Geordie Beamish and Soufiane El Bakkali celebrate with their steeplechase medals in a water jump pool. Photo / Getty Images
If Geordie Beamish’s steeplechase gold medal in Tokyo had been part of the plot in a novel, it would have been considered too far-fetched.
A year ago, an injured Beamish did not make the Olympic final. Injury meant a patchy build-up followed by a lengthy rehabilitation and reduced preparation for this year.
The famous fall in the heat, his speedy recovery and the chase brought him to second and an unlikely final qualification. When asked what he was thinking after a fall that looked to have buried his chances, Beamish replied, “No thinking, just doing”. The doing was spectacular.
In the final, Beamish was closer to the pace than usual. As so often in championships run without pacers and pacing lights, athletes look for a place on the podium rather than the time.
At the bell, Beamish was still in contact, unlike two years ago when his final sprint brought him from nowhere to fifth. He was technically sound over the last water jump and final barrier and unleashed his dynamic finishing speed to win on the line from double Olympic winner Soufiane El Bakkali, chasing his third consecutive global title.
The time may not have been fast but the execution was perfect, especially the final sprint.
Beamish commented on the long journey and that there had “been more highs than lows”.
In his final year at Whanganui Collegiate School in 2014, Beamish won the New Zealand Schools Cross Country in Palmerston North and the 3000 metres on the track at the New Zealand Schools Championships at Cooks Gardens.
He was entered in the steeplechase (his coach’s suggestion) but chose not to run. However, he gave a glimpse of that future speed by running an outstanding second leg of Whanganui’s 4 x 400m team that took the New Zealand Schools title by a wide margin (Max Attwell, featured last month in Insight after his decathlon success in Poland, was also in the winning team).
Beamish’s long journey continued in Northern Arizona where he had a track scholarship. It has continued as a member of the On Athletics Club coached by Datham Ritzenheim.
Beamish should inspire our young athletes and, hopefully, we might see him back at Cooks Gardens.
As at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, high jumper Hamish Kerr joined Beamish on the top of the podium with victories only hours apart.
This year, the wait was a little over 24 hours. After a tense competition in Tokyo, Kerr was able to add the world title to last year’s Paris Olympics title and his Diamond League title a few weeks earlier.
Sanghyeok Woo, who had beaten Kerr for gold in the World Indoor Championships earlier this year, cleared 2.31m on his second attempt, Kerr on his third, therefore dropping to second on countback.
Kerr cleared 2.36m on his first attempt to equal his personal best with a 2025 world leading performance. Woo failed his first and passed to 2.38m where they both failed on the first attempt. Woo’s failure on the second attempt (his third consecutive) meant Kerr did not need to jump again, confirming his status as the world’s best high jumper.
Margins in international sport are tiny (although perhaps not at Sky Stadium in Wellington last Saturday). The marathon in Tokyo, won by Alphonse Felix Simbu (Tanzania) over Amnal Petros (Germany), required a photograph to decide the gold medal, both having run 2:09:48.
Tom Walsh knows all about those small margins. Walsh led the qualifying shot on Saturday morning and was sitting in a medal position going into the fifth round of the final when he unleashed a season’s best of 21.94m to move from third to second.
Leanardo Fabbri (Italy) followed this immediately with an identical 21.94m but ahead of Walsh by countback (better second-best throw). Uziel Minnoz (Mexico) then stepped into the circle in the final round for a lifetime best of 21.97m, leaving Walsh agonisingly close to another global medal. Gold was taken by world record holder Ryan Crouser (22.34m), who has had his own injury battles.
Walsh was clearly disappointed and frustrated but can reflect on once again stepping up when it matters most, producing a season’s best performance.
Sprinter Zoe Hobbs so narrowly missed reaching the 100m final, having won a berth in the semifinal in which she finished fifth to place 12th overall. Hobbs will be back stronger and better and can break into the very top group of world women sprinters.
I am not sure how many more late nights I can handle watching the livestream. As we approach the halfway stage, New Zealand sits fourth on the medal table which already lists 28 countries, reflecting the global nature of the sport.