I am really excited. I was watching pretty much every Diamond League meet in the past two years, checking letsrun daily etc. Swim worlds were beautiful, but watching sport is even greater when you know the protagonists.

As a slowtwitch fibre guy I have an aptitude for the endurance events. But I am also more and more interested in the sprint and field action.

While it is always a blast to see Farahs last lap, I am not sure if he can come through one more time. I mean in 8 times out of ten he will still do it. But still chances are intact for the africans. But it needs a gutsy race.
I hope one of the Robertson twins out of New Zealand can place high. They are cool guys with a crazy story.

Bolt, the showman, retires and the next big star could emerge at the exactly right time. Van Niekerk is a stud and a bit more calm than Bolt. I like him.

What can Jager do in the steeple. Monaco showed that he is a contender even for gold and end an incredible Kenyan streak. But everything needs to go according to plan. I like Jager too, but I am not sure what I should think of the latest fancy bear documenta. However, he did a gold Podcast with letsrun afterwards.

Will we see a crazy battle for the high jump victory? Talent is so high in this discipline at the moment that I think it's only a matter of time until the world record falls.

And always interesting are the different body shapes of the athletes. From the tiny african runners and skinny high jumpers to the bully sprinters and big throwers. But sometimes you get to see even major differences in the same event.

---

10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

On the body type front, the most interesting I find is actually in the 100m. You have skinny kids like deGrasse from Canada who look like they would not make their local highschool football team in ANY position and would be the geek in the corner sipping on a coke at the party, against guys like Gatlin who look like they can play running back in the NFL.

I also find the high jump and pole vault to be very interesting events for watching. Just the suspense especially in the pole vault.

OK, we have to fill the "gap" before Aru-Froome-Contador keep us entertained in the Vuelta. Track World's takes me back to my roots, with the 1983 IAAF World's in Helsinki. There was a young Carl Lewis warming up for the LA Olympics, and you had the team Great Britain 1500m smackdown with the likes of Coe and Ovett. Here is a video from the LA Olympics Finals. Between the three of them they had the 1500m world record holder, the 1980 Olympic World Champion and the 1983 Helsinki World's champion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddrxCe3ZOOM


What is crazy is Mo Farah's pb is 3:28 in the 1500m now!

I think Bolt will win the 100, he always seems to peak at the right time. Don't think he's running the 200 though. Kwemoi will crush the 1500
Don't think Rupp has a spot, hes only an alternate after his very disappointing performance during US 10k nationals, seems he's having a tough time after moving to marathon. Believe SloMo will win the 10000 in a slow race as usual. Bekele dropped out of the marathon claiming he's unfit, hopefully that means he will run Berlin instead and we will get an epic battle with Kipchoge and Kipsang.

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

Can't wait for this to start!

Love watching athletics. I have followed Diamond league the past few seasons too. I believe i read bolt will NOT run the 200m (no idea why?). Other than that, i love the high vault competition. I think it started 3 years ago when Barshim and Bondarenko kept comming to each Diamond league race and aaaalmost beat the world record, damn it was so close on so many occasions, maybe it is finally time?
Marathon is also just fun because you just sit there thinking, how is it humanly possible to run this fast?!

Mo is so hard to beat because of his versatility. As mentioned above his 1500m is crazy fast and of course he can close the last 300-400m insanely. But he also has quite quick personal bests so you can't expect to drop him easily. But a fast race would make it harder for him.

Jeez, I consider myself a decent runner with about 33ish 10k. But to watch track is quite frustrating. These guys jog around in 30s for 200m and I think, man, I would need to push all out to just keep up. Amazing.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

From what I recall reading, Mo and Galen Rupp can do ~ 49 seconds per 100m. At the London Olympics Mo closed the last mile of the 5000m with a sub 4 and the last lap was 53 seconds. I remember watching it and thinking, "they've come a long way from Bannister when they beat Bannister inside a 5000m Olympic race with no pacers".

Yeah absolutely. And it showes that track (and even Marathon) runners are far from slowtwitch only. They really need some fast firing fibres in their muscles too.

And we can relate to the times because we know what it takes to run a 50s 400. Let alone at the end of a race. But I guess for the average Joe it just looks like brisk running. Especially the africans float so beautifully that it almost looks like jogging in the early stages of race.

---

10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

The guy that in my opinion could be very dangerous for Farah in the 5k is actually only running the 1500m (whom you rightfully said will crush it).

Ronald Kwemoi has a similar 1500m PB to Farah (3:28) but his time is more up to date. He is still very young but on fire. The 5000m pb is around 13:15 but I think he could go way faster as he has strong endurance. And in a sit and kick race he could give Farah a run for his money. But sadly we will never see that duel.

Btw I don't want to see Farah lose. But I want to see a tight race.

---

10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

I agree, Kwemoi's best distance might turn out to be the 5000m so too bad he isn't running, he has a crazy kick and is one of the few who can outkick Mo. I do think Kwemoi has a chance for a wr in the 1500 soon, but would likely have to be a set up attempt.

---

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

I'm so gutted that David Rudisha is out with injurie. He was not up to full gears this season but I was hoping to see hin just show up at worlds and light maybe his last big firework.
What a race that was five years ago when he run WR in an olympic final with no rabbits and alone from the front. I still watch it on youtube from time to time.

So it's the chance for the next stars. Can US based phenom Korir run to glory like his coach did? Or is it Amos to step up his game?

Btw. Kenyan Atheltics ridiculously screwed it with athletes selection. They can select four and Rudisha as reigning champ was (not so) obviously set. But then they did not just take the three fastest guys from the trials and handed out another wildcard. And at the end they failed to name a spare athlete. So now with Rudisha out there will only be three Kenyans in the race.

---

10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Ok so I just get this facebook message from one of my classmates from High School living in London saying he has an extra ticket for me for Bolt's 100m retirement race on Sunday. The problem is that I am going on a short family vacation leaving on Sunday. I think my wife would kill me if I blow off the family vacation and get on an airplane to London tomorrow from Canada to make in time for Bolt's retirement race on Sunday....why does life always work out this way!!!!!

I am hoping the distance events are fast from the beginning. I hate it when it is lake a basketball game determined in the last 400m If you know a guy like Mo is going to beat you if you all go slow why not go down fighting. Thats what Steve would do.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I think the problem with fast from the beginning is everyone knows that the pace is not physiologically sustainable, so they sit back at the known sustainable place knowing everyone will come back. Let's do the math. 5000m world record is 12:53. 60 second laps is 12:30. Anyone going out at faster than 62 seconds WILL blow up. It's like Contador taking it out at record climbing place on Croix de Fer. They know he will move back on Telegraphe and Galibier. So the question is "how fast can they take it out". I believe the answer is "no faster than 62". The problem is that Mo will sit back and run 63-64 seconds knowing that only a few guys can sustain 62 and then use the other idiots to close the gap on them and then be in position to outkick!

This is it.

