UK Outdoor June 2019

[RunUnlimited]

Not talking about some recent action, but this does have something to do with a GB athlete.

Someone I was looking forward to seeing this year in the senior ranks was Molly Caudery, who set the UK U-20 pole vault record at Mannheim last year (4.53m). But so far this year for her it has been a far cry from her exploits last season. She has only managed a best of 4.18m indoors so far (last season indoors, Molly had cleared 4.30, putting 3rd on the UK U-20 list indoors) this year, and more worryingly still, she no-heighted in the two outdoors events she's had so far on the US collegiate circuit.

I'm wondering that her failure to medal at the World Juniors in 2018 (ranked #2 in the world as a junior, but come the final only managed 4.10m to come a very disappointing =9th) might have affected her into this season too? (Could be injuries are also playing a part too for all I know.)

[RunUnlimited]

Some domestic news that has passed under the radar in the last couple of days.... With the European U-23's on the horizon, Dom Ashwell, 5th placer at last year's World U-20 Championship 100m, and Oliver Bromby, a former European U-20 100m bronze medalist, both picked a good time to lower their 100m personal bests. On Wednesday at Lee Valley, Ashwell with a clocking of 10.20 (+1.5 m/s) and Bromby just behind him with 10.22, got the qualifying standard for the European U-23's with room to spare.

Also missed by us athletic nerds here (me included apparently!) was Jacob Fincham-Dukes joining the 8 meter club. At the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, Fincham-Dukes came 5th in the final, jumping exactly 8.00m (+2.0 m/s), going top of the UK 2019 rankings and also gaining the qualifying standard for the U-23's... though whether he'll want to go to Gavle for that after the always hectic schedule on the US collegiate circuit, is another thing altogether.

[philipo]

Some domestic news that has passed under the radar in the last couple of days.... With the European U-23's on the horizon, Dom Ashwell, 5th placer at last year's World U-20 Championship 100m, and Oliver Bromby, a former European U-20 100m bronze medalist, both picked a good time to lower their 100m personal bests. On Wednesday at Lee Valley, Ashwell with a clocking of 10.20 (+1.5 m/s) and Bromby just behind him with 10.22, got the qualifying standard for the European U-23's with room to spare.

Also missed by us athletic nerds here (me included apparently!) was Jacob Fincham-Dukes joining the 8 meter club. At the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas, Fincham-Dukes came 5th in the final, jumping exactly 8.00m (+2.0 m/s), going top of the UK 2019 rankings and also gaining the qualifying standard for the U-23's... though whether he'll want to go to Gavle for that after the always hectic schedule on the US collegiate circuit, is another thing altogether.

did not miss it; was not specially impressed; and after the NCAA season closes after the nationals, it remains to be seen what he can do.

[Laps]

From Hengelo yesterday.
Eilish McColgan went third GB All-Time behind Radcliffe and Pavey with a 14.47.94 PB.
Kyle Langford was 2nd to a Kenyan in the 800m in 1.45.87 beating de Arriba. He seems to be getting back into good shape.

A novel Long Jump comp. After three rounds, 1st then jumped against 8th, 2nd v 7th etc in a knockout format.
Manyonga won final with 8.35, after winning semi-final with 8.31. A very tough man to beat anyway, but especially in this format it seems.

[RunUnlimited]

did not miss it; was not specially impressed; and after the NCAA season closes after the nationals, it remains to be seen what he can do.

Well it has to be said that the winner of the event managed it with a distance of "only" 8.20m.... not exactly jumping out of the pit and Fincham-Dukes wasn't that far behind overall. Also all of Fincham-Dukes' attempts were around the 7.80m - 7.90m range, good consistency and a base to build off from if he wants to become a consistent 8m+ jumper.

[RunUnlimited]

From Hengelo yesterday.
Eilish McColgan went third GB All-Time behind Radcliffe and Pavey with a 14.47.94 PB.
Kyle Langford was 2nd to a Kenyan in the 800m in 1.45.87 beating de Arriba. He seems to be getting back into good shape.

