OlympicsFan

And coincidentally from eastern europe again ... i think once Semenya retires we will see a lot more like that in the 800 m.

Today the most important question in the history of human kind will be answered. Will the prince of race walking finally step it up and take the crown?

Thats what she always used to do, but from 2016 onwards she forgot how to peak at major competitions, apparently she remembered this year.

Javelin is for Germany what the hammer is for Poland. Personally i prefer the javelin ...

Why not just have top x from each heat qualify for the final? If the seeding is balanced, then it would be better in my opinion than deciding finallists based on their times, most of the time only athletes from one heat make the final at any distance above 400 m and thats pretty unfair in my opinion.

You guys clearly never saw Rouguy Diallo or Karolina Koleczek.

The spanish 400/800 m runners have been pretty disappointing, i am not sure we can trust their times on home soil. Ksczsczsczszcot looking good for another gold, surprised that GB wont be represented in the final, Tuka also a bit disappointing. Dont think that Europe will play a major role in the 800 m globally in the next couple of years.

Very impressive result for Ruckstuhl in womens heptathlon, if she continues like that she will be at 6700 points or more by Tokyo. 2 or 3 years ago i thought that Sukh and Lagger are the best talents, now i would favor Ruckstuhl and Vicente.

Very sad, she was having a great competition. I think she could have scored around 6300 points and finished in 8th or 9th place. Lets hope that she will be fine, then i am sure that she will qualify for Tokyo (alongside Schäfer and Weißenberg).

I know, but i would like to watch the whole session, but apparently its not possible. Edit: Apparently (hopefully) Eurosport will show the session again starting at 1:15 am tomorrow, so thats at least something ... Sadly i will also miss tomorrows evening session.

Fuuuuuuuck ... apparently i missed by far the best session of this competition so far. I will forever owe anyone how knows where i can rewatch the session. Gregor Traber running 13.26? Laura Müller making the 200 m final? Both Gierisch and Hussong going nuts in their first attempts? Jungfleisch finally back to performing at her best when it matters? Legendary race by the chosen one (i only predicted silver for him, but apparently his older brother was injured)! Only sad news from a german perspective is the result in mens 1500 m. Both Homiyu Tesfaye and Timo Benitz completely hopeless. Also the results in mens 400 m where rather underwhelming in my opinion and the same is true for anyone not named Hussong in womens javelin throw.

I wasnt able to watch the evening session, does someone maybe know if there is a chance to rewatch it?

I only cheer for female dutch athletes, sorry. Hassan is not interesting to me, she left our home to go to the US, i cant back her anymore.

Buhl came from way back to win a medal, not a satisfying result for him but a good first step on his way to Tokyo. Now Germany only needs a medal in mens 49 and the federation will be able to sell this competition as a success despite only winning 3 quote places (2-3 less than expected).

I am officially a fan of the dutch athletics team, Visser, Vetter and Krumins all seem to be very likeable athletes. Too bad we also have to have Schippers and Hassan in our team.

Thiam might not be in top shape, but i have never seen such a clutch athlete before ... When KJT did 6.64 m in the long jump, she immediately reacted with 6.60 m and now she again finds a way to reply.

I didnt predict Haratyk to be any good (never cared about polish athletics, so i didnt know of him until 2 or 3 years ago), but i never thought that Bukowiecki was such a great talent, just like Jacko Gill he looked like a weightlifter as a teenager already, never saw that much potential left in him, but who knows?

Yeah, only 83 m, despite being the world leader with 92 m. His world title from last year obviously was nothing but a fluke.

Not that wrong actually, she is better at 200 m, hurdles, 800 m and long jump.

Beating heptathletes from Kenya, Uganda and Australia is impressive indeed.

That would be great for her, has she ever finished with a silver medal before? I think with all the talents coming through (Vicente, Ruckstuhl, Lagger, Sukh) constantly being 2nd would be great for her.

I think thats not a bold prediction ... i just dont see the polish girls being anywhere near world class, despite still being comfortably better than the german girls. Its hard to find nations with 4 fast 400 m runners, so maybe something like 3:25 might even be enough for a bronze in Tokyo, unless GB finds some talents again.

Could be interesting indeed. I thought a while ago that it would be fun to predict the youngest athlete at the next olympics for different nations, but a thread like that probably wouldnt generate much interest.

Of course that had nothing to do with GDR athletes joining the german team ... Germany hasnt been better in the track events (at least on the womens side) for at least 25 years. Lückenkemper and Klosterhalfen are 21 years old and are the best german track talents since 1990 in my opinion. Klosterhalfen broke 2:00.00 over 800 m, 4:00.00 over 1500 m (3:58.91) and 15:00.00 over 5000 m (14:51.00) last year as a 20 year old, i am not sure whether any other runner ever did those times at such a young age. Add in Alina Reh (31:38.00 in a 10 km road race last year as a 20 year old), Pamela Dutkiewicz, Cindy Roleder, Krause, Lisa Mayer, Gesa Krause, Hanna Klein and talents like Keshia Kwadwo (4th at the U20 world championships in the 100 m this year), Talea Prepens (23.51 s with -0.7 m/s wind over the 200 m last year as a 15 year old, U18 world champion) or Marie Scheppan (52.82 s over 400 m as a 17 year old this year) and you have nothing to moan about as a german fan. Actually Germany reached a low at the 2008 olympics and since has always been among the top 5-6 nations in the world. Poland surely got much better in the last 30 years, but of course thats easy when you were in a horrible state before. I think Poland kind of adapted the german strategy of focusing on throwing events that are clearly the least competitive events globally, while Germany started to focus more in track events and therefore lost its dominance in throwing events (although Röhler/Vetter, C. Harting, Storl, Hussong, Schwanitz, Vita/Craft are still in a good position to fight for medals in 2020).

Moguenara: Yes, very bad, she just doesnt know how not to constantly foul her jumps. Potential-wise she is top 6-8 in the world. Wester: She has much more potential than she showed, but this wasnt so bad, given that he PB isnt even above 6.80 m. Holzdeppe: Extremely bad for him, but not unexpected, he did the same last year or in Rio, i am not sure, he clearly lacks a sense of reality. When you struggle all season long, you dont enter the competition at 5.51 m. He clearly had the height today but was unable to adjust. He wasnt a favorite for a medal after the season he had. Heß: Like i said, he was injured for most of the season, thats why you wont find any recent results of him. Of course he has incredible potential (also being a 8 m long jumper), but he is constantly injured, so it might be better to change his coach. Of course he would have loved to win the title here, but as long as he finds a way to stay healthy on his way to Tokyo i am optimistic that he will do good there.