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Was going to start this the other day as I think there's enough interest in athletics to have a thread dedicated to it.

Live the heavyweight division in boxing, the men's 100m always attracts a lot of the interest. Tal's just posted about Gay withdrawing from the World Champs after testing positive for a banned substance http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/23307913).  Then, there's the GB Men's 100m selection headache for the World Champs - with 4 pegs to fit into 3 holes (surely Gemili gets one of the spots?).

If Gay fails the B test and it's a performance-enhancing or masking drug, where does this leave US sprinting? BALCO did a lot of damage, but seemed to leave behind the 7-10 split of Tyson Gay, who refused to be implicated, at least in the eyes of Joe Public.

How long will it take for the USA to recover? Will Jamaica now be left to dominate for this generation or, dare I ask, is there one more big revelation to come?

The eternal counter-argument is that testing is now so much better, although that leaves more unanswered questions.

As for the positive good news, 9.91 is a major championship final time and we suddenly have a group of potential sub-10.1 sprinters, which gives us a fighter's chance of relay medals going forward.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/23299764

Dasaolu with the second-fastest time by a British runner ever (2nd only to Christie).  However, Dasaolu has been plagued with injuries and seems to struggle in comps with qualifying rounds (which will obviously be the case in the Worlds).  Gemili, a 19-year old who switched to athletics from playing football for Dagenham & Redbridge, didn't run in the British Champs, which are the 'qualifiers' for the Worlds.  He hasn't run an 'A' time yet, but the selectors might decide he's worthwhile including.  His time in 2012 of 10.05 put him ahead of Bolt, Powell, etc., when they were the same age - so he's definitely a prospect.  He also just missed out on reaching the final last year in the Olympics, which would have been some story.

So Dasaolu obviously has a place, as does the cheat Dwayne Chambers who won the event with an A-time.  Mark Lewis-Francis, Adam Gemili and Harry Aikines-Aryeete are left contesting the third spot in the team.  Lewis-Francis will definitely miss out (imo), and it's between the other two for me.

The US have Gatlin, so their squeaky-clean image will be fine ;)

Would be devastating for the 100m if one of the big Jamaicans was tested positive. Some think it's just a matter of time, but you can just hope that isn't the case.



Unfortunately, there'll always be doubt in the eyes of the public.  I'm sure many are pointing fingers at Dasaolu's 9.91 and asking where the hell that came from.


Relay team should be a shoo-in for a medal, if they can manage the small matter of getting the baton round the track...

Glad you started this, the big takeaway from London 2012 for me was it got me into Athletics (to watch not do obv) love the Diamond meets and such on the beeb.

Yeah, the BBC are putting a lot into their coverage this year.  Even covering it on the radio, etc.

Lol athletics  -are you cycling in disguise

Not surprising nobody cba to watch it with results like the Gay test - he has basically admitted guilt by saying "I put my trust in someone I shouldn't have"

There really is no point in watching a sport where it feels like its 50/50 that is 3-5 years a winner will get busted

The Jamaicans are up to their necks in drugs.

Two of the big Jamaicans, Mullings & Blake, have already had drugs bans.

On the women's team, Campbell-Brown & Fraser-Price have had positives.

Today, two Olympic medalist Jamaican sprinters have reportedly tested positive for banned substances. Odds-on that Blake is one of them. A second offence could mean a major ban. Mullings, the 8th-fastest man ever, World Championship relay gold medalist, got a lifetime ban for his second.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/14/jamaican-sprinters-fail-drugs-test

Why can't we just have a steroid Olympics? Surely we would get a sub 8 seconds 100m with that.

We already have. Gay's result means that the 2nd, 3rd & 4th place finishers in last Summer's Men's 100m have all had postive drugs tests.

The 100m = athletics in the same way as heavyweight boxing = boxing. 

Would much rather watch a good 1,500m, 5,000m or 10,000m race than the 100m.  Of course, as a spectacle it's good to watch, but it's certainly not the be all and end all of athletics.

When you say nobody can be arsed to watch it, you basing that on viewing figures and attendances or on your household viewing figures?

And all drugs= steroids obv.

Was anybody else arsed enough to get tickets for the anniversary games in a couple of weeks?

Got 3 for the Saturday.

feel free to quote viewing figures for athletics pre June 2012 and ill listen to what you have to say re audience participation

There was a huge link between positive drugs tests from 1988 onwards and the decline of the sport (you can make you mind up as to whether is was causal)

I personally don't watch athletics (outside of Olympics) because im not that interested, but the lack of interest is compounded by continual failed drugs tests of former champions

Feel free to quote the figures yourself.


You talking about the 100m again?


You talking about the 100m again?

Not just the 100m but without doubt that is both the marquee event of any meet and where most high profile failures have been

But the reality is 100m also equals 200m and long jump

You can also put EVERY throwing event into the list

So that leaves long distance running and some jumping events. I'm fairly sure that there was high profile failures in both Decathlon and Heptathlon within the last 5 years

But the simple fact remains, that in the hierarchy of drug failures (especially high profile ones) athletics is heavily smeared.

Aikines-Aryeete for the 3rd spot for me.  Gemili in the 200 as that's the race he's run the A standard and only the 7th fastest brit this year over 100m.  Lewis-Francis has had his time in the sun, and will be remembered for holding off Greene but shouldn't get the nod ahead of the younger guys.  Gemili would've probably run his fastest time on Saturday with the fast track.  He should've been there anyways,  if theres any doubts about your selection then you turn up and beat the other contenders.

They should really win a medal in the relay. 

Nice for UK Athletics having selection troubles, especially in the sprints.   

Not sure I how I feel about Gay right now.  I always liked him and his attitude.  I hated how he finished 4th behind Gatlin last year.  No excuses, obv, but to run incredible times the past 5 years which were never good enough, must have been frustrating as hell.  Might just have pushed him over the edge.        

Really? 


You can?


Yes, if you ignore the short and long hurdles, the 400m, the 800m, the 1,500m, the steeplechase... ;)


Can't remember any in the decathlon (off the top of my head), but there was one in the heptathlon.  Hardy ruined it though, as shown by the interest in Ennis and Kluft before her.


Mmm, sponsors are paying more and more in athletics. The BBC has committed a large chunk of money and resources to covering athletics from this season (riding the wave of the Olympics obviously) in this country, the Grand Prix prize-monies are larger than they've ever been.  Seems to be thriving despite being 'heavily smeared'.

Anyway, if you don't have an interest in athletics, you don't have to read the thread ;)

The question is was he told/advised by GB athletics to go to the U23 and miss the trials?  If that's the case, he shouldn't be penalised for missing it.  As you say, he's got the 200m and would be in the relay anyway, so they might leave him out of the 100m knowing he'll have a chance to run it many times in the future.  But I do think there's an argument for his inclusion.


On paper, definitely.  There's that baton issue though...


Got issues in a number of events, and it does bode well for athletics here.


He was so any-Gatlin that makes it a surprise that he's had a positive result.  Blaming a coach or whoever is no defence though, and its very disappointing.  This season he was head and shoulders ahead of the others, and it was making it interesting for the Worlds to see if the others would catch up and over-take him or not.  Unfortunately, that's irrelevant now.

lol at the noob running 9.91  :D

Noob? 

The Jamaican sprinter is Powell.

With the greatest if respect Dan, you are a skilled debater, but thats the problem, you are missing the key fact that every time there is a positive test it massively affects the sport.

You think a failed test by someone outside the top 3 of an event doesn't matter? Really?

I used to love cycling (I cycled everyday age 9-16) and now I can barely be bothered with it.

When people are asked to commit their own time to a sport or past time, whether that be participation or watching, they need to know what they are watching/involved with is real/fair. The more and more that positive tests are exposed the more damage it creates (despite a degree of reassurance that they are catching culprits).

Its the the issue of the Spanish Doctor (is he called Michelle Ferarri or something), a man who has knowingly assisted people who he refuses to testify against, and there is significant speculation that he assisted a "high profile Spanish Tennis player". Its just damaging all round.

