I didn't actually see the B race, but was following it via BBC text. Here's the complete text:
"1615: It's the men's B 100m final. Devonish returns to the track half an hour after his 200m race. Good effort. Craig Pickering who didn't even get a run in Berlin will be like a bull in a china shop or a stable or something implying caged tiger syndrome. A false start.
1619: Craig Pickering puts in a fabulous finish to win the 100m B race. That's caged tigers for you. Jamaican Mario Forsythe was leading that until the final 20 metres. Pickering was straining every inch of his skin there and powers his way home in 10.32. Top effort. Devonish in third in 10.49.
Craig Pickering after winning the B race (but also didn't run in Berlin): "I'm happy with that. I would like to have been selected in the relay in the worlds so I'm quite angry. They told us two days before but they got a bronze medal. I'd like to think I was good enough to have been in the team. I have to just prove everybody wrong. I always seem to run quite well when the conditions aren't good."
Has Craig got a point? Should he have been in the worlds relay team?"
Good to see Craig ending the season with a fast-finishing win. Given that it was raining, it was the last race of the season, and they were on a false start, 10.32 for the win isn't too bad.
I was even more pleased by the interview above. Pickering seems to have been too much of a quiet nice guy over the years (remember the documentary that followed him and a couple of the other British sprinters?) Blacks are generally pretty loud-mouthed and arrogant at the best of times, and it's clear they don't want a white guy beating them (especially Williamson). If Craig's going to survive in that environment he needs to get angry, get a hard-headed "f**k you" attitude, and force them to respect him by beating them!
He also makes a good point about the relay - the British 4x100 team was Williamson, Edgar, AA and Devonish. Fair enough,Williamson and AA beat him in the trials, but Craig beat AA, and Devonish isn't even a 100m runner (Devonish finished behind Craig in 10.49 today). So what the hell was up with that? If it was swimming, and the only black guy was left out of the relay despite being faster than two others, the media and black organisations would be crying racism, of course.
Btw 100m A race coming up - again, Aikines Areetey is in the A race while Craig was only in the B race, despite Craig beating him at the trials. It's like the authorities are writing off Craig and boosting AA, despite Craig only being 22 and outperforming AA. Just like they tried to do with Ladejo against Roger Black in the 400 a few years ago, as I wrote about earlier. This sh*t really irritates me. But again, like Black, it seems Craig is getting angry, and that's a good thing.
Btw in theA race, Tyson Gay won in 10.16, on a wet track but not raining, miles ahead of everyone else. I didn't get the times of the other Brits running in the race, but they finished behind Kim Collins, who was second in 10.44. So Craig basically finished second to Gay, and outperformed all the other Brits. A good day. Keep that anger, Craig, and come out fighting for the Euros next year!
