British Championships 24-25th August

[treadwater1]

Last years was of an extremely high quality, thanks in no small part to the weather. Some events are shaping up well, the men’s 800 in particular

I wonder if Glave will be tempted to turn up after his good run yesterday, he’s not currently on the invite list

[Occasional Hope]

Is his citizenship sorted out yet? If not he may not be eligible to attend.

[Ladyloz]

I know last year he competed in the Jamaican junior champs so I think from that he isn't eligible

[Christy93]

Isn't it as long as you haven't competed for the senior team you're still eligible to switch?

Does he still want to switch though? Making the GB mens sprint team is just as hard as Jamaica at the minute if all are fit. Might be easier to stick now.

[mattrh17]

It says in this article that he was hoping to make a British junior team:

https://www.athleticsweekly.com/athletics-news/romell-glave-sprinting-success-72484/

He is also listed as British on both the European Athletics website and the IAAF website.

Hopefully he shows up at the trials and is now free of injury.

[KTF]

I'm pretty hyped about the British Championships this year - do we have confirmation of qualification this year (is it Top 2 with the standard or just the Winner with the standard that is guaranteed a place on the team?)

Women

Laura Muir - not competing at all!? Has she indicated/confirmed 1500m only for Doha or is 5000m in play too? The latter would be a shame if she "reserves" a spot only to not compete in the end - McColgan is in the form of her life (all-time Top 10 entries now at 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m - anything worse than Top 8 in Doha will be a disaster...) while Courtney and Weightman would complete a solid squad. Speaking of which...

Laura Weightman - seems to have accepted both 1500m and 5000m - surely she's not intending to double at the trials!? I feel like her better medal chances lie in 5000m - in fact, I could see McColgan or Weightman surprising us in this event...

Stephanie Twell - has she confirmed 10,000m for Doha or is it all about marathons now!? Her 2019 PB puts her up there in Top 8 contention, so I'd like to see her compete.

W800m - 4 into 3 simply doesn't work, does it (EVERY SEASON!) Sharp is a certainty (though sub-1:59 this year already means she's either in the form of her life or at risk of burn-out by Doha). Oskan-Clarke on the other hand has looked rusty post-indoors until last weekend and confidently said in her interview that everything is on track. I'm assuming that her grit (and elbows) in the home-straight will assure a Top 2 placing. Which leaves Alex Bell (who looks ferociously in pursuit of a spot) and Adelle Tracey, who looked like she would have pipped Bell in London if her tactics weren't still incredibly naive. Interesting...

W200m - did I read that Amy Hunt will categorically not compete at the trials?

WLJ - Proctor vs Ugen vs Sawyers vs Irozuru has me rather excited after the latter's Team Championship performance...

WShot - I know they're not going to trouble the top tier in Doha but I'm really enjoying Sophie McKinna and Amelia Strickler's progress - another metre each and they'll be qualifying for global finals with ease... it's been a long time since Judy Oakes!!!!

W100 + 200

Asher-Smith
Lansiquot
???

Asher-Smith
Dobbin
Williams
seems pretty nailed on unless Bianca runs a PB out of nowhere, I'm guessing...

Men

M100 + 200
These will be absolute carnage - I daren't predict a single Top 3 finisher in either event, though wouldn't bet against Hughes...

M800 - considering all of the hype around Kyle Langford and Elliott Giles in recent years, it surprised me recently to discover that, of the current crop, Jamie Webb has the superior PB (and none of them are running fast enough to make Top 8 a likelihood) - I know that Osagie was dragged around the greatest 800m of all time (arguably) to get his but our up-and-comers are around 2 seconds off that kind of time... I'm expecting some big leaps in Doha if they're to be competitive. Is it terrible to pray that tactical disaster Learmonth doesn't make the team?

M1500 - I've been impressed by Da'vall-Grice two races in a row... anything outside Top 8 in Doha will be unacceptable now... plus he's the only one of the Top 5 All-Time without a global medal, so he needs to keep his nerve and correct that next month... PRESSURE!

Lastly, a shout-out to the following events (where every single one of our All-Time Top 10 was legitimately global-finalist material) and the complete lack of talent in the background that is on course to correct this deficit at Tokyo -

M400 - Hudson-Smith, Yousif and Rooney are technically still active but only the former looks capable (if unlikely) of matching their best again...

MHJ - where on earth did Chris Baker's 2.36 PB come from? Yet still never over 2.30 outdoors? Is this correct? Did someone say "Montell Douglas"?

M400H - a shame indeed

[KTF]

One last thing - 11 years after Tasha Danvers finally fulfilled her promise (when her career seemed to be in decline) - please can coaches/pundits/viewers finally destroy the myth of "leaving something in the tank"... to paraphrase her post-semi-final interview "I was fed up of missing out, so I ran it like a final" - and what did she do next? Ran ANOTHER PB in the final and snatched a bronze medal. I'd like to see every GB track athlete competing at 1500m and below to adopt this mantra in Doha! 400m-800m in particular are way too volatile to do anything else!

[camerajuan]

I love this attitude! You can't cruise unless you are STREETS ahead of your rivals!

