Announcers aghast at sprinter’s ‘absolute disaster’

Jake Odey-Jordan, a 16-year-old British sprinter, may well be one of the greatest sprinters in the world in the coming years. But at the 2024 European Athletics U18 Championships, he learned a lesson in what commentator Rob Walker called, “An absolute disaster.”

Racing in the fourth of seven heats in the 200-meter dash, Odey-Jordan quickly showed why he was not only the class of that race but favored to win the event. As the sprinters came around the turn, it was Odey-Jordan’s race to lose. Impressed announcer Phil Minshull noted that Odey-Jordan was “lusting around the bend.”

“There’s no doubt about it,” Minshull said. “What a display of sprinting from the young Briton. This is absolutely phenomenal.”

But, with about 50 meters to go in the race, Odey-Jordan’s pace radically changed. After running the first 150 meters in a complete sprint, he began to shut things down. While that’s not unprecedented in races, especially in qualifying races when a runner is in a safe qualifying spot, this was different. For starters, runners don’t usually begin to ease up with 50 meters to go. More to the point, runners don’t usually ease up as dramatically as Odey-Jordan did. If he ran the first 150 meters like a sprint, he ran the final 50 at a pace you might normally see in the opening seconds of a marathon.

When that happened, Minshull’s tone dramatically changed. “And he’s, what is he, he’s just easing up,” he said. “What’s happened here? What has gone on there?”

Walker quickly answered Minshull’s question.

“That was an absolute disaster, Phil Minshull,” Walker said. “He has eased up far, far, far too early. And half the field swept past him before the finish line. This is going to be a lesson learned the very, very hard way. After what was, for 150 meters, a masterful display of sprinting.”

The mistake led to a fourth-place finish in the heat from Odey-Jordan, which was not good enough to advance to the next race.

Following the race, Odey-Jordan clarified that slowing down was not the result of an injury.

“It is all right,” he said, per the event’s website. “I mean, it is my fault so I cannot be sad about anything but myself. It is what it is. It felt good, it was not the fastest run but it felt good. For sure, it could have been sub 21. But it is all good though. I am just out here, it is my first race on this meet, I just tried to get on my legs, nothing hurts me or nothing like that.”

If nothing was injured, Walker’s comments are spot on. This will be a lesson learned the hard way.

[European Athletics on X , European-Athletics.com , Photo Credit: European Athletics on YouTube ]

The post Announcers aghast at sprinter’s ‘absolute disaster’ appeared first on Awful Announcing .