Women's Steeplechase Hampered by Barrier Set to Wrong Height

By Adam Kopet

Emma Coburn came to Oslo with a goal of running under nine minutes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. It was to be her redemption race after falling after the final water jump last week in Rome, where she finished fourth.

However, problems arose in the first lap. One of the steeple barriers was improperly set to the men's height of 36 inches instead of the women's height of 30 inches.

While Coburn and the others at the front of the race made it over the extra six inches without incident, several athletes, including Courtney Frerichs and Aisha Praught-Leer were caught in a pile up that several athletes to run into the barrier.

Despite this incident, meet officials were not made aware of the issue until Coburn's coach and husband, Joe Bosshard, ran out onto the track to help fix the barrier.

Thank you to my coach/husband @JoeBosshard for running onto the track to make the officials change the barrier from the men’s height. One of the million reasons why I love you.

— emma coburn (@emmajcoburn) June 7, 2018

In the end, the barrier remained at the men's height through the second lap. On the third lap, the runners approached the barrier while only the outside end of the barrier had been dropped to the proper height. For that lap, officials pulled the angled barrier part way off the track so that athletes would hurdle the lower section.

After the troublesome first three laps, the pace slowed and breaking the nine-minute barrier fell out of reach. On the back straight of the final lap, it was the winner in Rome, Hyvin Kiyeng of Kenya, who began to pull away. But then coming off the final water jump, Coburn made a move similar to the one that carried her to World Championship gold last year.

She closed the gap on Kiyeng, but fell just short. They finished in 9:09.63 and 9:09.70. Despite earlier troubles, Frerichs and Praught-Leer finished in fourth and fifth, respectively.

RESULTS

The men's 1,500 meters was another close race at the end, as three men finished within a tenth of a second of each other. The 17-year-old Norwegian, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, led with 200 meters to go, but Chris O'Hare of Great Britain and Robby Andrews were able to pass him before the finish.

O'Hare won in 3:35.96 with Andrews second in 3:36.05 and Ingebrigtsen third in 3:36.06. It was a three-second personal best for Ingebrigtsen.

The men's 400-meter hurdles proved to be the showdown between Abderrahman Samba of Qatar and Karsten Warholm of Norway. However, it was once again Samba winning over the hometown favorite. He broke the meet record, running 47.60.

On the field, Sandi Morris came away a winner in the women's pole vault, clearing 15-9.25 (4.81m).

The men's shot put included the two big heavyweights, Tom Walsh of New Zealand and Ryan Crouser. Crouser had come away the winner in previous competitions this year and it looked like he might just do so again with a fifth round put of 72-10.50 (22.21m), breaking the meet record in the process. However, Walsh used the final put of the competition to win it with a mark of 73-1.50 (22.29m), taking the meet record as well.

In the women's triple jump, Tori Franklin jumped well in her Diamond League debut. She finished second to Colombia's Caterine Ibarguen. Ibarguen won with a leap of 48-10.25 (14.89m). Franklin jumped 47-9.50 (14.57m).

Back on the track, Turkey's Ramil Guliyev showed the form that saw him win the 200 meters at last year's IAAF World Outdoor Championships. He pulled away from the field to run a wind-legal 19.90 in the 200. Canada's Aaron Brown finished second in 19.98. Christian Coleman had been scheduled to compete in the 200, but he withdrew after re-injuring his hamstring last week in Rome.