Cuddihy gets poor reward for heroics
The 22-year-old Kilkenny athlete, making her debut at this level, put all her chips on the table last evening when she went in against the gold medal favourite, Olga Zayteva, and her Russian team mate, Tatyana Veshkurova.
She blazed the first 250m with a ferocity that had her in contention for the lead at the crown of the bend and it was only in the closing stages that the supreme effort took its toll and she crossed the line in third place in a new personal best time of 51.09 seconds — just 0.02 of a second outside Karen Shinkins’ national record.
With five of the qualifiers on faster times, she was among the four athletes who went into the draw for Lanes 1, 2, 7 and 8 and she came out on the wrong side of that.
At this stage in her progression and on the back of very limited experience at this level, she had produced a performance to remember. “I am in the final so I am just so delighted it went the way it did,” she said.
“I am absolutely shattered and I am just going to go and collapse now. I just want to thank everyone for all the support I have had in the last few days — my phone hasn’t stopped ringing and it has just been really great.”
Liam Reale, another debutant, watched her as he prepared for the final of the 1,500m and he went on to achieve the target he set for himself when he finished eighth in 3:42.65 behind Mehdi Baala (France) who became the first athlete since Steve Cram in 1986 to retain the title.
Baala beat off the Spanish challenge and then held off Ivan Heshko (Ukraine) to win in 3:39.02. Heshko, who left himself with far too much to do, finished second in 3:39.50 with Juan Carlos Higuero, leading the three Spaniards across the line in third place in 3:39.62 after they had tried to dominate the race.
“Top eight was the goal and I achieved that. I knew there would be moves early on and that if I went with them I’d probably struggle over the last 50,” Reale said.
“I’m delighted. This time last year you mention Liam Reale and people would regard me as a very good junior and a bit of a has-been now. I had a lot to prove after the European U23s last year and I think I proved my critics wrong now. There were guys behind me who have run 3:34 and 3:35.”
Paul Hession rounded off a great day when he finished third in his second round heat of the men’s 200m in 20.80 secs but he was disappointed at not making the top two.
“I am disappointed,” he said.
“There was a great opportunity there to come in the top two and have a good lane in the semis and be one of the favourites to make the final. There is no point being ecstatic when you know you could have won the race.”
Like Joanne Cuddihy, he went into the draw for lanes one, two, seven and eight and while he fared a bit better by drawing Lane 2, he said he would have preferred seven or eight.
Earlier in the day Paul Brizzel also made it out of the first round heats but his troublesome Achilles tendon which he said was just 80%, snapped just a few strides into last night’s second round heat and he was wheeled away.
Gary Ryan made an emotional exit after finishing last in his first round heat of the men’s 200m in 21.14 secs bringing the curtain down on a spectacular career.
He said that he had planned to end his career at these championships and, as of yesterday, that had not changed although he admitted it was a disappointing way to bow out. “This is not the way you want to end your career at a majors,” he said.
“I have had the worst preparation but I was not going to let it beat me. This year was not about getting to a final. I have had a lot of mountains to climb.
“I know people will say ‘he should not have been there’ but that was my choice and I am the one who suffered the embarrassment of it but it was about getting here and running and putting what I could on the day.
“I always look to the next race but now there does not appear to be one and I’ll have to adjust to that.”
