Late recruit on the World Cup fast track
Sprinting accountant challenges world elite
8/18/2023, 8:44 p.m
In order to compete in the World Championships, Eugene Amo-Dadzie must submit vacations. The Brit is a sprinter in a roundabout way – and suddenly he is measuring himself against the greatest in his discipline. Psychologically he even sees an advantage for himself, but the medals are probably utopian.
Will Fred Kerley defend his world title? Will Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs still get in shape? Or will another of the numerous co-favorites or even an unknown person steal the show from the two sprint stars? The athletics scene is looking forward to a real high-tension final over the men’s 100 meters at the World Championships in Budapest.
“Everything is very open, I’m looking forward to it,” said Jacobs. And TV expert Frank Busemann wrote in his sports show column before the grand finale (Sunday, 7.10 p.m./ARD): “The oracle after ten years of Usain Bolt is like a lottery”. Because the top eight sprinters in the world are only separated by seven hundredths of a second this year, and the top 30 can even be found within a range of 14 hundredths.
Nobody can predict who has the best chances next to Kerley in the Nemzeti Atletikai Központ. Maybe the British European record holder Zharnel Hughes. With 9.83 seconds the fastest man this year. Possibly the South African Akani Simbine (9.92). The eternal fourth and fifth who has already beaten Kerley this year. Or Kerley’s compatriots Christian Coleman (9.91) and Cravont Charleston (9.90), who could give the USA its fourth consecutive world title after the end of the Usain Bolt era.
Lyles announces world record
Possibly the hour of Noah Lyles will strike in Budapest. The 26-year-old, Gina Lückenkemper’s training partner in the USA, is planning the double start over 100 and 200 meters and also wants to clear up the relay. “What I can accept is to win a medal in the 100 meters – no matter what color and to win over 200 meters,” said the man about whom Peacock is showing a multi-part documentary in the USA: “My biggest goal is to to win three gold medals and set a world record in the 200 meters.”
But maybe someone will continue to write his own personal sprint fairy tale: Eugene Amo-Dadzie. The Briton probably has the craziest story of all participants. He is already 31 years old – and is making his debut at this World Cup. In 2018 he ran the 100 meters in 11.3 seconds. His best time is now 9.93 seconds. “It’s not very logical. It’s very rare, very unique. I want people to look at it, be inspired by it and know it’s never too late,” he said of his development.
He was a decent sprinter, but he went to college, had a job as an accountant and then there was normal life. Then in 2018 he watched the championships on TV and thought, “If I had trained, I could have done it,” he told The Guardian. “My really good friends that I went to school with knew I was fast. For years they said to me, ‘You wasted your talent’. I just took the abuse, it was what it was. But come on On that fateful day, God flipped a switch in my mind.” Amo-Dadzie decided to focus on athletics.
Holiday for the World Cup
Within six months he made it to the semi-finals of the British Championships. Continuous training, including with British sprint stars Adam Gemili and Jason Dasaolu, made him faster and faster. In June of this year he ran to the World Cup norm with 9.93 seconds. “Thank God I’m sitting here now, the world’s fastest accountant, and I’m about to be on the world stage,” he said. Because that’s what he still is: an accountant with a full-time job. He has to use his annual leave for the World Cup in Budapest. “I’m not going to lie and say it’s not tough at times and sometimes you feel like you’re overwhelmed, but my wife is incredible,” he told The Guardian.
In fact, it would be a sensation if he could fight for the medals. But the newcomer had at least made it into the semi-finals over 60 meters at the European Indoor Championships – at the World Championships he hopes for the chance to make it into the final. He knows himself that he’s the outsider, that the eternal “Who is this guy?” attached. But Amo-Dadzie also sees his big advantage: “I’m able to focus and perform when it’s necessary, but I’m doing it from a position of relaxation, from a position of fun, I enjoy myself even when I’m out there. I can switch off. I do my program, then I call it quits and go home to play with my little daughter. I go home to meet my wife, I go out Home to work, I’m at a meeting at school.”
Title defense or new winner?
The defending champion doesn’t have that, nor does the Olympic champion. Kerley is looking for revenge after losing to Italy’s Jacobs at the Olympics. “I had to work really hard,” said Jacobs, who has been battered all season and has a time of 10.21 seconds. But the European champion, who kept exchanging verbal poison darts with Kerley in a publicity-effective manner and thus fueled the anticipation of a reunion, believes he will be back in form in time. EM precious metal “is the only medal that’s missing from my collection,” he said.
Kerley, only number three this year with 9.88 seconds, suspects that the title defense project will not be easy in view of the numerous other competitors. “The first” title, he told Athletics Weekly magazine, “is the easiest, they say. The next, the hardest.” They’re issues Amo-Dadzie hasn’t had to deal with yet.