Disappointed Kiwi Geordie Beamish is still weighing up whether to contest the Commonwealth Games mile, after missing out on a steeplechase medal in a race he believes was there for the taking.
The reigning world champion finished fourth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase on the opening night of the track and field programme at Scotstoun Stadium, as Kenya completed another clean sweep of the podium, with 18-year-old Edmund Serem taking gold ahead of Simon Koech and Leonard Bett.
Kenya have claimed all three medals in the event for the eighth time at the Commonwealth Games and Beamish admitted afterwards he had expected more from himself.
“[I’m feeling] a bit of disappointment, to be honest,” Beamish told RNZ. “It felt like a good opportunity to put together something a bit better than that, but it didn’t happen tonight.
“I put a lot into every season and this felt like a good one to get it done, but that’s the way sport goes.”
Beamish settled into the pack through the opening stages, content to let others dictate the pace, as he anticipated the inevitable move from the Kenyan trio.
That attack came with about four laps remaining, spearheaded by Koech, with Serem and Bett immediately going with him. Beamish initially responded, but could not sustain the pace, as the race entered the decisive final kilometre.
Beamish was left chasing from there, eventually crossing the line in fourth to miss what would have been New Zealand’s first athletics medal of the Games.
“The strategy was just to wait and see what happened, and I assumed at some point the Kenyan guys would take it on,” Beamish said.
“When they did it, maybe four laps to go, we sort of followed the move on the first lap and I just didn’t quite have the legs over that last kilometre.”
Geordie Beamish has a reputation for staging dramatic comebacks, making the final of last year’s world championships, after taking a spike to the face.
Emilee Chinn
Beamish has built a reputation for producing his best when the stakes are highest.
At last year’s world athletics championships in Tokyo, he looked out of contention, after crashing over the final barrier in his qualifying heat. Beamish was trampled by the chasing pack and took a spike to the face, but somehow recovered to finish second and qualify for the final.
Two days later, he delivered one of the great championship performances. Sitting seventh with 150 metres remaining, Beamish unleashed a devastating finishing kick to reel in the field, surging past two-time Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali in the closing strides to claim a stunning world title.
This time, however, there was no trademark late surge to carry him back into medal contention.
Beamish is entered in the mile on Wednesday night (NZT), but said he was still weighing up whether to line up in the event.
The mile distance features in the Commonwealth Games track programme for the first time in 60 years, temporarily replacing the men’s and women’s 1500m event.
“We’ll see how the body goes over the next 24 hours and make a call on whether that happens or not.”
In other action at the track and field on Tuesday, New Zealand’s Anthony Barmes finished sixth in the men’s hammer throw final, recording a best throw of 67.49m.
Canada’s Ethan Katzberg, the reigning Olympic and world champion, took out the event with a stunning throw of 80.97m – a Commonweath Games record. Iosif Kesidis of Cyprus (76.97m) took the silver, while Rowan Hamilton claimed the bronze to bookend the podium for Canada.