GB Athletics

[Epic Failure 359]

The Dutch will go all out on the mixed medley. Their men aren't that strong, so that is a much better bet for them than either the men's 4x4 or the individual 400 is. The women have more time to rest. Bol would have a first round the day after if she does the hurdles rather than the flat 400m, but frankly she could jog around that and still qualify.

 

The US are likely to field a "less than first choice' team, but the team that they field is still likely to be strong enough to win gold.

 

I don't think Poland's men are good enough at the moment.

 

If GBR were go full bore at the mixed, I think they, the Dutch and the US would be the guaranteed medalists, in one order or another. I'm not sure that any other country has the depth to match them.

 

The question is just going to be whether GBR does that, or whether they believe that a slightly weakened team might still be good enough to challenge for the podium and that by doing so they might increase chances elsewhere in the individual events (thinking MHS as the most likely, given his recent championship performances).

 

Basically, the question becomes can we persuade our athletes to adopt a James-Guy-in-Tokyo mentality?

 

Obviously all this is subject to form/fitness. If Anning doesn't carry her college form through the summer, our chances are diminished a chunk I reckon, even with the depth on the women's side.

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

New pb for Zak Seddon in the 3000m Steeplechase - 8:20.77 at the LA Grand Prix - but not enough to get the OQS and still 2 seconds shy of UKA standard.

[RussB 189]

On 5/17/2024 at 1:46 AM, Epic Failure said:

The Dutch will go all out on the mixed medley. Their men aren't that strong, so that is a much better bet for them than either the men's 4x4 or the individual 400 is. The women have more time to rest. Bol would have a first round the day after if she does the hurdles rather than the flat 400m, but frankly she could jog around that and still qualify.

 

The US are likely to field a "less than first choice' team, but the team that they field is still likely to be strong enough to win gold.

 

I don't think Poland's men are good enough at the moment.

 

If GBR were go full bore at the mixed, I think they, the Dutch and the US would be the guaranteed medalists, in one order or another. I'm not sure that any other country has the depth to match them.

 

The question is just going to be whether GBR does that, or whether they believe that a slightly weakened team might still be good enough to challenge for the podium and that by doing so they might increase chances elsewhere in the individual events (thinking MHS as the most likely, given his recent championship performances).

 

Basically, the question becomes can we persuade our athletes to adopt a James-Guy-in-Tokyo mentality?

 

Obviously all this is subject to form/fitness. If Anning doesn't carry her college form through the summer, our chances are diminished a chunk I reckon, even with the depth on the women's side.

I agree with all of this. Don't think there is another squad out there with the depth across all 4 legs. Anning will make such a difference if she is able to maintain this form through to Paris. Is it at all possible that Dina is considering throwing her hat into the ring? Very much a long shot but she proved she can run a pretty strong relay split earlier this year. My gut feeling is MHS won't be jeoparidising his individual chances by doing this relay.

[Epic Failure 359]

11 minutes ago, RussB said:

I agree with all of this. Don't think there is another squad out there with the depth across all 4 legs. Anning will make such a difference if she is able to maintain this form through to Paris. Is it at all possible that Dina is considering throwing her hat into the ring? Very much a long shot but she proved she can run a pretty strong relay split earlier this year. My gut feeling is MHS won't be jeoparidising his individual chances by doing this relay.

I doubt DAS will do the 400m relay. Unless she's fallen out with the 4x1 team then that would clash with the women's 4x4. And the mixed clashes with the 100m. Given Dina's injury issues in recent years, it's probably a bit too risky.

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

Looks like I've been a bit naive in believing that Holly Mills could perhaps challenge the 6,000 mark on her return from injury lay-off. She looked really sluggish in the 100m hurdles and was amongst the slowest in the field - in fact the only 2 athletes who ran slower than her had fallen over in their heats. 

 

 

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

'Rope' Nielsen takes the win in Chorzow  in an Olympic Qualifying time of 54.73 - matching her PB. 

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

On 5/15/2024 at 6:59 PM, Dragon said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0hy05tq

From yesterday

I wasn't clear from the interview if she was injured or not - although was left with a feeling that she was a big fan of Lancashire 

 

Anyhow, just watched the presentation of athletes for the Golden Roof challenge and she wasn't there so assume injury/niggle.

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

Harry Coppell coming mightily close to no heighting in back-to-back competitions. Finally gets over 5.22m at his 3rd attempt - that's his first successful vault since January 2023. 

[Olympicsnell 332]

Megan Keith wins the 10,000m, get her on the train!

[Rafa Maciel 1,658]

Well I didn't have that on my bingo card for the weekend - Molly Caudery has 3 failures at 4.54m in Atlanta City Games. Finishes with a lowly 4.39m - and even that took 2 attempts.