Ben Bloom argues it’s not the clock that counts, but rather the people taking part, when it comes to creating the finest sporting moments
Any athletics fan with access to the internet will have seen and heard it. “UCC from the depths of hell are powering through,” shrieks the commentator – regular AW contributor and all-round athletics expert Cathal Dennehy – his voice reaching octaves previously thought out of human range in sheer disbelief at future Olympian Phil Healy streaking down the finishing straight to claim one of the most remarkable 4×400 metres comeback victories of all time.
Dating back to 2016, it is a wonderful clip that travelled worldwide, going viral online at the time and on countless occasions since.
Ask anyone what event it is from (the Irish Universities Championships) and the chances are they will not know. Ask them who UCC are (University College Cork) and they will almost certainly have no idea. Ask them what the winning time was and prepare to be terrified if they know the answer because the footage of the race did not even feature a clock on screen.
Yet those three things were entirely irrelevant. Here was perfect proof that, for all of athletics’ fixation with numbers, they can be superfluous in creating sporting drama.
It was to the iconic “depths of hell” video that my mind wandered when Femke Bol anchored the Netherlands to an astonishing mixed 4x400m Olympic gold on the second night of track action in Paris.
So, too, when Noah Lyles triumphed in the 100m in a thrilling blanket finish. And when Cole Hocker produced an epic 1500m upset, hugging the inside rail to thwart Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s quest for glory.
In creating and promoting his controversial Grand Slam Track competition, which launches next year, Michael Johnson has somewhat laboured the point that he does not care about athletes breaking records when competing in his lucrative creation. Go on the competition’s website and you will find talk of “head-to-head match-ups… rivalries… [and] storytelling”.
Not numbers.
Of course, these will be the finest short and middle-distance runners on the planet, a million miles away from Ireland’s Class of 2016 university students, ensuring that fast times are a natural by-product. But the focus will be on winning and winning alone.
So, what constitutes a great race? Why, as a British athletics writer and fan, was I infinitely more excited before the men’s Olympic 1500m final than the women’s 800m final?
Keely…
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