Birmingham CWG - Day 2 (Wednesday August 3rd)

[LoveSprints1]

It works well enough at many events, including the Europeans last night. Athletes don't have to do a full warm-up; for the most part, the cream rises, and it is great too when there are "surprise" medallists. 100m athletes do not need a day to recover from a semi. Same day morning (SF) and evening sessions (F) or both in the evening brings in the viewers too, I imagine.

[MysteryBrick]

Harry A-A always comes to mind there...

My perception is no. There is toned functional athleticism and fast-twitch, and then there is vanity bulk, and I feel one or two consistently end up with the latter. Kerley, Lyles, Bromell, Knighton - they're all strong but none is 'big'. Even the best 60 guys don't need to be stacked.

[Grassmarket]

Just look into Harry Akinyes-Aireety’s medals cabinet to find out the answer.

[Ursus]

Omanyala's victory is tempered with the knowledge he was suspended for 14 months for doping.

I’d never paid much attention to him before but he just looked like a body builder. Does it really help sprinters to carry that much bulk?

[Chafford1]

Omanyala's victory is tempered with the knowledge he was suspended for 14 months for doping.

[MysteryBrick]

Yeah - with Neita it is easy to forget that she hasn't really been a contender before, having sneaked into the Tokyo final and just missed Oregon in 9th. But she needs to make sure this doesn't become a habit, and the Euros is the perfect chance to do so.

All that said, she did get bronze!

[Chafford1]

DN: 'I need to perform better in these finals'. To be fair, this is the first time that DN has gone into final as a genuine gold medal contender based on her semi-final so it's the first time she's had this type of pressure on her.

[trickstat]

Also they all recorded points in every event so everybody got a mark in the field and no DQs on the track. Of course, athletes who get zero points in an event and more likely to pull out.

[trickstat]

I think maybe she struggled with going into a final as fastest qualifier and possible favourite (although would you have bet against ETH?).

[MR_ME]

What many are forgetting about Eilish is that a small injury and illness ruined her final prep for Eugene. Here she was back to the form we saw in Hengelo.

[marilyn1]

The cream rises to the top even though ETH is far from last years form. Are both Neita and DAS in the euros 100m.?

But Dina wasn't there. Sadly for the rest of
her career we wont know her condition .

[Chafford1]

Very disappointed in DN's run in the final. You could see the tension and anxiety in her face as she lined up with the other competitors before entering the stadium. Almost two tenths slower in the final than in the semi 11.07/ 10.90

[marra]

As long as DN can hold her form to Munich, you would think that she's got a better shot there, especially if Dina doesn't make it 100% fit. Still, a chance lost here.

Lansiquot must be looking forward to the removal of fastest losers. Lost out by 0.01 of a second on a final place to 2 athletes who ran in a race with almost a metre per second better tailwind than she had.

Shame for NMB; hope he's not injured. Still think he and Hughes would have been better off swapping their events here - Zharnel could have been a very serious contender for gold in that race.

KJT did what she had to. The Javelin was nice to see. She improved 150 points from Eugene and was better in 5 of her 7 events than in the States - only the hurdles and 200m were better there. Nothing outstanding but nice to get a gold and hopefully a good winter.

Delighted for Eilish although I have to be honest, I didn't see that coming after Eugene. Maybe she only needs to focus on competing when the competition is in a relatively cool country?

[Balgair]

What a great run that was by McColgan, I'm not usually a greatdistance person but that race held my attention the whole way, she ran a really good race, I'm so pleased for her.

KJT may be well down on her best but it's great to see her enjoying herself and regaining confidence - two successfully completed heptathlons in such a short space of time must be confidence building in themselves given her injury history, and a javelin PB is great! Now if she can stay healthy and regain some of the lost speed next year, she'll be more competitive on the world level.

Pity Neita couldn't replicate her semi run in the final, but still, a good medal, and the semi run certainly showed her potential, I'm looking forward to the Euros 100m.

[MysteryBrick]

Just catching up, what an incredibly finish from McColgan. So pleased for her, she *earned* that.