World Indoors Day 1

[treadwater1]

So, those predictions of medals for Britain we made last week seem to be looking rather silly now.... KJT looking undercooked in the pentathlon, Giles DNS in the 800m, Neita through well, but will have to be superb just to reach the final... and I can't think of any other serious British contenders for medals in Belgrade.

You forgot Hodgkinson. Holly Mills has had a good morning so may have a chance of a medal

[MysteryBrick]

Mills is actually having a very good day. PB in the hurdles, SB in the HJ and her second round Shot is better than in her Pentathlon PB. She is a good long jump (which for her does tend to be a lottery...) away from 4600+.

[MysteryBrick]

And 13.68m in round 3, puts Mills in a solid 6th.

[RunUnlimited]

Well, Marc Scott looked really good in the 3000m heats, showing why he's the European indoor record holder this year, winning the race an qualifying comfortably.

Aregawi on the other hand, was well out of it and is out.

[MysteryBrick]

The Hep is going to be very interesting. Any of the top 6 could get a medal due to massive Long Jump variance, although Vidts is the big favourite at this point (unless KJT is secretly in 6.80m LJ form,which doesn't look likely). I wouldn't be surprised to see Hawkins out of the medals as her last two events aren't as strong, while Mills could sneak a medal as her 800m is very strong. It's going to be a thriller whatever!

[treadwater1]

Kendell Williams on 2777
Kat on 2773
Mills on 2771.

As mystery says Hawkins isn’t great in the last two events and Williams has a mediocre 800 so lots to play for

[treadwater1]

Covering positions 4,5 and 6

[Ladyloz]

LJ will be key in the battle for bronze in the Pentathlon.

Hawkins is so-so there, Mills is inconsistent since switching take off legs but decent if she can nail one. KJT spectacular at best but not in spectacular form so no idea what to expect. Williams is an excellent Long Jumper at her best but both her and Hawkins would need a bit of a lead over the Brits.

Vidts vs.Sulek for the.gold, I favour Vidts.

[trickstat]

Another concern with KJT is that LJ runups can be rather erratic in terms of accuracy when you haven't jumped competitively for a while.

[philipo]

every poster tends to provide reasoning post hoc, thats what the whole thing of predicting is about. Your stupid post about my being threatened perhaps is indeed worthy of most of your observations. 😫

[MysteryBrick]

I notice you didn't answer it, so I guess you were.

There is nothing wrong with providing reasoning post-hoc, as long as one acknowledges it and doesn't attempt to denigrate predictions that were made without that knowledge, which is what you are consistently guilty of. Giles being a favourite and Giles not delivering can both be true, and the latter happening doesn't mean the former viewpoint was invalid.

[philipo]

Well, Marc Scott looked really good in the 3000m heats, showing why he's the European indoor record holder this year, winning the race an qualifying comfortably.

Aregawi on the other hand, was well out of it and is out.

a classic failure which justifies the view that one off paced races mean little; to think he ran 7.26 not too long ago.

[LuckySpikes]

a classic failure which justifies the view that one off paced races mean little; to think he ran 7.26 not too long ago.

Still very puzzling though. It's not like the Ethiopians to not be able to back up their fast times with good championship performances (let's not forget though, he was 4th in the Olympic 10,000).

Besides, that for that 7:26 he had very little pacing. I think they dropped out after about 1200m. And again for his 12:49 road WR he only had a pacer for the first kilometre.

[LuckySpikes]

It's a straight W 3000 Final tonight ... but with 20 athletes! Expect some carnage early on.

Looking forward to it though because it's pretty loaded. BTW, Amelia Quirk has withdrawn.

[felix51]

I just knew I would be frustrated by the BBC coverage, so for the first time I downloaded a VPN. While the talking heads are still gabbing away on the beeb, I have seen on youtube, Vidts 6.60, Sulek 6.43, Mills, 6.28 and KJT, 6.08.

[Grassmarket]

Yeah, the BBC had a good morning, but they just can’t help themselves, can they?

[trickstat]

Someone who isn't online and only has the BBC will get very confused trying to follow the men's heptathlon which will probably seem to be made up of 4 running events and a long jump!

[Christy93]

I'm by no means giving up on Kat, and we have a lot of middle distance talent to be hopeful about, but I fear Keely & Dina might need to get used to carrying this team in terms of reliable podium makers.

[Grassmarket]

We have two second tier competitions this summer in the Ruros & the Comms, so there’s definitely room for someone to step up.

[MysteryBrick]

Evans-Gray has improved a huge amount this indoors (and indeed, it did look like 2020 was going to be a big year for her before COVID happened). Never represented GB at age-group level, what will 7.19 here translate into outdoors?

Holly Mills is having a great day. Williams needed that huge Long Jump to secure Bronze, as I expect Mills to gain on her in the 800m, but the 138 point gap (approximately 10 seconds) will surely be too much, given PBs of 2:12 and 2:15 respectively. Still, she should be hugely proud and will hopefully score about 4650.

[MysteryBrick]

Neita definitely not helped by the Keystone Cops starters, but she'll be really disappointed to be slower than her Heat...

[Christy93]

What is going on with Swiss female sprinting?

Frey 7.48 before covid, down to 7.11. Pointet 12.25 over 100m before covid, down to 11.20 in 2021. Del Ponte 11.29 before covid, down to 10.90.

Are they all with Meuwly?

[treadwater1]

I felt Neita was slightly unsettled by the false start, that was a poor start by her standards. Good jump from Kendell Williams when it mattered, looks like it will shut the Brits out of the medals