 

Sorry, was just demonstrating why this thread was a good idea ;)

What's been announced, or are they waiting for the B sample?

and what about the female shot putter who failed a drugs test at the Olympics because she couldn't get her cock in the test tube  :D

So you are saying you are not surprised at his time? He has never run under 10 secs before, he's been on the club circuit for a while but his massive improvement raises eyebrows at the minimum. Faster than Bolt this year  rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

I've already mentioned the surprise at his time.  Was just questioning the use of the word 'noob' for someone who's been competing for 7 years.  I also mentioned that his career has been hampered by injuries and he's brought in a new coaching team to help him overcome these.  He's improved his PB from 10.05 to 9.91, is that absolutely impossible to do off the back of injury-free training (and better coaching)?

How much quicker do drugs make 100m runners? 

That makes his time even more surprising as far as I'm concerned, the sudden and dramatic improvement.

lol, u want a number? Who cares, faster than they were before  rotflmfao

OK.

So answer my next question.  Being able to train injury-free, in addition to a much better coaching setup - how much quicker does that make a 100m runner?

Don't know you tell me? As much as he has improved in that time lol? Are you not in the slightest bit suspicious?

But this in a way is a very good case in point isn't it.

The kid might have trained like a beast, injury free and become a legend with a new trainer/programme/diet. Yet the first question people ask is "has he been tested"

And he cant win, because if at any point he fails a test it'll be "I told you so, you cant trust athletics",  even if he just doesn't manage to keep up a high level for performance it will be suggested.

When you cant trust the sport its no fun to watch

I can't trust this I'm afraid......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/23307913

how many huge races in the 100m have involved powell? What we supposed to think about all those now?

::)

I've already mentioned it's a great improvement - but we're talking about 0.14 of a second.  I think that's definitely doable if a runner (who became a full-time athlete later on than many other runners) has been hampered by injuries, and manages to train for a sustained period without them - whilst also receiving better coaching, etc.  Alternatively, it could be drug-assisted - but don't see any evidence for that.

Mo Farah went from a nearly-man to the golden member of the GB team.  Was this through drugs, or was it the natural progression of his career combined with his move to live and train full-time in the States with the exceptional coach Salazar?  Of course, there are people who point the finger at Farah as well, especially as he has had sprint-training from Smith who was associated with the BALCO drugs scandal.

I admire your faith in human honestly Dan I really do lol, I really hope my suspicions are wrong, trust me I really do. Guess we will see in time..... ;whistle;

Oh, it's extremely sad and does taint the 100m.  But not sure that ruins the whole of athletics, and neither will it spoil my enjoyment of watching Tirunesh Dibaba run the 5,000 and 10,000m, or getting excited about new British talents such as Jessica Judd.  Watching 'Super Saturday' at the Olympics was one of the best sporting occasions I've seen, and not once did I consider the issue of drugs cheats.

Just let them all take drugs.

Who is to say what is allowable and what isn't? Natural supplements or manufactured drugs?

Pleased Gay hasn't tried to deny it at least.

No, don't agree with that at all. That will just lead to abuse of health at all costs to win. On one level I can see that argument for an individual if they want to do it, but there will be outsiders seeking to profit by encouraging athletes to take all kinds of bullshit with no consequence to themselves other than making money. Wrong wrong wrong.......

Farah has won sixteen medals at World, Olympic and European Track & Cross-Country Championships.

Gold and Silver at the last World Championships, three Golds and a Silver at the Europeans, two Golds at the European Indoors.

Nearly man?

Before moving to the States and working with Salazar, how many golds had he won against World-class opposition? Of course, he was a fantastic runner before then - but outside of athletics fans, he was far from a household name.  It's since then he moved up a level.

In agreement with Woodsey for once :D

Get stuffed, I said it first  :D

You had to, otherwise I couldn't agree with you ::)

To be honest I don't see what all the fuss is about. I've got nothing but admiration for guys like Lance Armstrong. He won SEVEN Tour De France's whilst ripped of his tits on drugs. I cycled home once from my mates house after dropping some E's and hit a dog and fell into a canal. It's not as easy as it looks.

Awesome. Look out for my new staking thread where I'll be on the 'phone to Shaun Deeb for every decision in the entire comp.

Reminds me of a Frank Skinner joke.

East 17's Brian Harvey claims he once had 13 E's in a single day. Must have been his GCSE results.

The fastest men ever:

1     Usain Bolt
=2   Tyson Gay - failed drugs test
=2   Yohan Blake - failed drugs test
4     Asafa Powell - failed drugs test
5     Nesta Carter
=6   Maurice Greene
=6   Justin Gatlin - failed drugs test
8     Steve Mullings - failed drugs test

Is there any point?

If ll the audience/crowd think every athlete is drugged up to the eyelids then they might as well be.

Had no idea until today that Blake had tested positive for drugs.

Why was there such a furore about Gaitlin competing at the London Olympics, but not a word (that I heard) against Blake?

Early contender for POTY right there! Wpwp!

Still laughing now

Well, I think I agree with the sentiment. It's another TdF now.

Still clinging to the hope that Seb Coe is outed as a drugs cheat.

If Mo Greene wasn't on steroids I'll eat my iPad.

My only faith in athletics is Usain Bolt. When he said a while back you could take his blood and test him in 50 years or whatever he said it gave me some hope he's beating people cleanly.

Carl Lewis too.

This is precisely the problem.

Lance Armstrong said much the same and now we again see a man miles ahead of a succession of people on drugs and have to put our faith in him when he says he's just biologically better.

I hope this one is different.

Pretty sure Lewis had some murky info come out that got suppressed

Yup people "know" but he's still on the BBC preaching cleanliness for the sport and dissing Michael Johnson when he can. He's a hypocrite of the highest order and needs to remove his head from his own arse.

If he's not then London may as well be Seoul. Great "legacy".

Top quality post sir, have you thought about offering Jeeves employment?

Blake got 3 months - tested positive for something not on the list, but similar to another substance on the list (I think).

Not sure how the severity is judged (for a 'first' offence) for different drugs.

Our chances of winning a medal in the 4x100m relay at the worlds is getting better by the minute.  Even with the drugs cheat Dwayne Chambers in the team.

Sad athletics news today.  For the older members on here many will remember Todd Bennett who ran the 400m for GB.  Sadly he died from cancer today aged only 51.

RIP Todd

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-hHIldqVBY

In other news, Gemili hasn't been selected for the 100m, and as Alverton suggested he's just running the 200m (and probably the 4x100m as well I'd guess).

TEAM GB SQUAD:

MEN:

100m: Harry Aikines Aryeetey, Dwain Chambers, James Dasaolu. 200m: James Ellington, Adam Gemili, Delano Williams. 400m: Nigel Levine. 800m: Andrew Osagie, Michael Rimmer, 1500m: Chris O'Hare. 5000m: Mo Farah. 10,000m: Mo Farah. 110m Hurdles: William Sharman. 400m Hurdles: Dai Greene, Sebastian Rodger, Rhys Williams. 3000m Steeplechase: James Wilkinson. Long Jump: TBA. High Jump: Robbie Grabarz. Pole Vault: Steve Lewis. Discus Throw: Brett Morse. Decathlon: Ashley Bryant. 4x100m: Aikines Aryeetey, Chambers, Dasaolu, Ellington, Gemili, Richard Kilty, Andrew Robertso, Deji Tobais. 4x400m: Michael Bingham, Jamie Bowie, Luke Lennon Ford, Levine, Martyn Rooney, Conrad Williams, Delano Williams.

WOMEN:

100m: Asha Philip. 200m: Anyika Onuora, Jodie Williams. 400m: Christine Ohuruogu. 800m: Jessica Judd. Laura Muir, Marilyn Okoro. 1500m: Hannah England, Laura Weightman. 100m Hurdles: Tiffany Porter. 400m Hurdles: Meghan Beesley, Eilidh Child, Perri Shakes Drayton. 3000m Steeplechase: Eilish McColgan. Long Jump: Shara Proctor, Lorraine Ugen. Hammer Throw: Sophie Hitchon. Heptathlon: Jessica Ennis-Hill, Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Marathon: Sonia Samuels, Susan Partridge. 4x100m: Philip, Hayley Jones, Annabelle Lewis, Ashleigh Nelson, Bianca Williams, Dina Asher Smith, Williams. 4x400m: Margaret Adeoye, Child, Shana Cox, Kirsten McAslan, Kelly Massey, Christine Ohuruogu, Victoria Ohuruogu, Onuora, Shakes Drayton.

"and Ohuruogu hands on to Ohuruogu........"

Just rolls off the tongue.

:D

"...Aikines Aryeetey to Dasaolu" isn't an easy one either!

So Blake pulls out of the world champs.

How many more before we think we can get a GB medal?

They have a knack of fitting people in even though its not Athletes desired event.  I think Gemili gets the nod in the 4x100m as well as Ellington if he has a good 200m.  Not sure about long jump.  If Rutherford says he's fit, he'll go. I don't think he'll lie and stall like the Idowu debacle last year.  A lot of variance in the long jump anyways where Tomlinson could've quite easily pulled a winning jump last year.

It's a shame that only one of Rutherford and Tomlinson can go. The setting of the A-standard was ridiculously high (should that be long?) and there aren't many who've managed it this year.  But each country is only allowed to select one athlete for any event who only has the B-standard (think they can also include existing world champs as an additional entry, but this doesn't extend to Olympic champs). 

Dasaolu has to be in with a definite shout for a medal now.  Also bodes well for the 4x100m team, as long as we can get the baton round...

The A standard was silly high and should've been lower.  The 'A' mark, (although should be longer), could be the gold winning jump come Russia.  The overall standard in the world isn't great, and you have 20+ guys who can get their technique right for one jump and win gold yet struggle to break 8metres for the rest of the year.  Its okay to set high standards and only have potential medal winners but the jumps are so high in variance that a little leeway should be given on the standards.  My two cents anyway.

1900-2030   British Eurosport 2   
Live Athletics
EAA Spitzen Leichtathletik, Lucerne

"3000m Steeplechase: Eilish McColgan."

Scary how old I'm getting.

Am I the only one that thinks there may be more to Blakes withdrawal than a hamstring injury?

Nah me too, far to convenient timing.  It has been effecting him all season, but maybe it was a cover knowing the impending blow-up.  Not sure how it works, but does he get tested when 'injured'?

Think a lot of the Jamaicans train together so they might well have been on the same supplements as powell.

Yeah, it's ridiculous.  Watched her run for the first time about a year ago and they interviewed her and her mum after the race. No question whose daughter she is, and she even has her mum's elbows when she runs :)

On a similar note, a few years ago I was watching some boxing on telly. It was Steve Foster Jr fighting (can't remember who he was up against).  I turned to Lyndsey and said "I remember watching his Dad fight" - and immediately felt as though I was 65 years old.  What was worse, was that during the fight the commentators mentioned that Steve Foster Jr was coming to the end of his career!!

Playing Devil's Advocate for a moment, it could be that the past week hasn't been good for preparation and he's decided not to show up when only 80% there mentally.

He might not fancy the media either.

If he is clean now, it can't be easy for him or any other of the elite sprinters, but particularly Blake, given he's so close to those involved and his history.

Mo Farah, the fastest British man over what distance?

1,500m.

Faster than Cram, Coe and Ovett. Farah ran 3.28.81 to become the European record holder and the sixth fastest man ever over 1,500m.

Incredible. Just incredible.

Yeah, but he came second ;)

He's higher in the fastest ever 1,500m best times than he is for the 5,000m and 10,000m!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0371g97/Athletics_2013_Diamond_League_Monaco/

(12 minutes in)

Any news on the proposed Bolt v Rudisha match race over 400m?

I keep googling it and I haven't seen anything concrete arranged. Can't think of anything more I want to see in sport this year than this.

Rudisha's not running in the 800m at the World Champs because of a knee injury, so that might also delay any chance of a 400m duel between them.

Would have been great to have at the London Olympics stadium event next week

If it's going to take place, I guess it will be next season (at the earliest) now.

From Auntie:

"Great Britain long-jumper Chris Tomlinson says he is "disappointed" to miss out on a place at the World Championships in Moscow.

Olympic gold medallist Greg Rutherford was selected for next month's event instead of the 31-year-old. "Hugely disappointed that I'm not going to Moscow, especially when in better current form and 100% fit and ready," tweets Tomlinson, who won bronze at the 2010 European Championships."

Can't blame him.

I have long been of the view that major championships should invite the top 6-10 in the world rankings and then allocated spaces per nation. That means there might be ten eight six Jamaican men invited for the 100m heats, but I'd rather the eight people that line up for the final are the fastest in the world than having people there who realistically can't win, or having people move to other countries so that they can get into their squad.

It's a shame that neither of our jumpers reached the A standard, as if one had they would both be able to compete.

I agree that the world championships should be contested by the best athletes in the world and not restricted to an arbitrary number from each country.

Gotta love Mo.

It's a bit of a farce how much respect he gets in these fields. Obviously, it's great for team GB!

Bolt time.

Stadium half full, doesn't bode well for the rest of the championship. 

Bit meh.  4 from a nation that has just had 2 positive drug tests amongst its sprinters lining up alongside Justin Gaitlin.  I like to be optimistic about such things, but was hard after seeing that line up.

I agree, felt a bit meh as well, then afterwards having to listen to Denise Lewis didn't help. 

Saying that the two 10'000m have been incredible.

Every Olympics and World Champs should be held in Britain. 

:)

Oh, and Tirunesh Dibaba is utterly brilliant. 

Probably wouldn't/didn't stop them all taking drugs.

I meant for the full stadia and organisation rather than the drugs thing.

Christine Ohuruogu.

;tightend;

Afraid I can't support her. If this happened today, everyone would be up in arms and would exclude her from all competition.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/5328420.stm

She managed to get her lifetime Olympic ban overturned (again, don't support that either as a general principle).

Athletics needs strict liability.

You followed that story when it happened? She has never used drugs, never tested positive for them, and made a mistake and was punished for it.

Hardly the same as someone like Justin Gatlin.

Rio Ferdinand?

I do remember the story and my view hasn't changed since then.

Missing tests is a serious offence in itself.

Do I think she's the same as Gatlin? No. Do I think she should be competing in major championships? No.

I'm pleased a Brit has won the gold and she gave her absolute all when her opponent made an elementary error ofnot dipping on the line. Great to see that level of guts and determination.

But, I'm sorry, if you are given a suspension for drug offences - including missing multiple tests - you should not be competing for major medals.

wow what a race!

Pretty much all of that ^^^

Bit daft to hold a silly naïve mistake against her.  The lifetime Olympic ban was ridiculous at the time, still is looking back and was deservedly turned over.

Athletics will unfortunately always have drug cheats, and they should be banned.  I hate watching Gatlin take silver.  But taking the giant leap to start giving suspensions to Athletes who don't take drugs and cheat.  Its an unusual one to me.   

Each to their own opinion ofc.

it does not help she is shy and not great at interviews and expressing herself.  Me i dont give a fig, look at her record over a long time shes done well for us :}

I am not a fan, can't warm to her at all and do fear the worst over her "mistake"

that said, can't argue with her guts in the races. Is never beat

She had a longer ban than some get who are tested positive for drugs. A lifetime ban would be completely disproportionate to the crime.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/2325245/Dates-prove-Christine-Ohuruogu-is-no-cheat.html

It wasn't even as though there was a question of her being a drugs cheat. She was tested and shown to be  clean at the time.

There is nothing to fear, she tested clean during that period she 'missed' those tests.

Christine Ohuruogu.
;tightend;

Gotta love that dip.  Just have no idea how she gets there time after time.  I really enjoy her full flowing charge in the last 100.

Happy for Valerie Adams after missing out on the podium moment last year.

Apparently last night before the 100m final day tickets were on sale for 300 roubles or approx £5.88

will they please look at the crowds for future events and deciding who hosts them. If no one is there live to see it why host the thing in the first place?

Lot of people seem unable to warm to Ohurougu.  I don't really know why she is so gutsy and has everything you want in an athlete.  Her punishment for what she did was more than adequate and it seems very unlikely that she was doping. 

All about money, unfortunately. The Beijing Olympics was awful in terms of support at the events. They didn't care, it was all about TV and global advert opportunities.

That's what made London 2012 so very special (it ticked all theboxes).

Always delivers when it matters as well.

More than the drugs thing I think it's simply that she really isn't much of a looker, as harsh as that sounds it's a big factor in how popular sportswomen become.

I almost wrote that actually.  It is definitely a factor. 

A great day for home (would of said British but meh) sport, Christine Ohurougo was the highlight. Heart she has plenty and her smile on the result was fantastic. Well done.

Michael Johnson.........jammy bastard........

lol Mo Farah great race  :)up

Everyone keeps letting Farah run his race. Much harder to do in practice of course, but running an even pace and letting him get inside and to the front for the last 600 is only ending one way.

There need to be tactics, even working in groups to attack like in the TdF. Someone does a 57second lap with six to go and suddenly slows it down to 64 for the next. Something to make it harder for him to win the race.

You should be looking to do not what you want to do most, but what your opponent wants you to do least.

Can anyone explain to me how the USA don't get dq'ed in the Mens 4x100m relay?

no one lodged a complaint more to the point gave gb kept theres?

Spoke too soon....

Missed all this as I'm currently drinking loads of beer in a field with loads of hippies listening to great music.

Saw Mo did the double, bloody immigrants coming over here and being brilliant. Shame that Bekele isn't the force he was, then we'd have some truly great races with Mo.

What happened with the relays? Also, Gemili came 5th in the 200m? He's going to be one of GB's greatest ever sprinters in he carries on as he's started.

Huh?  Instead of the World Champs!

Mo is great, haven't cheered for anybody or anything in sport like I have for him.  However, not taking anything away from the triple World and double Olympic Gold medallist, he is fortunate (yet taken full advantage) to have peaked during a tiny little bit of a lull in the competition.

Men's were a comfortable 3rd then rightly got disqualified.  Women's were sitting 2nd after the final change over after every other team apart from Jamaica screwed up there changes, but they couldn't hold on and finished 4th.  France then got disqualified and the women were promoted to 3rd.

Amazing what Gemili has done in 18 months, will hopefully keep on improving and go under 10secs by the end of the season.  Much more reliable than Dasaolu who I assume will always struggle to go through the rounds and will fall over after a breeze of wind.

He came when he was a child, but he's not the only one. There were a couple of American accents among the British medalists, who switched when they couldn't make the US team. We are ok with this? Some of the UK athletes definitely aren't happy about it.

When was the last time GB actually got through a major championship mens 4x100 without a baton fuck up?  I honestly can't remember.

You're not exaggerating at all. I just checked and, though I knew it had happened a lot, I didn't realize it was so many times. They didn't get the baton round seven times in the last five years - 2008 Olympics, 2010 Europeans, 2011 Worlds, 2012 Europeans, 2012 Olympics, 2013 Anniversary Games and 2013 Worlds. Plus others in the past - 1996 Olympics, 2000 Olympics. Definitely cost themselves a few medals in that lot.

In contrast, the Women's team made some cracking handovers today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/24086124

What a corking race this could be.  Three legends of the sport, and hope all three are fully fit and ready for this distance.

    Mo Farah (Great Britain)
    Two Olympic golds (5,000m & 10,000m at London 2012)
    Three world titles (5,000m at Daegu 2011, 5,000m & 10,000m at Moscow 2013)

    Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia)
    Three Olympic golds (10,000m at Athens 2004, 5,000m & 10,000m at Beijing 2008)
    Five world titles (10,000m at Paris 2003, Helsinki 2005, Osaka 2007, 5,000m & 10,000m at Berlin 2009)
    World record holder at 5,000m and 10,000m

    Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)
    Two Olympic golds (10,000m at Atlanta 1996 & Sydney 2000)
    Four world titles (10,000m at Stuttgart 1993, Gothenburg 1995, Athens 1997, Seville 1999)
    World record holder at 20,000m and one-hour race

Pretty impressive.  Gebrselassie was also the Marathon world record holder, until Makau beat it by 20 seconds in 2011.

New marathon world-record:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/24322574

Well, this is huge news:

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/26208821

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKBREA1E0QO20140215?irpc=932

(http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/do/getNewsImages?n=349&u=UKBREA1E0QO20140215)

It's certainly massive news - though we'll never know what height Bubka was capable of. There were many times when he cleared with a lot to spare and refused to go higher, so it is pretty much a certainty that he could have set figures well above the new record. It's difficult for us, though, to say that someone in his situation was wrong to put money first.

