Expecting the Unexpected

And that's what this London "Surprise Party" has come down to--expecting the unexpected!
Throw your predictions out the window!
Most likely, you'll be wrong!
On Days 7 and 8, the pattern continued--the only "normalcy" coming from London's weather and the sold-out crowds---cool breezes, a bit of rain, and the British fans cheering loudest for their own---win or lose!

Thursday's schedule opened with the Heats of the Women's 5000 meters!
Round one was LOADED---Helen Obiri, Yasmine Can, Almaz Ayana, and UK favorite Laura Muir!
Hitting 4K in 12:12, with 5 Auto Q's available, there was still a group twice that size!
How would they whittle it down?
By running the final 1000 in 2:44, that's how!
Yet it took a wild free-for-all sprint to see who would move on!
Obiri led a pack of 7 under 15 minutes, her 14:56.70 beating Ayana's 14:56.86!
Senbere Teferi was 3rd in 14:57.23.
Following in close order were Susan Krumins (14:57.33), Shannon Rowbury (14:57.55), Sheila Kiprotich (14:57.58), and Muir a bit back in 14:59.34.
Unless the next Heat was also fast, the latter 3 were certain to pass through on time!
Can was 8th, but almost 9 seconds back of Muir, so became a non-Q!

The 2nd Heat also finished in the 14's, with Letisenbet Gidey's 14:59.34 leading the way!
Sifan Hassan also broke 15, with Shelby Houlihan kicking into 3rd, guaranteeing her a place in the Final!
Her 15:00.37 makes her 17th A-T US!!
Molly Huddle led most of the way, fading over the final 80 meters, but her 7th place finish and time of 15:03.60 was enough!
Genzebe Dibaba was a DNS!!
She'd run poorly in the 1500 (See an earlier post!), and was reportedly sick!

The Men's JT Qualifying saw Johannes Vetter's 299-2 leading the way, far ahead of anyone else!
The lone American, Cy Hostetler, failed to move on!

The Women's HJ lost Lavern Spencer, Alessia Trost, and Liz Patterson, with all the other main players clearing 6-3.50 to move to the Final!

The Women's 800 Heats were slowish, with the 3 unnamed "winning" Numbers 3, 4, and 6.
Ajee Wilson took the 1st in 2:00.52.
Angelika Cichocka took the 2nd in 2:00.86.
But Brenda Martinez ran just 2:01.53 in 4th, so had to wait to see if she'd move on!
(She did!)
Charlene Lipsey took the 5th in just 2:02.74--and it was "theorized" that she intentionally ran slow to assure Martinez's passage!
Hmmmmm!!!
Eunice Sum was a DNS, while non-Q's included Natoya Goule and Iceland's Anita Hinriksdottir!!

The best thing about the Men's TJ was the NBCSN announcers repeating the words "World Record" a reported 22 times!!
As in the idea---with the WR holder Jonathan Edwards being in attendance--that Christian Taylor would break that record!!
But Taylor--whose PR is 59-9--could barely top 58--his winning mark being exactly 2 FEET shy of Edwards's 60-0.25 WR!!
He got that in Round 3, just after Will Claye went 57-10.25!!
Nelson Evora was 3rd with his 56-4.75!

Think this meet hasn't produced enough shocks to satisfy yet?
Well, how about the much-ballyhooed Rio Gold winner of the Men's 1500 NOT even making it to the Semi's??!!
Yep--beset by injury & illness woes all year--Matthew Centrowitz finished LAST in Heat 1---his time not much faster than his Gold winning time!!
Overrated much---or just a bad day at the Oval Office??

Elijah Manangoi and Asbel Kiprop--looking in control, went 1-2 easily.
Besides Centro, Ayanleh Souleiman and David Torrence also failed to move on!
Sadik Mikhou took Heat 2 in 3:42.12, with Australia's Ryan Gregson the main non-Q.
Another Aussie--Luke Matthews--led the fastest Heat, his 3:38.19 beating Tim Cheruiyot's 3:38.41.

The Women's 200 Heats went the opposite route of this post's title!
The expected winners came through--
Dafne Schippers running 22.49 in the 1st, beating Deajah Stevens's 22.71.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo's 22.49 matching Schippers--and well ahead of Kim Duncan's 22.73.
And Marie Josee Ta Lou's 22.50 taking care of Brit fave Dina Asher-Smith's 22.73!
Interesting how all 3 of the races had VERY similar times for the Top 2.

