Costin and Griffin fail to reach the finish

JAMIE COSTIN, on his comeback, and Colin Griffin, on his debut, both failed to finish the 50k walk at the world championships in Osaka on Saturday.

Griffin had to watch the race develop from the side of the course when he was disqualified after just 12 kilometres while Costin ended up on a stretcher at 42 kilometres after cramping. The West Waterford man climbed off the stretcher and walked back to the stadium with the Irish team manager, Patsy McGonagle, and coordinator, Pat Ryan.

At the Sydney Olympics he displayed similar courage when he refused the offer of a wheelchair at the end of the 50k and walked to the Medical Room where he was on a drip for several hours. He was suffering from heat exhaustion and severe dehydration.

But never was such courage to manifest itself as over the past three years when after career threatening back injuries sustained in a traffic accident on the eve of the Olympic Games in Athens, he battled his way back competitive race walking and, along with Griffin, posted a qualifying standard for next year’s Games in May.

Yesterday he was distraught as he tried to explain the reason for his departure from a race in which he had targeted a top 20 placing.

“I did everything right. My preparation was great. What we have done as a team has been fantastic. Myself and Colin have had a fantastic summer’s training. We trained with Rob (Heffernan) at altitude in April, at altitude in France all summer, we went to Poland for humidity and heat adaptation and we had a fantastic camp in Matsue. The professionalism of Athletics Ireland has been fantastic.

“I feel I have let the team down. I did everything correctly, I worked hard. I walked very conservatively at the start. I had a race plan that would have finished me in the top 20.

“Everything was going right. Then, after 30k I started getting dizzy and then I started cramping and after 35 kilometres, every 200 or 300 metres I was cramping. I kept going until after 40k but after that there was no point. I was just going at a snail’s pace.”

Looking for something positive from what was a devastating experience he looked towards next year and another Olympic Games.

“Whatever it is that went wrong today I have to make sure it won’t happen again because we will face the very same conditions in Beijing next year. We will take a look at it and whatever was not done right this year will have to be put right for next year,” he said.

Colin Griffin from Ballinamore was just 12 kilometres into the race when he picked up his disqualification leaving him contemplating what might have been. “The last two cards came very quickly – before I really got going properly,” he said. “It was early stages. I was well placed at that time but placing was irrelevant because obviously the race was not going to start until 25 or 30 kilometres. I was moving at a rhythm rather than sitting back. It is just a pity that I did not have a chance to get stuck into the race when it did get going.

“I have had a biomechanical weakness I am working on for some time. It is just going to have to be sorted for once and for all this winter.”

Nathan Deakes from Australia was disqualified at the Athens Olympics but he came back to win the world title on Saturday from the European champion, Yohan Diniz (France), who was disqualified in Helsinki two years ago.

Meanwhile the United States dominated the final day of the World Athletics Championships with three more victories matching the team’s haul of 14 gold medals two years ago in Helsinki.

Bernard Lagat became the first man to achieve the 1500m and 5000m double while the men’s and women’s 4x400m relay squads both cantered to victory. The relay successes came after the previous night’s wins in both 4x100m sprints and saw the USA become the first country ever to claim all four relays at the same championships.