Budapest, Hungary: Big Day Today! A lot to report, and I am not a reporter... but did capture a few interesting photos and one random video of interest. First things first: the women's marathon began this morning in the streets of Budapest, not far from our hotel. Did we go watch? We did not. It was on television and it was 7a. The 2023 World Championship marathon was won by Ethiopian Amane Beriso Shankule in a personal best time of 2:24.
We were so lazy this morning. Over a week at this pace is wearing us down. Why do they drag the competitions out for so many days? No one asks me. The fans are complaining about the heat and humidity and I say: hey, you are not out there running a marathon so just shut up, okay? Dave did work-out in the hotel fitness center, I blogged. We were going to go to the hotel breakfast buffet, but it was so late, we decided to go for a walk and find something to eat. Unfortunately for us, our hotel (and the surrounding restaurants) is in the Jewish Quarter, so nearly everything is closed on Saturday. The neighborhood was so quiet though, it was a nice day for a stroll. After getting in some pedometer steps, we settled on a neighboring hotel dining room.
They offered a prix fixe luncheon with two (or three) courses and a glass of wine for only about $15. We started with a mound of tuna salad, served with dense delicious dark bread, thinly sliced into points. Fancy! Our entre choices were not so stellar.
It was interesting (to no one but me) that I was recalling the origin of Beef Stroganoff to DT while we were waiting for our meals. Seems there was a Count or Duke or Something in Russia - named Stroganoff - with no teeth, so his chef "invented" a dish of small bits of soft beef in a sour cream sauce so the gummed one could eat. Ironic that the dish presented to us, though it smelled very stroganoffy with wafts of dill, was too tough and dry for two healthy people with full sets of choppers to consume. There was definitely sour cream, but also some sugar? Not sure. Not good and positively not worth the calories, so it was not gummed by me. The wine - a Hungarian Riesling - was wonderful. Back to the hotel, to prep for Day 8 of the Championships.
We arrived too late to really enjoy our hospitality pavilion, so went directly to our seats. The decathletes were finishing up their two-day grind this evening with the javelin, while the men and women's 4x400m relay heats began. (Athletics is always a 3-ring circus; so many events happening at once around the stadium.) The American men won the first heat and made it into the final tomorrow night. Surprise India finished second with an Asia record - 2:59.05. The USA was ahead in the women's 4x400 relay heats, when their final handoff went sour, they passed outside the legal zone, and were disqualified:
American Chase Ealey won her second World Championship with a season's best 20.43m/67 foot shot put.
Chase Ealey take their victory lap in Budapest Saturday night.
Nothing happened in the men's 800m final. One of my favorite races, it was pretty boring. Canadian Marco Arop won; American Bryce Hoppel was 7th. The famed Algerian leg was DQ'd, and I have yet to learn the reason.
The women's 5000m final wasn't very exciting either. It was slow and the finishing time was not outstanding. Crazy-good Kenyan, Faith Kipyegon (she also won the 1500m) finished first, with Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) 2nd. Kenyan's Beatrice Chebet was third:
The Kenyan's seated in front of us thought the race was very exciting. When Kipyegon walked in front of them during her victory lap, they picked her up (can't imagine she weighs too much) and held her up for everyone in the stadium to notice. Such fun!
Pretty sure there was not a fan in the stadium who thought Swedish pole vaulter, Armand Duplantis (via Louisiana), would not win gold tonight. And he did. The big excitement was Filipino jumper, Ernest John Obiena took second, with an Asian record height of 6m/19.7 feet. The bronze medal was earned by two (tied) jumpers, Australian Kurtis Marschall and American Chris Nilsen. After he had clinched the gold, Duplantis (aka Mondo), tried three times to break his own world record, but was unsuccessful this evening. Next time.
The poor decathletes, having to compete over the past two days in the terrible heat and humidity (they CAN complain!) had to finish the day with a 1500m race. This is grueling on a good day, but awful this evening. I always love watching the athletes as they finish. No energy left in their depleted bodies. Some can barely stand, yet they are so joyous at their accomplishment and embrace each other (if only to stop themselves from falling over).
The two Canadians, Pierce Lapage and Damion Warner took the gold and silver. Third place went to Grenada's Lindon Victor (why didn't he win with such a great surname?).
The final events were the men and women's 4x100m relays. Short and fast. The US won with Christian Coleman, Fred Kerley, Brandon Carnes and Noah Lyles on the anchor leg. With this victory, I think Lyles has been promoted from KING of Budapest to EMPEROR? In the second race, the US won again with Tamari Davis, Twanisha Terry, Gabby Thomas and Sha'Carri Richardson bringing in the baton in a Championship record 41.03. How can four women go around a track so quickly?
This was a crazy night at the track, especially with the rumors of the women's 4x400m relay team being disqualified, and then learning the truth and hashing it out with the NBC crew in our hotel bar after the meet. We can't fix that problem.
Until my next update, my last from Budapest, I remain, your "I'm not disqualified yet correspondent.
Pedometer: 12,000 sweaty steps.
LINKS:
World Athletics
Budapest 23