2019 Outdoors

[RunUnlimited]

Gotzis this weekend... A chance to see the form of KJT and Emerson in a full heptathlon this year, going up against a world class field that is only missing Thiam who is going to Talance instead. Tim Duckworth will be there too in the decathlon event, going up against Canadian Damien Warner and another stacked field with only the current world record holder, Kevin Mayer, missing from the line up.

All in all, it looks like a weekend for top tier multi-event action... however considering the weather report for Gotzis that I've just seen, it's possible that the scoring could be negatively effected. We'll see.

[RunUnlimited]

I can't believe we all seemingly missed this on here, but...

Back on March 10th in Cuba, Juan Miguel Echevarria jumped a wind assisted 8.92m! (+3.3m/s)

That's the first jump beyond 8.90m in any wind conditions since Mike Powell's 8.95m (+3.9m/s) at Sestriere in 1994. It also means that Echevarria becomes only the 4th human being in track and field history to jump 8.90m or further, joining Powell, Lewis and Beamon in that rarefied company.

I only noticed this news when checking out the IAAF website and seeing that Echevarria will be in the Rabat meeting and that performance in La Habana was mentioned.

Again, how did we not even notice this?!?

[Ursus]

Good find Rununlimited.

Here’s the video. Not great quality, doesn’t look an obviously massive jump, but guess it must have been.

https://youtu.be/QRYrZVejJRU

[LuckySpikes]

In Rabat Genzebe Dibaba is set to run her first Diamond League 1500 since she broke the WR in Monaco almost 4 years ago. I have a theory that she generally avoids the 1500 in Diamond Leagues because she got burned several times in 2013 & 2014 - if it comes down to a last-lap burn-up she's not got such finishing speed that can seperate her from a top-quality field.

EDIT: She did run a record attempt in the Mile in Lausanne 2017 but it was a weaker field.

[LuckySpikes]

Well, well ... Our Laura was beaten into 3rd by Melissa Courtney & Sarah McDonald at the Westminster Mile!

Nikola Ogrodnikova threw 67.40 in the Javelin in Offenburg.

[jjimbojames]

Fair play to her for turning up, but she didn’t look comfortable. Great confidence for Melissa and Sarah, who I think may well really kick on this year.

[Ursus]

Amelia Strickler just 17cm shy of joining McKinna in the 18m club.

Also 19.47 from Scott Lincoln, his best for 3 years, surely he can crack 20 eventually? And if you thought we’d had to wait a while for an 80m JT.......you have to go back to Mark Proctor in 2005 for a 20m SP by a Brit without a question mark against their name.

[RunUnlimited]

Amelia Strickler just 17cm shy of joining McKinna in the 18m club.

Also 19.47 from Scott Lincoln, his best for 3 years, surely he can crack 20 eventually? And if you thought we’d had to wait a while for an 80m JT.......you have to go back to Mark Proctor in 2005 for a 20m SP by a Brit without a question mark against their name.

Thanks (for nothing!) Carl Myerscough, ya big phoney!


Lincoln has been peppering just under the 20m line for the last couple of years now, and he'd be disappointed not to breach that barrier this year. And congrats to Strickler getting that pb, getting closer to 18m. This is what has been missing from women's shot putting in the last 20-30 years or so, a pair of talented throwers, both young and pushing and competing against each other in such a way that they are getting closer to international class as a result.

[Ursus]

Thanks (for nothing!) Carl Myerscough, ya big phoney!

Not to mention Mark Edwards.

[mattrh17]

Interesting entry at the Racers Grand Prix on June 8th. Lawrence Okoye is currently listed! Will be interesting to see if he actually competes and what he might throw after such a big gap and all his recent legal issues.

Miguel Francis, Zharnel Hughes, Delano Williams and Jodie Williams are also listed as competing.

[Ursus]

Interesting entry at the Racers Grand Prix on June 8th. Lawrence Okoye is currently listed! Will be interesting to see if he actually competes and what he might throw after such a big gap and all his recent legal issues.

Now that’s something I wasn’t expecting to read. I so so so hope he’s seen the light.

Fickle thing is the discus. After his 65 Greg Thompson has failed to exceed 59 in his subsequent 3 comps. I should think Okoye’s conditioning is OK and his technique was always a bit hit and miss. Let’s hope he catches a good wind and reminds himself just how bloody good he can still be!

[RunUnlimited]

Interesting entry at the Racers Grand Prix on June 8th. Lawrence Okoye is currently listed! Will be interesting to see if he actually competes and what he might throw after such a big gap and all his recent legal issues.

Miguel Francis, Zharnel Hughes, Delano Williams and Jodie Williams are also listed as competing.

L O L

Looks like someone is eating a rather large portion of humble pie at the moment.

Imagine being Okoye for a moment.... He thought he'd be gracing some of the grandest, most ostentatious sporting arenas in the world of sport, the stadiums of the top NFL teams. Even if he didn't get into the main team squads, being a back up or a reserve would have virtually set him for life if he was American Football for just 2 or 3 seasons.

Instead here he is, meekly returning to the country of his birth, tail firmly planted between his legs as his American Dream fell apart and there was clearly no future for him stateside. And it's not even a Diamond League meet or a major outdoor event.... It's the "Racers Grand Prix", literally watched by dedicated local athletics fans but hardly the big crowds of the London Stadium or even Bedford.

I'm sure some canny sports journo who has been following Okoye's journey is going to ask the question... "So Lawrence, was your American adventure worth it after all?"

[Ursus]

75.50 for Miller in the HT. And 67.51 for Hitchon, her worst opener since 2010 when she was still a teenager.

[jjimbojames]

L O L

Looks like someone is eating a rather large portion of humble pie at the moment.

Imagine being Okoye for a moment.... He thought he'd be gracing some of the grandest, most ostentatious sporting arenas in the world of sport, the stadiums of the top NFL teams. Even if he didn't get into the main team squads, being a back up or a reserve would have virtually set him for life if he was American Football for just 2 or 3 seasons.

Instead here he is, meekly returning to the country of his birth, tail firmly planted between his legs as his American Dream fell apart and there was clearly no future for him stateside. And it's not even a Diamond League meet or a major outdoor event.... It's the "Racers Grand Prix", literally watched by dedicated local athletics fans but hardly the big crowds of the London Stadium or even Bedford.

I'm sure some canny sports journo who has been following Okoye's journey is going to ask the question... "So Lawrence, was your American adventure worth it after all?"

Bit full on! I don’t know too many people that wouldn’t have taken up the opportunity he was offered. He’s made some poor life choices since then, but the initial choice was a fair one.

[RunUnlimited]

Bit full on! I don’t know too many people that wouldn’t have taken up the opportunity he was offered. He’s made some poor life choices since then, but the initial choice was a fair one.

I'm being "full on" because Okoye was chasing a pipe dream.

If there was such a thing as NFL Europe still in existance, then I could have seen a possibility for him to make a team. But even then it would have been very difficult.

To try and make the leap from a discus thrower *directly* into one of the most highly specialized and regimented sports on the planet, and doing it when you came from a country that only in the last decade or so taken a bit more of an interest in the NFL, AND with no prior background in even rugby that I could find, was taking this opportunity into the realm of the absurd.

Whoever was giving him "advice" during the time he made the switch was hopefully fired in good time, because as has been evident, it was a complete disaster.