Two years ago, O’Keeffe made history in Osako reaching the Hammer final and finishing sixth.
Her only throw, in the first round, was a mere 63.20m, a full 10m less than her Irish record and less even than the 67.66m she threw at the Olympics when she was recovering from a knee injury.
O’Keeffe had surgery last winter which left her on crutches for three months but she had come close to 70m at nationals recently so yesterday’s performance was particularly disappointing, given the surprisingly low standard generally.
Only three women passed the automatic 72m standard in her group.
Equally dejected was 800m runner Chamney only fifth in his heat in 1:48:09 (his PB is 1:45.41) which was won by in 1:47.12 by American Nic Symonds. “I’ve made a major breakthrough this year (breaking 1:46), so to go out in the first round, I’m gutted,” he said.
Alistair Cragg (29) once again mystifyingly failed to produce in a championship race.
Cragg has moved to a new American training group this year and three of the four US 5,000m entrants got through but not him.
He was right up in the front dozen African-dominated group with four laps left but then dropped back 10m and went out the back to finish in 13th in 13:46.34, a full 30 seconds slower than his season best.
“I just fell asleep; for like a lap, and didn’t go with a move,” he confessed.
