Yesterday afternoon, I found myself shouting at the TV in hysteria. The Women's Steeplechase Final at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing was full of action. One of the favourites, Ayalew from Ethiopia, failed to jump the water jump on one of the initial laps and consequently found herself at the back of the field. Although she did her best to regain ground, it hit her hard in the latter stages of the race.
Excitingly, the biggest revelation of the entire race was the young German athlete, Gesa Felicitas Krause. I know Krause very well as we are a similar age and have competed at all the major championships from the Under 23 age group to senior level. To see her leading the race with five metres to go was unbelievable – I thought she had won it! However, the Kenyan athlete managed to pip her on the line along with the Tunisian, pushing her into bronze position. Only 0.1 of a second split the medal positions (all 9 minutes, 19 seconds) but with a big personal best, the German athlete was over the moon.
It was nice to see a European athlete amongst the medals and again reinforced to me that it is possible. Being injured has helped me to become a lot stronger mentally. Hopefully, I can continue this new mindset into the 2016 season and beyond.
It just goes to show, that in championship races anything can happen. Favourites and fast times become completely irrelevant. If you can be present in the race when the bell goes, it's anyone's medal.