And noone wants to sacrifice himself for the group to beat Mo. Better fight for second than blow up at the end. Champuonship races are without rabbits, so the one who goes out and sets a hard pace will eventually get dropped by those sitting on the heels.
Kenyans could apply a team tactic like that or they could take turns attacking.
But again, who is going to sacrifice his race. And I think it would be similar like in the Tour. Podium contenders watch each other and close down every gap and Farah sits behind, laughing.

But yes, the only way to beat him would be to go out in suicidal pace. In Prefontaine style.

Btw. Above I wrote about Kwemoi being on fire. In Monaco he obviously had problems with his legs and had to be supported. Now I found out that he lost a week of trainig thereafter.
When he still feels the injurie that would be bad. But when he is fine now, that little break could be a blessing in disguise for the 1500m final. I think he trained bloody hard all seoson so a bit of rest could actually be good.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

But the world record is 12:37, so 60,5s laps. Would love to see the group go out hard, but I think there is a big chance they barely break 13. Mo has said thoug that we should expect something special in the 10000m so hopefully a fast time there.

---

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

I don't know why I was thinking 12:53, but I think it is because this year's season's best was in that range....so revise numbers by 1 to 1.5 second per lap and we have the correct numbers.

Here are your top 50 all time. No one has broken 12:51 since 2013. Not sure if the runners got slower or all those fast times were before blood passport/ more stringent testing. We still have some top 50 times standing from the early 80's too:

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_5000ok.htm


All-time men's best 5000m[/url]
[/url]

1 12:37.35 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Hengelo 31.05.2004 2 12:39.36 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Helsinki 13.06.1998 3 12:39.74 Daniel Komen KEN 17.05.76 1 Bruxelles 22.08.1997 4 12:40.18 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Saint-Denis 01.07.2005 5 12:41.86 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Zürich 13.08.1997 6 12:44.39 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Zürich 16.08.1995 7 12:44.90 Daniel Komen KEN 17.05.76 2 Zürich 13.08.1997 8 12:45.09 Daniel Komen KEN 17.05.76 1 Zürich 14.08.1996 9 12:46.53 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Roma 02.07.2004 10 12:46.81 Dejen Gebremeskel ETH 24.11.89 1 Saint-Denis 06.07.2012 11 12:47.04 Sileshi Sihine ETH 29.01.83 2 Roma 02.07.2004 12 12:47.53 Hagos Gebrhiwet ETH 11.05.94 2 Saint-Denis 06.07.2012 13 12:48.09 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Bruxelles 25.08.2006 14 12:48.25 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Zürich 18.08.2006 15 12:48.64 Isiah Koech KEN 19.12.93 3 Saint-Denis 06.07.2012 16 12:48.66 Issac Songok KEN 25.04.84 2 Zürich 18.08.2006 17 12:48.77 Yenew Alamirew ETH 27.05.90 4 Saint-Denis 06.07.2012 18 12:48.81 Stephen Cherono KEN 15.10.82 1 Ostrava 12.06.2003 19 12:48.98 Daniel Komen KEN 17.05.76 1 Roma 05.06.1997 20 12:49.04 Thomas Longosiwa KEN 14.01.82 5 Saint-Denis 06.07.2012 21 12:49.28 Brahim Lahlafi MAR 15.04.68 1 Bruxelles 25.08.2000 22 12:49.50 John Kipkoech KEN 29.12.91 6 Saint-Denis 06.07.2012 23 12:49.53 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Zaragoza 28.07.2007 24 12:49.64 Haile Gebrselassie ETH 18.04.73 1 Zürich 11.08.1999 25 12:49.71 Mohammed Mourhit BEL 10.10.70 2 Bruxelles 25.08.2000 26 12:49.87 Paul Tergat KEN 17.06.69 3 Zürich 13.08.1997 27 12:50.16 Sileshi Sihine ETH 29.01.83 1 Bruxelles 14.09.2007 28 12:50.18 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Zürich 29.08.2008 29 12:50.22 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Bruxelles 26.08.2005 30 12:50.24 Hicham El Guerrouj MAR 14.09.74 2 Ostrava 12.06.2003 31 12:50.25 Abderrahim Goumri MAR 21.05.76 2 Bruxelles 26.08.2005 32 12:50.38 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 2 Bruxelles 14.09.2007 33 12:50.55 Moses Masai KEN 01.06.86 1 Berlin 01.06.2008 34 12:50.72 Moses Kipsiro UGA 02.09.86 3 Bruxelles 14.09.2007 35 12:50.80 Salah Hissou MAR 16.01.72 1 Roma 05.06.1996 36 12:50.86 Ali Saïdi-Sief ALG 15.03.78 1 Roma 30.06.2000 37 12:51.00 Joseph Ebuya KEN 20.06.87 4 Bruxelles 14.09.2007 38 12:51.21 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05.11.84 1 Ad-Dawhah 14.05.2010 39 12:51.32 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Saint-Denis 08.07.2006 40 12:51.34 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi KEN 03.03.86 1 Monaco 19.07.2013 41 12:51.44 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Roma 14.07.2006 42 12:51.45 Vincent Chepkok KEN 05.07.88 2 Ad-Dawhah 14.05.2010 43 12:51.60 Daniel Komen KEN 17.05.76 1 Stockholm 08.07.1996 44 12:51.95 Thomas Longosiwa KEN 14.01.82 5 Bruxelles 14.09.2007 45 12:51.96 Albert Rop BRN 17.07.92 2 Monaco 19.07.2013 46 12:51.98 Saif Saeed Shaheen QAT 15.10.82 2 Roma 14.07.2006 47 12:52.26 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Oslo 27.06.2003 48 12:52.29 Issac Songok KEN 25.04.84 1 Roma 08.07.2005 49 12:52.32 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13.06.82 1 Zürich 28.08.2009 50 12:52.33 Sammy Kipketer KEN 29.09.81 2 Oslo 27.06.2003

I don't think the slower times has anything to do with doping or passports, simply that the racers have become smarter. Maybe there was a time where mo could challenge the wr, but now he would be nowhere close. So then his best option is to "just" win. I mean look at the 800m in rio, just ridiculous! The same reason the Olympic record for the 5000 is 20 seconds slower than wr, no one has the balls to go after it and risk the race! Besides Monaco there are almost never any fast times. I do think that kwemoi can go close to the wr, although he still isn't as fun of a racer to watch as bekele.
Now, Berlin, if Bekele shows up will be a real fight! Can imagine Bekele, Kipchoge and Mutai's hitting low 14's for 25-30k.

---

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

All I see is KEN ETH KEN ETH KEN ETC. Surely there is enough of those guys to get together a share the load strategy. I guess if that made sense they would already be doing it. I guess I can go to the bathroom for the first 10 min or make a snack. If they even televise that part. I won't miss Daphne though!

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

SloMo strikes again! Though he undoubtedly had to work for it today. Too few surges to break him though. Fast last K and a good time! Think he will have an even tougher time in the 5000, but it is incredible that he still has that amazing 1500 speed.

