Defiant Duguma denies Reekie her golden moment

Ethiopian’s turn of pace just too hot for Scot over 800m in Glasgow, while Bryce Hoppel surges through to take the honours in title bout

Tsige Duguma is a former Ethiopian 400m champion – and she used that speed to deny Jemma Reekie a world indoor 800m title on Sunday night (March 3) in front of an adoring Scottish crowd.

In a stop-start race which didn’t play into the home favourite’s hands in Glasgow – the pace hardly blistering as the field hit halfway in 1:03.39 – it was the Duguma who showed the quicker turn of pace with a closing 200m of 27.9 to win in 2:01.90.

Reekie did secure the first senior medal of her career but silver wasn’t quite the colour she had been hoping for. Her finishing time of 2:02.72, compared to the easy-looking run of 1:58.28 she had run in qualifying fastest for the final, suggested this was perhaps an opportunity missed. Noélie Yarigo, the 38-year-old from Benin, produced a brilliant performance as she clocked 2:03.15 to come through for bronze.

Afterwards, Reekie was looking on the bright side and applying a healthy dose of perspective to it all. She recently admitted to having felt “broken as an athlete” this time last year, after needing a lengthy recovery from glandular fever and having taken the decision to stop working with long-time coach Andy Young.

“I’m not really delighted but I should be happy,” said the Jon Bigg-coached athlete. “If you had said to me last year that I’d get a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships I’d have been very happy so I do need to put it into perspective. But I did stand on that start line thinking: ‘I’m not going to accept anything other than gold’.

“I knew those girls were going to throw something at me and they were just better than me today. I made some mistakes but I’ve learned some lessons. It’s always going to be unpredictable and it’s what’s going to happen if all these girls are running so fast, but it’s my first senior medal so I’m not too disappointed.”

Duguma, an African U20 200m silver medallist in 2017, had been in front after the first lap, which was covered in 29.39 before the field bunched soon after as the pace dropped. Would Reekie, usually more comfortable when the pace is higher, make a move then? She opted to bide her time and was right on Duguma’s shoulder at the moment of truth, but the African’s kick just proved too strong.

The men’s 800m, meanwhile, was almost like a boxing match at times as a number of athletes pushed and battled for position throughout the race.

It was USA’s Bryce Hoppel who delivered the knockout blow as he set a world lead by winning in 1:44.92 ahead of Swede Andreas Kramer (1:45.27) and Belgium’s Elliot Crestan (1:45.32).

Despite there being no home athlete for the crowd to cheer following the controversial omission of Guy Learmonth from the British team at these championships, there was still plenty to keep an eye on in this one.

Right from the start, the tension was clear as Benjamin Robert made contact with Mariano Garcia in the opening 100m, the Frenchman eventually being disqualified for his actions. The Spaniard did take up the running for the following 200m before Crestan muscled his way to the front, taking the field through halfway in 1:04.92.

He remained in the lead until the closing metres as Hoppel – a bronze medallist in these championships two years ago – got his upgrade.

“Being finally able to grab that moment is incredible,” said the American. “I have a new level of confidence. The endurance and strength just gives me the ability to be very, very aware of where you are on the track, and so I was able to make that race go exactly how I want. I have a very special group around me with some incredible coaches who push me to the next level.”

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