There was a moment on the opening night of these World Athletics Championships when the bottled up frustration of missing out on a full-fat Tokyo Olympics – with crowds and fun and unbridled joy – suddenly seemed to be unleashed. It came at the end of a thrilling women’s 10,000m, a roar that could have been heard on Mount Fuji, and a vast outpouring of appreciation and pride.
At the front of the pack, four contenders were whittled down to two before the Olympic and world champion Beatrice Chebet took off with the Italian Nadia Battocletti in pursuit. It was like watching Wile E. Coyote chasing Roadrunner.
And while Chebet held on after a final kilometre run in a staggering 2min 38sec, the sellout crowd’s eyes were also on the home favourite Ririka Hironaka, who exceeded expectations by finishing in sixth barely 30 second back.
Japanese crowds quiet? Not on this evidence. And they were soon roaring again as the giant American Ryan Crouser, whose injured elbow has left him unable to throw much this year, launched the shot put high and far in the fifth round to retain his world title.
The night ended with the American 4x400m mixed relay team winning gold at a canter. It will, you imagine, be the first of many. The British team could only finish fifth. Sunday will bring more drama. Within seven minutes the finals of the women’s and men’s 100m will be run. It promises to be fast and furious.
Oblique Seville, one of the favourites for the men’s 100m, made a start so shocking that the stadium commentator Geoff Wightman suggested that he “came out of the blocks like he was towing a caravan”. Yet he still qualified by running 9.93sec.
Seville’s Jamaican compatriot, Kishane Thompson, ran 9.95 while appearing to jog the final 30m. He is the favourite for Sunday’s final. And while the reigning Olympic and world champion Noah Lyles matched that time in his heat, he had to work a lot harder. In the women’s 100m, the Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred looked insanely comfortable as she strolled home in 10.93, the quickest time in the heats.
Yet while there was a great atmosphere on the track, there has been a rather frosty one among the rival factions in the sprinting community. That is because in the build-up to these Championships, Gabby Thomas, the American who won 200m gold in Paris last year, posted a comment on social media that sent tongues wagging.
“Doping coaches should be banned for life from coaching in the sport,” she wrote. “Whether you were banned while competing as an athlete or caught distributing as a coach [for some, both],” she wrote. “Idc idc idc … If you train under a coach who is known for doping … you are complicit.”
Her message was directed at Dennis Mitchell, who is coaching the four American women 100m sprinters at this year’s world championships – Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, the favourite for gold, and Sha’Carri Richardson the reigning champion.
Mitchell was a top sprinter who made perhaps the most preposterous excuse for failing a drugs test in history. It came in 1998 after he tested positive for excessive testosterone and blamed it on having drunk five beers and having sex with his wife four times. “It was her birthday,” he added. “The lady deserved a treat.”
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Mitchell was banned for two years for that. A decade later he testified under oath in the Balco investigation that he had received human growth hormone from his coach, Trevor Graham.
More recently, in 2017, Mitchell and an athletics agent, Robert Wagner, were then caught on camera offering to supply performance-enhancing drugs to a fake actor in an operation conducted by the Daily Telegraph. However, the Guardian has contacted a number of people in US track and field, including those who were in the room with the Telegraph. It goes without saying that his athletes deny any wrongdoing.
But it is also the case Thomas, who is a Harvard graduate, has opened a legitimate discussion and split the sprinting community in two. After she posted her comments, the former Olympic and world 100m champion Justin Gatlin, who was twice banned for doping offences, told her it would have been better for her to stay silent.
“If she said it after Paris 24, it would have had more impact,” said Gatlin. “Makes it looks like you’re taking shots at someone like Melissa. It’s all about the timing. Melissa beat her twice, and is undefeated in the 100m. You should have taken a stance when you had the opportunity when you had the golden coin in your hand. It would have been better for her to be silent right now.”
Whatever your view, one thing is clear. Come Sunday night, Jefferson-Wooden is likely to be on the podium. Richardson could be beside her. The crowd will roar. Mitchell will reflect on a job well done. And many in track and field will believe he shouldn’t be here at all.
