A case of close but no cigar for Hession

It was always going to be difficult to repeat his semi-final faring in Beijing.

And when Paul Hession was drawn in a hot heat for yesterday’s first round 200m that dream drifted away.

Finishing fifth with 20.69 seconds, victory went to the 100m silver medallist Yohan Blake in 20.38 seconds. Four years ago Hession had second placed Bruno de Barros and Jaysuma Saidy Nduren behind him in Beijing but this time it was not to be.

“I needed high 20.50 seconds, to get through today,” he said. “It’s close but no cigar. I had a stacked heat. Two world finalists and the second fastest man in history. But I was right in the middle of them and that should be a good thing on paper but it’s no excuse.

“The middle section is where I lost it which is a pity. When I ran the 20.54 in Lucerne I was quite good in the middle section. I got out quite well and finished reasonably well today but I was too far back.

“I’d liked to have beaten the Ukranian guy, it’s a pity he beat me because I definitely had the beating of him on another day but it still mightn’t have been enough — it would have been touch and go then.

“Unfortunately on time I would have got through in some of the other heats but it’s still not good enough for the next round.”

He took time off from his medical studies to prepare for the Olympics and he might not be quite ready to return to college just yet.

“I told myself years ago that if I wasn’t running A standards I’d retire but I am running A standards and an A standard is still a serious one. I think I’m the only one to do one on the track this year so we’ll see.

“Today was a cliff edge for me so I’m not sure. I hadn’t really planned beyond today except that I want to go back and study for a little while and see what happens but I don’t see this as my last race.”

He has had a troublesome Achilles tendon problem this year but he refused to put that forward as an excuse.

“It’s killing me now but that’s no excuse,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about that, I’m able to run on it, I ran 20.5 on it this year, it’s killing me now but it was killing me when I ran 20.5 on it as well.”

Fionnuala Britton who finished 15th in the 10,000m final on Friday night (31:46.71) was back in action yesterday in the first round heats of the women’s 5,000m but failed to make the final despite setting a new pb at 15:12.97 which placed her 10th. The heat was won by Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) who retained her 10,000m title on Friday night.

“I suppose I’m happier than I was on Friday but it’s only the heats after all and I came here to get to the final,” Britton said. “Pbs are pbs but they’re for earlier in the season. When you get to championships you aim to get to the final.

“I know I really needed to be top five and it was always going to be tough.”