Jager hopes to turn Paris tumble into Beijing gold

Bitter disappointment is not the normal post-race emotion when an athlete breaks an area record, but that’s what Evan Jager felt when he crossed the finish line at the end of the 3000m steeplechase at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris on Saturday night.

Jager finished second behind Jairus Birech’s word-leading 7:58.83 in 8:00.45, smashing his own US and North American records by more than four seconds. For Birech, the 2014 Diamond Race winner, it was a third victory of the 2015 season while Jager clinched his first Diamond Race points of the year.

Plenty of reason for celebration, then, for the pony-tailed US runner. Or so you might think, but as Birech fell to his knees to give thanks for his win, Jager hung his head over a trackside barrier, utterly dejected.

 It had been the run of his life, and a superb record. And finishing second to a Kenyan in any steeplechase is no disgrace. But Jager knew he was desperately close to achieving so much more.