Glasgow: Canberra’s Tim Driesen hopes to use a vociferous British crowd to his advantage in Wednesday morning’s hammer-throw final at Hampden Park.
The 30-year-old qualified fifth with an impressive heave of 69.63 metres in his Commonwealth Games heat, roughly three metres shy of top-ranked Englishman Nicholas Miller.
Fellow Englishman Alex Smith qualified second while Scottish hammer thrower Mark Dry was third. It’s a top three which should ensure a rumbling atmosphere at Scotland’s national football stadium.
“It’s awesome I was trying to think of a word to describe it, it’s almost intimate, the crowd’s really close and they’ve got a lot of energy and enthusiasm,” Driesen said.
“The only problem with that is every time I went into the ring they were announcing some Scottish bloke so they were screaming.
“It’s a great atmosphere out there.”
Driesen’s throw, the second of three in his heat, would’ve won him a bronze medal if he’d produced it in the final at the Delhi Games four years ago where he finished seventh.
This time around Driesen feels he’s throwing much better, and is confident of mounting a challenge in what he expected would be a very close final.
“I think there’s going to be a good solid eight boys within a couple of metres,” Driesen said.
“Third could be 70 [metres] or eighth could be 70, I think it’s going to be quite close.
“They were my best rhythmical throws for a while so I’m quite happy with that, the body’s held up OK, not too many old man niggles so I’m happy with it.
“I’m not quite as strong as some of these boys so I’ve got to focus on my own technique and actually slow down the start and just keep long, use my length to my advantage.”
Meanwhile, Canberra’s Zoe Buckman suffered a shock exit from the 1500 metres in her heat on Monday, unsuccessfully appealing the result.
Buckman led her heat with a lap to go before Kenyan Selah Busienei appeared to grab her arm, causing the Canberra runner to stumble back through the field.
Officials dismissed the appeal after half an hour.
“There was definitely some bad luck involved but that’s what championship running is,” Buckman said.
Buckman was widely expected to challenge for a medal after making the World Championship final in Moscow last year.
