OlympicsFan

Weird ... i just looked at the IAAF top list and it says that she ran 22.00 (+0.4) on July 8th in Ottawa ... did i miss something? If we assume that 22.50 is the correct time, then we would first have to know the wind conditions she had for her run, in order to judge whether she can make the final at worlds or not. I think she probably has a realistic chance, a medal would still be more than a miracle. Despite the fact that Felix, Thompson and Bowie all won't compete, she would still have to hope that at least one out of Miller, Schippers and Ta Lou doesn't show up that day and even then we would still have at least one american girl who should be much faster + maybe Asher-Smith. We should also keep in mind that about a month ago she was beaten by Ahoure in Stockholm and beat Haase by 0.08, which is not really a great sign of her strength, considering that Haase is only the 4th fastest german 200 m runner ...

Nice to see that Klein won a medal in his last ever competition. The highlights of his career were probably the gold medal at the 2013 world championships and the silver medal at the 2008 olympics.

Some interesting videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaazunECTQY (Training diaries with Aries Merritt) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDjPO_w6cs (Training diaries with Allyson Felix) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fApj5HeTGic (Training diaries with Rana Reider) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc5k4JB_ek (Training diaries with Ekaterini Stefanidi) By the way: Womens triple jump at the U23 european championships was the most beautiful event ever ... Rouguy Diallo and Fatima Diame ... wow ... !

The european U20 championships overall wont be as strong as the U23 championships, but i think that in some disciplines the level might be better than at the U23 championships. In mens pole vault it might take 5.70 m to medal and in womens heptathlon it will probably take 6100 points to medal. In addition to that i clearly prefer Grosseto compared to Bydgoszcz, we can see the first international competitions of some future stars (Tortu, Ingebrigtsen, Duplantis, Raffin, Ruckstuhl) and the results will be pretty unpredictable, considering the age of those athletes. Sadly Tortu will only compete in one event, but there are other athletes who could win multiple individual golds (Sclabas in womens 1500/3000 m, Ingebrigtsen in mens 1500/5000/3000 m SC, Ruckstuhl in womens heptathlon/javelin throw). I think Switzerland might even win the medal table ... Italy looks also strong, they should win at least 3 gold medals, Finland also seems to have some nice talents, as well as Slovenia and the Czech Republic. About the U23 championships: I think only the following talents might medal at world championships in the future: Klosterhalfen, Can, Visser, the ukrainian girls in high jump, maybe Moser (unlikely), Kolak (of course), Warholm, maybe Heß or Babayev (unlikely), Bukowiecki (of course) I know its early to say, but if we look back at the results of the U20/U23 european championships from this year in a couple of years, we will probably see that more (future) stars competed at the U20 european championships that year.

Very bad result in the womens 400 m. Müller threw away a safe gold medal in the 200 m for a silver in the 400 m. She has to ask herself how she cant break 52 s while running 22.65 s over the 200 m, she should be close to 51.0 s. It sucks that the 3 best 200 m runners are german (Mayer, Lückenkemper and Müller), but none of them even competes.

That is very unfortunate. The german girl in womens 200 m for example got lucky, she was born December 28th 2001, so she just made the cut, the same is true for the czech girl who won the 400 m, she was born December 30th 2001. Personally i think its a stupid rule, if they are fast enough, they should compete. I would only make an exemption in the throwing events (except for javelin throw), just like in weightlifting for example, so that those kids dont start lifting heavy weights at a very young age. But what is the harm of allowing a 13 or 14 year old to run the 100 m? If you were born December 31 2002, you will be allowed to compete at the european u18 championships and the youth olympics, but if you were born one day later, you have to wait 2 years ... what a nonsense ... they should at least split those 2 events: youth olympics in 2018 and u18 european championships in 2019, that way those talents can peak at both.

Amazing atmosphere! The crowd goes insane for womens 1500 m final. You absolutely cant compare it to any other international competition, maybe except for olympics, i really like Kenya as a host.

Sad, there are already european u18/u20 championships, so nothing will change for european talents, i just liked that all those young talents from all over the world were allowed to compete against each other, getting to know new (non-european) countries and new cultures. Most of them will probably never get the chance to compete at u20/senior world championships, so this was a once in a lifetime moment for many of them.

In case anyone didnt know: All the sessions are streamed live (+ on demand) on the IAAF Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn6opDhtHxU

True, i actually might prefer those junior competitions to the senior competitions. I think there is much less doping and the athletes seem to be a lot closer/more friendly towards each other + you see some very surprising results, for example the winner of mens high jump (who looks as if he isnt even 6 feet tall by the way -> amazing talent) improved his PB by 6 cm today, you basically never get that at senior level, so the results are much more surprising. If IAAF thinks that those athletes are too young, then maybe they could create U19 and U21 world championships instead.

The german girl was injured yesterday and still might be, i doubt that she will run close to her PB today.

What about Klosterhalfen in womens 1500 m? Not a favorite for gold?

Tortu on the entry list in mens 100/200 m? Ingebrigtsen on the entry list in mens 1500 m and mens 3000 m SC!

With his 14th stage win Kittel overtakes Erik Zabel as the most successful german rider at the Tour. Him probably winning the green jersey is a big relief, because he has been the best sprinter for a long time and deserved to win it much earlier.

Great to see your enthusiasm for the performance of a foreign athlete! Röhler and Vetter make 90 m almost seem normal ... at this point it would be really disappointing if they wouldnt finish 1-2 in London. German javelin throwers have never been that strong, amazing progression, sadly we are in a very bad spot in pretty much all other throwing events. Also 64.21 for Hussong in womens javelin throw today and 21.53 for Storl yesterday, overall i am pretty happy with the current state of german athletics, despite the "absence" of Schwanitz/C.Harting and the recent retirement of world class athletes like Heidler, Obergföll or Stahl.

How strong was the wind in womens 200 m? I think this year womens 200 m is pretty weak, 22.5 might be enought to final. How many medals can we expect? 1 in mens race walking, 1 in mens high jump, 1 in mens 100 m, any more?

EAA will offer a free live stream which is only geoblocked in Sweden, Germany and Poland. There should be some interesting events: Mens 400 m hurdles/400 m with Warholm (apparently he wants to do both) Mens shot put with Bukowiecki Mens triple jump Babayev vs. Heß Womens 100 m hurdles Herman vs. Visser Womens 100 m with Swoboda Womens 1500 m with Klosterhalfen, Judd, Hinriksdottir, Ennaoui Womens 5000 m with Can, Reh, Lahti Womens triple jump with Panturoiu, Peleteiro, Diallo And the highlight: Womens javelin throw Kolak vs. Tugsuz You cant expect many world class performances, but you will see a lot of very close (tactical) races and a lot of true joy + you dont have to ask yourself after every event (at least thats how i feel) whether the winner was doped.

What do you mean with "pretty much all other results ..."? Was the canadian team already announced? I get that McBride and Bishop didnt produce world class performances but what about the jumping events (Barber, Drouin, Nettey) and womens 200 m?

