Tokyo 2020: Athletics Thread

I'm not even talking about the generational talents like Sonia and I don't expect us to even win medals as I know how incredibly competitive it is but surely we should be expecting to get a few athletes out of the heats into semi finals. Our aspirations have to be higher than just qualifying.

In order for Ireland to be more competitive we need a strong base of children taking part in Athletics and good structures at a grassroot level. There are a small scattering of clubs with elite juvenile structures and historically I don't think Athletics Ireland have done a good job of getting children involved in the sport compared to the likes of the GAA where games development officers are sent to the schools to promote their sports.

If we are to forget about children for the moment can we say Athletics Ireland did a good job in helping elite athletes this past 18 months? Did they provide our elite athletes with meaningful competitions? Were some of our athletes forced abroad to secure qualification times because Athletics Ireland couldn't be arsed organising an event themselves? When Eamonn Christie put on a race for elite athletes they fcuked him around for an administrative error. Did that really help our athletes?

Surprising alright. Wonder what the basis was for that. Interesting too that Sonia O'Sullivan was suggesting some of the Irish athletes were too long in camp this morning, think that was in reference to Sarah Healys run in the 1500 but was aimed as a general comment too. That was her opinion anyway.

Benjamin smashed the world record in second place......that's practically unheard of

You could tell the WR was on when Warholm had a huge lead 200m out

I think the fact that Benjamin came at Warholm all the way down the home straight and nearly went past him forced him to run even faster than he would have done otherwise.

It's cometely different being in Ireland and swanning over two days before the Olympics in the UK. You are doing your normal thing.

You need a camp in Japan to acclimatise. The heat, breathing etc. is different.

You need to change diet, drink more fluids just to avoid injury, heat stroke, dehydration.

I'd call a month about perfect.

It was a great race but I wouldn't go that far.

The three medalists all went under Kevin Young's WR that stood for 29 years, that would suggest to me that the footwear has had a big impact on the times.

Benjamin beat that record by 6 tenths of a second and the WR by over 5 tenths, and was still only good enough for second, that's unheard of in sprinting.

Hell of a run by Warholm...

I was only recently thinking of the toughest track records, and Young's was right up there

Now it has bee relegated to the 5th fastest time ever.

I wonder could we see Flo Jo's 200 go this week....right conditions, Thompson flying....? Needs a hell of a run, but she may have it...

You know the thing that's bugging me here is that Thompson's time is only the second fastest this year.

Gabby Thomas has shown nothing but she's there in the final. I don't know if she's not at her best or just decided not to do too much and just qualify for the final. If she hits top form then the record could go as whoever wins it could break it.

In my view, Thomas will not medal in the 200m. She was all out in the semi final trying unsuccessfully to hold off Mboma.

US sprint performances in Eugene should always be treated with caution. They are rarely replicated outside that very specific environment. Look at Jenna Prandini. She ran 21:8x in the US Olympic trials and yet failed to make the final in Tokyo. In fact, she was even beaten by the Australian champion Riley Day.

My predictions for the 200m are 1. Elaine Thompson-Herah; 2. Shelly-Ann Fraser Price and 3. Mboma, who will no doubt trigger another **** show around the DSD athletes.

Just realized how annoying it is to type out the double and triple barreled names of Caribbean female sprinters!

Poor Britsh girl had her bronze snatched in the last 3-5 meters...