Two Finals ended Day 7.

Record times weren't expected in the Women's 400H, and no records were broken!
But only some knowledgeable insiders thought anyone would beat Delilah Muhammed or Zuzana Hejnova!
And their 1st choice was Kori Carter, known on Twitter as @KoriMonster!!
In lane 9, with no rear-view mirror in use to tell her where she was, Carter had to just RUN--waiting for the final straight to see how she was doing!
And that's exactly what she did, even though Muhammed--far inside of her--was leading the first half of the race!
Hejnova was there too, and she had a powerful finish!
But Carter was in the lead at hurdle 8, and just kept her cool as Muhammed tried to chase her down, Hejnova having faded!
Moving into Bronze position came Jamaica's Ristananna Tracey, whose PR of 53.74 beat Hejnova's 54.20!
Carter's 53.07 came within 0.12 seconds of her PR in the USATF thriller, where her 52.95 took "just" 3rd!!
Muhammed's 53.50 was enough for a solid Silver!
The "Monster" roared!!

The last event of the day returned to this post's title for its inspiration!
Turk--by way of Azerbaijan--Ramil Guliyiv sped the 200 in 20.09, surprising Double Gold-seeker Wayde Van Niekerk, whose 20.11 took 2nd, a tiny 0.001 secs ahead of Jereem Richards, also officially 20.11.
Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake's 20.24 edged out Ameer Webb's 20.26 for 4th!
In 6th came emotionally & physically besieged Isaac Makwala, time of 20.44.

His time & place may not seem like much, but if you read my previous post, you know why!
Taken down by a contagious virus, he couldn't run the 400 Final, then had to fight to be allowed to run the 200--but too late for the scheduled Heats.
So a solo race was set up just for him!!
He ran 20.20 in the rain to easily beat the required 20.53, then angrily left the track, defiant---and a Hero!!
He made the Final with a good Semi, but he was more tired than he should have been---with maybe the virus and the battle to race wearing him down!
Isaiah Young finished last in 20.64!

Sandra Perkovic popped a 228-7 DT Qualifier, easily leading the field!
The 3 Americans, however, all failed to move on!
Valerie Allman--thought to be in great shape, and maybe the best of the US trio--was WAY off form!!

One of the more anticipated events was the 100H!
Four Americans were entered, and all 4 were "expected" to make the Final---and maybe even sweep the medals!
(With nightmare visions of Beijing 2015 egging them forward!)

All 5 Heat races were beset with negative winds, making times a non-factor.
Danielle Williams ran 12.66 in the 1st, with German Pam Dutkiewicz 2nd in 12.74.
Megan Simmonds, an unknown (to me!) Jamaican, won Heat 2 in 12.78, with Nia Ali's 12.93 following.
Tiffany Porter's 13.18 in 6th was a non-Q!
Heat 3 went to WR holder Kendra Harrison's 12.60, with Alina Talay 2nd in 12.68!
Back in 6th, but becoming a Semi-finalist on time, came Start Line Dancer Michelle Jenneke's 13.11.

The next Heat saw a charged up Sally Pearson, clearing the hurdles like the Champion she was before she fractured her wrist!
Her 12.72 finished ahead of Dawn Harper-Nelson's 12.88, with young Rochelle Burton coming next in 12.94.
Christine Manning was the slowest winner, her 12.87 finishing ahead of Nadine Visser's 12.96.
Visser had done the Heptathlon earlier in the meet--and had run 12.85 there!!

The Men's HJ Qualifying saw some biggies fail to make the Top 12.
Erik Kynard was hurting, and went out early!
Andriy Protsenko, Donald Thomas, Gianmarco Tamberi, as well as Ricky Robertson also failed to Q!
The B-Boys---Mutaz Barshim & Bogdan Bondarenko--easily made it through!
BTW, the highest height cleared here was 7-7, or 2.31 metric!

The 100H Semi's also went according to form!
Sally Pearson looked even better here, her 12.53 blazer leaving Nia Ali's 12.79 far behind!
Christina Manning--wearing a dark green garish lipstick--ran 12.71 in Semi 2, with Alina Talay 2nd in 12.85!
Tobi Amusan, Danielle Williams, and Michelle Jenneke--4th, 5th, and 7th respectively--all failed to Q.
The last Semi went to the veteran Dawn Harper-Nelson, time of 12.63.
Pam Dutkiewicz--arguably 2017's "Find"--was 2nd in 12.71, with Kendra Harrison again having problems in Championship meets, but finishing in 12.86, enough to sneak into the Final on a time basis!!
Rushelle Burton's 12.94, however, wasn't enough!!

