Commonwealth Games 2022: Peter Boll’s 800m final result, Australian knew race was in jeopardy

But rather than worry, he made the decision to overcome it – and he almost made it in the thrilling men’s 800m final at the Commonwealth Games on Monday morning (AEST). Did.

Even after winning the silver medal, the 28-year-old never stopped smiling, but there will always be a part of her that looks back on her amazing results as “bittersweet.”

Boll described the race as “weird” and lamented the tactics that allowed him to run the first 500m super slow.

It worked out as he expected—it wasn’t in his favor.

Boll told reporters after the race that he knew it would be a slow race as there were no leading runners anywhere on the start list.

When Kenya’s Wyclife Kinyamal took off with over 200m to go, he took only a fraction of a second to respond, meaning he didn’t get the race he wanted. In the end it all came down to that slight slump as defending champion Kinyamar won by just 0.14 seconds with his time of 1:47.52.

After posting a 1:47.01 in his heat and a 1:45.51 at the World Championships in Oregon last month, it’s especially heartbreaking to see Boll’s 1:47.66 time.

“Looking at the start list, there are no front-runners,” he said.

“So I knew it was going to be tactical, and I knew I had to get stronger and go home, and that’s what I did, so I’m happy with that.

“After the first lap, I’ve been saying it’s very tactical. Seeing 55 (seconds), I said to myself, ‘Relax, relax.’

“Maybe we could have caught him with 20 meters more, but that’s 800m, not 820m.”

Bol looked like he was going to run 50 meters alongside Kinyamal, but he didn’t have the legs to keep the charge going.

Boll, who became a cult hero en route to a fourth-place finish in last year’s Olympic final, was hoping to become the first Australian to win gold in the 800 meters in 40 years.

Boll told Channel 7: It was another bizarre race. It was super slow, but the 800m was super tactical.

“I thought, relax, relax, but he (Kinyamaru) was very strong and kept going. It’s just a race, I raced the best I could and it fell short. But… silver at the Commonwealth Games, we came second, which is really good.

“We talk about this journey and there are different people from different years.I want to say a huge thank you to my family, especially my parents.I am very grateful to them. This is for them, this is for my family, this is for the country.

“There’s a kid with a Peter Boll autograph, definitely for him. I’ve got to go find him.”

Seven commentator Bruce McAvaney said the race started on a “slow” tone, with Tamsin Manow agreeing, adding that it was “slower than we would have liked.”

At the end of the race Manu said:

“Peter is still proud of us. There is nothing more you can do.

“I hope everyone in Australia is very proud of Peter Boll, because we certainly are.”

England’s Ben Pattison was third with a time of 1:48.25.

Boll embarrassed the rest of the field in qualifying In the men’s 800m, he had a ferocious run on Wednesday. After that, he had five painful days to wait for Monday’s final.

The Olympic finalist won the heat and was the fastest in the entire qualifying despite pulling up with 50m to go.

Bol was disappointed last month in the final of the World Championships. First Australian man to compete in the 800m final at world champ.

Earlier, Abby Caldwell made a big impact when she won bronze in the women’s 1500m. The 21-year-old narrowly outscored his fellow Aussie Linden his hall.

first published as Peter Boll knew his race was in danger even before the 800m final started