Highlights at the german championships last weekend: Womens 100 m: 11.01 in prelims (0.0) for Lückenkemper, 11.10 (-0.7), she stumbled at the start I think she is clearly in sub 11 s shape, probably 10.90, but i dont expect much at the world championships, german sprinter always crumble under pressure ... Sadly she didnt run the 200 m much this year, 2 years ago she ran 22.4 when her 100 m PB was about 0.3 s slower, so you have to wonder how close to 22.0 she could get now. http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/gina-lueckenkemper-rennt-der-konkurrenz-auf-und-davon/ Also interesting: 11.37 for Keshia Kwadwo (born in 1999) in 4th place, would be amazing if she would be nominated for London. Womens 200: Lückenkemper didnt compete, Mayer got injured, so the 2 best german runners didnt compete and probably wont run this distance in London. Laura Müller won in 22.65 s (-0.8) Normally she is more of a 400 m runner and she will run the 400 m at the U23 championships next week. http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/laura-mueller-pulverisiert-ihre-bestzeit/ Womens 1500 m: Klosterhalfen won in 3:59.54 with a solo run (more than 10 s ahead of everyone else), after an opening 400 m in 65 s ... she crushed the 40 year old championships record by almost exactly 7 s. I hope she gets into a really fast race with Hassan, Kipyegon, Muir (Dibaba, Obiri) later this season. If you can run 3:59 alone, off a 65 s opening lap at 30 °C, you can probably run 3:56 on a perfect day. http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/konstanze-klosterhalfen-knackt-der-meisterschaftsrekord/ Womens 110 m hurdles: 12.82 (-0.7) for Dutkiewicz, she could probably run sub 12.90 in her sleep by now ... Harrison seems too far away, but i think she has a chance to beat everyone else, lets see ... Roleder is out for the season due to injury, so she wont be able to defend her medal from 2015. http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/pamela-dutkiewicz-bleibt-auch-in-erfurt-ungeschlagen/ Womens triple jump: 14.40 (-0.1) for Gierisch http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/kristin-gierisch-packt-den-gold-sprung-aus/ Womens pole vault: 4.70 for Ryzih Mens long jump: 8.15 for Howard Mens triple jump: 17.24 (+2.1) and 17.13 (+1.0) for Heß http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/nervenstarker-max-hess-springt-1724-meter/ Mens pole vault: Holzdeppe only jumped 5.60 and got beaten by Bo Lita Kanda Baehre (born in 1999) http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/youngster-schockt-den-titelverteidiger/ Mens high jump: Przybylko jumped 2.30 (cleared everything with his first try) and tried 2.38 (new german record) twice. I think he jumped 2.30 or higher 4-5 times this season already, he should be a strong contender for a medal. http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/mateusz-przybylko-ist-in-der-form-seines-lebens/ Mens javelin throw: Vetter won in 89.35, he also would have won with his 2nd best (89.23) and his 3rd best (87.83) attempt. Röhler had problems with the conditions and was 2nd in 85.24, Seifert set a new PB of 84.62 and was third. http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/johannes-vetter-gewinnt-vor-thomas-roehler/ Probably not a world class performance, but a very nice finish by Benitz in mens 1500 m, beating Tesfaye quite easily: http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/timo-benitz-siegt-mit-fulminantem-endspurt/ Also interesting: Luke Campbell who won mens 400 m hurdles (49.40) has lived in the US since he was 3 and doesnt speak german ... http://www.leichtathletik.de/tv/video-detail/video-detail/detail/luke-campbell-ive-been-trying-to-chase-on-the-50-sec/

Didnt the canadian championships take place this weekend? Results? Especially mens 100 m, mens/womens 200 m, womens 400 m hurdles, womens long jump, mens high jump, mens pole vault, mens/womens 800 m would be interesting, any world class performances?

Its great that you are so into athletics ... how come? Lithuania isnt really a powerhouse, do you have any medal contenders at U18/U23?

IAAF's strategy is obvious, just wait and hope that everyone forgets ... i still wonder what actually changed in Russia? You also have to wonder if it was really and incident that the list with all the supposedly doped athletes (Jager, Farah and so on) was "stolen" recently and didnt contain a single russian athlete ... i guess this shows that all nations are equally dirty, so we can as well allow Russia to compete?

No, i followed her recent results very closely and thats also one of the reasons why i hoped that Kuchina wouldnt be allowed to compete. With the russian doping history her recent results are absolutely outrageous, she must feel untouchable. I guess she is allowed to compete? (Thanks for not answering my question by the way) Everyone who is allowed to compete in diamond league is also allowed to compete at world championships? I dont really care whether russian athletes compete for Russia or not, in the end they will all by honored by Putin if they win anything, noone will be fooled by this stupid trick, IAAF cant seriously think that everyone forgot already.

Is Kuchina allowed to compete? Hopefully not ... Is there actually any russian athlete that isnt allowed to compete? Does IAAF think that everyone forgot that the whole russian team is dirty or do they just not care what the people who finance this sport think?

Congrats, despite missing many of your best talents like Dort or Shittu. RJ Barrett ... MVP despite being 2 years younger, just insane. There is no way that he wont be drafted first in 2019. Canada has a very bright future ahead. Canada, France and Australia should play for the minor medals from 2020 on, maybe together with Croatia and Spain/Serbia.