Peter Bol took one look at the start list and knew he wasn’t going to get the race he wanted.
But rather than fret about it he made a decision to overcome it — and he very nearly did in a thrilling men’s 800m final at the Commonwealth Games on Monday morning (AEST).
The 28-year-old was still smiling after he took the silver medal, but there will always be a part of him that looks back at his incredible achievement as “bitter sweet”.
Bol described the race as “strange” and was left lamenting the tactics at play that resulted in the first 500m being run ultra-slow.
It was playing out as he expected — not in his favour.
Bol told reporters after the race he knew it was going to be a slow race because there were no front-runners anywhere on the start list.
It meant he was unable to run the race he wanted as he took just a brief moment to respond when Kenyan Wyclife Kinyamal took off with more than 200m to go. That brief, micro, delay was all it took in the end as Kinyamal, the defending champion, won by just 0.14 seconds in a time of 1:47.52.
It will be particularly painful for Bol to see his time of 1:47.66 after he ran a 1:47.01 in the heats — and a 1:45.51 at the world championships in Oregon last month.
“Looking at the start list and there’s no front runners out there,” he said.
“So I just knew it was going to be tactical and I knew I just had to come home strong and that’s what I did so I’m happy with that.
“After the first lap, and I’ve been saying it, it’s so tactical… I saw 55 (seconds) and I said to myself, ‘Stay relaxed, stay relaxed’.
“Maybe in 20 more meters I could have got him. But it’s the 800m not the 820m.”
Bol looked like he was about to go up alongside Kinyamal with 50m to run, but he just didn’t have the legs to keep his charge going.
Bol, who became a cult hero en route to his fourth-placed finish at last year’s Olympic final, was hoping to become the first Australian in 40 years to win 800m gold.
“What an environment and atmosphere, so close but will take second today,” Bol told Channel 7. “I’m pretty happy with that, to be honest. It was a strange race again, super slow but the 800m is super tactical.
“I thought, stay relaxed, stay relaxed but he (Kinyamal) is so strong and kept going and going. It’s just racing, I raced the best I could and came up short but … silver medal in the Commonwealth Games, we are second which is really good.
“We speak of this journey and we have different people from different years, I want to say a massive thanks to my family, especially my parents… I’m so grateful for them. This is for them, this is for my family, this is for the country.
“There’s a kid out there with a Peter Bol sign so definitely for him. I have to go find him.”
Seven commentator Bruce McAvaney said the race started on a “sluggish” note and Tamsyn Manou agreed, adding: “It is slower than we would have liked.”
At the conclusion of the race, Manou said: “Peter Bol did everything he possibly could there, he got into the right position, he covered… when Kinyamal made that move.
“Peter has still done us proud. People expected him to win that gold but we are talking about an athlete (Kinyamal) who is the defending champion and there is nothing more Peter Bol could have done.
“I hope everyone in Australia is very proud of Peter Bol, because we certainly are.”
England’s Ben Pattison was third in 1:48.25sec.
Bol embarrassed the rest of the field in the heats of the men’s 800m with an imperious run on Wednesday. He then had four agonizing days to wait for Monday’s final.
The Olympics finalist won his heat and was the fastest overall qualifier despite pulling up with 50m still to run.
Bol last month had a disappointing run in the world championships final after he became the first Australian man to ever contest an 800m final at the World Champs.
Earlier, Abbey Caldwell produced a huge shock when she collected the bronze in the women’s 1500m. The 21-year-old just nudged out fellow Aussie Linden Hall.
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