---

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

Absolutely incredible race from Mo. The greatest on the track. What a man.

legend.

I can't wait to get to my pvr tonite after work!!! kiki....do you see that awesome dorsiflex of his right foot....wish I could do that right now....still working on it!!!

:>

that last 50m was insane, he knew he had it

What a race. 26:49 with such uneven pace!

Mo absolutely deserved the win. But the others tried something. Did you See how nervous it got when Mo made his move from back of the pack to the front. Crazy.

Btw. How cut looks Mo?! There are other very skinny (or skinnier) guys in the field. Mo is rail thin too but with very defined muscles. It looks fucking freakish.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Those last two laps were insane. Second last lap 61 seconds and last lap 56. The crazy thing is in the last 150m Mo looked like a 400m runner, not a 10,000m man. Plus almost getting body checked off the track with 300m to go and pulling himself together. Also awesome race by our young Canadian Mo Ahmed taking 28 seconds off his PB coming in at 27.02 and setting a Canadian record too.

Here is the crazy part....the guys getting lapped were sub 28 men!!!!

 

ultimate compliment....Usein doing the big "M"

From my calculation Mo ran a 4:05 final mile at the end of a 10,000m. They would basically be only a few second off Bannister and Landy's early attempts at the sub 4 mile after an 8400m "run commute" to the start line of that mile.

OK, bring on the a big day saturday....400m heats with Van Niekerk from South Africa, womens 100m with Schippers and Thompson and 100m finals. The crazy thing about the 100m semi finals is there are 3 athletes from Japan and that kid Brown looked really awesome. this bodes really well for Japan in the 4x100m next weekend, probably proving their medal in Rio was no fluke. Bolt is in the heat with Christian Coleman, season's best 9.82! Bummer that deGrasse from Canada (Olympic 100m bronze and 200m silver) is out with a hamstring tear during training on Monday!!!

In this morning's 400m qualifying session Wade Van Niekerk from South Africa barely qualified. Not sure what happened as I am just looking at the IAAF results page but it shows him as the 16th qualifier in the a tourist time of 45.27. Maybe he had the auto qual and just shut it down. Meanwhile Maklawa cranked out a 44.55 for the first qual time.

Well not what I was hoping for but honestly Gatlin kind of grew on me in the last day in the interviews that I heard and today, with this he totally won me over:

You know I am not a fan of Gatlin. But I feel sad that he gets booed.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

The guy has been banned for doping twice. As far as I'm concerned he shouldn't be in the sport. Pretty relaxed about people booing him.

Not sure what happened as I am just looking at the IAAF results page but it shows him as the 16th qualifier in the a tourist time of 45.27. Maybe he had the auto qual and just shut it down.

I watched and it looked like he was going out for a Sunday jog in the first 150 meters. Maybe he just took it too easy and in the 400, it's hard to turn on a switch and make up ground later. It looked to me like he knew he didn't have to go too hard to qualify, maybe he miscalculated what he could get away with.

I really enjoyed the 10,000, it looked like a rugby match in the last 200m. It's incredible watching Farah, he knew he had the strongest kick and just seemed to set himself up for the last 100m and wait until he had to and just kicked.

Also great to see Mohammed Ahmed set a Canadian record. It's hard to believe that a finishing time of 27:02 will "only" get you 8th place.

What happened today in womens 10,000 & mens 100 was T&F killing itself. What an absolute farce. And 24hrs after the medal ceremony for silver/bronze Goucher/Pavy respectively earned 10 years ago.

Nevermind last nights mens 10,000. Really? Undefeated for 6 years but won squat before moving to Salazar. While the race itself most exciting in a decade with crazy lap fluctuations its not believable.

I have to get myself to a place i have with cycling. Treat it like sport entertainment like my love for NFL, NHL because today was an utter joke.

---

@rhyspencer

OK, in the women's 10,000m final that was a bit too good to be true.....but Rhys, enjoy the show. I have one image for you. Just memorize it and then watch the track show like we watch Contador, or Vino, or NFL or Premier League (hopefully not Kona or ITU, but I'll also believe that when hell freezes over....not pointing to anyone in particular in the pro field, but with 50 men at Kona, well there are some that are just as doped as in the 100m finals) ...it's all the same thing over and over and over. Hopefully the testers can keep enough a lid on it to keep it kind of level:

Thats not the dirtiest race in history anymore. Womens LONDON 2012 1500 is.

---

@rhyspencer

What this means is he was stupid enough to get caught twice. I can't imagine that all 9 finalists were on bread and water today. I don't love Gatlin in the same way I don't love Vino.

Serious question. If you were working at Jamaica anti doping, Russia Anti Doping, or Kenya anti doping, what incentive do you really have from your national media or government to catch your guys. It's pretty well the same incentive that the owner of the Patriots or Manchester United or Bjarne Riis had to bust their own players. The entire system is screwed up. National Anti doping agencies can't possibly have a proper incentive to bust their own nation. It's almost like you need Russian anti doping guys busting Americans, Americans busting Chinese, Chinese busting Germans, Germans busting Kenyans, Manchester United busting Juventus.

Busting your own superstars? Well the entire system is broken, the busting of Lance by his own country being a notable exception. If the Spanish Anti doping were in charge of busting British or South African or US stars ITU stars, and everyone trying to do out of competition on each other, then we're talking.

Just a quick thought. With one of the slowest 100's in recent memory at a championship or Olympics, any chance we actually saw one of the cleaner groups in the 100m finals?

Seoul 1988

9.79, 9.92, 9.99, 10.04, 10:11, 10:11, 12:26

London 2017

9.92, 9:94, 9:95, 9.99, 10;01, 10:08, 10:17, 10:27

Throwing out Ray Stewart's 12:26 and Ben's 9.79 we're looking at not much different field today,

Announcers for CBC in Canada said headwind so times slower. I do think it's "cleaner" in sense not taking horse steroids (or such high powered anabolic) but still dirty. My belief is Salazar program and USA sprint athletes are on micro doses of drugs that WADA doesn't even know about or that are technically legal (such as thyroid mess for distance runners)

Ethiopia is rife with EPO. I mean Ayana coach busted and she lapped the fucking field. That is so blatantly BS

---

@rhyspencer

Possibly. Although Gatlin is running quicker now "clean" than when he was doping.

...at 35yrs old.

I'm glad he was booed.

OK, all you guys piling on Gatlin, and rightfully so, but do you guys think the rest of the field were choirboys, and you only deserve to get boo'd after you are busted, but if you'd all turbo'd up and smart enough to not get caught, then its fine? If that is the case, I can see booing someone for just being stupid enough to get caught and cheering those guys smart enough to not get caught.

