Sport
Record-breaker Gemili captures British
200m title and proves doubters wrong
By James Corrigan
GOLF CORRESPONDENT
Nobody can ever deny that it should
take a magnificent display to collect
$15 million (£12.2 million) and so
Rory McIlroy produced one last
night by winning the Tour Champi-
onship and with it the biggest first
prize ever in golf.
And whatever is said about McIl-
roy’s fifth majorless season in suc-
cession, there can be no doubt that
2019 will be a campaign that lives
long in his, and his bank manager’s,
memory.
The 30-year-old was not simply
content with winning in Atlanta on
the new controversial handicapped
system – or with outduelling play-
ing partner Brooks Koepka in the
final round. That tussle with the
world No 1 meant a lot to McIlroy,
after being beaten so thoroughly by
Koepka in the WGC St Jude Classic
three weeks ago. “Brooks got one
over one on me at Memphis and
I wanted to get a bit of revenge
today,” he said. “To play like that
alongside Brooks and get the win,
win the FedEx Cup it’s awesome.”
But there was more. Much, much
more. The Northern Irishman
made it his mission to lift the East
Lake title by taking the fewest
strokes of the 30-man field, not
merely by prevailing on theunprecedented format the PGA
Tour brought in for its season
finale. And with a 10-footer for a
birdie on the 18th, McIlroy believed
that he ensured that nobody could
deny who was the player of the
week by shooting a 66 for an 18-un-
der total.“My goal was to shoot the lowest
score of the week and that is why
that putt on the last meant so much
to me,” he said. “It was such a cool
way to end. I’ve given myself so
many chances this year and to win
three times is awesome. I’m very
proud of myself and will enjoy
myself tonight.”
McIlroy played alongside Tiger
Woods in the final round last year
as the 15-time major winner was
victorious and admitted: “I didn’t
enjoy that walk last year like every-
one else did, I played terribly. I got
myself in the final group and never
took the fight to Tiger.”
Much will be said about the radi-
cal overhaul of the climax to the PGA
Tour, with the FedEx Cup standings
dictating who began on what score
in the first round of this event.
Justin Thomas was on 10 under
with Koepka on seven-under andMcIlroy two further back. In the
end, Xander Schauffele came near-
est in the handicap and in shots, but
was four and three respectively be-
hind the new world No 2. McIlroy
joins Tiger Woods as the only other
player to win multiple FedEx Cups
and reiterated his belief that the
success was not about the money.
“All that matters to me is this silver-
ware,” he said.
PGA Tour officials have had to
explain why tee times were not ad-
justed for forecasted storms after
lightning resulted in five fans being
taken to hospital during the third
round, saying “pop-up” thunder-
storms had been predicted.
At the Scandinavian Invitation
on the European Tour, South Afri-
can Erik Van Rooyen carded a clos-
ing 64 in Gothenburg to finish on 19
under to deny Matt Fitzpatrick,
who also shot a 64, by a shot.Northern Irishman holds
off Koepka for Tour title
Fitzpatrick denied win in
Sweden by Van Rooyen
GOLF
Victory march: Rory McIlroy on his way
to winning the Tour ChampionshipMagnificent McIlroy pockets £12.2m – biggest prize in golf history
Ever since he was relegated from
individual to relay funding last win-
ter, Adam Gemili has kept a folder
on his phone with negative quotes
people have said about him. They
are not from anonymous trolls on
social media, but from people
within athletics who do not believe
in him.
Yesterday he used those as fuel to
prove them wrong, blitzing his way
to the British 200 metres title in
Birmingham in a championship re-
cord 20.08 seconds. Even more im-
pressively, it was run into a huge
headwind. Not bad for someone la-
belled a relay runner.
“It gives you hunger in your
belly,” said Gemili, 25, of the doubt-
ers. “Maybe one day I’ll show peo-
ple the quotes said about me.
“For now it’s a private thing.
I look at it sometimes and use it as
inspiration and fire to say, ‘I know
what I can do and if I’m fit and
healthy I can push the world’s best’.
“To be labelled a relay runner is
never nice, especially in an individ-
ual sport. But this proves to those
guys it doesn’t matter how injured
you are, there’s always light at the
end of the tunnel.”
Not so long ago, Gemili was fight-
ing for global 200m medals, finish-
ing fifth at the 2013 World
Championships and missing out on
Olympic bronze in 2016 by just
0.003sec. He was seen by many as
the next British sprint hope. Yet af-
ter a troublesome time with ham-
string injuries, somewhere along
the line the British Athletics hierar-
chy lost faith in his abilities.
He was not chosen for the 200m
at the 2017 World Championships,
the feeling being he had not proved
his fitness, but made a mockery of
the snub by helping Britain’s
4x100m quartet to win gold.
After the hamstring problemsflared up again last year, the gov-
erning body decided enough was
enough. His individual funding was
cut and he was dropped down to re-
lay level: a key cog in that team, but
not expected to be good enough to
win a global medal.
Reaping the benefits of a first full
winter’s training for many years,
and with a first British title since
2016, he is determined to prove
them wrong. “Going into Rio [2016
Olympics] no one expected me tomake the final,” he said. “But I knew
what I was capable of and I just
missed out on an Olympic medal by
three thousandths of a second.
“Anything can happen on the
day. It doesn’t matter what you’ve
done before. It’s a level playing
field. So hopefully going into Doha
I can put in some more training and
can be pushing for that gold medal.”
Gemili’s victory followed his sil-
ver medal in the 100m the day be-
fore, ensuring his place in bothsprints at next month’s World
Championships in Doha.
He will almost certainly be joined
by Zharnel Hughes, who must
await discretionary 100m selection
after finishing third, but is guaran-
teed in the 200m for claiming silver
yesterday in 20.25sec.
Like Gemili, Jodie Williams was
also expected to dominate the
world after an astonishing 151-race
unbeaten streak as a junior, only to
come close to walking away from
the sport due to injuries.
This season has seen her return
to her best at the age of 25 with
200m victory in 23.06sec, ham-
pered by a massive headwind of
-4.3 metres per second.
“I couldn’t be happier,” said Wil-
liams. “It’s been such a long time
coming because I’ve been third a
few times and been so close.”
The middle-distance races pro-
duced some of the tightest finishes.
Shelayna Oskan-Clarke pipped
Lynsey Sharp to victory in the
800m and both women will head to
the World Championships with
medal aspirations. Spencer Thomas
claimed an unexpected gold in the
men’s 800m, while Neil Gourley
triumphed in the 1500m.
Holly Bradshaw prepared for her
World Championships medal quest
with a fifth successive national pole
vault title in a championship best
4.73m, Abigail Irozuru jumped a
personal best 6.86m to win the long
jump three years after initially re-
tiring from the sport, and Callum
Wilkinson broke the 5000m race
walk British record with a time of
18min 41.23sec.
European 400m champion Mat-
thew Hudson-Smith continued his
injury comeback to triumph in
45.15sec, while Laviai Nielsen won
the women’s equivalent in 52.04sec.
Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-
Thompson concluded with a best of
40.07m in the javelin and 1.90m in a
high jump competition won by
Morgan Lake with 1.94m.Ben Bloom
ATHLETICS
CORRESPONDENT
in Birmingham
Funding snub gave me
hunger, says sprinter
Williams ‘so happy’ after
taking women’s crown
Hitting back: Adam Gemili wins the
men’s 200m final in BirminghamGETTY IMAGESThe Daily Telegraph Monday 26 August 2019 ** 19
RELEASED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws