Athletics 2024 Discussion Thread

[Makedonas 2,200]

Tentoglou starts with 8.32 in Athens 

[Makedonas 2,200]

  On 1/16/2024 at 5:14 AM, Makedonas said:

 triple jumper Maria Purtsa will now represent 

 

She is 36th in the current World Rankings, so a decent pickup for us 

 

It was announced on our athletics federation website and also on Instagram and she reposted it.

 

She was born and raised in Germany to a Greek father and a Bulgarian mother. Her father is from Pella, Greece and she visits frequently.

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She said she jumped 14.02 last year to win the German National Championships and got invited to the World Championships, but the German federation said she needed 14.05 for them to send her to the World Championships, so that was the cherry on top of the cake that caused her to switch to Greece.

 

She said her family speaks Greek in the house (even her mother who is not Greek), that she went to a Greek school in Germany for six years, and visited her grandmother in Greece every summer as a child. Her parents own a Greek restaurant in Dresden. She also said the Greek federation has been very supportive and helpful, which is a nice surprise for me to hear.

 

Lastly, she said she always wanted to be a triple jumper because Greece has a great history in the event so she always felt it was in her blood from a young age.

 

 

 

We will soon have another athlete joining us, as  Mya Georgiadis (3rd at USA U20 National Championships last year in women's 400 hurdles) will be competing for Greece. Her mother was born in Greece and she said she grew up living with her Greek grandparents so she always felt very Greek. She said that if she was selected for the USA U20 national team last year she was going to decline the invitation because she prefers to compete for Greece.

[Dragon 1,898]

There are rumours of another scandal.

 

"Athletics is preparing to receive two pieces of news about doping that will shake the world of Spanish long-distance runners."

[phelps 7,846]

  On 1/20/2024 at 8:01 PM, Dragon said:

There are rumours of another scandal.

 

"Athletics is preparing to receive two pieces of news about doping that will shake the world of Spanish long-distance runners."

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given their "tradition", all those marathon runners destroying record after record in the past months are not trustable at all...

 

no surprise if quite a few of them are caught (actually, I'd be surprised if only 1 or 2 get caught, 'cause there's clearly a group work behind that)

[phelps 7,846]

in  Ancona,  Jenns Reynold Fernandez Alfonso clocked a sensational (for him) 6.52 over the 60m (equalled WL), meanwhile hurdles specialist  Lorenzo Simonelli improved his PB over the same 60m dash to 6.59

[phelps 7,846]

in the meantime, not a great start of the season for the Indoor European Champion  Samuele Ceccarelli over his beloved 60m

 

forced to miss some days of training because of a flu, he ran only 6.65 in the final of the Dortmund meet earlier this afternoon (6.69 in the heats)

 

there's still a lot of work to do to recover and get in the best shape before the climax of the indoor season

[Dragon 1,898]

  On 1/20/2024 at 8:16 PM, phelps said:

given their "tradition", all those marathon runners destroying record after record in the past months are not trustable at all...

 

no surprise if quite a few of them are caught (actually, I'd be surprised if only 1 or 2 get caught, 'cause there's clearly a group work behind that)

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Somebody deserves a prize for predicting this. 

 

Hamid Ben Daoud, 2.07 marathon runner, 4 year ban for biological passport problems.

Also 2 time 3000m steeplechase Olympian Abdelaziz Merzouagi for the exact same offence

[Biathlonfan 710]

Denia Caballero,2015 world champion,Rio games bronze medalist,2019 Worlds silver medalist,Opens her season with 63.76 to take the very early world lead.she only did better two times late last season as of recent years,perhaps the form might finally be coming back ? 

Edited January 24, 2024 by Biathlonfan

[Grassmarket 3,624]

Preview for the World Athletics Indoor Gold meet in Qazaqstan on Saturday.  Still waiting confirmation about where it's going to be shown though!  

 

Duplantis among stars in Astana for first World Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2024 | PREVIEW | World Athletics

[phelps 7,846]

  On 1/25/2024 at 4:50 PM, Grassmarket said:

Preview for the World Athletics Indoor Gold meet in Qazaqstan on Saturday.  Still waiting confirmation about where it's going to be shown though!  

 

Duplantis among stars in Astana for first World Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2024 | PREVIEW | World Athletics

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in  it's on Sky Sports

 

even if I'd like more to watch the  Lodz meet, with a lot of Italians (especially the Indoor season's debut of world silver medallist Leonardo Fabbri in the men's Shot Put, after a long training period down in )