A novel Long Jump comp. After three rounds, 1st then jumped against 8th, 2nd v 7th etc in a knockout format.
Manyonga won final with 8.35, after winning semi-final with 8.31. A very tough man to beat anyway, but especially in this format it seems.

Eilish McColgan is having a great start to her season... Who's betting that she will go sub 31 minutes in the 10,000m at Parliament Hill this week? Heck, will she run faster than her mother's 10,000m PB perhaps?

Also nice to see Langford back to some form.

[RunUnlimited]

17 year old Lewis Byng threw the junior shot 19.14m last week. Looks to me like the biggest talent since Myerscough.

Correction, the biggest talent since Capes. I'm pretty sure that cheat Myerscough was doping when he broke Capes British record, but wasn't caught at the time he set it. So I don't give him credit for anything he did as a sportsman.

At least Dwain Chambers (eventually) showed some contrition for the wrongs that he did with the BALCO scandal and made admirable attempts to make up it. Did Myerscough show an ounce of remorse for his actions? Because I can't remember that being the case.

Back to Byng, that is certainly a significant throw... But you've gotta be wary of bigging this kid up just yet. We've been here before actually. The athlete that Byng is now 2nd to on the UK U-20 all time list, Curtis Griffith-Parker, was also a precious shot putting teenager. In 2009, aged 19, he was ranked 3rd in the world at the U-20 level with his British record setting 19.30m shot that year (though he failed to qualify for the final at the World Juniors, only managing 6th place in the qualifying pool). He was also pretty good with the discus and managed a fourth placed finish in the final of that same championships.

And yet after 2010, he completely vanished from athletics altogether.

Let's hope Byng manages to stick around for a bit longer.

[RunUnlimited]

Oh, this one passed under the radar a bit... At the Venizeleia-Chania meeting in Greece on Sunday, Nick Miller produced his 3rd best ever hammer throw of his career as he won the competition with a mark measured at 77.72m. He also produced 2 more throws over 76 meters, which were in excess of the furthest distance managed by the 2nd placed competitor.

A good return to form for Nick, who after his exploits in the Commonwealth Games, struggled to raise his level again for the European Championships last summer.

[Ursus]

Oh, this one passed under the radar a bit... At the Venizeleia-Chania meeting in Greece on Sunday, Nick Miller produced his 3rd best ever hammer throw of his career as he won the competition with a mark measured at 77.72m. He also produced 2 more throws over 76 meters, which were in excess of the furthest distance managed by the 2nd placed competitor.

A good return to form for Nick, who after his exploits in the Commonwealth Games, struggled to raise his level again for the European Championships last summer.

Yes, very good news.

Well done to Byng. Very impressive although a bit of an outlier from his other performances, so will be interesting to see how he goes. Down the road the transition to the senior implement isn’t always easy, but that’s for another day. As for CG-P I can’t find any kind of social media footprint. Maybe he just uses one of his surnames now?

[RunUnlimited]

RunUnlimited, what evidence do you have that Myerscough was doping when he set the British record. He made a dumb decision as a teenager, but you cannot dispute his talent. Art Venegas, the respected American throws coach called him the most talented 17 year old he'd ever seen. Hopefully Lewis Byng will continue his progression.

Oh I don't know, it might have something to do with the fact that Carl came up with the tried-and-tested "someone sabotaged me" *excuse* that far too many guilty-as-sin dopers have used down the years to profess their supposed "innocence". That ploy might have been slightly more believable had it been one illegal substance found in his system.... But Carl had a "cocktail" of them in his sample, which makes it rather difficult to believe that they turned up in his body all at the same time AND that it was due to sabotage. To cap it off, he refused to name or reveal any suspects who could have done this to him... Oh yeah, AND then not long after he served his two year suspension and got married, the woman he hooked up with, you guessed it, was busted herself for taking THG!

Ah, and who can forget his threat to throw for anothe nation (USA) if UKA didn't drop his lifetime ban from the Olympics (he wanted to go to Athens 2004).

