Cragg keeps his cool as Spanish raise the heat
Joanne Cuddihy found Lane 1 an impossible mountain to climb in the final of the women’s 400m at the end of a spectacular campaign at the Ullevi Stadium, while Paul Hession failed in his bid for a place in the final of the men’s 200m.
There was drama in the heats of the women’s 200m when Ciara Sheehy suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury that kept her out of competitive running for the past three weeks and pulled up on the bend.
Now Cragg has to wear the favourite’s tag in the men’s 5,000m but he had no problem with that last night, giving as good as he got as the Spaniards in his semi-final tried to assert their authority over him.
“It was just hello, welcome to the final,” he said. “I gave him a nudge on the way through and we continued on our way.”
The withdrawal of the two 10,000m runners — Christian Belz from Cragg’s semi-final and Sergiy Lebid from the other race — meant just four would be eliminated, so there was never going to be anything sensational.
Cragg was up with the pace early on as Jesus Espana took them through an opening lap in 69.67 secs. Chris Thompson of Great Britain then took the lead and when Halil Akkas from Turkey took over for a succession of steady 66/67/68 second laps, everyone was happy to sit in, with Cragg a comfortable fourth.
With four laps to go Juan Carlos Higuero, bronze medallist in the 1,500m, made a move to the front and they exchanged pleasantries when Cragg sprinted up to join the Turk.
Akkas celebrated victory in 13:48.79 as if he had won the gold medal with Gert-Jan Liefers from the Netherlands second in 13:49.73. Cragg finished third in 13:50.12 and when he looked back to see who was left he could see the two Spaniards wandering around the track giving a “high five”.
“I hope they remember how I beat Reyes Estevez and the rest of the Spaniards indoors,” he said.
“If they came to my hometown and did that to another Irishman I would want to go out there and make sure I’d do the job properly.
“I am not worried. I see it as a big accomplishment in my books to be seen as a target. They are all talented runners and if I am the man they worry about I am flattered.
“I’m never smooth in a race like that...before you know it you are in the last three laps and everything is a rush. That was a nice reminder of what I can expect.”
He made no secret of his delight at the fact that his coach, Irishman John O’Donnell, is here for the championships.
“He is my mentor. He is the brain behind my running,” he said.
“I’ll be doing exactly what he says. If he tells me to go 4k out I’ll do it — if he tells me to wait until the last 200 I will — he knows. He has got faith in my kick.
“For a 1,500m runner to kick at the end of a 5k is not easy and they’ll feel pain they never felt before. I just got to remind them that this is my event and I can get to the end of a 5k and close in 53 or 54 seconds if I need to.”
Joanne Cuddihy finished last in the 400m final in 51.46 secs. The race was won by Vanya Stambolova (Bulgaria) in 49.85 secs.
“My legs had nothing in the last 30 metres. They just gave up. There was nothing I could do about it,” Joanne Cuddihy said.
“I know I gave it everything I had today and that’s all I could do.
“Yesterday’s race was so much better — I’ll just try remember that one. It has been a great week. Some athletes like coming to the top at the championships and I ran a pb through the round so hopefully if I keep that going through the years I can see some medals eventually.”
Paul Hession was disappointed with his seventh in the semi-finals of the men’s 200m in 21.09 secs but this was only his fourth race this year.
“The injury came at a bad time,” he said. “I would have needed some more races coming here.”
Anna Boyle finished fifth in her heat of the women’s 200m in 23.94 secs.
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