IAAF World Championships Thread - GOLD FOR HEFFERNAN

ThePiedPiper

I don't think there's been a specific thread set up for this, so thought I'd start this one.

The buildup to these games has been dominated by various high profile withdrawals for various reasons. I think if we try to concentrate solely on who actually is involved without bringing up any of the other issues we can have a decent thread that the Mods won't have to stress over!

The most exciting races I think, will be the 5,000m and 10,000m. Nearly all of the protagonists will be toeing the line. Brendan Foster reckons if Mo can win the double at these games, that it'll put him up there with Haile, Bekele, Zatopek, etc as one of the all-time greats. You can't argue with the results over the past two years. It'll be very interesting to see if the East Africans attack early on with sacrificial lambs to break him. It's going to take a team effort to prevail, as he almost certainly won't be beaten if it comes down to a sprint finish.

The sprint events have opened up completely for Bolt, so I'm not particularly interested in them this year. We all know what Bolt brings to the party, his own blend of drama, entertainment and astonishing performances. Its hard to get excited about it anymore personally, and I think given the lack of top-class opposition, he won't have to reach the heights of London, Berlin or Beijing.

Unfortunately the 800m has been deprived of Rudisha, whose WR pace in London 2012 ultimately dragged the entire field along to what will likely go down as the greatest and fastest 800m race of all time. The playing field has levelled a bit through his absense, so as always it should be a good race, and will be the making of someone.

I'm very disappointed with what the Kenyans have done for the marathon for these championships. I'm not sure if it comes down to the top racers having other big city commitments, or Athletics Kenya just being the strange organisation they've proven time and again. I can't see anyone beating Kebede in this race. He's proven time and time again that he can take on practically any type of strategy, and always has a good last 2 or 3k in him. I'd love to see him win a global title, he seems like a very likeable guy that has not gotten the recognition he deserves in the sport.

Regarding the fairer sex, I'm looking forward to seeing if the likes of Charlene Flanagan can mix it with Dibaba and Defar. It was anticipated that they would all be doing 5,000 and 10,000 but that seems to be off the cards now.

Jessica Judd in the 800 metres looks like a real talent. She's only 18, and has had a couple of races where she hasn't totally performed, but if she can run to her potential, could take some beating.

I'd love to see Ohurougu doing well in these Champs. She's never the favourite, never the fastest, but has a great knack of peaking at the right time, and finishing races strongly.

In the sprints, I'm looking forward to seeing Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser matching up. I'm not sure if Felix's form has been great of late, but she is class personified, and always seems to up her game in Championships.

I'm not sure on our own medal hopes, I think expectations are fairly low, but it'll give the likes of English and Galligan great experience, that will hopefully stand to them and drive them on. The best medal hope I'd imagine would have to be Heffernan. I'm not a huge fan of the walk, but was absolutely glued to it for his London race, and I think for everything he's done over the last decade that it would be a just reward coming towards the end of a great career.

Kurt Godel

RunForestRun wrote: »

I think if we try to concentrate solely on who actually is involved without bringing up any of the other issues we can have a decent thread that the Mods won't have to stress over!
...

I'd love to see Ohurougu doing well in these Champs.

That made me smile:) Good luck discussing the WC's without reference to the dominant issue of the moment, but IMO pretending the stream of high-end athletes being caught using PED's is not an issue, is ultimately detrimental to the sport.

mikeoneil1000

RunForestRun wrote: »

Unfortunately the 800m has been deprived of Rudisha, whose WR pace in London 2012

1.2.3 from london are out


farah hasn't got the 'times' to be compared with bekele ,geb

i hope the EAs make it real fast and don't allow farah to slow the race down from the front

ThePiedPiper

Personally, I wouldn't put him in the same category as the likes of Haile either. What he achieved over 20 years, 27 WRs from distances from 3,000 metres (I think) up to marathon, and pretty much being among the top 3 in the world in his various events for the majority of his career is impossible for anyone to match. But who knows, if Mo can go on and win the double here, and then have a successful career in marathoning, we might be talking about him in this respect in 10 years or so.

ecoli

Kurt Godel wrote: »

IMO pretending the stream of high-end athletes being caught using PED's is not an issue, is ultimately detrimental to the sport.

