ATHLETICS: Ella Nelson said she felt like a “gladiator” as she ran the race of her life to set a personal best and come within 0.01 of a second of a berth in the women’s 200m final.
Not since Cathy Freeman and Melinda Gainsford-Taylor at the Sydney 2000 Games has an Australian woman qualified for the 200m final, but the 22-year-old Olympic debutant, who has shown great courage to fight her way back from two hamstring tears just to make the team, came agonisingly close to matching them.
Nelson produced a stunning performance to finish third in her heat in a time of 22.50s – a personal best by 0.3 of a second.
“It feels like you’re a gladiator going out to war,” Nelson said of her Olympic semi-final.
“You’re not entirely sure if you are going to leave the track dead or alive. That’s definitely how I felt going out there.
“It’s really intimidating but it’s this amazing awesome feeling at the same time and if you can channel it you can have a good performance, which is what I did.”
With the top two finishers in each semi-final progressing, then the next two fastest times, Nelson finished ninth overall - just behind the time set by Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain, who finished fourth in the first semi-final.
Despite missing out on a first Olympic final by the smallest of margins, Nelson was jubilant with her run.
“I ran a PB, I couldn’t be happier,” Nelson said.
“I know there’s one spot there, just 1/100th of a second, but it’s just incredible … I am just so proud of myself for the year that I have had and everything going forward.”
In the men’s high jump final, Australian Brandon Starc finished 15th in his first Olympic final.
The first Australian to reach the men’s high jump final in 20 years, Starc, 22, cleared his first height of 2.20m at his second attempt but was unable to clear 2.25m.
Starc, from Sydney, has his best years ahead of him and said the experience of his first Olympic final will be invaluable in the future.
“I wasn’t feeling as good as I was in qualifying,” Starc said.
“I’m not sure if I was nervous or if it was because I was backing up with a day in between.
“It wasn’t my night. It was a bit of a disappointment. I had high hopes. That’s the way it goes.
“I can learn from that … the things they did out there are not out of my reach.”
Canada’s Derek Drouin won the gold medal with a mark of 2.38m.
Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim won silver with a mark of 2.36m while the bronze medal went to Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine with a jump of 2.33m
The last Australian to make the men’s high jump final was Tim Forsyth, who won bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Games and finished seventh at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Lauren Wells, a semi-finalist at the London 2012 Games, gave it everything but missed a place in the women’s 400m hurdles final.
Running from Lane 1, Wells finished seventh in her semi-final in a time of 56.83.
David Taylor
olympics.com.au