In all seriousness, of all athletes in track Gatlin probably pissed me off the most, but whatever. If Bolt was busted tomorrow, I would not be surprised nor disappointed. I am just assuming he's using everything that he can that is either legal or not detectable. If he happens to be a bread and water guy, then then that would be a bonus just like it would be a bonus if Froome is on bread and water only. But I'll just watch the show and not get too surprised either way and hope the testers are doing their jobs.

That stumble was scary I don't know how he didn't turn his ankle. It was a good race. What I think is cool is how varied track seems to have got these day. The Ugandan guy in second place. Not even on my radar. South Africa has all sorts of good runners. Things are slowly getting better in Africa I think.

---

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Bolt has passed every drug test thrown at him in the last 10 years. It would be naive to state, categorically, he's therefore clean, but he has to be given the benefit of the doubt irrespective of how dirty the world of sprinting is.

Bolt has passed every drug test thrown at him in the last 10 years.


So, people really haven't learned anything from that whole Lance thing...

Lance failed at least 6 tests, I believe, Bolt hasn't failed one.

The booing sent an unmistakable lesson to kids -- your rep gets questioned forever if you dope, no coming back. That's a good lesson.

still I'd have been happier if it was dead silence. Booing belongs at a WWF match, not a world championship.

I'm not naive enough to think the rest of the field are on bread and water. But I'm still prepared to give the benefit of the doubt until such time as there is evidence to show otherwise. In Gatlin's case there's 2 failed tests. Fans don't want him in the sport, and the booing makes that clear to him. They're also booing the USATF and IAAF for allowing him to be there. I hope somebody is listening.

Wie don't really know.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

I understand your point and it was ridiculous to some extent.

But I actually think the women 10000m showed that you could compete for medals clean. Yes, Ayana could be doped to the gills as well as second and third place. I do not
think they are clean.

However Ayana smoked the field in such a dominant manner, that a clean Ayana would still compete for medals. So a runner with her talent could be on pan y aqua and still be competitive. I wouldn't have thought that to be possible.

About Gatlin. One strong point to ban hardcore dopers for their lifetime is the following:
Gatlin still benefits from his drug abuse, even when he is clean now. So it's an unfair advantage.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

You are joking, she smoked the field because she doesn't just dope a little bit, she is a chemical on legs, no one can know what she could do as a clean athlete as we don't know what level all the little concoctions of legal but dodgy plus the full on illegal drugs can improve an athlete. It makes me sad watching these races.

Back to the racing the men's marathon should be wrapped up. NO coverage yet in Canada. Can you guys point me to the results?

OK got them off Eurosport. Looks like a full on tactical race based on times:

1Geoffrey Kirui2:08:27
2Tamirat Tola2:09:49
3Alphonce Simbu2:09:51
4Callum Hawkins2:10:17
5Gideon Kipkemoi Kipketer2:10:56
6Daniele Meucci2:10:56
7Yohanes Ghebregergis2:12:07
8Daniel Wanjiru2:12:16
9Yuki Kawauchi2:12:19
10Kentaro Nakamoto2:12:41

 

Great run by Callum Hawkins for 4th, equalling the best ever marathon placing by a British male athlete.

People I have spoken to today found the whole Ayana thing bizarre. Why would you even do that? Its just blatant cheating - if you sprint the last 100m like Mo does it at least looks plausible. What she did was nothing short of signing a confession of doping. Absolutely ridiculous. Add in the whole coach arrest, articles on availability of drugs, and history of her training group and you wonder how athletes like that are allowed to turn up and run.

The Gatlin thing was a bit hard to watch. I felt humbled that Bolt went straight up to him and congratulated him - and it looked sincere when he did it as well. Gatlin should have been banned for life for his second offence. If I was Bolt (assuming he is clean) I would feel cheated. There is no doubt that Gatlin will be benefitting from drug taking in his past. Frankly I could not even watch that as a spectacle or for entertainment. It was just plain sickening.

I am afraid athletics is well and truly in the gutter. Without any real body who have motivation to catch and ban cheating athletes its not going to change. World athletics needs an independent body who can test, catch and ban athletes without the need of all the red tape. They need powers to turn up to training sessions and test the worlds best. Without it athletics is little more than entertainment, and the events of last night were not even that.

---

He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Bizarre.

First they have a medal ceremony to award medals to athletes who have been cheated out of placings by druggies. That must have been from events years past, then the winner has found to have been drugged up and DQ'd. So then they have a new medal ceremony to award the rightful winner.

Straight after that we have Justin Gatlin 2 time drug cheat given the gold medal for winning the 100m.

What sort of message does that send out?? Honestly IAAF what kind of an organisation are you? Are you for sport or just for making money?

Truly bizarre.

---

He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Yeah the booing was, perhaps, a bit tacky, complete silence would have been brilliant!

Back to the racing....did any of you watch the men's marathon and what we're your thoughts.

And the women's 100m, what happened to Thompson and nice dive at the line by Bowie....Bolt should have done that!!! Awesome 10.85 by Bowie.

Van Niekirk on deck next!!!

It looks like Jamaica got its first sprint gold medal with the men's 110m hurdles. Omar McCleod's 13.04 with a 0.123 reaction time....Bolt needed to practice starts with that guy!

American women starting to pour it on in the 400m semis....couple of 50.xx including Alison Felix:

https://www.iaaf.org/...summary#resultheader

200m heats, Simbine and Blake (former doper so everyone get this out of your skin before the finals LOL) probably hoping for better than the 100m....Van Niekerk looking good too (and many more):

https://www.iaaf.org/.../result#resultheader

Jenny Motherfucking Simpson. drop the mic

Bolt has passed every drug test thrown at him in the last 10 years. It would be naive to state, categorically, he's therefore clean, but he has to be given the benefit of the doubt irrespective of how dirty the world of sprinting is.[/quote]
did you have the same view of Lance ? or did he get your benefit of the doubt since never failing a test ?

Enjoyed that women's 1500, had money on Casta at 2/1 That was some finish by her.

My wife turned to me after the finish and said "Caster just got chicked by two girls" . I think if Caster had timed it better she could have won.

Hugh

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Lance Armstrong failed 6 tests.

Lance Armstrong failed 6 tests.[/quote]
When he was still dominating cycling ?

Just looking at the splits and waiting for the replay on youtube (or somewhere if someone can post a link) but Muir from Great Britain appears to have done too much work pulling people along leading at 400m and 800m....keep in mind that 1500m in 4 minutes is 22.5 kph. That's a good enough speed where drafting the full frontal of a runner (vs aero position of a cyclist) is substantial. Looks like a really close race with the top 4 finishing in 0.4 seconds

one of the worst sports around. she fist pumped when she though genezebe had failed to qualify.

She was unlucky to just miss out, her and Casta could have been looking at a bronze and silver with different tactics maybe.

did you have the same view of Lance ? or did he get your benefit of the doubt since never failing a test ?


Lance Armstrong failed 6 tests


In the years Lance dominated cycling, right up to the day he first retired, his main defense, and that of every single one of his supporters was that he never failed a drug test. If you look at every interview of his since he first came under suspicion it is the same refrain he repeated for years. If you look at old posts here, it is the same thing.

