Little disappointment; deja vu but no shared high jump medal this year

Mackenzie Little had time to think about it. Sitting on the track, watching all of her competitors as they kept throwing the javelin, searching for medals. She had to just sit and watch. Stunningly, she had been eliminated in the first cut of the final.

Little came into this final the No.2-ranked javelin thrower in the world after winning bronze last year at the worlds and having some good comps this year.

“I thought the whole time that I could do it, there was no reason that I couldn’t. And I think that just makes it harder. Like, there’s no excuses. It could have been different, which is a hard pill to swallow, but that’s OK. I’ve got some more in me,” she said.

But on a steamy Saturday night in Paris, when the moment came, she couldn’t find her throw. She had a best effort of 60.32m. Bear in mind her PB is 66.27m and she is a regular mid-60m thrower.

“I was confident and I’ve been able to perform in majors and I think it doesn’t go your way all the time … I wish it would have gone better,” she said.

“After the men’s javelin I think people were expecting some big throws tonight and I wish I could have been throwing them. It’s a little bit bittersweet because you want to see, like, the best competition in the world at the Olympics – and there were a smattering of season’s bests – but otherwise it just wasn’t that kind of evening.”

Kath Mitchell has another top-eight finish at an Olympic Games.Credit: AP

Teammate Kath Mitchell, for a fourth successive Olympics, made the top eight in the javelin final. She then took a deep bow to the crowd, part thank you and part farewell. She knows retirement is upon her this year or next.

While the javelin was winding up at one end, the Olympics were enjoying, at the other, that very French term deja vu.

Three years on from when two high jumpers agreed to share Olympic gold in Tokyo when they were tied in the gold-medal position, this year, once more, two jumpers were locked in first place, unable to be split. Again they were given the option of sharing gold. This time they said no.

New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr and America’s Shelby McEwen opted for a jump-off. So, both were given one more jump at 2.38m (the height at which they had both missed three times in the final). Again they both missed.

The bar was lowered to 2.36m and both given one jump. They both missed.

So it went lower again, to 2.34m. McEwen missed and Kerr finally got over the bar and claimed outright gold.

It is an imperfect system for deciding a gold that is to be awarded for the person who jumps highest. But there is no perfect solution, whether it is splitting the medal (and it is still an athlete’s choice about that), deciding on countback for who missed fewest jumps on the way to jumping highest or, in this case, a ‘countforward’, if you like, of who misses fewest at lower heights after discovering who jumped equal-highest.

“Personally, I always talked about how amazing the jump-off was last time [in Tokyo 2020]. That has such a special place in history for high jumps,” Kerr said.

Hamish Kerr of New Zealand, right, embraces Shelby McEwen of the United States, after Kerr took gold and McEwen silver in the men’s high jump.Credit: AP

“Me also to have an exact same scenario this time around, but to choose to do the jump-off, was putting at peace one of those people who wanted to jump-off, so we’re both really happy to add to that history.

“I knew I had a good one in me and I knew that if I could get it up sooner rather than later then I could just finish the comp and start recovering.”

Earlier, in the men’s 5000m, Norway’s rock-star middle distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen came chasing quick redemption.

The reigning Olympic 1500m champion had lost the two world championships over the distance since that Tokyo gold – and was far from gracious to his victors in defeat. He was expected to win, by no one more so than himself, but ended up being stunned when he was overhauled in the last 30m and missed all medals.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Team Norway, centre, won gold in the 5000m over Ronald Kwemoi of Team Kenya (silver, left) and Grant Fisher of Team United States (bronze).Credit: Getty Images

Here, he needed something, and he got it. He ran a far smarter and more confident race in the 5000m, taking the lead when the moment demanded it and seeing off each challenge when they came in the last 600 to win gold in 13:13.66.

“Not only sports, but in life you feel that you succeed, you’re in a good rhythm, it’s motivation. When you hit a wall, and don’t perform the way you want to, it’s very difficult. But for me, I’m participating in two events in Paris. I got another shot, I just had to make the most of it,” Ingebrigtsen said.

“For me, the 5000m is over triple my usual distance, so it was a very tough race. With the level being so high, people are running so fast this year, I knew I had to be at my very best to be able to fight for medals.”

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