Bronze or not? This screen-grab has some sprint fans up in arms. Photo / Twitter
Bronze or not? This screen-grab has some sprint fans up in arms. Photo / Twitter
The men's 100m final at the Commonwealth Games was a nightmare career-low for Jamaican track star Yohan Blake.
A new photo from the tight finish in the blue riband event has led many commentators to declare it should have been much worse for the second fastest man of all time.
Blake was sensationally upstaged by South Africa's Akani Simbine (gold) and Henricho Bruintjies (silver) in a massive Monday night boilover.
The 28-year-old short-priced favourite in the event was devastated as he recovered from a slow start to claim the bronze medal in a time of 10.19 seconds — 0.16 seconds behind Simbine.
South African sprinters Henricho Bruintjies and Akani Simboine beat Yohan Blakje. Photo / Getty
Blake was awarded the bronze despite finishing in a dead heat time of 10.19 with Nigeria's Seye Ogunlewe.
Blake was awarded the bronze on the basis of his quicker reaction time. He was also the fastest qualifier for the final.
Ogunlewe's misfortune at being pipped on the line by Blake took a dramatic twist later on with the event's photo finish appearing to show the Nigerian may have been dudded by the result.
The photo finish shows Ogunlewe, running from lane two, crossed the line first with his legs and head with his torso also inseparable from Blake's torso in the final frame.
It was the first time in 20 years the Commonwealth sprint crown has left the Caribbean.
Despite the shock result, sprint legend Usain Bolt quickly changed his tune to support Blake — having previously declared his apprentice won't be able to go home to Jamaica unless he won the gold.
Well done @YohanBlake Keep putting in the work. You know your journey 🙌🏽🙌🏽
"I couldn't catch the field as I wanted to. I was supposed to take this (race) very easily because I was ready and feeling good. It was just never meant to be I guess.
Nigeria's Seye Ogunlewe in an earlier heat. Photo / Getty
"Maybe I was too confident and over thought it."
Channel 7 commentator and Aussie athletics great Tamsyn Manou said Blake stiffened after getting a poor start out of the blocks — a relatively novice error.
"Blake almost panicked and got tense," she told Channel 7.
"That is the worst thing you can do in a sprint. You can never tense up. It just showed that Yohan Blake hasn't been racing in this competition for such a long time.
"You can see he was just slow out. He sort of popped up a little bit and he was never in the race."
