Athletics Thread

MCFC1993 said:
That's basically the comparison that was drawn post race, that kind of obvious.

Much like Kratochvílová's 800m world record from 1983 that still stands and Koch's 400m from 1985, where athletes are still not getting close 40+ years later.
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FloJo's 100m world record still stands, too.

Nothing at all dodgy about it, though.
 
willipp said:
Been at the UK champs today and a fantastic day. Some brilliant races, in particular the women’s 200m, men’s 1500, Hughes running 19.90 and Josh Kerr looking the step above everyone in the 5000. Took the kids and they loved it as well.
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My sister and brother in law went down yesterday. Both are off to the DL finals in Zurich as well, lucky sods.
 
While this thread is a bit active today, I'll mention that the European U20 championship's start on Thursday and end on Sunday. Innes Fitzgerald is down to double in the 3k and 5k and she should win both. I'll be watching it on Eurovision sport which is completely free, and has loads of other sports on there as well. I stream it on my phone but cast it to the TV. I watched the recent European U23 championship's a few weeks ago on there with no problems.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
No spoilers but a very good first day at the U20 European championships. Some very promising performances.
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Talking of Euro champs, we’ve got Commonwealths and Europeans both on this island next summer, within 2 weeks of each other. Not really what you’d call joined up thinking. No wonder the Games are using an athletics stadium of only 11,000 capacity.
 
chesterbells said:
Talking of Euro champs, we’ve got Commonwealths and Europeans both on this island next summer, within 2 weeks of each other. Not really what you’d call joined up thinking. No wonder the Games are using an athletics stadium of only 11,000 capacity.
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Think it's probably down to the calendar and avoiding the diamond league. I had a look the other day and there's 9 days between the last day of athletics at the CG and the first day of the Europeans, I think that's probably just enough time for the athletes.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
Think it's probably down to the calendar and avoiding the diamond league. I had a look the other day and there's 9 days between the last day of athletics at the CG and the first day of the Europeans, I think that's probably just enough time for the athletes.
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I don’t think the authorities take any notice of the CG these days. Even many of the athletes give it a miss, though with it being at home next year there might be a few more taking part. But they will prioritise the Europeans.
 
KS55 said:
I don’t think the authorities take any notice of the CG these days. Even many of the athletes give it a miss, though with it being at home next year there might be a few more taking part. But they will prioritise the Europeans.
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There's no travelling to Australia or anything like that so I'd expect pretty much everyone to turn up for both if they are healthy tbh.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
There's no travelling to Australia or anything like that so I'd expect pretty much everyone to turn up for both if they are healthy tbh.
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The division of the home nations for the CG means more UK athletes get the chance to compete than at the Europeans (assuming there aren’t ridiculously high entry requirements set by the home nations selection committees of course).
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
No spoilers but a very good first day at the U20 European championships. Some very promising performances.
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Just caught up on the highlights, not on TV in the UK is it?
Did see a couple of streams for it though.

A good showing from the Brits very impressive. It'd be great if we got our field game together though, disappointing to not have athletes even in these events.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Just caught up on the highlights, not on TV in the UK is it?
Did see a couple of streams for it though.

A good showing from the Brits very impressive. It'd be great if we got our field game together though, disappointing to not have athletes even in these events.
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I streamed it on Eurovision sport mate, totally free, top coverage as well, with good knowledgeable commentary. Just need to sign up, no ads or anything, think it's the official broadcast partner, I watched the u23s on there as well.

Yeah there's a huge disparity between the track and field events but there always has been in Britain, we just get the odd World class competitor who emerges in the field events every now and then. I've no idea why that is the case though.

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts why that is. Coaching, funding?
 
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The Stockport Iniesta said:
I streamed it on Eurovision sport mate, totally free, top coverage as well, with good knowledgeable commentary. Just need to sign up, no ads or anything, think it's the official broadcast partner, I watched the u23s on there as well.

Yeah there's a huge disparity between the track and field events but there always has been in Britain, we just get the odd World class competitor who emerges in the field events every now and then. I've no idea why that is the case though.

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts why that is. Coaching, funding?
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Can't just be funding because the runners get peanuts unless they're world class. It could be our selection policy come to think of it too, we might have qualifiers who weren't taken due to expectations.

Back onto the runners though, brilliant from Innes Fitzgerald, she's got huge potential.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Can't just be funding because the runners get peanuts unless they're world class. It could be our selection policy come to think of it too, we might have qualifiers who weren't taken due to expectations.

Back onto the runners though, brilliant from Innes Fitzgerald, she's got huge potential.
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Think she's got the 3000 heat's in just over an hour as well, I'm going to start watching it now, and catch up with the morning session.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Can't just be funding because the runners get peanuts unless they're world class. It could be our selection policy come to think of it too, we might have qualifiers who weren't taken due to expectations.

Back onto the runners though, brilliant from Innes Fitzgerald, she's got huge potential.
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Yes, I’d agree with that. I’ll copy @The Stockport Iniesta here too.

There are many recent cases of frustrated field event athletes, including UK champions, who don’t get selected for events, even though they have made the event qualifying standard, because UKA have set an even higher standard. Basically unless they think the athlete has podium potential they won’t get picked. Imagine being sat at home watching on tv, when athletes from other countries are getting 4th, 5th, 6th place with performance you have bettered earlier in the season. I suppose they’d argue it’s down to economics, but it means athletes lose out on that big event experience - which could negatively affect their motivation.

