Repechage races create extra excitement
Love it or loathe it, the repechage made its Olympic debut in athletics on Saturday morning in Paris with four women’s 800m races aimed at giving athletes from the previous night’s heats a second stab at progressing to the semi-finals.
The system replaces the old ‘fastest losers’ set-up and is being used at these Games in races from 200m up to 1500m including hurdles.
Whatever you think of it, the women’s 800m repechage races here certainly produced lots of excitement and noise in the Stade de France. This was mainly during the second heat when Anaïs Bourgoin from the host nation followed American Allie Wilson’s 57sec first lap before coming through to win in 1:59.52 amid deafening applause.
With repechage heat winners plus two fastest losers earning qualification, the other heats were won by Majtie Kolberg of Germany in 1:59.08, Rose Mary Almanza of Cuba in 2:01.54 and Abbey Caldwell of Australia in 2:00.07 with Vivian Kiprotich of Kenya and Valentina Rosamilia of Switzerland going through as the 'fastest losers'.
Bourgoin said: “The French public helped me and pushed me to the finish. It was difficult for me but the public helped.
“My feet hurt me a bit but when I heard the stadium I let the pain go and had to keep going. You have a lot of emotions when people scream your name.”
On having an extra race compared to the majority of semi-finalists in her event, Caldwell said: “It’s certainly not easy after a quick turnaround. It really keeps you on your toes but it worked out for me because it got me through to the semi-finals.
“At the end of the day it is going to make it harder and shorten that recovery but you’ve just got to take what you get.
“Personally, I’m still a fan of having the little ‘qs’ going through (qualifying as a fastest loser). In the 800m there’s such a close range of times between those who go through and the ones who don’t, so the little ‘qs’ seem to work well.
“But that’s just racing now and we have to deal with what we’ve got. I’m not going to say it puts me at a disadvantage. I don’t know whether it will help me to have an extra day getting my fast-twitch fibres going. Hopefully, it’s an advantage for me. It gives me an extra run-out.”
A number of notable athletes were unable to progress in the repechage round. Audrey Werro, last year’s European under-20 champion from Switzerland, was third in the first heat with 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi of Uganda sixth. Adelle Tracey, the Brit who now runs for Jamaica, was fifth in the second heat.
READ MORE: Phoebe Gill qualifies in style
There is British interest in the men’s repechage round on Saturday evening in the Stade de France when George Mills tries to qualify for the semi-finals following his disappointing 10th place in his heat on Friday.
“There was no bad luck,” he said, “it just wasn’t good enough. I’ll be ready for the repechage.”
Predictably, Mondo Duplantis was among the best of the pole vault qualifiers with a best of 5.75m – a height that nine other athletes matched, including Sam Kendricks of the United States and Ernest Obiena of the Philippines.
“It’s an amazing stadium and an amazing crowd,” said Duplantis. “It certainly woke me up, which was much needed that early in the morning.
“Compared to Tokyo it’s just night and day. It’s not even comparable really. It’s super cool. I can’t even imagine how amazing the final’s going to be."
READ MORE: Meet the coach – Helena Duplantis
The Swedish athlete is not staying in the Athlete Village so he can instead be with his team, which includes his parents.
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