21 years. Blimey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/26968962

Farah's first race over the marathon distance. Wonder how he'll get on, and if he can get close to fellow 5k and 10k legend Bekele's debut time of 2:05:04?  I'm not convinced myself, but hoping tobbe pleasantly surprised.

Yeah I can't see him being close. Top five would be a superb result.

Top 5 would mean he'd be close to that time, and it would be an incredible run.  2:07:17 is the first time he's aiming to beat - the British record set back in 1985 by Steve Jones!

What price he doesn't finish?

He'll finish.

Just not near the front.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/26963298

and his coach doesn't want him near the lead group http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/london-marathon/10756131/Mo-Farah-to-run-in-slower-group-in-London-Marathon.html

I'm a bit torn on this. The fall undoubtedly put him under pressure for the rest of the race And his team points out that New York was run in freezing, windy conditions and he had just arrived from Kenya. And he is Mo Farah after all, tough as old boots. The collapse doesn't necessarily mean much - these guys have got extraordinary recovery ability. John Treacy collapsed from heat exhaustion in a qualifying position with 200m to go in the Moscow 10,000, yet he still ran three rounds of the 5,000m within the following week and finished 7th in the final, and I'm damn sure Farah is fitter than Treacy was.

On the other hand, the opposition is the toughest ever. It's going to be a very fast race and Mo has never run fast times for 5/10,000. Seems almost impossible to be elite at 1,500m and Marathon. It has been done before, by the likes of Quax and Gebrselassie, but not at the same time.

Quax and Gebrselassie lost their first Marathons, though they were both the fastest debuts in history at the time, which would suggest that it'll be tough for Farah. On the other hand, there has been a succession of amazing debuts in the last couple of years (http://www.jonmulkeen.com/blog/athletics/fastest-marathon-debuts/), so maybe athletes have now developed to the point where they can jump straight into the Marathon elite.

One year. Meh, Gay.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/27264866

This is sad news, Bannister has Parkinson's.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-27246599

Kenyan, Dennis Kimetto broke the marathon world record running the Berlin course in 2:02:57.

That's bloody quick.

That's 4:41 minute/mile pace, 2:55 minute/km pace. I reckon I might be able to manage that for about half a mile. Put another way, that's running over a hundred sub-70 seconds 400m back-to-back.

Wonder if we'll see a sub two-hour marathon in my life time? When I was born, the world record was 2:08:33, so that's more than five minutes knocked off the time. I'm sure the next three minutes might take another forty years though...

I was just talking to a cyclist about this and he thinks the marathon will go under 2 hours in twenty years.  Pretty sure it will happen in our lifetime.

It'd mean knocking more than 4 seconds off every kilometre. That's not insignificant. In fact, it's even easier to see how much needs to be done to break two hours when you have to think that that if someone ran the marathon in under two hours, they'd finish over a kilometre ahead of Kimetto! Hope we do see it.

I don't really follow distance running records so i must admit i was surprised what the world record was before it had been broken. I thought, at a guess, it would be around the 2.05 mark.

Tergat was the first to go sub 2:05, and he did that in 2003. So it's taken over a decade to get to the current record that is two minutes faster.

If the record can be reduced by the same margin in the same period, we'd be looking at the two-hour mark being broken within 20 years. But surely it's going to get harder and harder to knock minutes off the record? Although it's arguably easier to knock a few minutes off a record of 123 minutes than it is to knock another 0.2 seconds off the 100m world record (which is a similar percentage of the total time).

So which comes first, the sub two-hour marathon, or the sub 9.5 second 100m?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/31769107

Katarina Johnson-Thompson - incredible athlete, and loved her attitude to missing out on the world record by one second in the last event (800m).  Even though she'd won the gold and beaten Jessica Ennis' British record, she wasn't happy that she'd missed out on the opportunity to get the WR.

Going to be good when Ennis is back and the two are going head-to-head in the Heptathlon.

How good do you think she can be? I was discussing this the other day. She looks a little unrefined in several disciplines to me and that suggests huge potential.

Yeah, definitely looks like a "raw" talent still.

Lots of room for improvement in the shot putt that's for sure, but also across the other disciplines. Love her attitude though, and great to have her and Ennis at the top of the heptathlon. Both excellent, but both very different.