WC / Day Eight: Relay Madness:  4×1 Sweep For USA Mondo’s Perfect Game Strikes Gold

The relay races are very special.  They are not included in every track & field gathering.  But when they are, there is a certain unity among the relay team members.  There is a readiness that needs to accompany any successful relay team.  The quartet and the coach must work together to prepare for this infrequently-included special event.  Suddenly baton exchanges – not utilized in other track & field events – is a priority that has to be refined and quickened.  Why?  Because in the relay race, the victor is not necessarily the fastest team; the team gets the baton around the track the fastest!

Against this backdrop, the relay race can provoke an elevated level of excitement.  This is especially true in global championships.  Beyond the relay participants’ commitment, the fans get into the act as well. It explains why Jamaican fans wear green and yellow and bring earsplitting air horns to the venue.  It is why perfectly sane Norwegian fans wear Norse headgear with horns.

You can feel that special relay vibe here at the World Athletics Championships.  And tonight’s relay races will bring out the best in the athletes and the fans.

mPV – Final:  Tonight’s vault competition – aka the Mondo Duplantis Show – always has a special flavor.  Mondo – the G.O.A.T. – is a patient gentleman, waiting his turn to clear heights that others only dream of.  In the early stages of the event, it is helpful, even critical, for athletes to conserve their energy for the higher, more difficult bars to come. Tonight when the bar was prepared to go higher after 5.85/19’4 1/2″, the 4 competitors working to chase Duplantis had already jumped as many as 5 times while Duplantis had vaulted only two clean jumps. When the bar was lifted to 6.00m/19’8 1/4″, France’s Thibaut Collet, USA’s Chris Nilsen, and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall all went out.  That only left EJ Obiena of the Philippines, who cleared at a new height to equal his Asian record.  But at that juncture, Obiena had 3 misses, had vaulted 9 times, and was left alone to face off against Mondo, who had vaulted only 4 times – all clean jumps.  At 6.10m/20′ 1/4″, Mondo, on only his 6th attempt, cleared cleanly while Obiena went out. Nilsen and…