cruise to victory

[yanx]

Hi,

What is the opposite of cruise to victory as in Bolt cruised to victory in 100m final?

Thanks!

[Tdol]

Why should there be a direct opposite? You could lose by a wide margin or something, but winning easily is the opposite of what- coming second or coming last?

[yanx]

Why should there be a direct opposite? You could lose by a wide margin or something, but winning easily is the opposite of what- coming second or coming last?

Thanks! But what I meant was the opposite of Cruise to victory, which is something like "difficult victory". I can't find a proper word or phrase. Hopefully you can help me with this.. Thanks again!

[Barb_D]

It was a hard-fought victory.
It was a close call, but he won in the end.

[SoothingDave]

https://www.google.com/search?q=eke+...hrome&ie=UTF-8

"Eke out a victory" is often used.

https://www.google.com/search?q=eke+...w=1440&bih=785

Or "scrape out."

[Tdol]

Or narrow victory.

[emsr2d2]

If it looked like the winner was actually going to lose until the very end of the race, you can say "He/she snatched victory from the jaws of defeat".

Rather sarcastically, if someone is in the lead for most of a race and then loses right at the very end, we also say "He snatched defeat from the jaws of victory"!

[BobK]

There's also the idea of a race going 'down to the wire'. The wire in question is presumably something like the finishing tape that is sometimes used in foot races. But even, say, a Presidential Election can 'go down to the wire'.

Another, is 'it's anybody's race' - but that's more often used in predictions.

b

PS Another one is to say that two competitors are 'neck-and-neck'; I imagine that term comes from horse racing (as a horse can still win a race 'by a neck'). But, although a human runner's neck doesn't stick out (the leading part is the chest, from which we get the expression 'to breast the tape' [=finish first]), it is still accepteble to say that two runners are neck-and-neck.

[yanx]

Thanks very much for all your help!

My feeling is that all the answers are good to me, but I found emsr2d2 and Bobk's answers particularly helpful because they gave me much information. Thanks! If anyone has any other good idea, please tell me and I would highly appreciate it..

[yanx]

There's also the idea of a race going 'down to the wire'. The wire in question is presumably something like the finishing tape that is sometimes used in foot races. But even, say, a Presidential Election can 'go down to the wire'.

Another, is 'it's anybody's race' - but that's more often used in predictions.

b

Thanks Bobk! Could you give me a context on how to use "It's anybody's race" as you said?