The Athletics Thread...

[Bathams n Scratchings]

Majority of those blogs/feature stories on the BBC website from the likes of David Bond are awful and make me cringe. I now try to avoid reading them and only bother with the more respected, actual experts in their sport such as Jonathan Agnew, Jeremy Guscott and Steve Cram.

Back on topic, I think Dai Greene has a great chance of gold tomorrow, he looked fantastic in his semi-final up against Felix Sanchez. Think his main challenge could come from the Peurto Rican.

Also what have u guys thought of the coverage on channel 4? With the exception of the excellent Michael Johnson, John Rawlings, Katherine Merry and Iwan Thomas to a lesser degree, it's been dire.
Read today that the gadget show presenter, Ortis I think his name? Has now been axed from his anchor role. He was so out of his depth. Lack of knowledge, getting names wrong and at one point Johnson had to do the link to an ad break!
Best of all though between the live action, he asks a bemused Johnson "Have you ever competed in the pole vault"?
WTF?
Although the BBC coverage with John 'if I was chocolate I would eat myself' Inverdale and Jackson and Lewis has been pretty average recently, they are streets ahead of channel 4. They probably thought they could 'wing it' by getting Johnson on board.
Hope to god the Olympics is covered solely on the BBC next year?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Dai Greene wins!

Superb.

 

[Sniffer]

Are you watching David Bond?

Two Medals in the bag today and plenty more possibilities.

Well done Dai!

 

[astoria67]

Superb run from Dai. Must give a mention to Hanah England excellent race, after watching her semi i personally did not rate her chances.
I am waiting for my airport transfer,so hopefully i will catch the rest of champioship's at some bar in Benidorm.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Mo wins the 5,000!

My lungs were burning just watching him - he more or less had to go full tilt for the last two laps.

What a man, a lovely, lovely guy. So pleased.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Silver for Phillips Idowu - a great competition, Taylor just outjumped him today. 17.96 is up there with the best of all time.

 

[North West Wanderer]

I feel sorry for Idowu there - but this 18m jump he keeps alluding to needs to make an appearence.

 

[MobNet Wolf]

Massive fuck up on the relay.

GB takes out US who take out T&T.

Amazing from Jamaica again.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Fantastic run from Mo Farah. He was really strong at the end. A thoroughly well deserved victory.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Overall: a really good championships with some top performances along the way. The coverage was very hit and miss. Michael Johnson and Iwan Thomas were excellent, especially in the little segment they did explaining how you train for baton passing in the relays. The commentary was average at best and Gadget Show Ortis was so bad as to have to be replaced as presenter - the beardy dude was ok though. Some strange scheduling; missing out live events and then not really showing them properly in the highlights. I suppose C4 suffer for not having the same "red button" technology as the BBC. But then the authorities should consider that when selling the rights rather than how much money they make.

By the way, David Bond: Two golds, four silvers, one bronze. Adds up to seven as far as I can tell, our exact target. You cock.

 

[Toon Wolf]

For those interested, the Great North City Games is taking place on the Gateshead/Newcastle Quayside on Saturday and is being covered on the BBC. Among the athletes taking part are Mo Farah, Jason Richardson (110m hurdles World Champion), Carmelita Jeter (100m World Champion), David Oliver (110m Hurdles Olympic Champion). Should be good. And as a bonus myself and a group of the athletes I coach have been invited to participate in an coaching workshop with some of the American team tomorrow. Excited doesn't even begin to cover it, and that's just me not my athletes...

 

[astoria67]

Good run by Paula Radcliffe in todays Berlin Marathon,finishing 3rd, around 2hr 23min. Won by Florence Kiplagat.

 

[Lord Knows]

Patrick Makau of Kenya running the Berlin Marathon in a world record of 2 hours 3 minutes 38 seconds, how astonishing is that. Will we see someone run a sub 2 hour Marathon within the next twenty years.

 

[Toon Wolf]

2017 World Athletics Championships to be held in London. Fantastic!

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Excellent news. Presumably that helps ensure the stadium stays as is, which can only be right.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

It was nice to see Mara Yamauchi return from injury, finishing an excellent third in the Yokahama marathon. Providing she stays fit, she will be a real contender at the London Olympics. Though I still think our own Jo Pavey could be in with a decent shout.

 

[Toon Wolf]

It'll be interesting to see how Jo Pavey progresses, she is still pretty new to marathon running but she has the potential to be very good. Providing Paula can stay fit she could still be a contender too, though the length of time she's been out makes it unlikely.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

It'll be interesting to see how Jo Pavey progresses, she is still pretty new to marathon running but she has the potential to be very good. Providing Paula can stay fit she could still be a contender too, though the length of time she's been out makes it unlikely.

Toon, I think Jo Pavey has a good chance, particularly if the weather is not too warm. She is a very good athlete, who has made the step up to marathon running. The one question mark I have about her is whether she will have enough left in the tank to push on for the last few miles. If she can find that bit extra then she could well be in contention for a medal.
I agree with you regarding Paula.

 

[Toon Wolf]

I'm heading to Sheffield this weekend with a few of my athletes who are competing in the Northern Indoor Championships. This will be the highest standard of competition any of them have ever been involved in (Jess Ennis usually competes, so it ain't for slouches!), and it will be the first time any of them have ever run on a 200m 'banked' track. Considering we don't even have a normal track to train on it will indeed be a steep learning curve for them! I have had to explain to them that this is part of a learning experience and not the be all and end all- we haven't even tapered our normal winter training programme to prepare, so they are running it based almost purely on fitness and conditioning work. It's all about using it as a way of measuring their progress and using it as a means to improving themselves. Of course, it's easy to say that to them, they will doubtless put pressure on themselves!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Good luck mate. Sounds like you'll need it!