Double assault on discus medals

BUDAPEST, Hungary:

Traves Smikle and Fedrick Dacres will launch a double assault on the medals in today’s men’s discus final after the duo sailed through qualification with top seven placings.

Kingston-born Smikle, five times and reigning national champion had to wait well over an hour to be sure of his progression as competitor numbers dictated that two pools would be necessary, with one following the other.

Immediately after finishing third in the opening group of hopefuls, the 31-year-old said: “I feel pretty good as 65.71m should put me in the final, but I’m cautiously optimistic because you never know what can happen.

“I was really trying to get an automatic qualifier (66.50m), but it didn’t happen.

“I’m not too sad about it as mine was the third farthest throw behind (Martynas) Alekna and (Daniel) Stahl, so it’s now about getting sharper for the final.

“Discus is very competitive now, and I think I was about 70 per cent today.

“My coach said I was very slow before separation. He said I was not very explosive and relied on the long pool from the front, so that tells me that if I could speed up certain aspects of my throw, I should get farther distances,” Smikle said.

Sweden’s Stahl led Pool A with a relatively modest 66.25m throw, while Alekna, from Lithuania, was second with 66.04m.

Only current world number one Kristjan Ceh from Slovenia threw further than Smikle in the second qualification pool, and then only by 24cm, leaving the twice Commonwealth Games medallist and Dacres fourth in Pool B and seventh overall with a third-round throw of 65.45m, progressing and both hopeful of being in the mix when the medals are decided.

Dacres, the first Jamaican to win gold at the World Youth and Junior Championships, back in 2011 and 2012, respectively, reflected:

“I felt really good but was slipping out the back a bit, and my first throw was a fault, so I had to adjust.

“My second throw I also slipped but then skied my third out to 65 (metres).

“Those are good marks, so I’ve done what I needed to and that was to qualify, so job done for now.

“For someone who punches out the back, it was a bit rough, but for rotators, it was a bit easier.

“Hopefully, it will wear down a bit and I can get a bit more grip.

“Based on what I saw today, I think I can go above that and two medal hopes in the final was exactly what we were hoping for.”

Dacres was tight-lipped on the possibilities of a 69m or 70m thrown on Monday evening, encouragingly adding with a grin: “We will see. I feel good!”