Peter Bol knows he could play safe and win a medal. But he won’t win gold. Or he could be brave, risk it all, but be a chance for gold. He will be brave.
Bol has had a career of aggressive glory-chasing runs that have seen him twice miss the podium altogether. Most famously in Tokyo when he was fourth by the smallest of margins, barely more than the width of one of his chunky diamond earrings, and again at world indoors.
He regrets not winning a medal, but not his tactics.
In Glasgow this time he will do the same. Risk coming away with nothing in the hunt to take gold. This might be the time he finally wins something at a championships.
His first race, in the heat on Tuesday morning (Tuesday evening AEST) was the opposite of that. He ran carefully to keep out of trouble and get through, which he did confidently winning in 1:45.86 – the fastest of all qualifiers.
The semi and finals will be different. He will be not be careful.
“You know you never forget that,” Bol said of missing the medals in Tokyo.
“I mean, even this year, I was fourth at the world indoors. So, you know, what do you do? You always try to go for the win. If you run safely, you’ll definitely get a medal. If you run brave, you could come fourth or you could win it. And that’s been my strategy over the last few championships. And I don’t know if I’m going to change it. I think I will still rather win that gold. I’ll still try to run my heart out and try to win rather than try just medal.
“I’m in incredible shape, so I never shy away from it, I want to win. I want to win the final. I want to get that gold medal.
“It’s a hell of a field, a bunch of 1:42 guys versus the last Commonwealth Games there wasn’t anyone in the field that was 1:42, and now you’ve got about four or five of us that might be 1:42 runners. But at the end of the day, 800 is a strategy race, and I can back myself on the experience side of things.”
Bol was joined in the semi-finals by fellow Australians Luke Boyes and Peyton Craig.
Needing to finish in the first three to advance to the finals Craig fought himself out of a bad position right up to the 150 but backed his kick to get home. He timed it with no wriggle room, edging into third place only metres from the line.
“A little bit closer than what I wanted to but hey, I’m in the semi-final, I know it wasn’t pretty, but I’m through,” he said after running 1:47.17.
“My coach Craig (Mottram) is very big on having the ability to relax and get yourself out of any situation, and I feel like that really helped me today. I wasn’t in a great spot through the bell. Still not in great spot with 200 to go, but just backing myself and backing the kick, I’ve always got a strong finish.”
Boyes tore his quad muscle only two months ago and had just one run before Glasgow but was strong in his heat finishing third in 1:47.37.
“I got a race under my belt last week, which I pulled up honestly pretty rough from, but I needed that. So I think that’s brought me on pretty well for this championship,” he said adding the injury didn’t change his view of what he can do here.
“No, I still want to get a medal. That’s it.”
