He is the straight-talking, big-kicking and now giant-killing star of these World Athletics Championships, so when Kiwi George Beamish won a remarkable men’s 3000m steeplechase on Monday night, it was a shame his performance didn’t immediately garner more attention.
His glory came just as Armand Duplantis was hypnotising the global audience with his latest pole vault world record. And with not a single journalist from New Zealand in Tokyo to celebrate the country’s first outdoor track world championships medal, Beamish was left talking to only a small clutch of reporters.
But the 28-year-old, who hosts a podcast with two Australian runners, is hard to ignore when near a microphone. He cursed repeatedly when speaking after his triumph, reflecting on two years during which injury stalled the transition of the 2024 1500m World Indoor Championship gold medallist to the steeplechase.
“There weren’t dark moments, but there were just hard moments, like, ‘shit, this sport is hard’,” he told SBS. “There are so many more lows than there are highs, and I’ve lost so many more races than I’ll ever win. But I have an incredible support team and just a desire to keep fucking showing up.”
Beamish tackles the water jump during the steeplechase final in Tokyo. Photograph: Ashley Landis/AP
Given what had just transpired over the previous 48 hours, he could be forgiven for letting himself go. The man from Hastings on the east coast of New Zealand’s north island seemed to be out of luck when, in his heat, he fell with a lap to go. The pictures of a competitor’s spikes flashing across his nose quickly circulated as one of the images of these championships. That the man in the black singlet recovered to surge back and reach the final was – at that stage – little more than an afterthought.
“I made headlines for all the wrong reasons two days ago, but I’m making some new headlines today,” he said. “I fell with a lap to go, but got up and felt really comfortable coming by everyone still and realised that the fitness – that was a bit of a question mark, having not raced for a long time – was as good, if not better, than I thought it was going to be, so that may have been a blessing in disguise.”
Beamish takes a tumble and gets acquainted with the underside of Jean-Simon Desgagnes’s spikes.
Photograph: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
Into Monday’s final Beamish was still very much an outsider. Struggling with a hip complaint, he had failed to even make it out of his heat at last year’s Paris Olympics, where Moroccan great Soufiane El Bakkali defended his gold medal from Tokyo. The Kiwi had a preparation this year interrupted again by injury to his ankle and leg, and he spent two months off the track when his season should have been peaking.
But the man who has become known during a collegiate career with Northern Arizona University for his finishing kick found himself in the group chasing El Bakkali on the last lap on Monday night in Tokyo. Also in the pack was Japanese star Ryuji Miura.
“I honestly think I could feel the noise, that is the loudest stadium I’ve ever heard in my life,” Beamish said. “It was unbelievable. I mean, maybe they were mostly for Miura, but it was pretty sweet to share the track with him. He made that race what it was in terms of the hype and the crowd getting behind it.”
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Beamish grabs gold ahead of Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Miura moved up to third with 150m to go and the noise got louder still. Following behind was Beamish, who then slipped past and trained his sights on El Bakkali. In addition to his two Olympics golds, the Moroccan had won the previous two world titles. With a lead on the Kiwi of nearly 10m at the final barrier, the defending champion looked home.
But Beamish hit the ground after the final hurdle and surged forward. The noise was piercing as the Kiwi ate up the deficit in the final 50m. And with a stretch at the finish line, victory was his. “I’ve got a thing for timing apparently,” he said. “I’ve figured out, you know, when the moment is to go.”
Beamish won his world indoors 1500m gold in Glasgow by overtaking four rivals in the final straight. Monday’s event was different, and it was run on the opposite side of the world, but the formula was the same. “I almost feel like I get to the last 200 and in my mind I’ve already run it, like it’s already been done and I just have to go through the motions again and then and I reach for it and it’s there.”
With a gold medal around his neck, he could afford to reflect. “To come back after not making the final in Paris and walking out with six months of injury… yeah, man, shit,” he said. “Don’t give up in this sport.”