This was published 11 months ago
Flapping like a baby sea turtle: How Catriona Bisset is dashing for 800m glory
Budapest: When sea turtles hatch in the sand-dunes they have a desperate first flapping race across the sand to reach the ocean before they are picked off by sea eagles.
Catriona Bisset feels like a sea turtle when she runs. When Bisset gets to that last bend in her 800m race she thinks about sea turtles and their last desperate scramble before reaching the ocean.
Australian Catriona Bisset leads the field in her women’s 800m heat at the world athletics championships in Budapest.Credit: Getty
On Wednesday, she got across the sand and the water was cool in the ocean. Bisset survived the chaos of that final bend and knew she could coast home into a world championship semi-final.
“I don’t know if you’ve watched nature documentaries and [have seen] ... sea turtles that lay their eggs in the sand, and then they are running across the sand trying to get to the ocean and they have to dodge all the birds of prey; the sea eagles. That is what the last bend feels like [to me]; I am a tiny little sea turtle and once I get to the front straight it’s like ‘OK, I am in the ocean’ [and i] just pump it to the finish line,” Bisset said.
“I kept thinking, ‘like, why am I so afraid of this last bend?’ I have had so many bad experiences, little stumbles or falling twice now, so it is just like get out of trouble and make it to the ocean.”
In Wednesday’s heat, Bisset backed right off in the last stage to finish second in 1 minute 59.46 seconds.
Australia’s Catriona Bisset (right) is beaten across the line in her 800m heat at the world athletics championships by Ethiopia’s Habitam Alemu. Credit: Reuters
Now aged 29, she has four national titles and looks like an athlete who knows she belongs at these world championships. She has spent months in Europe, consistently running times between 1:57 and 1:58 to repeatedly finish in the top few placegetters of major races.
She trusts now that she can finish strongly and beat the other sea turtles to safety in that final scramble.
“I was telling myself beforehand to just trust my kick. I’ve got a really good kick, I’ve had a good kick this season; it’s been my strongest tool at the moment. Just trust it,” she said.
Bisset went out hard and got herself clear of trouble. So clear, in fact, she couldn’t hear anyone near her and had to keep checking the big screen to see if they were still there. They were, but they never posed a great threat.
Australian Abbey Caldwell finished in the first three in her 800m heat, meaning she progresses through to Friday’s (Saturday morning AEST) semi-final.Credit: Getty
Abbey Caldwell, in contrast, endured a mess of a race, but maturely persisted and changed strategies until she found a way.
Caldwell was drawn in an outside lane and had trouble after the early pace in getting herself into a forward rails position. She was blocked and pushed four wide, so she dropped back. She didn’t panic.
She went back to go forward, she was buffeted and knocked sideways, but didn’t let it trouble her. At the final turn she went wide and jockeyed across to find a strong spot.
Closing down the straight, she was able to squeeze into a thin gap and kick to close into a top-three finish in 2:00.29 and an automatic progression to the semi-final.
“It was pretty messy, 800[m] running can be fast and pushy-shovey (but) I didn’t expect that much of it in the heat, so I’m still learning from it,” Caldwell said.
The 800m semi-finals are on Friday night (Saturday morning AEST).
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