Lalita's dream run comes to an expected end

Indian finishes 10th in steeplechase

There was no dream finish to Lalita Babar’s Olympic Odyssey. She wasn’t expected to win a medal and she didn’t. A better timing was expected but she couldn’t. Tenth place in a top quality field, the end result, was still a perfectly acceptable one.

In the final of the women’s 3000 metres steeplechase, Lalita timed 9:22.74, slower than her time in the qualifying round, when she had set a national record of 9:19.76 three days ago.

Having spent all her energy to make the final – the first Indian in a track event in 32 years to do so – the 27-year-old from Maharashtra was just a tad slow on the day even as Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet ran away with the gold in a spectacular performance.

In hot weather conditions, Jebet did an amazing front-running act. The only woman to go under nine minutes this season, the former Kenyan came very close to the world record. She finished in an Asian record time of 8:59.75, just outside the world mark of 8:58.81 set by Gulnara Galkina-Samitova of Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Lalita, who had run from the front while finishing eighth in the World Championships last year, was at the back of the 18-women field initially. She did try to move up but the pace set by Jebet was a bit too much. Kenyan Hyvin Jepkemoi and American Emma Coburn did their best to catch her, but had to end in silver and bronze positions while Lalita fought it out in the middle of the field.

“I tried my best. The idea was to improve my time in the semifinals but I couldn’t do that. But I am happy that in my first Olympic Games, I was able to make the final,” said Lalita.

“I knew winning a medal was very tough but if I couldn’t do it, I wanted to at least clock a good time. I couldn’t better my record but still it is a good time,” she added.
Lalita had banged her knee against a hurdle in the semifinals, causing a bruise, but she didn’t offer it as an excuse. “The pain is still there but I didn’t think too much about it. If you start thinking about such things, you won’t be able to run well,” said the girl from Satara in Maharashtra.

Renjith, Srabani exit
Renjith Maheswary was his usual self in a big meet. Luckily, he didn’t foul his jumps as he had done in London 2012 and at the 2011 Worlds. The man who had promised to do better than his national record of 17.30 metres was, however, more than a metre behind in the qualification stage, jumping a pathetic 16.13 to finish 15th in his group and 30th overall.

In the 200M first round, Srabani Nanda went out after finishing sixth in her heat in 23.58 seconds, way off her season’s best of 23.07. She was placed 55th overall. In women’s hammer throw, Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland smashed her own world record with a 82.29M heave to win the gold.

Result: Women’s 3000M steeplechase: Ruth Jebet (Bahrain) 8:59.75, 1; Hyvin Jepkemoi (Kenya) 9:07.12, 2; Emma Coburn (USA) 9:07.63, 3.

Women’s hammer throw: Anita Wlodarczyk (Poland) 82.29M (World record, old: 81.08, Anita, 2015), 1; Zhang Wenxiu (China) 76.75, 2; Sophie Hitchon (Great Britain) 74.54, 3.