Athletics Weekly

James Dasallou 10.14 ( -0.1 ) 100m

Chambers 10.31
HAA 10.42

Yes but the point is, it was a very low key race & he ran all the way alone. This may or may not mean that he is 'on' for something good, but its a reasonable speculation, that in a competitive race, with others pulling him along, he might well be closer to 63. Scott Overall 63min half in 2011, ...

Its all relative. Seriously fast for UK men means marathon in under 2:12
Would be good to get at least one athlete in that kind of area this year.

65.05 in low key Half Marathon at Paddock Wood. Won by 4 minutes.

So was he flat-out or was it easy & he's on the way to some seriously good longer distance times
( or was it someone else running in his name ) ?

Yes its a strange one. I know someone with cheapest tickets for an evening session & he is on the finishing straight four or five rows back. Whereas for the same session, I have £420 tickets & am looking directly down the home straight from the top tier by the scoreboard. I guess that means ...

Tom Parsons out of HJ at Qualifying stage. 2:10.

The hype v The reality Its looking like we are starting to see the reality biting. Low level of performance at the Trials due to bad British weather ( who would've thought ? :-) ) Injuries starting to be announced. What comes next ? Well at every Olympics I can recall ( going back to '60 ) the same ...

BBC report that she is unwell.

Hi Has anyone seen a more detailed plan, than the one that is downloadable from the LOCOG site ? It only shows 'block/area' numbers & not row numbers. I am just wondering where row 51 is. Looks like its going to be on the top tier, but just wondered how near the front row it is. Strangley, my £4...

http://www.flotrack.org/video/621499

Full race on video. Finish line at about 1:29 including Brits.

Chrs Thompson 61.23 - 7th
Scott Overall 61.25 - 8th - these two were first non Kenya/Ethiopia
Jonny Mellor 62.59 - 19th
Freya Murray 72.32 - 17th
Claire Hallisey 72.36 - 18th

That interview from Aldama was fabulous. Sheer joy. Love it.

Well done the oldies.

Aldama has a large strapping on her thigh. Seemed to land awkwardly on jump 3.
Presumably she will only jump again if under threat.

Lewis goes up to 85 after failing 80.

Have got tickets for Pole Vault in Olympics. Got very excited after reading the Bleasedale story, about seeing a GB medal live, then realised, I have the Mens PV Final. Oh well

Some interesting parallels to be drawn with Overalls 2.10.56 debut marathon. Ian Thompson did 2.12 on debut qualifying for his 2.09 commonwealth gold. Charlie Spedding did 2.11 something in his debut in Houston before gaining bronze in LA84 Olympics. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other good fir...

Chris Thompson ran 'run to the beat' half marathon in Greenwich today. 3rd in 62.11. His management company are tweeting that he did it as 'a tempo run'. Sounds good. Ahead of him were...
MILTON KIPLAGAT ROTICH - 1 - 61.19
EDWIN KIPYEGO - 2 - 61.57

Leading woman - Alice Mogire 69.51

I am really not sure Mo had greater acceleration. He certainly surprised the opposition with his move at 450 or so which got him a decent lead going into the back straight, but the acceleration shown by the eventual winner to close that initial gap was incredible. If I was racing against him again, ...

The Ethiopian looked like a 200m runner as he was catching Mo, with his toes pointed & 'pawing' style. Nothing Mo could do about someone who can sprint with form like that. Is that guy doing the 5k too ? I'd say he is nailed-on to do the double with that kind of speed.

Sounds to me as if there isnt any strong evidence to support the argument that pre Olympic years bring performances of a lower standard & anyway, its too early to try to compare like-with-like until the end of the track season. But thanks for digging those stats out. It was good to get a reply t...

I think you have misunderstood my intention with this post. I am genuinely asking what the reason might be for 'low' standards. Hence why I asked if there are any stats that allow us to see if standards drop the year before an Olympic games. If you suspect/know that it is/is not, something to do wit...

Why on the doping forum? Its hardly a thread about
drugs. I can't see any speculation there just a couple of questions I thought were a conversation starter.

Are there stats to back up the low standards befoore each olympics ?

Michael Johnson commented on BBC at the weekend about the standards being low this year - citing 400m as an example. Is this a 'year before the Olympics' phenomenon ; Because the Worlds are late this year ; Or because drug testing is finally having an effect worldwide ? My guess is people are trying...

These exceptional junior athletes do come back sometimes. Justina Heslop won the National as an U15 for Elswick in the 80's & re-found her love for running when becoming a founding member of Clapham Chasers RC a few years ago. Now ranked top 10 in several events & training in Ethiopia regula...

Mo on Sky Sports news this morning, saying that he is giving everything in the 10k, & then see how the legs feel
before doing 5k. Pretty much what he said to the BBC on Sunday really.

Surely being on CVC's radar for possible GB selection, doesn't mean that they have to be on lottery funding. Plenty athletes don't get funding but get GB vests. If Reid had been available last weekend, his TJ would have been better than the athlete selected. I agree with Fangio. As soon as you start...

nevetssllim wrote:
Well I'm just repeating what's written on the homepage.

Sure, I wasnt criticising you. Just making an observation.
Cheers

Just heard from Justina H ; Steel was 2nd, Paula 3rd, Justina a few secs behind in 4th.

Paula certainly didnt settle in behind Jo.

At 7k or so, she was 3rd & looked like she was far from 'settling-in' behind anyone.
Pity. But I suppose its good that she got back to 2nd in the end.