Another factor I would say is fewer specialist field event coaches. A track coach can flex across all events of 800m upwards, or across 100m-400m, whereas many of the field events are more specialised.

Also, that specialism aspect affects young athletes coming into the sport. A high jumper can’t readily turn their hand to compete in long jump. A hammer thrower to pole vault etc. Whereas, and I appreciate some would take issue with this, a sprinter can easily adapt to compete across 100, 200 and 400m. Even more so for middle distance. 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m. That’s a helluva lot of potential spaces to get a place in a team, but if you’re a shot putter you get in as that, or you’re out.

Cross country is even more laughable as a comparison. The number of places/opportunities to get representative honours/prestige/success etc in XC is a joke when compared to field events especially. It’s just so much easier.

In addition, I think some of the rules of field events don’t help. An example of an athlete who gives up a whole day to attend a club event, travelling 1.5-2hrs each way on the coach. They’ve been picked to throw javelin. It’s a windy day. They have 3 attempts, which all land tail down, so the rules say that’s a foul throw and so their distances can’t be measured. They are also included in the 4x100m relay but it’s not really their thing.
In scenarios like this, with a teenager who is 50/50 about the sport, they might travel home and think, there must be other sports better than this …

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts re the question about UKs seeming lack of field event success.
 
chesterbells said:
Yes, I’d agree with that. I’ll copy @The Stockport Iniesta here too.

There are many recent cases of frustrated field event athletes, including UK champions, who don’t get selected for events, even though they have made the event qualifying standard, because UKA have set an even higher standard. Basically unless they think the athlete has podium potential they won’t get picked. Imagine being sat at home watching on tv, when athletes from other countries are getting 4th, 5th, 6th place with performance you have bettered earlier in the season. I suppose they’d argue it’s down to economics, but it means athletes lose out on that big event experience - which could negatively affect their motivation.

Another factor I would say is fewer specialist field event coaches. A track coach can flex across all events of 800m upwards, or across 100m-400m, whereas many of the field events are more specialised.

Also, that specialism aspect affects young athletes coming into the sport. A high jumper can’t readily turn their hand to compete in long jump. A hammer thrower to pole vault etc. Whereas, and I appreciate some would take issue with this, a sprinter can easily adapt to compete across 100, 200 and 400m. Even more so for middle distance. 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m. That’s a helluva lot of potential spaces to get a place in a team, but if you’re a shot putter you get in as that, or you’re out.

Cross country is even more laughable as a comparison. The number of places/opportunities to get representative honours/prestige/success etc in XC is a joke when compared to field events especially. It’s just so much easier.

In addition, I think some of the rules of field events don’t help. An example of an athlete who gives up a whole day to attend a club event, travelling 1.5-2hrs each way on the coach. They’ve been picked to throw javelin. It’s a windy day. They have 3 attempts, which all land tail down, so the rules say that’s a foul throw and so their distances can’t be measured. They are also included in the 4x100m relay but it’s not really their thing.
In scenarios like this, with a teenager who is 50/50 about the sport, they might travel home and think, there must be other sports better than this …

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts re the question about UKs seeming lack of field event success.
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A very interesting, well thought out post that mate.
 
chesterbells said:
Yes, I’d agree with that. I’ll copy @The Stockport Iniesta here too.

There are many recent cases of frustrated field event athletes, including UK champions, who don’t get selected for events, even though they have made the event qualifying standard, because UKA have set an even higher standard. Basically unless they think the athlete has podium potential they won’t get picked. Imagine being sat at home watching on tv, when athletes from other countries are getting 4th, 5th, 6th place with performance you have bettered earlier in the season. I suppose they’d argue it’s down to economics, but it means athletes lose out on that big event experience - which could negatively affect their motivation.

Another factor I would say is fewer specialist field event coaches. A track coach can flex across all events of 800m upwards, or across 100m-400m, whereas many of the field events are more specialised.

Also, that specialism aspect affects young athletes coming into the sport. A high jumper can’t readily turn their hand to compete in long jump. A hammer thrower to pole vault etc. Whereas, and I appreciate some would take issue with this, a sprinter can easily adapt to compete across 100, 200 and 400m. Even more so for middle distance. 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10,000m. That’s a helluva lot of potential spaces to get a place in a team, but if you’re a shot putter you get in as that, or you’re out.

Cross country is even more laughable as a comparison. The number of places/opportunities to get representative honours/prestige/success etc in XC is a joke when compared to field events especially. It’s just so much easier.

In addition, I think some of the rules of field events don’t help. An example of an athlete who gives up a whole day to attend a club event, travelling 1.5-2hrs each way on the coach. They’ve been picked to throw javelin. It’s a windy day. They have 3 attempts, which all land tail down, so the rules say that’s a foul throw and so their distances can’t be measured. They are also included in the 4x100m relay but it’s not really their thing.
In scenarios like this, with a teenager who is 50/50 about the sport, they might travel home and think, there must be other sports better than this …

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts re the question about UKs seeming lack of field event success.
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We have, of course, had some spectacular field event success from time to time. Has anyone done serious research into what contributed to those successes? What makes those athletes stand out from the crowd? Did different training contribute? How important was speed? etc etc.
 
Some outstanding performances from the GB u20's today, now topping the medal table. Our girls really are exceptional now at u20 and u23 level, there's so much promise for the future.

The lads 800m, no spoilers, but interested to hear if the judges got it right? I thought they did.
 
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