Same can be said about talking only about PEDs without any sort of discussion on the actual performances as occurs here 90% of the time around these parts

Regarding the 10k. I am interested to see how Gebremeskel fairs. His build up has been low key relatively but it could be interesting to see if he can pull something out of the bad especially if Farah has sacrificed some of his 10k strength for his new found speed, also factor in that Gebremeskel is only doing the 10k and closed roughly as fast as Farah last year but got caught out on bad positioning

One thing can be sure it is not going to be the same sort of race as London that is for certain

It will also be interesting to see how the Kenyans approach it given their change in build up and relative absence from the circuit this year could lead to the pace being pushed by them and could provide a bit of interest as they seem to be all but discounted at this stage by most

mikeoneil1000

if farahs allowed to dictate pace there's only 1 outcome

farah is a very smart racer

it's difficult to see how he can be beat

ecoli

Think this could shape up to be an interesting competition

Menkov in my eye has to be favourite for this just down to his consistency. Though he was out jumped at the World University Games and is second on the World list I still think he can pull out a big jump when needed.

His card was a little worrying at the DL in London only taking the competition with his last jump after 4 out of 5 foul jumps.

Rivera has the psychological edge after Kazan but I think that was just the luck of the day in producing a big jump, I dunno if he will able to replicate it

Phillips has had a year to forget since his car accident last year. He seems to be coming into his best form of the season recently but still a long way off his best. His consistent jumping in London however makes me think he was a little conservative and could be a dark horse to retain his title

Kurt Godel

ecoli wrote: »

Same can be said about talking only about PEDs without any sort of discussion on the actual performances as occurs here 90% of the time around these parts

I grew up watching Salazar, he was a big hero of mine. Some of the training sessions he used to do were insane, both in terms of intensity and weekly milage (250+ km per week wasn't unusual). He ultimately blew up from not being able to recover from this intensity, and became more interested in the science of recovery when the body is at the limit. It's incomplete to discuss the performances of his trainee's now, without discussing the performance effects of the various medications his athletes are on- a significant proportion of whom are on treatment for thyroid and steroids for asthma.

Front-line athletics is using PED's- legal and illegal- to gain an edge in performance. That's being facilitated by the IAAF- as at least two of the names mentioned in the OP testify (Ohurougu and Fraser). I'd much prefer it wasn't (and I understand why RunForestRun made his plea in the opener), but in truth its been like that for a long time now, and to hope for performance-based discussion to exclude this element is to stick your head in the sand. What performance will allow Gatlin to medal in the "Blue Ribbon" event?

ecoli

Kurt Godel wrote: »

I grew up watching Salazar, he was a big hero of mine. Some of the training sessions he used to do were insane, both in terms of intensity and weekly milage (250+ km per week wasn't unusual). He ultimately blew up from not being able to recover from this intensity, and became more interested in the science of recovery when the body is at the limit. It's incomplete to discuss the performances of his trainee's now, without discussing the performance effects of the various medications his athletes are on- a significant proportion of whom are on treatment for thyroid and steroids for asthma.

Front-line athletics is using PED's- legal and illegal- to gain an edge in performance. That's being facilitated by the IAAF- as at least two of the names mentioned in the OP testify (Ohurougu and Fraser). I'd much prefer it wasn't (and I understand why RunForestRun made his plea in the opener), but in truth its been like that for a long time now, and to hope for performance-based discussion to exclude this element is to stick your head in the sand. What performance will allow Gatlin to medal in the "Blue Ribbon" event?

