
Talking about Thursday night's finals, she hopes to beat as many girls as possible.
"I think none of them are unbeatable, and I'm excited to be in the finals."
With Måkestad making the finals in the 1500, she said that she will not run in the heats of the 800, which are scheduled for Thursday morning here in Daegu.
Washington State's three time NCAA champion Jeshua Anderson did not have his trade mark strong race and faded to fourth in the first of three semifinals Tuesday evening, thus not making the finals scheduled for Thursday night.
Positioned in lane five, Anderson, the reigning US national champion, didn't appear to run as aggressively as normal, and let two-time Olympic champ Angelo Taylor charge to the lead down the backstretch.
As the runners entered the last two hurdles, Anderson seemed to go backwards, and not able to respond to the charge of Puerto Rico's Javier Culson and South Africa's Cornel Fredericks, both of whom advanced to the finals with Taylor.
Culson won in 48.52, with Fredericks catching Taylor for second at 48.83, with Taylor third at 48.86, and Anderson fourth at 49.33.
Afterwards, Anderson said, "I started tying up a little early in the race".
When asked if he may have gone out slower than expected, he said, "I don't know. I was just trying to run my own race, and the time I was going to kick it in, I didn't have it. I think my legs were dragging a bit tonight. Other than that, I thought I ran a good race."
Complete day 4 results from the IAAF world track & field championships are available here.
Comments