No one, and I mean no one ever brought up the fact that he failed 6 drug tests and it is the first time I have ever heard it, and I followed him closely.

He tested positive numerous times, but avoided sanction by using retrospective medical exemptions along with intimidation, bribes etc He also had help covering up positive tests from the governing body itself.

Anyway please lets not talk about LA, the guy bores me.

Re Bolt and doping, there was no motivation for him to dope. He was running 20.5 when he was 15, quicker than Gatlin's college times and won the Junior WC 200m when he was that age, 3 years younger than 2nd and 3rd place. I suppose you could then imply that he was doping from the age of 13 or whatever, but that's just getting ridiculous.

I'm on vacation until tomorrow evening so I don't watch every event and I have limited time to discuss it.

I recorded the men marathon and looking forward to watch it. Was a great run by Hawkins indeed.

I'm a bit gutted that Muir did not get a medal in the 1500. I am no Brit but think she always races with true guts and lots of passion. But this and the fact that she might have been a bit overmotivated in front of the home crowd at world champs made her to exert too much energy too early in the final.


I am really looking forward to tonight. The steeple is one of my favourite events.

But first I myself have to do some activity. I think running up to Gornergrad with the Matterhorn as a backdrop will suffice.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Worth bearing in mind that Laura Muir lost a chunk of training this year due to a stress fracture in her foot. She didn't race at all between the Birmingham indoor grand prix on 18th Feb and the Lausanne diamond league on 6th July.

The BBC commentators (main commentator Steve Cram who knows a thing or two about the 1500m, and is also the coach of Laura Weightman who finished 6th) were a bit puzzled why she took it out at a decent pace for the first lap then slowed it down for the second. Then in the last lap she went for Gold and hammered round the last bend to try to catch the lead pair; if she'd gone for Bronze and paced it more like Jenny Simpson she probably would have got a medal.

Yeah she was quite on dire during indoor season. Sadly she suffered a stressfracture afterwards. But I think she bounced back quite quickly.

Her all out approach might be the reason why I cheer for her.

So, will Jager destroy the Kenyan Steeple party tonight?

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Anyway please lets not talk about LA, the guy bores me.

Ok, I agree.

Re Bolt and doping, there was no motivation for him to dope.

You see people all the time cheating to improve their personal best times in local races. With someone like Bolt, who stands to be one of the most famous athletes in the world, the fastest man in the world and to make millions of dollars, he has lots of motivation.

He was running 20.5 when he was 15, quicker than Gatlin's college times and won the Junior WC 200m when he was that age, 3 years younger than 2nd and 3rd place. I suppose you could then imply that he was doping from the age of 13 or whatever, but that's just getting ridiculous.

They argued the same about Lance. He was a top triathlete at age 16, he was identified as a top cyclist at a young age etc., so he didn't need to dope. That was another one of the arguments "proving" Lance didn't need drugs. The problem is that these guys who are used to winning, want to be the best and keep winning, and that is where the drugs come in. When Lance was racing, he said he needed the drugs to keep up with everyone else, despite the fact that he was a top athlete when he was young.

Now imagine Bolt, who always won when he was growing up, always had articles in the paper written about him, getting lots of attention from girls and constantly told he was going to be a superstar etc. He didn't go to school so the only way to make money was through sports. Now he gets to the senior level, where everyone else was also a star athlete when they were young. He wins but knows that they are taking drugs and working just as hard and the only way to stay on top is to do what they do.

That scenario has played out in a lot of sports for decades. Is it really that impossible to believe?

Gaitlin actually ran 19.86 for 200m in 2002. And I don't think that athletes "need motivation" to dope. Ben Johnson was running 10.1x as a 16 year old, Marion Jones made the Oly 4x1 team as a 16 year old.

And In a sport where .10 can be the difference between make a good six-figure salary and just have a shoe contract w/incentives, it's probably easy to find motivation there. Particularly if the culture is that "everyone is doing it".

Also, going back to the 5000m topic, and why people aren't running as fast. I think it's funny that during a time that cycling was embroiled in doping scandals and baseball players where smashing HR's at an insane rate, that people didn't "know" that is was probably happening in distance running... since 3k/5k/10k records were just anihilated (by a ton of people).

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John Hartpence, Athlete & Coach
tripence@gmail.com, @coachpence

That entire part in italics is the only reason why I would not be surprised if Bolt were to test positive. I hope he is 1 in 7 billion humans (and he just may be), but if he is 7 in 7 billion and took the boost to be the extra special one out of those 7 or so guys, then I won't actually hate him or be dissappointed. It is clear to me what drives these guys....but I hope he is indeed on in 7 billion.

Back to the racing. I am really looking forward to the replay of Vanniekirk's 400m. What happened to Maklawa though? He is listed as DNS. Being out of network coverage while on family vacation is killing me!!!

9th in the medal table, having a shocker us Brits!

I just read the mess around Maklawa:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...eswayde-van-niekerk/

Too bad for both of them. OK bring on the 200m to see if Van Niekerk can pull of that double! And the 400m W finals where the American women have the season best times, (sub 50) but the Jamaicans have the best seed times from the heats. Women's 4x400m relay could be interesting too.

He had lots of motivation to dope, I think his highest TDF finish before being diagnosed with cancer was 40th in 1995, the year before it was 96th or something. Bolt was in the top 10 for the 200m when he was 15. Not top ten junior, top ten in the world. LA wasn't going anyway fast on the tour racing clean, he figured that out pretty quick. Busting his balls for years and not getting anywhere close to the top 30. Maybe Bolt has doped, but his position in the world of athletics was very different to LA's when they both started out. He was winning from the very outset, easily and making lots of money. It would be illogical for him to dope. Whereas for LA, that was a logical choice. He wasn't winning, he had no chance of ever winning the TDF.

Keep in mind that Lance was beating athletes like Mike Pigg and Mark Allen as a 16 year old in triathlon, from where he get recruited into cycling. He did win Oslo worlds in 93 and was being developed in the role of 1 day racer, (like the classics guys) not a TdF GC guy. No one will know when Lance went on the full dope program with EPO but it is widely regarded that at the end of the 94 season when he got smacked all over the place by the full doped Italian squads that he decided that he had to get on the same juice as them. His emergence as GC guy was only post cancer and losing enough weight (while being fully doped). Until he transformed his body into a lightweight runner body he had not GC hope. Pre cancer, lance was too fat.

Now can we talk about the VanNiekerk 400m/200m double attempt. Is he the only guy to do sub 10, sub 20, sub 44? We do have a track meet that Lance is not even a part of!

Yeah I'm not disputing his talent as a cyclist, just saying his choice to dope was logical, he was getting smashed by the dopers and had no hope of beating them. Bolt was right up there with the best in the world when he was 15, he got gold at the juniors competing against 18 year olds, if he did choose to dope, it would have been nonsensical and illogical. Not worth the risk. LA had little choice.

