Birmingham CWG - Day 1 (Tuesday August 2nd)

[LuckySpikes]

Good race!!

5:03 and bits for Kiplimo's last 2000 ... 2:34 & 2:29.

[marra]

I really enjoyed that. Almost as though the small field allowed them to stop worrying about the whole field and just think about racing.

[Ursus]

Even fixed a fabulous sunset.

[trickstat]

61.70 by Onyekwere of Nigeria as the sun sets spectacularly over Smethwick.

[LuckySpikes]

I really enjoyed that. Almost as though the small field allowed them to stop worrying about the whole field and just think about racing.

Yep, all you need for a great race is 2 athletes duking it out. It doesn't matter if they're way ahead of the rest of the field or not.

In big fields I often find there's too many athletes of interest (to me) to try to follow and concentrate on.

[Occasional Hope]

Decent run by KJT in the 200. Also a good effort from Kate O'Connor. Bit disappointing from Holly Mills.

[RunUnlimited]

Holly Mills will be *very* disappointed by that run.... not breaking 25 seconds for 200m? That's not going to be good enough to win a medal, let alone a gold, in the international field. So bad was that run that Mills has slid out of the medal positions, down to 4th place. She'll need to dig deep in the long jump tomorrow.

[Christy93]

It all depends on KJTs long jump here imo. Muster a 6.50 and she will go into the javelin with a huge buffer, because O'Connor will struggle to break 6.00.

[Occasional Hope]

But then O'Connor has a massive javelin...

[trickstat]

By my rough calculations if KJT has another modest LJ performance (635 ish) and O'Connor jumps about 6.00, the likely 'swing' on the JT would mean there would be just a few points in it going into the 800. A 6.50+ jump from KJT would likely mean that she would stay ahead.

[LuckySpikes]

I have to say they've done a brilliant job with the redevelopment of the Alexander Stadium. It looks like a world-class arena and would be entirely suitable for a World Championships. I believe, reading Wikipedia, that it can be expanded to 40,000 capacity (it's currently at 32,000 for the Comm Games). I'm not entirely sure where those extra 8,000 seats could be fit in though?

Hopefully, they win the bid to host the 2026 European Championships.

[Occasional Hope]

Jade Lally takes silver, sandwiched by the two Nigerians.

[Christy93]

Silver is what I expected, but you'd have hoped to see Lally over 60m. Opportunity missed imo. Well done nonetheless.

[Occasional Hope]

She has the ability to throw far enough for gold, but she's never been good under pressure.

[Runner88]

Holly Mills hasn’t looked that good all day. Thought she’d come into this all guns blazing but I fear her best form may already have been seen this season

[Occasional Hope]

I'm sure she'll be really disappointed in herself after talking about going for gold here.

[Occasional Hope]

She's only two points away from bronze position though, it's all still to play for tomorrow.

[Ladyloz]

I think Holly can still win a medal but I don't think it'll be gold.

[MR_ME]

If my records are correct KJT gets exactly the same score at the end of day 1 as she did in 2018.

[Ursus]

Silver is what I expected, but you'd have hoped to see Lally over 60m. Opportunity missed imo. Well done nonetheless.

Glass half empty: Serial underachiever on the big stage not close to the SB that would have won.

Glass half full: Still enthusiastic and active V35 achieves best ever international finish.

Take your pick.

[Occasional Hope]

Also on the positive side, British thrower wins a medal, and those are in short supply

[LoveSprints1]

Glass half full. Great that Lally is still making teams and has achieved a medal. She is second on Britain's all-time lists, but that just doesn't make her one of the world's bests, where she is ranked 143rd with her 65m+ throw from six years ago. She competed at a level today she has consistently competed at, and it paid off.

[alfie]

Suppose it was opportunity missed in that she had an excellent first throw and then did nothing until the last round - while the Nigerian lass got steadily better throughout. Her 61.70 was a bit of an outlier and probably Lally was unlikely to beat it but I'd like to have seen her improve on the 57.33 before it came down to now or never...still a medal so half full is fair.

[marilyn1]

I really enjoyed that. Almost as though the small field allowed them to stop worrying about the whole field and just think about racing.

A nice race indeed.

[marilyn1]

I have to say they've done a brilliant job with the redevelopment of the Alexander Stadium. It looks like a world-class arena and would be entirely suitable for a World Championships. I believe, reading Wikipedia, that it can be expanded to 40,000 capacity (it's currently at 32,000 for the Comm Games). I'm not entirely sure where those extra 8,000 seats could be fit in though?

Hopefully, they win the bid to host the 2026 European Championships.

That would be a great thing