Daily Updates with RF Rizwan Farrukh
A stunning run was performed by Britain’s Richard Kilty, which made him the winner of the 60m gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Sopot.
“I can’t believe it. This is a dream come true,” said the winner after the 24-year-old head off a field including Nesta Carter and won in a personal time of 6.49 seconds. Medals were fancied to win by Britain during the first two events on day two, but the gold medal won by Kilty was a big surprise!
The Gateshead Harriers athlete was competing in his first major championships where he was replacing the injured James Dasaolu. After finishing second to Jamaica’s Carter, he easily qualified for Saturday’s semi-final; in order to make the evenings final. During this run, he was expected to track 2012 silver medallist Carter, but instead he blew the Jamaican as well as the rest of the field away, with a shocking 6.50 seconds for the first time.
Last month, he ran at the British Indoor Championships in Sheffield where his time was 6.53 seconds. Before that, his semi-final in Poland was a timing of 6.52 seconds, which shows Kilty had improved and took a further three-hundredths off in the final. Kilty finished ahead of Bracy, who won silver in 6.51 seconds and Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, who claimed bronze. Team-mate Dwain Chambers came sixth with a time of 6.53 and Carter finished seventh.
After victory, Kilty said he has proved selectors wrong for neglecting him from the team for the London Olympics in 2012. During that event, he had run an ‘A’ standard time of 20.50 seconds in the 200m, but the team only selected Christian Malcolm and James Ellington for the event. After this, Kilty experienced more trouble when he suffered a hamstring and struggled without any funding. However, his performance and fitness improved in 2013 and as a result he was returned to the funding programme in October.
After the victory, Kilty said, “For the last few years all I have done is get slated by the media and people in my home country.”
“I considered quitting because I had no income and had no train on the road in trainers. I couldn’t afford to get to the track. Nobody’s had it harder than me last year. Thankfully, my dad Kevin persuaded me I had the talent and told me to give it another year, and this is for him and all my fans and supporters,” he added.
On the other hand, there was disappointment for the British team, as Luke Cutts of Sheffield finished eighth in the pole vault. The 26-year-old broke a 12-year-old British record in January, where his time was 5.83m, but only achieved 5.65m in Poland.
America’s Ashton Eaton successfully defended his heptathlon title after finishing 13 points short of his own world record.
In the women’s 1500m, Sweden’s Abeba Aregawi won gold by a 6.51-second margin. In the women’s triple jump, just one centimetre separated gold and silver where Russia’s Ekaterina Koneva pushing kraines Olga Saladukha into second place with a 14.46m leap.