You don't think it's potentially logical to dope in 100m track and field as well with the number of dopers caught in that sport as well?

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

OK back to the racing. <clears throat> Our Oregon project hero Mo Farah is back on deck for the 5000m semifinals heats. I would love to be in the Stadium in London today with the 200m and 5000m semifinals for the men and the 400m finals for the women!

Not when you're beating everyone in the world clean. If you were a good, but not great, sprinter that had plateaued with little chance of competing with the best then it would be more logical to dope.

Looks like the big medals are NOT coming for Canada.

After the high of 8 Medals in Beijing at the last IAAF World Championships and 6 Medals at last summer's Rio Olympics, this has been frustrating.

DeGrasse out as well as Derek Drouin to injury. Some bad luck and sub-par performances deep-sixed some other medal chances - Aron Brown in the 200m, Shawn Barber in the Pole Vault (Defending World Champion), Cristobel Netty (World #3 this year) in the women's Long Jump

So for Canada it's the little "victories" and "wins"** - unfortunately the general public does not understand how deep, and competitive many of the track & field events are. They only think medals matter.

**Mo Ahmed's 8th place in the 10000m final was significant, and not just because he broke the Canadian Record. Matt Hughes made his 4th Straight World Final in the 3000m S/C and equaled his best ever finish with a gutsy 6th place after some significant seasonal set backs. Today for the first time ever we qualified two men for the final in the 5000m - Ahmed and young Justyn Knight. Genvieve Lalonde, banged a hurdle badly bruised her leg, fell, still ran a seasonal best time and made it to the final of the women's 3000m s/c - her seconf world final in a row. Brittney Crew's 6th in the women's Shot Put was the best ever for a Canadian woman in that event. And even though Brandon McBride finished 8th in the 800m final, he was the guy brave enough to make it a real race.

We still have a few shots for medals, but it's getting slim.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Bit of a bummer for Canada, but Barber, Drouin, deGrasse effectively account for 4-5 medals and they were strong bets at medals. We have Bishop in the 800m in the heats today. Lets see what she can do. I wonder how cooked Semenya will be after her 1500m as they have to race three rounds in the 1500m. Women's 5000m today and 200m finals.

Let's see what Makwala does after racing solo in the qual round. He has a season's best 19.77 this year, fastest out of all qualifiers.

A fascinating read on the Castor Semanya situation here - http://www.cbc.ca/...bishop-800-1.4235124

No easy answers or solutions with this one. And everyone tip-toeing around. Even the women, most impacted, Bishop et al . . seem to steer clear of it all, and just say the nice things like "I can only do my best and I can't worry about it all".

I take some issue with the content of the story. At this level of sport, and this is on clear display at the IAAF World Championships, body shape, weight, an conformity start to close in on a pretty close norm and average for that particular race/event - with very little variation.

With few exceptions men and women distance runners are all pretty close to the same weight/build - extremely lean, and not very tall. The shot-putters are the same - much heavier, muscular, and tall . . and so on.

When the women lined up for the 1500m final, all the women with the exception of Semanya were 5'6 - 5'8 and about 100 - 110 lbs. Semanya stood dramatically - much taller, much more heavy and solidly built.

Not saying she does not belong - that's not for me to decide, but in terms of her body and build, she is an extreme outlier in women's middle distance running. I cannot think of another woman who has been built like that, in the history of 800/1500m running!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I imagine it to be mentally hard for Superstar athletes to come through the heats.

I mean everyone considers it a no brainer for you and it shouldn't be difficult. But at one point it will hurt a bit even in the semis. You need to be prepared mentally to suffer for something that should be granted.

When you come into a round thinking that it is easy and you have to save energy but at one point it gets tough, then the question is how you deal with it. It could be that your body shuts down. Your telling yourself it shouldn't hurt but it doe's. Imagine how it will feel in the final etc.

Last night in the 5000 heats it was so fricking nervous. Look at what happened to Chelimo. On the world stage you have so many athletes that are close together.

Anyway, they are pros after all and its their job to deal with it. But when I think about prelims, I think they are tougher for the top tier guys than expected by us.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Last night in the 5000 heats it was so fricking nervous. Look at what happened to Chelimo. On the world stage you have so many athletes that are close together.

Anyway, they are pros after all and its their job to deal with it. But when I think about prelims, I think they are tougher for the top tier guys than expected by us.


Certain races are crazy deep at the world level - the 5000m is one of them. Think about it - you have savvy verterans and favorites like Moh Farah and then this 17 year old kid from Ethiopia Selemon Barega who is just 17 years old. (he's already run sub 13 minutes this year!!)

Just making it to the final, is an achievement in and of itself. Throw in rain, and a slippery track, and you have the rugby match that was Heat #2 last night.

With apologies for the Canadian patriotism, I'm so happy to see both Moh Ahmed and Justyn Knight make it through to the final. Moh's been running at this level for a few years now. Justyn, just graduated from Syracuse, after a stellar NCAA career, and this is his first time running, really at this level. He ran like a pro in Heat #1 - stayed calm and relaxed running on the rail and on the inside, in a close pack for most of the race, and then waited, and waited, and made a strong move to secure one of the auto-qualifying spots in a frantic finale!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

We are old enough to remember Jarmilla from Moscow Olympics 400-800 double!

I remember watching the 1983 worlds and wondering WTF was a man doing in the women's 400 and 800 meter races in which she won both races.

That's what all Czechlovakian farm girls look like

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

**Mo Ahmed's 8th place in the 10000m final was significant, and not just because he broke the Canadian Record.

Yes, it was impressive and exciting to watch.

As I noted earlier, it is incredible to think that a time of 27:02 only gets you 8th place.

Of course this is a very difficult topic.

Semenya also stands out in the 800m, but in the 1500 her build seemed even more out of place.

Dev wrote in a post above about people with different body shapes even in the same event. I mean there are a lot of very jacked but also some very lean sprinters. In distance events, you have rail thin athletes vs. some a little bulkier. Overall east africans are thiny, but even with them you can see some differneces.

Of course we all know why Semenia is looking so muscular and that she has a higher testosterone count.

But I wonder something that has nothing to do with the gender topic. Are some women, mostly the westerners, giving away some performance by trying to hit certain numbers on the scale?
I mean you see it with Semenya that in middle distance a little bit of muscules can't be too bad. Oviously they don't need (and can't) to bulk up like Semenya.

Yeah, they belong to the best in the world but I notice a big difference between 800 and 1500m runners and in (sit and kick) championship races a bit more strength could be decisive.

(I noticed it myself. As a 19 year old I wanted to be as light as possible. I lost all my strength and started to perform poorly. Only when I got stronger could I improve again).

