Athletics 2026

yerwanthere123 · 20-03-2026 08:55PM

The men's and women's 400m final tomorrow will be ran as two separate races. So two finals for the men and two for the women, with the medals being awarded to the fastest three across the two races. A terrible change, and hopefully this will be a once-off experiment.

Enduro · 20-03-2026 11:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124327971#Comment_124327971

It's completely off the wall. No head-to-head racing, which is the essence of actual racing. Instead, two time trials in sequence. Whoever came up with this travesty shouldn't be remotely involved in organising an athletics meet at any level in any capacity.

Enduro · 20-03-2026 11:36PM

Actually, why even bother with these farcical finals? Taking the top 3 times from the heats would be just as valid as this.

Strazdas · 20-03-2026 11:41PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124327971#Comment_124327971

That sounds well weird - almost like using the idea of the time trial from the Tour de France (which is usually a very boring stage).

yerwanthere123 · 21-03-2026 04:10AM

First champion on the track is 21 year old Jordan Anthony. Can't say I'm that familiar with him, but he only started focusing on athletics properly last year after giving up American football. His time of 6.41 puts him fourth on the all-time list, and he's certainly one to watch for the future.

Dodge · 21-03-2026 12:00PM

Nice for Lauren Roy to make a world semi final

yerwanthere123 · 21-03-2026 12:52PM

Some other bits of news that I meant to post on the thread:

The BBC have confirmed they have no plans to use Michael Johnson in their athletics coverage this year. https://share.google/iCE6fekCsqft2hGTU

Still can't believe the Grand Slam Track debacle actually happened to be honest.

The next two World Indoor Championships will be held in Odisha, India and Astana, Kazakhstan in 2028 and 2030 respectively. https://share.google/LNuf3gDIy024HvSj0

Unusual choices, but if the arenas are full then I don't mind.

Lastly, I'm sure most have already seen but Fotyen Tesfay ran the second fastest marathon of all time last weekend in 2:10:51. Given the world record holder is a proven doper I think it's fair to say most would consider Tesfay the new world record holder, though there's plenty of scepticism about this mark too. She's a 63:21 half marathon runner though, so maybe it's more believable than Chepng'etich.

Strazdas · 21-03-2026 01:07PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124329297#Comment_124329297

She has been in great form on the US indoor circuit.

Cosmo Kramer · 21-03-2026 01:16PM

English went for it 100m too soon there.

tiggerific · 21-03-2026 01:19PM

Pity for English. Didn't get the tactics right today.

yerwanthere123 · 21-03-2026 05:23PM

The men's 3000m could be a great race later with Hocker, Kerr, Nuguse and Beamish all taking part. Coscoran and Griggs will be there too. Let's Run have a good writeup of the race here

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2026/03/2026-world-indoors-mens-3k-paris-olympic-1500m-rematch-is-the-race-of-the-meet/

Lauren Roy will be in heat 3 of the women's 60m SF's, but qualification seems a tough ask.

yerwanthere123 · 21-03-2026 07:34PM

Well well well, gold for Kerr, wasn't expecting that. Tactically poor from Hocker, put himself in a bad position.

liamooooo · 21-03-2026 07:35PM

Griggs ran very mature race probably lacked a bit of confidence to go with it with 400 to go but f8nished last 150 strongly to pick.off a few

BP_RS3813 · 21-03-2026 07:37PM

Hocker always does that - lead, get boxed in after losing lead then sprint finish too late to get a bronze/silver.

If he was positioned better he would have 100% outkicked Kerr.

StiffLittleFingers · 21-03-2026 09:00PM

If you follow Kerr on YouTube he had a good build up after getting over the injury and I'd say he was under a bit of pressure as Brooks star athlete to start performing again. He's eaten enough humble pie after all his swagger and has finally performed again.

unichick · 21-03-2026 11:22PM

Can’t stand Kerr. And darling of BBC Dina didn’t perform in her final.

It’s a pity the two boys didn’t give it a go in the 3,000. Surprised Coscoran was so far behind.

I really enjoyed the multi events plus the field events. Track has been ruined by that two race final debacle.

Well done to Lauren for getting to the semi. Was rooting for Ciara Neville too. Seems to be a lot of Irish there & they are getting great support. Felt for Mark English. He just went too soon. Hopefully he’ll be back for the Europeans.

Yintang · 22-03-2026 12:10AM

Coscoran seems to be struggling in major champs lately.. is he getting past his best, or is there more to come?

StiffLittleFingers · 22-03-2026 12:43AM

I remember back in 2023 Kerr beat Ingebrigtsen and I was to delighted to see a Scot winning Worlds but my God he is even more painful to listen to than Ingebrigtsen. He can't put a sentence together without boasting or bullshitting.

Jakey Rolling · 22-03-2026 09:13AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124328631#Comment_124328631

Would surely be problematic in the case of a "photo finish" - how do you separate two athletes who record the same time in separate finals? Would take a lot of trust in the technology to bring it down to 1/1000th to determine a winner. Golds all round I guess?

Jakey Rolling · 22-03-2026 11:01AM

Not a bad start from Kate - just 0.02s off her PB in the hurdles. Hall will be hard to beat if she performs near her best though

Speak Now · 22-03-2026 01:05PM

Solid high jump from Katie as well, 3rd place going into the shot putt.

Speak Now · 22-03-2026 02:09PM

PB in the shot putt, long jump and 800m this evening

DOKTER 2942
Hall -16
O'Connor -33
SCUHBERT -67

Cosmo Kramer · 22-03-2026 02:19PM

Strong competition this year. She could outperform her silver medal score from last year, but still only finish fourth. She has the weakest long jump and the second weakest 800m of the four athletes in the medal mix, so she will be up against it to hold on for a medal.

Jakey Rolling · 22-03-2026 02:29PM

Would have needed to match her PB in the high jump to buy an extra second in the 800m. Performing well, but can't always hit PBs in every event. Good to see Hall being pushed, long jump could make it close but Hall has the form to make up any deficit in the 800m.

Speak Now · 22-03-2026 03:07PM

Weakest PB of the 4 but hers is this year and better than the rest have shown. Let's hope its current form over past years.

Dodge · 22-03-2026 03:09PM

Always a huge variance in the long jump.

Her PB is 4th of the 4 medal contenders, but she has the best SB. In Tokyo last year Kate was ahead of Dokter and Hall in the long jump (with all 3 well below their PBs)

Hall still a warm favourite for gold based on her 800m

Cosmo Kramer · 22-03-2026 06:17PM

Poor performance from the Pole in the long jump, O'Connor up to second ahead of Hall. Very unlikely to hold onto that in the 800, but she's looking really good now for bronze.

Speak Now · 22-03-2026 06:20PM

She has about 4 seconds in hand on the Polish girl going into 800m.

Dodge · 22-03-2026 06:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124332737#Comment_124332737

she’s far more than that. She has about 8-9 on her.

She’ll win a medal. Bronze looks likeliest now. It’ll be fun to see if Hall tries to overtake Dokter. That’s about a 7 second gap

Speak Now · 22-03-2026 06:32PM

Probably even more, I had 60 point gap instead of the actual 160 😁

Athletics 2026

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