No one is saying to exclude the validity of training aids (for want of a better word trying to describe non banned PEDs). There has never been a ban on performance enhancing devices/ drugs. Speculation is the thing which is banned this is why many of the drug threads are not closed immediately but ultimately always end up going down the route which leaves no other option because people begin a witch hunt based on hearsay or a "there all on it approach so X has to be" mentality (I am not ignoring the issue within the sport but moreso the approach and mentality people have towards it)

It is just interesting that there are roughly 5-8 active posters who discuss athletics on this forum yet outside of major championships our busiest periods are following a positive doping test (Fagan and recent drugs bust prime examples). The correlation does not add up similarly to the likes of the attendance at the Morton Games recently.

People use the "Dirty Sport" label as an excuse but fact of the matter is why bother with just the negatives in a sport if you are going to bother at all. I will be label naive for these comments but I just think there is more to the sport than just doping so why is it we feel the need to highlight this while ignoring all other aspects of the sport. The general public does this enough despite being the most tested sport by WADA (nearly 7000 more than cycling) and nearly 9 times more than the likes of Tennis which has a much more extensive calendar

Kurt Godel

mikeoneil1000 wrote: »

do you have a source for that?

i'm sure it doesn't contravene rules to discuss TUEs

Wall Street Journal article on thyroid and Salazar's athletes

ecoli wrote: »

No one is saying to exclude the validity of training aids (for want of a better word trying to describe non banned PEDs). There has never been a ban on performance enhancing devices/ drugs. Speculation is the thing which is banned this is why many of the drug threads are not closed immediately but ultimately always end up going down the route which leaves no other option because people begin a witch hunt based on hearsay or a "there all on it approach so X has to be" mentality (I am not ignoring the issue within the sport but moreso the approach and mentality people have towards it)

It is just interesting that there are roughly 5-8 active posters who discuss athletics on this forum yet outside of major championships our busiest periods are following a positive doping test (Fagan and recent drugs bust prime examples). The correlation does not add up similarly to the likes of the attendance at the Morton Games recently.

People use the "Dirty Sport" label as an excuse but fact of the matter is why bother with just the negatives in a sport if you are going to bother at all. I will be label naive for these comments but I just think there is more to the sport than just doping so why is it we feel the need to highlight this while ignoring all other aspects of the sport. The general public does this enough despite being the most tested sport by WADA (nearly 7000 more than cycling) and nearly 9 times more than the likes of Tennis which has a much more extensive calendar

Ah, so you're viewing me as trolling on the issue? I'd have loved to attend the NC's, please don't read my inability to travel to them as disinterest. What my kids want to do with their weekend often dictates what I do. But it shouldn't discount my view as an armchair fan on the (unfortunately) biggest issue in the sport at the moment.

You locked the thread about Farah's exceptional 1500m performance. People were alluding to his use of thyroid medication as one factor in performance's of Salazars' athlete's. Of course there's a load of other factors- the exceptional speedwork for distance runner's, extensive core and gym work- but the science is what makes it exceptional. And that includes pharma-enhanced recovery times.

mikeoneil1000

does farah have TUEs for asthma /thyroid ?

i don't see mention in that article

Kurt Godel

mikeoneil1000 wrote: »

does farah have TUEs for asthma /thyroid ?

i don't see mention in that article

Do a web search yourself using keywords- discussion will be locked here (as unlike the other athletes named in the WSJ, it would be speculation).

RunForestRun I don't want to take up your thread, I've made my point and won't be hammering it home anymore, (it was always going to come up in one form or another), good luck and hope you enjoy the athletics.

ecoli

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Wall Street Journal article on thyroid and Salazar's athletes



Ah, so you're viewing me as trolling on the issue? I'd have loved to attend the NC's, please don't read my inability to travel to them as disinterest. What my kids want to do with their weekend often dictates what I do. But it shouldn't discount my view as an armchair fan on the (unfortunately) biggest issue in the sport at the moment.

You locked the thread about Farah's exceptional 1500m performance. People were alluding to his use of thyroid medication as one factor in performance's of Salazars' athlete's. Of course there's a load of other factors- the exceptional speedwork for distance runner's, extensive core and gym work- but the science is what makes it exceptional. And that includes pharma-enhanced recovery times.

No it was more a general response to the overall mentality around here (might be a bit of an over generalization)

Also people allude to the Thyroid medication yet there has never been anything published to say that he has taken these, it is his training partners who have TUEs so it was speculation and was closed (not to mention the numerous deleted posts that were non TUE related)

My point is how many threads have been started on Altitude simulation tents, Alter G treadmills, development of sprinting Bio-mechanics and the work with Elite sprints coaches, Power lifting, proprioceptive training? You are right in that it is one aspect which should be looked at in terms of overall training and performance but its not the only aspect that has to be discussed and surely it can be discussed in a non speculative thread (There was a recent thread on this actually never kicked off which shows me that generally people are just interested in it as a scandal rather than the actual biggest issue in the sport at the moment)

mikeoneil1000

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Do a web search yourself using keywords- discussion will be locked here (as unlike the other athletes named in the WSJ, it would be speculation).

RunForestRun I don't want to take up your thread, I've made my point and won't be hammering it home anymore, (it was always going to come up in one form or another), good luck and hope you enjoy the athletics.

i did

i didn't find any evidence that mo farah has TUEs

except for letsrun speculation which is worthless

ecoli

To get this back on track

Anyone think Bondarenko can take the WR in the High Jump?

Sacksian

Kurt Godel wrote: »

That made me smile:) Good luck discussing the WC's without reference to the dominant issue of the moment, but IMO pretending the stream of high-end athletes being caught using PED's is not an issue, is ultimately detrimental to the sport.

To be fair, he didn't say this in his OP - just wanted to concentrate on the races.

Everyone knows that PEDs are an issue in all top-level sports but it has a tendency to overwhelm discussion of the entire Championships if left unchecked. I'm following the Salazar discussions closely on letsrun and the TUE stuff - if true - is really ridiculous but maybe a separate thread would be better so that we can have a proper discussion focusing on the races?

Also, I don't think anyone is sticking their head in the sand - see Pisco Sour's recent threads on Turkish athletes and also his excellent interviews which (from memory, I think) have without exception raised the issue of doping with every interviewee.

ThePiedPiper

ecoli wrote: »

To get this back on track

Anyone think Bondarenko can take the WR in the High Jump?

definitely a good chance, I only really took notice of him in Birmingham this year when how was head and shoulders above the field, in every sense of the phrase.. Can't remember the exact height he cleared that day, close to 2:40 I think, but the replay showed he was clear by a big margin. Its one of the longest standing records out there isn't it? Would be great for the field events to have a genuine star of the games..

can't recall his name but the Norwegian javelin thrower brings great entertainment to that event, looking forward to seeing what he could do if he gets clear air and a couple of throws for the icing

ecoli

RunForestRun wrote: »

definitely a good chance, I only really took notice of him in Birmingham this year when how was head and shoulders above the field, in every sense of the phrase.. Can't remember the exact height he cleared that day, close to 2:40 I think, but the replay showed he was clear by a big margin. Its one of the longest standing records out there isn't it? Would be great for the field events to have a genuine star of the games..

can't recall his name but the Norwegian javelin thrower brings great entertainment to that event, looking forward to seeing what he could do if he gets clear air and a couple of throws for the icing

The last few years have certainly been good for characters in the high jump with Ukhov being a prime example. I think a genuine WR challenger along with these characters and hopefully Barshim can challenge Bondarenko this could be an exciting competition to though I feel Bondarenko's consistency will see him through

Thorkildsen is the thrower you are on about, personally I dont think he will be able to compete with Vesely if he is on form. I think Thorkildsen is a bit off his best and don't think his peak from 06-09 is long past. I am interested to see how last years Olympic champion Walcott and the Kenyan Yego go. Always good to see countries without a long tradition in the event coming along

Pherekydes

In the men's Javelin watch out for Tarabin, who threw a world leading 88m only two weeks' ago, and Pitkamaki, who threw 87m back in May, got injured and then threw 86m only last Saturday to show he's back in form at the right time.

I would watch out for a strong Russian showing, with the usual "home-field advantage" to boost their athletes.

ecoli

Pherekydes wrote: »

I would watch out for a strong Russian showing, with the usual "home-field advantage" to boost their athletes.

Think this will play a big part for the likes of Klishina, Menkhov and Savinova (who has avoided the EU circuit so I wouldn't be suprised if she pulls out something huge at the championships and makes it 3 Global titles in a row)

the_real_lamp

Think Ohorogou has a great chance of winning back her world title. Usually runs a SB at majors. Interesting to see if Monthso can keep her form from Monaco.

Looking forward to Savinova versus Martinez in w800m. Have a feeeling Brenda could do it.

Mens and womens 400mh should be good races too. And mens 800m is pretty wide open , if the Americans are ever going to win it, its this year.

Caprica

Looking forward to seeing Yuki Kawauchi in the men's marathon, he has raced loads this year but it seems to work for him, would love to see him have a great run. The Kenyans and Ethiopians against Mo should be exciting.

Womens 800 should be good, Martinez looked very good in London but Savinova peaks for the championship, no Jelimo or Semenya. The US has a very good chance in the Mens 8, Symmonds had a good run in London but it is hard to look past Aman.

Hopefully Isinbayeva will get back to the top of the podium, she did announce that she was retiring this year but seems to have pulled back from that statement. When she was at the peak of her powers she was amazing athlete.

Hopefully there wil be no major scandals next week.

wgtomblin

I'm looking forward to the Men's Pole Vault. Lavillenie is in the form of his life, and if the conditions are favourable, another crack at the WR is not out of the question.

The men's High Jump - as already mentioned - promises to be a great event, with Bondarenko and Barshim both already clearing over 2.40 this summer. I'm not sure that either could break the WR in Moscow - Sotomajor had cleared 2.40+ several times before setting the WR mark, but optimal conditions and home-crowd advantage could be a big factor for Bondarenko. I cetainly expect him to win the gold.

Men's 110m Hurdles should be good. Question is if Merritt has got back to full speed that he showed last year before his injury. Hard one to call this year, with Oliver showing some form, and Richardson can't be discounted.

I think that Farah can't be beaten in the 10,000, but may not have it so easy in the 5,000, particularly if one of the kenyans / ethiopians sacrifices their race for sake of a compatriot, by taking on and dictating the pace.

Men's 800m is wide open. From Irish point of view, it would be great to see Mark English reach the final. He's improving with every race in lead-up to these Champs, a bit like O'Lionard two years ago.

The Marathon at a major championship is always intriguing, and has the habit of throwing up surprise winners. I couldn't bet against a Kenyan winner, but could see a japanese medallist this time around. Their team have great strength in depth, and a more tactical race could play in their favour.

Chivito550

wgtomblin wrote: »

The men's High Jump - as already mentioned - promises to be a great event, with Bondarenko and Barshim both already clearing over 2.40 this summer. I'm not sure that either could break the WR in Moscow - Sotomajor had cleared 2.40+ several times before setting the WR mark, but optimal conditions and home-crowd advantage could be a big factor for Bondarenko. I cetainly expect him to win the gold.

And we give out when Katie Taylor was called British!!

Chivito550

ecoli wrote: »

Think this could shape up to be an interesting competition

Menkov in my eye has to be favourite for this just down to his consistency. Though he was out jumped at the World University Games and is second on the World list I still think he can pull out a big jump when needed.

His card was a little worrying at the DL in London only taking the competition with his last jump after 4 out of 5 foul jumps.

Rivera has the psychological edge after Kazan but I think that was just the luck of the day in producing a big jump, I dunno if he will able to replicate it

Phillips has had a year to forget since his car accident last year. He seems to be coming into his best form of the season recently but still a long way off his best. His consistent jumping in London however makes me think he was a little conservative and could be a dark horse to retain his title

I wouldn't write off Lapierre either. He can be brilliant and he can be awful. But he only needs to be brilliant once to do some damage.

wgtomblin

Chivito550 wrote: »

And we give out when Katie Taylor was called British!!

D'oh! My bad. And Apologies to any Ukrainian Boardsies!

Timmaay

http://m.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/why-i-want-to-medal-at-the-world-championships will try follow this blog, should be interesting!

macinalli

Timmaay wrote: »

http://m.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/why-i-want-to-medal-at-the-world-championships will try follow this blog, should be interesting!

"It’s been 16 years since the United States last won a world championship medal in the men's 800, and I intend on changing that this year. I have the strong desire to do so, not for the fame or the money, but simply because I imagine the beer is sweeter and the fishing more enjoyable with a shiny medal around your neck.
"

Love it!

ThePiedPiper

I can't see either ladies or men's Olympic champions ar the sprint hurdles winning gold, both look to be playing too much catch up. Its a shame as they were two of the undoubted stars of London.. Pearson may not even medal. She keeps a very interesting blog, very honest

wgtomblin

RunForestRun wrote: »

I can't see either ladies or men's Olympic champions ar the sprint hurdles winning gold, both look to be playing too much catch up. Its a shame as they were two of the undoubted stars of London.. Pearson may not even medal. She keeps a very interesting blog, very honest

I would agree about Pearson, but I think that Merritt has a good chance. While he's not yet back to 2012 form, I think that there's little to pick between the main contenders and I expect that he'll be in the mix. I wouldn't bet against him.

the_real_lamp

wgtomblin wrote: »

I would agree about Pearson, but I think that Merritt has a good chance. While he's not yet back to 2012 form, I think that there's little to pick between the main contenders and I expect that he'll be in the mix. I wouldn't bet against him.

Agreed. 13.0x will prob win it and Merritt won't be that far off it. Interesting to see how Shubenkov runs at home, and Will Sharman has a squeak at a medal too.

A P

A couple of previews here:

http://www.rte.ie/sport/athletics/2013/0808/467101-world-athletics-championships-mens-preview/

and

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/23589262

ecoli

Looking at Robinson this year I have been impressed by his kick in the last 100m (as opposed to the likes of English's sustained kicks from 200-250 out)

I reckon if he gets a bit of luck and a slow heat he could well catch a few runners off guard and possibly sneak an auto qualifying spot*

In both Morton Games and the San Diego Re Run he showed absolutely blistering top speed that even many top 800m runners would be struggle to rival

*A huge amount of luck needed to get the perfect race as described above

Pherekydes

Startlists are out for day 1.

Robinson has Bosse, Lewandowski and Davide in his heat.
English has Symmonds, Mutai and Balla (QAT). 3 to qualify, plus 6 fastest losers.

Heat 1 10 AUG 2013 11:20
	Order / Lane 	Bib 	ATHLETE 	COUNTRY 	SB 2013 	PB
Details 	1 	361 	Hamada Mohamed 	EGYPTEGY 	1:45.71 	1:44.98
Details 	2 	600 	Paul Robinson 	IRELANDIRL 	1:45.85 	1:45.85
Details 	3 	444 	Pierre-Ambroise Bosse 	FRANCEFRA 	1:43.76 	1:43.76
Details 	4 	603 	Giordano Benedetti 	ITALYITA 	1:44.67 	1:44.67
Details 	5 	217 	Kleberson Davide 	BRAZILBRA 	1:44.84 	1:44.21
Details 	6 	800 	Moussa Camara 	MALIMLI 	1:51.01 	1:46.38
Details 	6 	1209 	Leoman Momoh 	NIGERIANGR 	1:46.07i 	1:46.07i
Details 	7 	1089 	Taras Bybyk 	UKRAINEUKR 	1:46.20 	1:46.20
Details 	8 	863 	Marcin Lewandowski 	POLANDPOL 	1:44.20 	1:43.84

Heat 4 10 AUG 2013 11:44
	Order / Lane 	Bib 	ATHLETE 	COUNTRY 	SB 2013 	PB
Details 	1 	1205 	Prince Mumba 	ZAMBIAZAM 	1:46.20 	1:46.14
Details 	2 	898 	Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla 	QATARQAT 	1:44.31 	1:44.31
Details 	3 	787 	James Eichberger 	MEXICOMEX 	1:45.88 	1:45.88
Details 	4 	1169 	Nick Symmonds 	UNITED STATESUSA 	1:43.67 	1:42.95
Details 	5 	777 	Samir Jamma 	MOROCCOMAR 	1:45.47 	1:45.47
Details 	6 	726 	Ilia Mukhin 	KIRGHIZISTANKGZ 	1:54.65 	1:54.65
Details 	7 	596 	Mark English 	IRELANDIRL 	1:44.84 	1:44.84
Details 	8 	721 	Jeremiah Kipkorir Mutai 	KENYAKEN 	1:44.59 	1:44.59

Pherekydes

Formatting is crap.

Start times are local. Subtract 3 hours for Irish Summer time.

Maria McCambridge is off at 11 our time.

walshb

http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/14th-iaaf-world-championships-4873/timetable/byday

Can't wait.

The "My Time" tab is for Ireland

mikeyariss

heard over on letsrun they got 35 starters in the 10,000 ya?

mo takes it anyhow

Clearlier

mikeyariss wrote: »

heard over on letsrun they got 35 starters in the 10,000 ya?

mo takes it anyhow

Letsrun make a solid case for Gebremeskel having a decent shot at Mo if he gets his tactics right. Mo certainly seems to be in a great position though and I too will be surprised if he doesn't win.

pconn062

Clearlier wrote: »

Letsrun make a solid case for Gebremeskel having a decent shot at Mo if he gets his tactics right. Mo certainly seems to be in a great position though and I too will be surprised if he doesn't win.

They put some good arguments forward there in favour of Gebremeskal. The problem is we just don't know, he has raced so little this year (in comparison to Farah) and that race experience could come into play. Will be a hell of a race anyway.

mikeyariss

mo seems to be such a smart racer

hard to see how he gets beat

he may not be able to slow it down here like he usually does

but he'll prob track the dangermen and try not to get drawn into surging


unless endurance is an issue for him but i don't know enough on that

ecoli

Robinson 6th in 1.48.61

Quicker opening 200 where leaders went through in low 25s but then the pace slowed right down before a slight increase at 300 to go. His usual strong finish but was too much to do to make up on the leading pack

ThePiedPiper

Sitting here with bloody cartoons on, forgotten it was all kicking off this morning!!

ecoli

RunForestRun wrote: »

Sitting here with bloody cartoons on, forgotten it was all kicking off this morning!!

Unless your a decathlon fan you haven't missed too much just yet (100m prelims but these were a bit of a farce having sub 10 runners and the host nation in with developing nations is kinda a spit in the face of the aims of this round)

2 heats of the 800 down English hasn't ran just yet

ecoli

Very good run from English (though he left it late to position himself well off the bend). Could possibly make it through as a fastest loser just have to wait and see

Sacksian

Ridiculous finish from Mark English! Probably left too much to do but still in with a shout of fastest loser.

ThePiedPiper

Yeah, I switched over there for a bit, despite some furious protesting. Decided it wasn't worth the bother seeing as I'll be hogging the TV for the most part of the next week!

walshb

I didn't think it was too smart. Seemed to get boxed in a bit much with 250-300 to go. Great final surge. Hope he can get in as one of the 6 fastest losers.

Sacksian

ecoli wrote: »

Super smart run from English. Could possibly make it through as a fastest loser just have to wait and see

He did leave A LOT to do for himself!

Pherekydes

He's currently the 5th fastest loser with two heats to go.

ecoli

Sacksian wrote: »

Ridiculous finish from Mark English! Probably left too much to do but still in with a shout of fastest loser.

He got caught behind Mutai with 200 to go which broken his rhythm some what but bar that tactical blip a solid run especially given the depth of the heat

Edit: my original statement was a little hasty

Pherekydes

Gone. Too bad. Maybe he'll learn a good lesson about tactics.