Winds offer ultimate support for a marvellous finish at the Jamaican Championships – Athletics news
Winds play a crucial role in the results produced by runners, no matter whether they run for shorter distances or appear in the long-distance field and road races. This fact was realised once again when at the National Stadium during the commencement of
the Jamaican Championships in the 100m run, where four runners produced under 10 seconds results.
The athletes, who marked this historical moment, were comprised of Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Lerone Clarke. The times clocked by the top three runners (Blake, Frater and Clarke) were 9.83 seconds, 9.86 and 9.99 seconds, respectively.
The results, at least for the finishers who marked sub-10, were marvellous as they culminated in pushing the athletes into the semi-finals of the race. Besides a strong field that the competitors had to face, another major event that created challenging
conditions for the runners was the harsh weather conditions. Though the winds were gushing and in support of athletes, but the heat was not less for them and it was truly a test of their form and stamina.
Expressing his concern about the warm weather conditions, Frater, the second finisher of the run also praised the speed depicted by Yohan, and said, “Yohan won, it’s just the heats and races are not won in the heats. This is just the heats so tomorrow we
will see the finals.”
Winds not only support or hinder athletes from clocking fast times, but they also affect them psychologically in different ways. For instance, if the winds are favouring runners, it will boost up the confidence of athletes and they will long for making conscious
efforts for taking full advantage of the situation and mark a good finish. On the contrary, if the winds are blowing from the opposite side, they not only cause slower times, but they also demoralise and de-motivate runners from attempting to mark quick finishes.
Interestingly, despite after quicker finishes caused by the wind, there were athletes who were of the view that others were more capable of taking advantage of the heavenly help and if the wind was not there, they could have performed much better. For instance,
Clarke, who, nevertheless was happy over the end results of the contest, expressed his thoughts by saying, “I ran just to qualify, but it would have been great if the wind was legal.”
Now, as the event is going to witness the final competitions tomorrow, weather, particularly the temperature and winds, will once again play a crucial role in deciding about the winner of the event. However, if it remains neutral, spectators may observe
some difference faces prevailing as victors on the podium.
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