Monzanator

Without this rule we'd have jogging races (to save energy for future races) with everyone trying to win it inside the last 50 = BORING!!!

They can't pronounce nor spell Kszczot west of Oder

Not surprising, these heats/SF are usually slower than any meeting races. The pace only picks up for SF2 when people maximize their FL chances.

This is the Pawel Czapiewski school of running. I swear to God, every single new talent we have seems to hang back and then try to win it on the last 60 meters.

Borkowski running in Lane 5 to pass everyone

Czykier sneaks in as FL.

And what is so wrong with Schippers? Without her, Dutch athletics would be anonymous on a global stage

Yeah, this Shukh girl is one to watch out for. She's recored 51 m in the javelin here already. I thought Ruckstuhl was much older tbh. She seems to be around for a much longer than in reality.

USA is in their own class regardless. Jamaica is still better than any European nation too. GB struggling without Ohuorugu is not our problem

We only began to struggle in the mid 80s when the L.A. boycott severed a lot of athletic programmes among others. Seoul 1988 remains out worst post WWII Olympic performance (minus the Melbourne voyage in 1956). This stretched to the early 90s and we only began scoring good results since 1996. Before that we had Artur Partyka, Wanda Panfil and Robert Korzeniowski. Partyka's bronze in the high jump was the only medal we got in the 1992 Olympics, we had no medals at all in Seoul (6th in 4x100 wome relay was our best). Our best result at European Champs is 15 medals in 1966 at the height of the 'Wunderteam' years. These junior results sometimes don't transfer to the seniors. Konrad Bukowiecki was labelled as the top junior in the world and now Haratyk has his measure and beyond. If three years ago anyone said Haratyk will be better than Bukowiecki you'd be laughed off and then some.

Thiam gained 305 pts on KJT in the javelin So much for underperforming. And quite frankly I don't see KJT ever improving t ca. 47-48 m let alone 50. Sotherton never could and everyone who struggled at javelin, kept struggling all the way through (we've had this in Poland with Tyminska before).

At least Eurosport concedes the gold medal battle. I can only imagine what these fools at BBC say about this.

Thiam 57 meters. That kills ALL the KJT hype...

KJT will probably mirror Kelly Sotherton's eternal bridesmaid career.

Virtually Thiam is ahead by 107 pts now.

Thiam finds the big one!!! BBC probably in tears...

We'll compare the notes after the final. I say POL finishes ahead of GER It's bad enough the 400m final is only 90 mins before the relay final.

Schaefer will move ahead of Dadic after javelin. Thiam needs a 50m throw to force KJT's hand in the 800m.

KJT with a PB by 15 cm.

48,71 for Vadljech...

She almost over-stepped it...

Vadljech gets an extra attempt?

I go a little longer back, I still remember Wodars & Wachtel in the 800m and then Katrin Krabbe at Tokyo 1991 WC plus these white German suits with a red stripe Quite frankly Germany has slid down by a huge margin especially on the track events in the last 25 years or so. It's been a lot different for Poland. Late 80s/early 90s was our worst period in athletics. We're on the up since Atlanta Olympic Games again.

SVK in the final!

One of the SVK girls looks physically unwell? Time for the POL back-ups now...