Tokyo Olympics 2020 - Athletics - Day 2 (Sat)

[Sovietvest]

Dustin .. pathetic.

A waste of flight cost and everything else.

You're not an athlete, are you? He was clearly giving everything, just didn't have it in his legs.

[Sovietvest]

Exactly. Coe and Ovett were one of the most bitter rivalries in athletics history. And being from the same country and being the world's best middle distance runners of their era, it was always likely to be that way. SAFP and ETH are possibly the same way. Respectful of each other's abilities... and that's about it.

I am contractually obliged to step in whenever anyone maligns The Great Man. He did not hate, Coe - simply didn't know him. Was generous in defeat in Moscow (unlike the loathsome Lord).

SAFP left Francis' group after Rio because she felt Thompson was getting all the attention. They were training partners, and presumably on decent terms before then - SAFP greeted her really warmly at the end of the Rio 100m.

[jjimbojames]

Mu in lane 3 - will have to exert a bit of energy to get to the front and past Goule in 5 if she wants to control the pace

[Sovietvest]

Still over the moon about the W800. I must say that I disagree totally with the idea that Keely ran with maturity and timed it to perfection. She left it way too late, had to run 5m + further than everyone else, but is simply so, so, good that she got away with it. That is not how to run an 800.

I think whoever goes with Mu when she kicks with 300m to go will blow up and miss a medal. Goule has made that mistake in the past. I hope Jemma is't the one to do that this time a la Our Laura. Strongly fancy Rogers to make her customary late run and sneak a medal. Expecting Jemma 4th, Keely, 6th and Alex 7th.

[RunUnlimited]

The "masterplan" would be for Keely to stick to Mu like a limpet mine from the moment the athletes break from their lanes.... And thus, my projection of a glorious battle between the two teenage giants of 800 m that I made earlier in the year, shall come to pass....

[MysteryBrick]

Agreed. Of course, Richardson will say Richardson would have won...

[LoveSprints1]

I may be massively over-thinking my tactical master plan for gold in the w800 final...

Mu has a similar stride length to McColgan. McColgan's race was scuppered - with no fault on anyone's part - by being cramped by the two athletes running closest to her.
GB is bringing three athletes to the w800 party.

Love the master plan - the downfall of it is that they would need to get at least one or two of them in front of Mu, and this might be difficult as she is a front runner. Whatever happens it's going to be an exciting race with Keely and Jemma battling to get on the podium.

[trickstat]

To be fair to Baker 46.2 on first leg is pretty good for a 46.05 PB and I don't think any of the other options would have been any quicker and may have been slower. I'm excluding Chalmers as none of the others would get close to 44.7 on the anchor.

[RunUnlimited]

One thing that just occurred to me, have we ever had three British women in an Olympic (or even global for that matter) 800m final? I'm just a bit curious now.

Never. The best that British women have managed was two finalists, ironically enough, achieved at the same venue back in the 1964 Olympics, where Ann Packer and Anne Smith both made the 800 m final... a final that, of course, Packer would then go on to win in a then-world record time of 2:01.1.

[paul]

I may be massively over-thinking my tactical master plan for gold in the w800 final...

Mu has a similar stride length to McColgan. McColgan's race was scuppered - with no fault on anyone's part - by being cramped by the two athletes running closest to her.
GB is bringing three athletes to the w800 party.

[Christy93]

Standout relay splits...

Lead-off men:
Bonevacia (44.8)
Stewart (44.9)
Zalewski (45.1)
Baker, GB, (46.2)

Women:
Paulino (48.7!!)
Bol (49.7)
Kaczmarek (49.9)
Ellis (50.2)
Swiety Ersetic (50.4)
Yeargin & Diamond, GB, (50.6 & 50.3 - in addition to Clarks 50.3)

Anchor legs:
K Borlee (44.2)
Duszynski (44.3)
Norwood (44.4)
Chalmers, GB, (44.7)

Not half bad from the final 3 GB legs, tbh.

[jjimbojames]

X4x4 splits show the combined men’s times were quicker today, so right move but we had the slowest lead off - we could have a quicker team just bringing in Faulds and leaving Chalmers on lead off. Emily ran slower and Nicole was slower than Zoey. However, all three women were 50.6 or better and not many teams had that, despite their top women running. With Jodie (49.6 leg in Doha - surely quicker here), Laviai and Ama to consider, the W4x4 is in good shape to fight for a medal behind US and Jamaica. Leg order will be key - we need a reliable lead off.

Any word on Jessie - if the slip wasn’t serious and she’s in shape, may also be worth looking at?

[Sprintfan]

Have to agree with that. She looked great in the first fee races this year. As she said there plenty of time for her. Wouldn't have been surprised if she'd run 21.7 either

[trickstat]

Most discus throwers struggle to throw PBs in big stadiums where there tends to be little wind.

[philipo]

The Chinese athlete was a surprise for sure.