Who am I to give advice to pros? They know what they are doing. But sometimes I wonder how it's possible. Everyone is different I guess and they are genetic freaks anyway.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Watching the 400m finals for the women, you see how much "endurance" kicks in even at this distance. Felix makes up the stagger in <100m but Francis sticks on her shoulder the rest of the race and actually out runs Felix on the 200-300m bend and emerges just a few steps behind. At this point Francis pretty well knows she has the race in the bag because she's running way faster than Felix and has paced better. Felix basically blew her race in the first 100m:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rccAJKnxNR4

Kwemoi is the first east african I've ever seen running in compressions. But it might be because of injurie. Would also explain is struggles.

The first heat was stacked as hell but slow. Centro obviously suffers still from his rough preparation.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Tomorrow's 800m women's semifinal has 14 athletes who have posted sub 2 this year with Semenya on deck with a season's best of 1:55. No one else is inside 1:57

Also in the men's 1500m semifinals we only have 2 athletes who have run sub 3:30 this year. Coe, Ovett and Cram could actually be in the mix with these guys (3:32 for Coe's gold at the LA Olympics 1500m).

Dev,

I think you need to edit the title as all but Gatlin and Farah have fallen to lesser known athletes! Love the post Oly year, the WC is wide open!

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

...it's not over yet. All the people in the thread title are in line for gold medals on the weekend relays. Also Van Niekerk did win the 400m and just came up short in the 200m finals. Do you think Farah can do the double AGAIN or can the rest of these guys wear him down? The crazy thing is Mo's 1500m PB is BETTER than any of the season's best time for the 1500m runners on deck right now in this championships. That's what the rest of the 5000m people are up against!

True, but the show has been about the unknowns that have won!

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

Well...Van Niekerk did win the 400, so he probably doesn't need editing out....

But he did lose to Guliyev (who??) in the 200! The 400 hurdles was won by a Norwegian guy (Warholm) no one has ever heard of (outside of Norway) of the big favourite Clement. Carter beat the reigning Oly champion Muhammad from the outside lane in the women's 400 hurdles.

Sure, V-N and Farah have won a race (and maybe two in Farah's case by the week's end), but they are not the story in this WC.

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

TriBriGuy wrote:

Well...Van Niekerk did win the 400, so he probably doesn't need editing out....

I was wondering if Van Niekerk and the South African's had any chance for a 4x400 medal, but the money there seems to be on the US and Botswana, unless South Africa can recruit 3/4 of the Texas A&M 4x400 squad who apparently have clocked 6 of the top 8 fastest 4x400 times this year:

https://www.iaaf.org/...ay-iaaf-world-champi

Anyway, the 4x400 should be Maklawa's shot at a medal. The guy ran sub 20 and sub 44 on the SAME day earlier this year and hopefully is recovered from his sickness by the weekend.

Good grief - more unfortunate news for Canada Track fans. Apparently, Damian Warner was one of the Canadians hit hard by the norovirus. He started the Decathlon this morning, but has been off-form in the three events so far today and currently is sitting in 6th place after the 3rd event, the Shot Put. Still a long way to go, but this is a real sub-par start for him. His two best events come up tomorrow - the 110 Hurdles and the Long Jump.

Busy night (afternoon for us at home) for Canadians at the Track - Mel Bishop in the semi-finals of the 800m, Crystal Emmanual in the semis for the 200m, Phylicia George in the Semis for the 100m Hurdles, Genvieve Lalonde in the 3000m Steeplechase Final, and of course Warner carrying on in the Decathlon with the High Jump and the 400m to go today for the Decathletes.

Who's been watching the Live Stream?

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Well, Warholm has won two Diamond League meets this year, including beaten Clement in Oslo.
It is only people not following the sport that think it was a surprise, especially when you factor in the weather.
Fair weather athletes always struggle in rain.

Also, some athletes have great results from spring, but the world championship is not in April or May, it is in August.

True, but DL events often lack true quality beyond one or two athletes per event, and so I did not expect him to shine at this level. Fab that he did though!

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

Tell that to Mirinda Carfrae....it depends on your version of fair weather. Paula Radcliffe would also do better in the cool and rain due to her hugeness relative to other women marathoners, which is why she generally sucked at every Olympic games due to the relative heat. Agreed on getting great results in August vs April. Gatlin actually pointed this out about Coleman racing the entire NCAA indoor and outdoor season and then the summer season too with no break. Guys like Gatlin and Bolt picked and chose when they were going to go hard. We also saw the same with Maklawa in the 200m/400m (well he did not do the 400m), but underperformed in the 200m while he was on fire earlier in the year.

3000SC = USA

What a race. USA 1 and 2!!!!!!!!

I am listening to Norwegian radio, it broadcasts the championship live.

hey. i'm stalking you in another thread i started.

but yeah! i didn't see the race. but i saw the result! some shock and awe, baby, some fire and fury! our ladies came locked and loaded!

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

beautiful race! when you go 1-2 like that the tactics looked perfect. Was fully expecting them to get out kicked with 200 to go but they both were up for the challenge. So proud of Emma and Courtney!

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

Us Brits having a shocker, what's the fall out going to be like after this? Maybe we pick up a couple of more medals in the relays and obviously Mo.

Is there a chance of funds being pulled?

For those who did not see today's evening sessions from London, here is the full video of the livestream:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEsPyaSDxhY

Tomorrow, Bolt's final race in the 4x100....another round of Bolt vs Gatlin and then we're done forever. And Mo Farah in the 5000m .

Not a thing we have to worry about in the USA as we have no direct government funding.
I've heard some of how British funding for cycling shrinks w/o good results.

Five 4th places so far though, and all from young athletes so is it really that bad? Apart from KJT in the hep and maybe Muir in the 1500 has anyone really underperformed? The 6-8 medal target seemed rather optimistic to me.

Hopefuly the people making the decisions see it that way, there's a lot of money being pumped into sport (The majority lottery isn't it?) I'm sure there are a few nervous people in charge at a high level worried over there jobs.

Looks like GB got into the finals in the 4x400 for tonite. It is too bad how funding like this works in most countries, but rewarding only after winning vs rewarding for potential so you can use the money and build and win. Basically it's like VC's funding a company once they have success vs funding a company that has high potential and needs money to get to success. So in essence, the next generation of potential can only get funded if the current generation is winning. By definition the next gen is not winning "yet" even though you may be sitting on a future Usein Bolt or Mo Farah. You need the current champions winning to bring in money for the next round the way things are funded in most countries. The US is a different animal because they effectively have a pro sports farm system built into their university system with an insane amount of private sector money coming into Div 1 sports via gates receipts, TV and sponsorships for the biggest sports funding the other sports. The rest of the world does not put any real emphasis on sport in the college system (as it should be). So then its down to the sports funding themselves through sponsorship, gate receipts, memberships and govt $$$ infusions.