Anyway, for all his talent, the dude when he DID compete for GB, was a serial under performer at major championships (the ones he could attend that is), throwing meters down on his season's best, usually in the qualifying rounds, and failing to even *make* the finals of those competions. Hell, in 2003, the year he broke Geoff Capes British record, and just a fortnight after throwing 21.50m to win the London Grand Prix event at Crystal Palace, Myerscough contrived to throw almost 2 meters below that mark in the qualifying round at the World Championships and meekly slunk out of Paris on the opening morning of competition... as the #2 thrower in the world at the time.
On the times he *did* manage to get into the finals, he would continue to under-perform, all while the stigma of his failed test and Olympic ban hung over him. And when he finally did get his Olympic Games opportunity, he was clearly past his prime and much like in Paris nine years earlier, he would limply go out in qualifying... at around the same moment that a true hero of British athletics, Jess Ennis-Hill, was rocketing down the track to smash the British 100m hurdles record on her way to winning that amazing gold medal. Yikes.

So no, I'm not going to give Myerscough a pass because of his undoubted physical ability and talent.... His refusal to take responsiblity for his cheating (he maintains his dumb defense to this day apparently) means that he disrespected the overall sport of athletics, and as such, I won't waste an ounce of effort to show any respect back to him.

[trickstat]

Pedant's corner - Myerscough's throw has never been ratified as the British record and presumably never will be.

If you are talking of prospects at the age of 17, then maybe Lewis Byng is the best one since Myerscough was that age.

[RunUnlimited]

RunUnlimited, at the risk of more verbiage, I'll ask again, what evidence have you that Myerscough was doping when he set the British record. This forum is not for you to slander athletes who you don't rate.

Simples, I don't.

But then, you go ahead and trust the dude who was willing to *lie* about his wrong doing, and continue to defend that position ever since, against all available evidence to the contrary... Are you sure he wouldn't do so again if given the opportunity?

I guess you could say that he didn't dope again... Obviously so, because he was pretty abject a performer the rest of his career, so I guess he must have been a totally honest guy after 1999's "mishap" after all....

[RunUnlimited]

Pedant's corner - Myerscough's throw has never been ratified as the British record and presumably never will be.

If you are talking of prospects at the age of 17, then maybe Lewis Byng is the best one since Myerscough was that age.

I never knew that about Myerscough's throw. Does anybody know why it wasn't officially ratified, and if so, why is it being still shown on both Power of Ten and the IAAF website all time lists?

[trickstat]

Generally speaking, the rules regarding record ratification are stricter than those used for rankings regarding completion of forms, drug testing etc. Myerscough's performance is in those rankings because there is no legitimate reason not to rank it. It does seem to be quite difficult to get performances from US Collegiate meets ratified.

[Ursus]

I never knew that about Myerscough's throw. Does anybody know why it wasn't officially ratified, and if so, why is it being still shown on both Power of Ten and the IAAF website all time lists?

I knew it hadn’t been ratified, but the reason escapes me for the moment. Think Regis’s 19.87 wasn’t ratified either so his NR is 19.94.

Back to Byng. He’s gone 5th on the all time junior lists, but I think I’m right in saying that the junior weight is now 6 kg having previously been 6.25. 3 of the 4 ahead of him used the heavier weight, including Myerscough who’s way out ahead with 21.03 then a hell of a gap to Simson’s 19.47.

[camerajuan]

Regis' 19.87 was set at altitude though, so that's cut & dry why it wouldn't count. Can't find anything on Myerscough's throw & don't think SP altitude matters!

[RunUnlimited]

I knew it hadn’t been ratified, but the reason escapes me for the moment. Think Regis’s 19.87 wasn’t ratified either so his NR is 19.94.

Back to Byng. He’s gone 5th on the all time junior lists, but I think I’m right in saying that the junior weight is now 6 kg having previously been 6.25. 3 of the 4 ahead of him used the heavier weight, including Myerscough who’s way out ahead with 21.03 then a hell of a gap to Simson’s 19.47.

The long and short of it is that sure, Byng is definitely a talent, but let's see where we are with him in three/four years time.