Frome’s Emily Diamond suffered heartbreak at the World Athletics Championships when Britain’s 4×400 metre relay team had their hands on a bronze medal, only to see it cruelly taken away in controversial circumstances.
The British quartet of Emily with Zoey Clark, Jodie Williams and Laviai Nielsen finished fourth in the final, but were moved up to bronze when Jamaica were disqualified.
But their joy was short-lived after Jamaica successfully appealed against the decision.
“We ran our socks off today, every single one of us,” Emily told BBC Sport. “We wanted that medal so, so badly. That’s the fastest we’ve run in many years, it surpasses the Olympics, and I think we can be proud of ourselves.”
Earlier in the World Championships, Emily had made history by competing in the world’s first mixed 4x400m relay which saw two male and two female athletes from each country taking to the track.
Emily ran the third leg alongside fellow GB athletes Rabah Yousif, Zoey Clark and Martyn Rooney. Agonisingly GB finished fourth, missing a bronze medal by just six hundredths of a second.
After the race, she said, “In the relay I went through 200 in a PB, the rolling 200m was pretty quick and I still managed to finish quite strongly to run a 50.3. My coach Benke said just go for it in the first half, you’re probably in the best shape of your life, so have confidence!
“I tried to do that, but when the Jamaican Jackson came up on my shoulder I just latched on to her – I tried to use it like a relay and she pulled me through that top bend. I tried to hold on down the home straight but that last 50m really showed my three races in three days and not a lot of sleep! But I gave it my all.
“At the end of the day I wanted a medal – I had the potential slight sacrifice of my own 400, but I wanted to try and get a medal and help the guys out in the mixed, in the end we were only a few tenths off it.”
Emily also competed individually in the 400m coming 4th in her semi-final, achieving two season’s bests.
She qualified through the first heat putting in a season’s best performance of 51.66 to make it into the semi-finals.
She then came fourth in her semi-final group, just missing out on a place in the final.
On the lead up to the games, Emily said, “Wearing the GB vest is always a massive honour. It is what we train day in day out to do, to be able to put on a GB vest at a major championship and there isn’t anything bigger than the world championships.
“It’s going to be an exciting and proud week; when you aren’t performing well and don’t make the team, it really puts it into perspective, so you don’t take it for granted when you do make the team.
“After not making the individuals last year, I am here in Doha for this individual race and I’m looking to grab it with both hands, go for it and enjoy my time in the GB vest whilst I can.”
Picture: Emily Diamond in the GB vest.
Picture: Emily Diamond in Doha.
Taken from her Twitter page.
After the semi-finals Emily Diamond spoke to Athletics Weekly saying, “I’m not going to be hard on myself, I’m thrilled with that. With the four days that I’ve had, we were lucky that I managed to get a sub-52 and getting another season’s best today testing the body and legs, to come away with another fastest race of the year I’m not going to be hard on myself – I’m pleased!”