Brittney Reese didn't have to rely on her standard 6th round come-through to win the Long Jump!!
Her 3rd round leap of 23-0.50 passed Russian Darya Klishina to take the lead.
Klishina eventually jumped 22-11.75 to take Silver, while Tianna Bartoletta DID use the 6th round to gain Bronze, passing Ivana Spanovic's 2nd round 22-10 by one-half inch!!

Reese did foul a few times, as did Brit Lorraine Ugen, who had one good effort which gave her 5th!!

Two middle distance Semi's were next!
The Women's 800's saw Ajee Wilson win the 1st in 1:59.21, leading all the way!
Melissa Bishop was 2nd in 1:59.56, with 3 others dipping under 2 minutes!

One of the unnamed led Semi 2, just under 1:59.
Angelika Cichocka led the rest with her 1:59.32.
Charlene Lipsey, bumped by Brit Lynsey Sharp right before the line, was 2nd in 1:59.35, with Sharp finishing in 1:59.47!
But Sharp was DQ'ed--supposedly for that "bump"!
After an appeal, she was reinstated--charges of "over-officiating" rearing its ugly head once again!!

Brenda Martinez suffered two fates---one, having 2 of the unnamed in her race finishing in front--and two, for it being the slowest of the three Semi's!!
So her 2:01.31 didn't pass her through to the Final!!
Just one more example of these "unnamed"---who do NOT belong in all-Women's races!!--screwing a WOMAN out of her deserved opportunity!!
This must STOP---or the Women's middle distances (particularly the 800) are doomed to be Tragi-Comedies for years to come!!

The Men's 1500 Semi's didn't have that problem!
But a calf cramp shut down Robby Andrews right before he was to start his kick!
Also not-Q'ing was Abdelaati Iguider from Semi One!
Elijah Manangoi and Asbel Kiprop once again dominated, taking the top 2 spots.
The 2nd Semi was faster, with Jakub Holusa winning in 3:38.05.
Tim Cheruiyot was 2nd in 3:38.24.
Both timed in 3:38.68, in 6th and 7th, Nick Willis and the sole American hope left standing, John Gregorek, moved on!
Ronald Kwemoi faded to 9th, and didn't Q.

The HT Final saw Wojciech Nowicki take an early lead, his Round 3 heave measuring 256-0!
But heavily favored Pawel Fajdek whipped out a 261-10--over 13 feet short of his PR!--in Round 4, which held on for the W!
But Russian Valeriy Pronkin's 256-5 in Round 6 edged out Nowicki for the Silver!!
Young Bence Halasz maybe showed his youth, ending in 11th!!

The final Final (sic!!) of Day 8 was the Women's 200!
And once again, this post's title was abandoned for 22-plus seconds in favor of a brief display of "normalcy"!!
Except it didn't come as easily for the Dutch beauty Dafne Schippers as she might have liked!
Coming off the turn in the lead, Schippers soon had company--albeit a couple of lanes to her left--in the person of Marie Josee Ta Lou!

Shaunae Miller-Uibo--back to full force after a major cramp left her in 4th in the 400--was also in the hunt!!
Maybe remembering how Tori Bowie won the 100---with a good lean, while Ta Lou finished upright in 2nd--Schippers leaned here, with Ta Lou AGAIN standing straight up---and AGAIN getting "only" the Silver!!
Schippers's 22.05 beat Ta Lou's 22.08!
One consolation for the Ivory Coaster--she broke her own National Record!!
SMU finished 3rd in 22.15!
The London crowd was thrilled to see young Dina Asher-Smith take 4th in a solid 22.22!!
The Americans--Deajah Stevens and Kimberly Duncan--were timed in 22.44 and 22.59, respectively!!

We are now down to the last 2 days of competition!
My next report--much later today!!--will have Day 9's results, as well (as promised earlier) my full Decathlon wrap-up--in detail!!
Then I'll do another after Sunday's events close out this---um, eventful??--meet!!

I'll finish my WC coverage with my "Best & Worst"---which promises to be, um, '"interesting"???

See you soon!