Athletics Weekly

Its nice to see a manager of a sporting facility taking the time and care to get feedback and make improvements. pat on the back and i hope, even though i will never get there, that the center continues to be a success for everyone, either involved or the users.

nevetssllim wrote:

plyometric wrote:no Steph Twell?

Steph's still under-20.

Thats still U23??? besides that if she has run a senior Olympic games she should be classed in this. Steff Twell......

Cant believe Rooney's time. Long tough season for him but that race should have been in the bag for him really. Marlon hasn't shown much form all season really and this meet has highlighted that, the same with pickering, although he ran a seasons best today. Steph Twell will be disappointed with her...

Bevone, the hyperthetical situation of a talented javelin thrower was used to highlight the idea of a central facility, similar to cyclings model, where all the top throwers go to. You have mentioned a number of coaches around the country and in so doing support a more regional approach and possibl...

Well written Mike. All i will say is, how can a sport be a success when at school level its such a mess, volunteers at the lower end of the scale seem to be working against top coaches and then there seems to be yet another split when it comes to UKA level. The sport seems to be split into several d...

Did anyone else look towards the Russians during the games and think hmmm, just slightly off topic. Shame really. Are we returning to the 80's???

Maybe the fact that Coe and Ovett were just exceptional athletes coupled with the emergence of the Africans on the middle distance scene are the reasons that we're not as strong as we were at middle distances. Andy Baddley looks as if he could mount a serious attack on Lagat and the rest of the Afri...

Ovett is straight to the point, very good at giving opinions and knows racing tactics inside out. He even knows how to change tactics halfway through a race. Something our middle to long distance runners seem to lack. And also he's been there and is an icon and would have a lot more respect than mos...

Bit of an off day for a few of our athletes really. Even the ones that performed underperformed. Saying that conditions weren't the best but they didn't stop Asafa running well. Rooney is my pick of the Brits for the day i think. Decent time in poor conditionsand my tip for a medal come Berlin next ...

A lot has been said of our middle and long distance athletes not making it. Yes we are not the quickest in the world, but championships are rarely run and full speed until the finals, and we seem to fail to reach finals most of the time. Thats nothing to do with conditioning or fitness, but tactics....

Cant see how jo Pavey could have done any more than what she did to be honest, a PB in those conditions and in a race ran that fast was a great performance. Agree with most of the rest although Rutherford did well to get to the final yet you name him and leave nathan Douglas out??? And although i'm ...

What gets me is that we say our 18,19,20,21 and 22year olds are still on the up and should get better, as no doubt they will. However so will other countries young stars, and what of the African youngsters winning events on the tracks already. Seriously we will be in this same position in 4 years ti...

Ohurougo-silver Idowu-silver Womens 4x4-bronze Yamauchi-bronze Baddeley-if he makes the final he could medal. Southerton possible medal but not convinced after seeing her at the Palace. Id love Jo Pavey to medal but not sure she has the finish. How can you say that about Sotherton. PB long jump, ne...

Yeah, you're right Andy, Rick Yates and, why not, Mike East could still be named on the Olympic team... It should be upto the NGB to say when they have until to submit a team, and if it was, as do other countries, left until the 31st july, whose saying the names of East and Yates, and maybe Sothert...

Utter tosh this selection is. There are athletes that are qualified through having the A standard and have performed consistently all season save 1 race (the trials) and have been omitted. There just seems to be a lack of ambition shown by UKA compared to some athletes hard work and dedication comin...

You do realise that if he took his case to the European courts, he'd have the ban overturned and BOA would be (once more) a laughing stock. The BOA must allow us to compete on a level playing field, and if that means taking a drugs cheat along (who has served a ban) to compete against other drug che...

Its a sad state of affairs when someone can kill someone in a car accident, run away from the scene, fail a breath test but say that was after the accident, plead not guilty but get found guilty by a jury, get sent down and serve a sentence and then come out and is able to pick up making a living fr...

Mike East had a bad day in Birmingham but has ran the A standard once and well inside the B two or three times, further he ran a very good 800m race in Spain some 10 days before the UK Trials so he is not necessarily in modest form. If he hits the A standard at Crystal Palace he deserves to go, fur...

The selectors ae hoping Devonish will race this week and pull something out of thebag before final selection. I would pick Edgar over Pickering too. Out of turn here but notice how well Williamson runs when he is against Chambers. Twice this year he's pulled a world class performance out of the bag ...

My performances of the day must go to Jenny Meadows who was awesome in the home straight, Nichola Sanders, in her first race shooting to 2nd on this years home list, Helen Clitheroe who has guts beyond belief and Tyrone Edgar who i believe now will become our next sub 10 sprinter given the right com...

On the track, only the relays maybe and the heptathlon girls.. Off track, Idowu, Ratcliffe if fit and Sayers. Other than that i cant see any. Maybe a few finallists and close finishes.

What next? 20/20 athletics?

If he is clean, and i hope he is, then this was just awesome. After Reita i thought Powell had a little more left though. I can see the record going again this year. On a more sour footing, the meet in New York does show the we are already streets behind the Americans and Jamaicans on the track, and...

Hope so Geoff. It just seems to me that a lot of our athletes are missing op oppotunities to compete early season, thus leaving it to the last minute to reach a qualifying standard especially in the multi event competitions. Ok our 2 best prospects have the A standard and barring any injuries etc ar...

Considering there are olympic places up for grabs this year, at least 1 in the hept and 3 in the dec, again its a poor showing from a British perspective. Ok Kelly is ill, but where are the rest of them. 1 entrant, who barring injury will be at the olympics anyway.

Benn - you're absolutely right. I noticed that in the men's marathon. I saw no reason for us to have a marathon standard of 2:11 when the IAAF standard was 2:15. UKA (and the BAF and BAAB and AAAs before it probably) do it across a number of events and I've never understood why. Probably explains w...

Just as a point of interest, my squad paid their own way to compete in Halle. The need to do this if you are not funded is probably why we were so poorly represented in what is considered to be one of the best throws meetings in the world. Yeah but Mike if your squad can do that and fair play to th...

Good to see Nathan jumping again, albeit nearly three quarters of a meter behind the winner, it would still be good to get another A std in the event if he can manage that extra 19cms. On the whole though a pretty poor meet for GB, an example showing in the 5000m womens where Laura Kenny and Helen C...

Just an observation here friends, but if the throwing events have the same acheivable qualification targets than say the 100m guys, then why haven't we got 3 A std guys throwing a javelin or a shot, or 3 A std women throwing a discus.? I personally think that the qualification standards in the field...

Oleg wrote:Gerald Phiri - 10.03 (+2.2) and 20.29 (+0.7)!!

I know i just spotted this on the IAAF site, and although slightly windy in the 100m, the 200m time is fantastic, and totally unexpected. Maybe he will be the one to dip under 10s this year.