by porkbelly
7th April110 Meter Hurdles (Heats)
Heats for the 110m Hurdles were the first event on April 7th. Eight athletes from six nations competed in two heats of four. The top two from each heat will earn a place in the final.
Records to Beat
The first world record for 110 Meter Hurdles wasn't set until 1908 by Forrest Smithson (USA) for 15.0 seconds.
It's all between Frantz Reichel (FRA) and Grantley Goulding (UK) with Reichel leading by inches all the way to the ribbon.
A strong race between Thomas Curtis (USA) and Kurt Dorry (GER). Curtis puts on a burst at the last second to win the race. William Hoyt (USA) is off form this morning and makes a poor run in last place.
Historical Comparison
Goulding and Reichel trade places in heat 1 while Hoyt's poor performance in heat 2 leave his place in the final open to Dorry instead.
Long Jump
Next up is the Long Jump with nine athletes competing from five nations. I think standard practice to have a qualifying round if there are more than eight contestants, but I have no records of whether this was done in 1896, so I decided to resolve the event in one single round.
Records to Beat
The first world record for the Long Jump wasn't recorded until 1901, set by Peter O'Connor (IRL) at 7.61m.
Alphonse Grisel (FRA) isn't able to compete due to a Discus injury and Triple Jump finalist, James Connolly (USA), falls out in this event with a twisted ankle on his last try. Robert Garrett (USA) becomes the first athlete to win two medals when he picks up his second Gold.
Historical Comparison
Not a great performance compared to the historical results. Ellery Clarke and Robert Garrett reverse places for Gold and Silver and Connolly loses the Bronze to Chalkokondylis, and with an injury to boot!
400 Meters (Final)
Following the Long Jump we come to the finals of the 400 meters. Herbert Jamison (USA) and Frantz Reichel (FRA) were the strongest performers in the heats and this is expected to be a close race.
Records to Beat
Herbert Jamison set the fastest time of 53.51 in the heats.
Thomas Burke (USA) and Fritz Hofmann (GER) are both quickest off the mark. Underdog Frantz Reichel (FRA) isn't able to maintain the good form he showed yesterday and quickly falls behind the pack. Burke maintains a strong lead to the finish while Jamison and Hofmann battle for second. Jamison manages to pull alongside him in the final 50m meters, but Hofmann still clinches the silver by a slim margin.
Historical Comparison
Burke takes his Gold with a better time than he managed in the actual event. Jamison trades Silver for Bronze losing to it to Hofmann, who only placed fourth in the historic final. Historic bronze winner Gmelin didn't make it through the heats.
Shot Put
In the Shot Put we have seven athletes from five nations competing. We'll be able to conclude this event in just one round.
Following my earlier comments on the game charts given for Triple Jump, I also find the results for Shot Put a little off (at least for 1896). In this respect I have house ruled to divide by two all results rolled on Chart F when used for Shot Put.
Records to Beat
The first world record for Shot Put was only set in 1909 by Ralph Rose (USA) at 15.54m.
Robert Garrett's second throw is the best by far and Garrett walks away with his third Gold of the games. The only other athlete to break 11 meters is Miltiadis Gouskos (GRE) who takes Silver. Ellery Clark (USA) gets an injury on his second throw and is out of the games.
Historical Comparison
An exact match up against all the historical winners, with the Gold and Silver distances only 1cm off the actual results. This makes me feel happier about my simple house ruling for resolving Shot Put (at least for these 1896 games).
1500 Meters
The last Athletic event for 7th April is the 1500 Meters. We have eight athletes competing from five different nations, so the race will be run in one single heat.
Records to Beat
We have data from pre-IAAF records for the 1500 meters dating back to 1892. At the time of the 1896 Olympiad, the record was held by Thomas Conneff (USA) with a time of 4:15.6. Albin Lermusiaux (FRA), who had set an earlier record of 4:18.4 in 1895, runs in these games and would later set a new record of 4:10.4 two months after the Olympics.
An exciting run despite a high number of drop outs, including record setter Albin Lermusiaux (FRA). Konstantinos Karakatsanis (GRE) makes a good run but just can't keep up with the leaders in the last 50 meters. Arthur Blake (USA) and Edwin Flack (AUS) battle it out closely over the last 200 meters, with Flack taking the Gold by a whisker.
Historical Comparison
Flack and Blake takes the same positions as they managed in the historical outcome, although it was a slightly slower race for both. Lermesiaux was a surprise drop out and we see a relatively weak Greek runner, Karakatsanis, take the bronze instead.
7 April Round-Up
A lot more medals were earned today and I'll need a small table to summarize. The US athletes are clearly the strongest but the numerous Greeks are scoring a good deal of metal for the host nation.
Two more injuries today, in the Long Jump and Shot Put, see James Connolly (USA) and Ellery Clark (USA) drop out of the games. It's a big disappointment for the US team as both were strong entrants for the High Jump event tomorrow.
This session report is still to be continued with the 800 meter finals on April 9 and the last four events and closing ceremony on April 10....