Athletics Weekly

I think Jeremy is right in that people played into Mo's hands in the 5000. Of course they did. But in some ways that was the most remarkable thing about the race. The Kenyans and Ethiopians didn't try and test Mo Farah by setting a fast pace because, at least from what I could see, none of them seem...

Obviously it's a very good start either way and bodes well for taking the World Record lower but was Rudisha's time at altitude perhaps?

I think people are doing athletics down a bit to say Okoye could not have made a very good living from the sport. If he had fulfilled his potential, and from hearing him speak there was little doubt in his mind that he would have done, he could well have been World Champion in London in 2017. He's a...

Murray is clearly right up there, I know I'd rate him over Jess. Both won Olympic gold (Murray in a much more competitive competition) . Two semis, a final and a win in grand slams shows good range across surfaces and we have to remember Murray is playing in one of the most competitive sports eras....

The club throw is a replacement for the Javelin for the most severely disabled athletes (severe cerebral palsy/spinal injury).

The other big news of the night surely Niyonsaba in the Women's 800, running away from Jelimo and Savinova (who didn't really look interested) to win in a 1.56. 2nd quickest time of the year from a 19 year old with loads more to come technically and tactically. Jelimo gave her a few metres on the fi...

I agree with all of this. I'm really trying to get in the Paralympics but finding it very hard. Having watched every minute so far of the shoddy Ch4 output I'm flagging. The classifications are a mess, there are FAR too many events and whilst there are obviously many fantastic athletes here the who...

Would be a disaster for the Paralympic movement. There would be next to no media coverage of the Paralympic events in that scenario. There is also no way of fitting the events into 2 weeks as both Games stand now and neither should have to be cut down for the other. They are each doing perfectly wel...

Grabarz equals the Outdoor National Record. All season it's been clear that he can go very high when he gets his take off point right.

Wasn't a dig at you, dig at somebody else who failed to understand what I was saying and thought I agreed with the bizarre orders we've seen over the past couple of days when I was saying it wasn't the main thing. We certainly threw away medals in both men's relays in different ways where we did hav...

In 1991 had 3 guys who could run sub 45 for the 400 and a 200 runner who eventually ran sub 20. That's a team you can do something with, the order might make a difference and it did, though even then the masterplan only worked because Akabusi produced a stunning run to beat the individual champion o...

Let's not pretend though that a better order was going to get us a medal or even give us a chance of one. Jamaica had 4 sub 51 second runners, we had 1. Foot speed is at least 9/10 of the law in the 4x4 and more than people give it credit for in the 4x1. The real question should be why we don't have...

He scared the African dynasties (and there was more than just those running in Kenyan and Ethiopian vests in that race) into running the race at the pace he wanted because they didn't believe they could beat him in any race and that is perhaps the greatest achievement of all. Love the way he does it...

Surely it all depends on how closely they follow Rudisha on the first lap and then through to 600m. If they go with him and the second medals are handed out for 1.43 Osagie will surely not feature but if they sit off and the medals go to 1.44 then Osagie might be able to get himself into the mix if ...

Great run from Lawrence to finish 4th; what he needs to do , though , is change events. The reason I say that is I'm not sure he is tall enough to ever make a great 110 hurdler. I think he should think about moving up to 400 hurdles. Terrific performance here, nonetheless. He's slightly taller than...

Also, if it is just her as you claim, you're saying you want to introduce this rule basically to nobble an athlete you don't like. It's got nothing to do with whether I like her or not (I'm sure she's lovely) I thought the same when Allen Johnson would knock down 8 hurdles on his way to winning rac...

So what? It's long jump, the name of the game is to jump the furthest in however many attempts you have, not be accurate at running from a certain point to another point. The whole 1 big jump thing with people pushing as hard as they can for big distances is what makes long jump exciting to watch an...

And yet she wins. Sorry she doesn't meet your exacting standards of style in doing so.

Not sure about your no jumps argument. Do we want a competition full of safe jumps, people looking down at the board and a premium placed on consistent running rather than the ability to jump a long way?

I love watching her win. Mainly to hear people moan about it afterwards. Won every global title since 2009, not much arguing with that. Would be good to see her improve her technique and go after some even bigger distances but if it works now, there's always a risk to changing. If Janay DeLoach can ...

Ugen couldn't have gone as she didn't have the Global A Standard of 6.75. Van Commenee actually said he would like to have picked her but couldn't. There's a definite case for Irozuru but the awfulness of this particular qualifying competition should not hide the fact that he has only had 1 competit...

Shame for Okoye, hope he realises how impressive it is to be an Olympic finalist at 20 and wants to take it further. Robert Harting's competitive instinct is very impressive - it's 30 odd competitions since he lost and yet he's nowhere near as dominant in terms of performance as others who have had ...

It seems distances in all the horizontal jumps so far have been down on what was hoped for. Presumably the runway is the same material as the track? Has anyone seen any comments by jumpers on the conditions? The wind's been all over the place but largely in their faces. It's not like the horizontal...

All the athletes, even ones like Speidleberg and Isinbeyeva, seemed to be relying on their coaches. I think it was because they could see the wind gauge (even worse if not) but surely it takes your mind off the vault itself.

James will surely be the first man under 43 seconds. Could definitely go faster now, never mind once he gets his technique sorted. James v Bolt, Rio 2016? Would be quite something. Having said that James v Santos over the next few years could be special - the latter is behind in his physical develop...

Looked like he had his take off point better than in recent weeks, hope he can keep that up for the final.

He was struggling in the second half of the semi final as well, clearly the problem he had at the Jamaican trials didn't fully heal. That's the best I've seen Bolt look from 10-100, kept everything much more in a straight line with less sideways movement down the track than in Beijing or Berlin. Bod...

He didn't have the height to do anything with that. Bad call whoever chose to run this mainly into the wind. Mitchell Watt needs to learn to run.

Rutherford in the lead. If Tomlinson stops turning out of his jumps he can be right up there with him. Whoever said the wind might be a problem was bang on the money - it was for the triple jumpers yesterday as well and it's swirling rather than in one direction.

That time was always going to be fine. Can Sanchez reproduce that in the final, he looked almost like he did 8-9 years ago. It's between him and Culson I think with the next 5 battling for bronze.

46.61 - the javelin rock solid as almost always. The only question now is 7000 (48m and 2.06). Goodnight.