4th March 2024
I am aware that there has been only minimal coverage of elite athletics in the three Ordinary Spectator books: brief references to the first London Marathon in 1981 and the 5th Avenue Mile in New York in 1984 and recollections of the television coverage of the Olympic Games in my teenage years. On Saturday evening, I took the opportunity of (partly) addressing this shortfall by attending the middle evening session of the 3-day 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
Glasgow punches above its weight for major sporting events. In the last 10 years, quite apart from the seasonal adventures of the local football and rugby union clubs, I have attended (and written about) international football at Hampden Park (Scotland versus Belgium in 2019 and a Round of 16 match at Euro2020, the latter postponed by a year), the 2014 Commonwealth Games (swimming and gymnastics), a World Championship boxing bout in 2022 and the European Cycling Championships of 2018. For the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, I watched the two road races (Men’s and Women’s) and the Men’s Time Trial as well as spending an evening at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
The city’s experience in hosting such occasions has meant that the stewarding is consistently friendly and helpful. On Saturday, this extended to the steward manning one of the road junctions on the short walk from Dalmarnock station to the arena. “There’s a reason it’s indoors”, he informed us with a smile as we waited on this chilly evening for a green pedestrian signal. “My hands are blue”.
Inside the arena, there was a full agenda – 2 sets of sprint semi-finals, the high jump component of the Men’s heptathlon and 8 finals – and there was continual action for the better part of 3 hours with, at times, progress being made in 3 events simultaneously. The evening’s MCs were informative, without being overbearing, and the provision of up-to-date information on the electronic scoreboards at the ends of the arena was excellent.
The role of modern technology in the proceedings was demonstrated in the first of the Men’s 60 metres hurdles semi-finals, when the Spanish athlete Asier Martinez was disqualified for a false start. He was judged, not to have set off before the gun fired, but to have done so faster than the allocated time that the scientists have calculated to be the minimum that it takes for the human brain to react to the firing. Martinez appealed the decision and was allowed to compete in the race, but the judges’ original decision was upheld.
Given the sophistication of the technology in use – for example, the runners’ times were given to two-hundredths of a second, with a thousandth of a second being available, if required – it seemed pleasingly quaint that, for the heptathlon’s high jump and Women’s pole vault, the success or failure of an attempt was signalled by the official sitting near the apparatus raising a white or red flag. Nicely low-tech, I thought, concluding that this might not be the most difficult job of the evening.
There were three particular highlights, the most significant of which for the meeting as a whole was probably when the Dutch runner Fenike Bol set a new indoor World Record of 49.17 seconds in the Women’s 400 metres. For the home supporters, however, there were the gold medal performances of Molly Caudrey in the Women’s pole vault – following an absorbing contest with the New Zealander, Eliza McCartney – and Josh Kerr in the Men’s 3,000 metres.
Kerr – a tall, powerful and elegant runner – judged the race to perfection. In a closely bunched field, he spent several laps biding his time and easing his way in the middle of the pack before progressing up the line, negotiating some barging and then taking the lead with about 100 metres to go. The roars built up over the concluding laps and then echoed around the arena as Kerr rounded the final bend and sprinted down the straight. It was a genuinely thrilling and memorable piece of sporting action.
Across the evening as a whole, there was much to take in, some of it on the margins of the main action. I noted the calm efficiency with which the officials marshalled the high jumpers in the preparations for their attempts at the bar (which was right in front of us). With less available space than there would have been in an outdoor arena, the jumpers’ run-ups straddled both the post-tape lanes of the sprinters and the start of the run-ups of the Men’s triple-jumpers. The officials managed the heavy traffic with some skill.
The spectators played their part too. It was noticeable that the general hubbub of noise and conversation in the crowd would transform into a respectful near-silence as the sprinters made their final preparations prior to blast-off. There was also warm appreciation of the gold-medal winners from around the globe, including the Americans Elle St Pierre and Grant Holloway, the Belgian Alexander Doom, and Hugues Fabrice Zango of Burkina Faso. When Holloway won the Men’s 60 metres hurdles – his 76th consecutive win in the event, no less – he joyfully bounced off the thick padded cushion at the end of the sprint lane as if he were a hyperactive Tigger.
Unfortunately, the evening was not without its casualties. The French pole-vaulter Margot Chevrier suffered a horrendous ankle injury after she mistimed one of her attempts and crashed awkwardly in the pit of the landing area. There was a delay of several minutes whilst she was attended to – initially being given oxygen – and carefully lifted on to the wheeled stretcher. Later, the start of the last event of the evening – the Women’s 60 metre sprint final – was also delayed after the American Aleia Hobbs injured her calf in her warm-up. Her desperation to compete was clearly evident, as she attempted to massage the problem away, but it was also obvious that this would be in vain. The race was won by Julien Alfred of St Lucia in 6.98 seconds, two-hundredths of the second ahead of the Polish athlete, Ewa Swoboda.
If I had one suggestion to make of the evening, it would be to re-arrange the schedule so that the podium athletes could receive their medals at intervals between the events. On Saturday, these ceremonies were conducted at the close of play, when many of the spectators had started to leave the arena. That more stayed on this occasion than might otherwise have been the case was no doubt due to the successes of Molly Caudrey and Josh Kerr. I realise that it would elongate the main part of the evening as a whole – and the 8 medal ceremonies here would perhaps have added a good half-hour to the programme, given the time needed for the awarding of the prizes and the playing of the national anthems. But it seems a shame that the successful competitors – for some of whom the evening might turn out to have been the career highlight – are recognised only in a corner of the arena and when the bulk of the spectators are heading for the car park or the railway station.
60 metres in 6.98 seconds. These days, it takes me at least that long to get myself off the living room sofa and into a standing position.
An Ordinary Spectator 