We're talking medals and hilarious post-race interviews today.
Good Morning From London: Gators' Medal Races on Tap
Wednesday, August 9, 2017 | Track and Field
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Kerron Clement could become the first three-time 400 hurdles world champion in history tonight
By: Zach Dirlam
LONDON – Good morning, reader. Nice to have you back. We're returning from a two-day hiatus, which allowed FloridaGators.com writer Zach Dirlam to have fun with a pair of sidebar stories—Stipe Zunic's unexpected medal performance, and a conversational piece with the Gators' 400 hurdles trio.
Kerron Clement, @TjHolmes_400H run Wednesday's World Championships final.
Speaking of the 400 hurdles, that is one of two World Championships finals involving Gators Wednesday (Aug. 9) night (late afteroon in the U.S.).
Kerron Clement, a two-time world champion and reigning Olympic gold medalist, and TJ Holmes, the USATF Outdoor Championships bronze medalist, will run the aforementioned 400 hurdles final just as your workday in the U.S. is winding down.
Novlene Williams-Mills, the Jamaican team captain and a six-time World Championships medalist, caps Wednesday's session in the women's 400 meters final.
Obviously some of you reading this are track and field fans who know the storylines surrounding the three of them. For those readers who are not track junkies, no need to worry. (Welcome, by the way!) We hope this new blog segment will intrigue you enough to follow tonight's action.
Why is This Cool?
Watch Clement run for history at 4:30 PM ET on NBC Sports Network (Photo: Jeff Cohen)
Clement is making his sixth World Championships 400 hurdles final appearance, the second-most by any man in history. If he wins the gold medal, Clement will be the only three-time 400 hurdles world champion in history.
TJ Holmes is a surprise finalist, but he could contend for a medal. (Photo: Jeff Cohen)
Holmes is one of the best under-the-radar storylines of these World Championships, the first of his career. He shaved almost a full second off his personal record this year (down to 48.44 seconds), and enters the final having won both his preliminary and semifinal heats.
Holmes' appearance in this final is probably a stunner to everyone outside the Florida program, but he has a legitimate chance to medal.
Williams-Mills will run the final individual championship race of her career tonight. (Photo: Jeff Cohen)
Williams-Mills, at 35-plus years of age, is the oldest 400 meters finalist in World Championships history. She confirmed earlier this week this will be her final World Championships. For those unaware, Williams-Mills overcame breast cancer in 2012, a story she detailed in ESPN The Magazine.
Her season-best this year (50.14 seconds) was her fastest since 2014. That's a rare feat. In what will be her sixth final, the most in meet history, Williams-Mills is a longshot to medal, but she would be the oldest 400 meters medalist by almost three years.
Sani Brown Chases World Championships History (Again), Two Gators Open Up
Incoming freshman Hakim Sani Brown runs the 200 meters semifinals Wednesday evening. The Japanese sprinter's bid to become the youngest 100 meters finalist in World Championships history ended with an early stumble in last week's semifinals, but he has a shot at some redemption tonight.
Sani Brown, who made the semifinals as a 16-year-old (and as the youngest 200 meters competitor in meet history) in 2015, could become the youngest 200 finalist in history. The man currently holding that title:Usain Bolt, who qualified for the 2005 final the day before his 19th birthday.
Genevieve LaCaze opens her World Championships with the steeplechase preliminary. Following her appearance in the steeplechase and 5,000 meters finals at the 2016 Olympics, as well as her national record in the former, LaCaze is quickly becoming a prominent figure for Nike's advertising in Australia.
Finally, Shara Proctor is back for her sixth World Championships. Williams-Mills is the only female Gator with more. Proctor is the reigning long jump silver medalist and British record holder.
She will undoubtedly receive a warm welcome from London Stadium for Wednesday's qualifying. (The British faithful crank the decibel levels all the way up in support of their own.)
Author's Entry: A Relaxing Day Off, And a Hilarious French Champion
Tuesday's action did not feature any Gators, so I opted for a few extra hours of sleep (those days with morning and night sessions were tiring) and a random activity.
I looked into skydiving (not kidding), but it turns out you cannot book a tandem jump at 12:30 a.m. for the upcoming morning. It was a bummer. The next potential activity was a photography workshop and tour. Unfortunately, there were only two sessions, and neither was this week. Sad.
Then my mind remembered a London Underground ad for Star Wars Identities, an exhibit staged in the O2. The exhibit featured several of the original costumes, props, and production artwork. It was a fantastic interactive experience.
I also took in the second half of the evening session at the track. My primary interest was world record holder Wayde van Niekerk's 400 meters final (he won in 43.89 seconds, jogging the last 10 meters), but the men's steeplechase and pole vault finals were equally impressive and entertaining.
However, the men's 800 meters final was far more exciting than all three, and it produced a champion who, after this post-race interview, is one of my new favorite runners: France's Pierre-Ambroise Bosse. (Be warned, there is one NSFW word at the 55-second mark.)
Not included in that video were perhaps a couple of the greatest quotes you'll ever read. Check them out:
