Athletics 2021

Faugheen

Not a great performance in the 4x100. Last changeover in particular was awful. Definitely a sub-44 in that quartet.

Shame, but women’s sprinting is only going to get better so in turn that 4x100 will too. Will definitely be in a stronger position to qualify for 2024.

Hopefully better fortunes for the mixed 4x400m.

gavinoontheweb

Top 10 overall* pending DQ appeals, good enough to qualify for Eugene 2022. Could have been in the mix for top 8 with a better changeover to Quinn at the end.

Faugheen

gavinoontheweb wrote: »

Top 10 overall* pending DQ appeals, good enough to qualify for Eugene 2022. Could have been in the mix for top 8 with a better changeover to Quinn at the end.

Didn’t realise top 12 qualified for Eugene. Fair play to them.

Itziger

That 2x2x400, not convinced tbh. Now for the mixed. This I think is more interesting.

Faugheen

Mixed is great craic purely because teams can decide how they line up rather than follow a set man, woman, man, woman or whatever kind of format

gavinoontheweb

What a leg from Mawdsley. Unbelievable performance.

Itziger

Super stuff. Great to see the emotion too.

Faugheen

gavinoontheweb wrote: »

What a leg from Mawdsley. Unbelievable performance.

I've said this a few times on here, Mawdsley is one of the best relay runners we have. I've never seen her run badly in a relay.

Phil Healy had a cracking run as well.

gavinoontheweb

Faugheen wrote: »

I've said this a few times on here, Mawdsley is one of the best relay runners we have. I've never seen her run badly in a relay.

Phil Healy had a cracking run as well.

Yeah,
Thought she might be the weakest leg, not as explosive as Healy but she kept it together so well in that last 100m. Barr kept the head against some quality runners at the end there.

Itziger

WTF! 3 teams, and Kenya is one of 'em. Had never heard of this before.

jamule

there are people in lidl wondering who tom fooking barr is.
That was a great heat.
Not sure about the 2*2*400, I don't think the atletes were sure either.

Dodge

gavinoontheweb wrote: »

What a leg from Mawdsley. Unbelievable performance.

She was the star of the team tonight IMO. Unreal

Faugheen

gavinoontheweb wrote: »

Yeah,
Thought she might be the weakest leg, not as explosive as Healy but she kept it together so well in that last 100m. Barr kept the head against some quality runners at the end there.

On paper she is, but for whatever reason she seems to find a bit more than her form book when it comes to relays. Maybe it's something to do with racing in close proximity to everyone else in a 4x400? I'm thinking out loud here really but she's never let the team down.

The fact she's just as able over 4x100 makes her a really valuable asset. Every nation needs a relay specialist they can call on and Mawdsley will be that for us.

jamule

The shuttle hurdles look great craic, might try it with thebkids next week

Faugheen

https://twitter.com/Cathal_Dennehy/status/1388583109763940352?s=20

There's the splits. Don't knock that 45.6 from Barr either or O'Donnell running faster than Yousif. Cracking run from all of them.

Irish Sports Follower

Would there be any prospect of Mark English coming into the team for Tokyo? I recall him running a 45 second split in Zurich in the 4 × 400m at the Euros in 2014. Surely with him in the team we could make the Olympic final.

Dodge

Irish Sports Follower wrote: »

Would there be any prospect of Mark English coming into the team for Tokyo? I recall him running a 45 second split in Zurich in the 4 × 400m at the Euros in 2014. Surely with him in the team we could make the Olympic final.

Well a lot of other countries would bring in others who didn’t run in Poland this week but he’s definitely be in consideration

Forge83

Faugheen wrote: »

I've said this a few times on here, Mawdsley is one of the best relay runners we have. I've never seen her run badly in a relay.

Phil Healy had a cracking run as well.

Sharlene has huge potential. Seems to have a bit more confidence running relays that could transfer over to individuals perfs.

Forge83

Irish Sports Follower wrote: »

Would there be any prospect of Mark English coming into the team for Tokyo? I recall him running a 45 second split in Zurich in the 4 × 400m at the Euros in 2014. Surely with him in the team we could make the Olympic final.

Am I right in saying that Ireland have qualified a mixed 4x4 team for the Olympics but the squad selected could be different to the current squad in Poland?
So it could open up to the likes of Brian Gregan, Harry Purcell, Mark English, Rhasidat Adeleke, Davicia Patterson etc. Could a few 200 runners like Marcus Lawlor/Mark Smyth consider stepping up a distance?

Stoolie

Since when is this mixed relay a thing ?

Faugheen

Stoolie wrote: »

Since when is this mixed relay a thing ?

Was introduced at world championship level in Doha with Tokyo being the first time at the Olympics.

Hamachi

Forge83 wrote: »

Am I right in saying that Ireland have qualified a mixed 4x4 team for the Olympics but the squad selected could be different to the current squad in Poland?
So it could open up to the likes of Brian Gregan, Harry Purcell, Mark English, Rhasidat Adeleke, Davicia Patterson etc. Could a few 200 runners like Marcus Lawlor/Mark Smyth consider stepping up a distance?

Assuming the fitness is there, Brian Gregan could be a good addition on the opening leg.

I certainly wouldn’t be swopping out either of the women. Phil and Sharlene in particular, were absolutely stellar last night.

It was great to see an Irish relay team competing at that level, particularly the passion they all put into their performance. Loved it.

Chivito550

Hamachi wrote: »

Assuming the fitness is there, Brian Gregan could be a good addition on the opening leg.

I certainly wouldn’t be swopping out either of the women. Phil and Sharlene in particular, were absolutely stellar last night.

It was great to see an Irish relay team competing at that level, particularly the passion they all put into their performance. Loved it.

Doubt Barr will run it in Tokyo. Heats of 400m hurdles and heats of mixed 4x400 are on the same day. Hurdles in morning, relay in evening.

That opens the door maybe for Gregan.

Forge83

Hamachi wrote: »

Assuming the fitness is there, Brian Gregan could be a good addition on the opening leg.

I certainly wouldn’t be swopping out either of the women. Phil and Sharlene in particular, were absolutely stellar last night.

It was great to see an Irish relay team competing at that level, particularly the passion they all put into their performance. Loved it.

To be fair I don’t think Brian Gregan will run faster than Chris O Donnell as his best days are probably behind him. By his own standards Chris had a decent race but still capable of more which is great. Brian is certainly good enough to take a squad place if healthy.

The great thing about relays as it opens up the possibilities to so many athletes. You can be sure there are a large number of athletes out training today with the hope of grabbing a spot on the squad(assuming AAI make the squad open to all/would be hard to argue with them keeping the current squad of 6 if that’s what was decided).
I think they can name a squad of 6 excluding individual qualified athletes who will be also eligible to compete. Whether they do this or not we will wait and see.

There will be a few young guns looking to oust Andrew from his spot so you can be sure Andrew will have to better his pb to hold them off.
There might be a couple older guys unretire...what’s Dara Kervick at these days as he pops out of nowhere to compete now and again 😄 Eanna Madden to return from rugby maybe. As I said previously, I have no doubt Marcus and Mark Smyth could drop some decent 400m times with a bit of adjustment to their training. Thee are so many possibilities.

On the women’s side how could you consider anyone outside of Phil and Sharlene but what do you do if Rhasidat or Davicia dropped a big time in the US. Obviously Sophie Becker in the mix too . All the above adds to the excitement of it all over the next few months.

Irish Sports Follower

Chivito550 wrote: »

Doubt Barr will run it in Tokyo. Heats of 400m hurdles and heats of mixed 4x400 are on the same day. Hurdles in morning, relay in evening.

That opens the door maybe for Gregan.

The men's 800m heats at Tokyo are the day after the heats of the mixed relay so this would seemingly rule Mark English out of running the latter too. Real pity that the schedule deprives us of arguably our two best male 400m runners.

Forge83

Irish Sports Follower wrote: »

The men's 800m heats at Tokyo are the day after the heats of the mixed relay so this would seemingly rule Mark English out of running the latter too. Real pity that the schedule deprives us of arguably our two best male 400m runners.

Chris O Donnell is faster than Mark English and most likely faster than Tom over 400 flat. He has already ran 46.1 in 2020 and is still only 22.
He will most likely break into the 45s in 2021.
If Brian Gregan can get back into 46 shape he would be a massive addition to the squad.

yerwanthere123

To be honest the relays isn't something I follow that much but I'll be watching tonight. Do Ireland have a shot at medalling anywhere?

t00019475

So when are Athletics Ireland going to update the fixture list, to include the national half marathon and local road races. I'm sure Pods of 15 for local races can be managed & behind closed doors national road championships can be held. Come on Athletics Ireland, let's see you get to work.

Peterx

Both those 4x100m relay finals were great to watch, loads of drama.

Dodge

Mad that so many of the 4x100 runners also doing the 4x200