Here is the line up for tonite's 4x100 final, Bolt's final race:


POSRANKHEATATHLETECOUNTRYRESULTSMS*111UNITED STATESUSA37.70 Q WL221GREAT BRITAIN & N.I.GBR37.76 Q SB312JAMAICAJAM37.95 Q SB422FRANCEFRA38.03 Q SB532PR OF CHINACHN38.20 Q 631JAPANJPN38.21 Q SB741TURKEYTUR38.44 q SB842CANADACAN38.48 q

The steeple was a great race. Some good tactical racing, but unlike some of the men's races I've seen lately (1500, 5k, etc) the strategy didn't get in the way of fast times. Coburn looked really smooth and made a great move to the inside on the last water jump

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Matt

Her last water jump was perfect. She used it to launch herself far down the water where it is less deep and less steep and carried the momentum into the dry part of the track. It's like she instantly opened up 6-8 feet gap right there and then just sustained that momentum rather than having to expend energy accelerating her her body up to speed after the massive deceleration when you land with more a vertical component (which her competition had to do). All the potential energy at the top of the jump she just converted mainly to forward kinetic energy. Very nicely done.

I find that funding policy strange too. Isn't it obvious that in sports you need to follow a long term plan and can't expect immediate success when building something from scratch. In Switzerland it is a bit different too. We have no highschool and college sports system but are organised through clubs. If you are a promising runner or sprinter you receive no support through school but you attend an athletics club after school.
We also need to be careful with out talent, as our pool is very small.

I am looking forward to the 5000 tonight. Mo looked very strong last friday and in the prelims. But when it gets as nervous as on Wednesday a lot can tappen. My money is still on Mo though, as I am no fool.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

Smaller countries really do have to optimze how they allocate their sports dollars if they want champions to emerge given the smaller gene pool and participant base to pick from. USA can easily use the brute force "survival of the strongest" approach as there is enough depth and enough capital in the system for the worlds best to emerge out of such a system. To some extent, GB at around 1/6th of the us could do reasonably well, just through a survival of the fittest approach. Smaller countries really need to be smart. I'd hold up New Zealand as a gold standard of how many world class athletes they produce across sports given the tiny sub 5 million population and given that so many get sucked into Rugby and Cricket (which by the way, they are basically the top tier in all the time....it's insane they can constantly beat India in cricket with 1300 million in India vs <5M in NZ....and it baffles me how badly India can suck in track too. No reason why India cannot produce high caliber middle distance and long distance runners. Sprinting is a different animal).

Back to the racing. Mo on deck at 20:20 UK time (15:20 EDT for me) and Bolt on at 21:50 (16:50 EDT). Here we go!!!

Any predictions?

I say for the 5000m, Mo cranks out a 52.xx final lap
To win the 4x100m, my prediction it will take at least a 37.25

There guys are idiots....71 second lap 2 and 3.

I got the 52.xx last lap correct but assumed that if Mo did that he would win!!! Awesome race!!!

Well the medal table isn't looking too bad tonight for us Brits! Well done the mens 4x100.

....and I was wrong that it would take a sub 37.25 for the win. Really awesome race by the Brits on both relays!!! Good final day for you guys!

It was all doom and gloom yesterday, I was even wondering if it was possible we'd get some funds pulled.

A reminder of the fact that you best consider you may be photographed at any given moment and your behavior may be immortalized during any of those moments.

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

That 5000 m reminded me of a cycling "finale". Tiernan went away but was no real threat. But you still have to make sure th e breakaway does not get too much room. Farah was the favourite (the jellow Jersey, or Peter Sagan, the world champion) and the ethiopians let him do the work and keep Tiernan at bay.
At the Ende they even set up a small sprint train.

But the winner was the strongest yesterday. He did win because he was the fittest and also applied smart tactics. Farah likely still felt that 26:49 and the prelims. After all it only shows he is human.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

This is a great analogy. My wife felt that Farah (the yellow jersey guy) was doing way too much work keeping the "breakaway" close enough. Meanwhile the "other teams' were drafting and saving energy for the stage finish sprint. Those 71 second early laps could have played into his hands if he chose to sit at the middle or back as he has done for many races and draft. At 60 second lap speed with full frontal it is 24 kph. They are pushing way more air than an aero cyclist at that speed. Drafting is probably equivalent to what a cyclist may experience in the low 30 kph range so it is pretty significant. It seems like Mo had no draft for the mile of race (which they ran in exactly 4 minutes) and ran out of gas for his usual sprint.

Where is Halvard???....Ingebritson the white kenyan dives for bronze. Brilliant race! Do the Kenyans give him honorary Kenyan status?

By the way, Sebastian Coe beats these guys in 1984!

I dunno which race you were watching! To me it looks like he put the squeeze on the guy on the inside, saw he was still coming and just plain cut him off with a few metres to go, for which he received a shove over the line! I can't see that result standing.

Anyway, what's the collective thoughts on the women's 5000m?! I was not surprised to hear that these are Ayana's first races outside of Ethiopia this year... what a joke.

Pink: Well she loaded up on Special Teff as usually. But for the kick she would need some additional Jamaican Superbananas. But they have a hard time harvesting it over there, so they won't give any away. It's not even enough for themsleves, as proven again right now.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

I watched Gabby Logan talk with Denise Louise the other day and the latter mentioned Team GB was expecting six medals. With the medal table now final it seems they were spot on, but boy do they owe Dwayne Cowan after that second 400. A simply magnificent run.

The BBC wankfest of Usain Bolt has been an absolute cringe fest!

Skynews Sports headlines yesterday Bolt gets injured NOT Britain unexpectedly win Gold 4x100 relay!

i noted that the U.S. 4x1 relay got roundly booed because of the presence of that doper gatlin, whereas the jamaicans got roundly cheered despite the presence of that doper yohan blake.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Yeah, seems there is an irrational appeal for the Jamaican team due to the love for Bolt in the UK.

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I think it is more complex than just saying they are both dopers. When you compare the nature of Gatlin's two bans, in particular the second, to Blake's one. Blake's ban is more similar to Gatlin's first, if Gatlin had only committed the doping offence that led to the first ban I don't think he'd be getting the same reception.

As I hoped, Bekele is now racing Berlin! The record is going down! I predict a sub 61 half and a brutal second half. Dev, time to stop following the lycra-crew at vuelta and get back to where the real action is, road racing!

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

LOL, no one cares about Froome vs Nibali vs Contador at the Vuelta....we're more worried about H2OFun's bike training plan (or lack of it). Berlin should be much better than the fake news gong show that Nike put on at Monza

Lol, who's Chris froome and what's his 10k pr? If it's not sub 27, why are we even talking about him! I'm always more worried about the lack of cookies in H2O's diet!
Maybe fake news, but I think it gave kipchoge some great confidence which I think is needed for this to become an epic race. If they all just want to win it will prob be a boring high 2:04 race, but if they all think they can get the wr (which I think they all can, and Kipsang/Bekele won't have many more chances) it could be epic! Can't see kipsang and choge wanting to leave it to the kick as likely Kenenisa will win that race. I'm thinking Bekele must be in good shape for entering, and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the record came down under 2:02 if conditions are good

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon