CARSON, California, 25 June 2005 — Tim Mack won’t get the chance to add the world pole vault title to the Olympic gold he won in Athens after crashing out of the US athletics championships here on Thursday.
Mack, who ended 2004 ranked number one in the world after his triumph in Athens, finished tied for seventh as newcomer Brad Walker won the title and booked a ticket to the World Championships in Helsinki with a 5.75m clearance.
Nick Hysong, gold medallist in the 2000 Olympics, was second with a vault of 5.65 and Athens silver medallist Toby Stevenson claimed the last world championship berth with his third place finish in the same height.
“I didn’t make the team,” a disappointed and frustrated Mack said when asked what went wrong. He acknowledged that conditions were difficult in the chilly wind at the Home Depot Center, but offered no excuses.
“Everyone else adjusted,” he said. “I didn’t adjust.”
Mack said his problems began earlier this year when he injured his calf and couldn’t vault for two months.
“It has kind of been happening all year,” he said. “I haven’t had a good rhythm. I cleared 5.8 two times last week but my legs weren’t quite under me.”
Dwight Phillips, the 2004 long jump gold medallist, suffered a less devastating defeat, finishing runner-up to Miguel Pate but still safely earning a world championship berth along with third-place finisher Brian Johnson.
“I’m very upset about this loss,” Phillips said. “I don’t plan on losing any more this season.” Pate was thrilled with his victory with a jump of 8.35m, his performance capping a comeback from a devastating knee injury at the Prefontaine Classic in 2003.
“It was just dangling,” Pate recalled of his lower left leg after he tore three of four knee ligaments in Eugene. He competed in three meetings last year but was nowhere near making the Olympic team.