[KTF]

Absolutely! I'd love to see some data on Global Championships and whether easing up/jogging in your preceding rounds results in faster times the next race... because I'm tempted to guess that there is NO CORRELATION whatsoever... if I see one more 800m/1500m runner fuck up the trials despite being 2nd fastest that season because they don't want to front-run and "have a great kick"... well... I'm a Maz Okoro sympathiser, what can I say?

[drobbie]

I'm pretty hyped about the British Championships this year - do we have confirmation of qualification this year (is it Top 2 with the standard or just the Winner with the standard that is guaranteed a place on the team?)

Women

Laura Muir - not competing at all!? Has she indicated/confirmed 1500m only for Doha or is 5000m in play too? The latter would be a shame if she "reserves" a spot only to not compete in the end - McColgan is in the form of her life (all-time Top 10 entries now at 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m - anything worse than Top 8 in Doha will be a disaster...) while Courtney and Weightman would complete a solid squad. Speaking of which...

Laura Weightman - seems to have accepted both 1500m and 5000m - surely she's not intending to double at the trials!? I feel like her better medal chances lie in 5000m - in fact, I could see McColgan or Weightman surprising us in this event...

Stephanie Twell - has she confirmed 10,000m for Doha or is it all about marathons now!? Her 2019 PB puts her up there in Top 8 contention, so I'd like to see her compete.

W800m - 4 into 3 simply doesn't work, does it (EVERY SEASON!) Sharp is a certainty (though sub-1:59 this year already means she's either in the form of her life or at risk of burn-out by Doha). Oskan-Clarke on the other hand has looked rusty post-indoors until last weekend and confidently said in her interview that everything is on track. I'm assuming that her grit (and elbows) in the home-straight will assure a Top 2 placing. Which leaves Alex Bell (who looks ferociously in pursuit of a spot) and Adelle Tracey, who looked like she would have pipped Bell in London if her tactics weren't still incredibly naive. Interesting...

W200m - did I read that Amy Hunt will categorically not compete at the trials?

WLJ - Proctor vs Ugen vs Sawyers vs Irozuru has me rather excited after the latter's Team Championship performance...

WShot - I know they're not going to trouble the top tier in Doha but I'm really enjoying Sophie McKinna and Amelia Strickler's progress - another metre each and they'll be qualifying for global finals with ease... it's been a long time since Judy Oakes!!!!

W100 + 200

Asher-Smith
Lansiquot
???

Asher-Smith
Dobbin
Williams
seems pretty nailed on unless Bianca runs a PB out of nowhere, I'm guessing...

Men

M100 + 200
These will be absolute carnage - I daren't predict a single Top 3 finisher in either event, though wouldn't bet against Hughes...

M800 - considering all of the hype around Kyle Langford and Elliott Giles in recent years, it surprised me recently to discover that, of the current crop, Jamie Webb has the superior PB (and none of them are running fast enough to make Top 8 a likelihood) - I know that Osagie was dragged around the greatest 800m of all time (arguably) to get his but our up-and-comers are around 2 seconds off that kind of time... I'm expecting some big leaps in Doha if they're to be competitive. Is it terrible to pray that tactical disaster Learmonth doesn't make the team?

M1500 - I've been impressed by Da'vall-Grice two races in a row... anything outside Top 8 in Doha will be unacceptable now... plus he's the only one of the Top 5 All-Time without a global medal, so he needs to keep his nerve and correct that next month... PRESSURE!

Lastly, a shout-out to the following events (where every single one of our All-Time Top 10 was legitimately global-finalist material) and the complete lack of talent in the background that is on course to correct this deficit at Tokyo -

M400 - Hudson-Smith, Yousif and Rooney are technically still active but only the former looks capable (if unlikely) of matching their best again...

MHJ - where on earth did Chris Baker's 2.36 PB come from? Yet still never over 2.30 outdoors? Is this correct? Did someone say "Montell Douglas"?

M400H - a shame indeed

the 1500/ 5000 is not possible as the finals are 25 minutes apart, the 800/1500 is possible as the 800 is finished by day 4 and the 1500 starts on day 6, so if i was muir i would be running both, but the fact that she has had a recent injury will probably stop her from doing this

20:55	18:55	W	1500 Metres	Final
21:25	19:25	W	5000 Metres	Final

[KTF]

Well that's that then! Thanks for the update (both the schedule and Muir's injury which I didn't know about - have I just exposed that I fast-forward all talking-heads chatter on BBC coverage!?)

In which case, here's hoping that she's back at full strength next month for the 1500m because she'll need to be - I also think that, carrying an injury, she'd need more 800m race-confidence to take on Wilson.

That said, every 800m runner at the Champs this year is probably struggling to plan a race strategy that won't be the same as the past few years "chase Semenya, Niyonsaba and Wambui and pray that Margaret fucks it up this time..."

[drobbie]

apparently its not that aerious, but at his moment in time i would say the 800 has medal waiting to be taken , maybe not the gold but silver and bronze are up for grabs

[mattrh17]

Solid 2nd run of the season by Dai Greene down from 51.22 a couple of weeks ago to 50.05 SB in Gothenburg.

Possibility with a couple of runs at the British Champs that he could challenge the qualifying time. Really hope he does after all his battles with injury.

[RunUnlimited]

Women's 100m:

Asher-Smith
Lansiquot
Neita

I think Neita showed much better form in the European Team Championships last weekend, and if she hadn't been running into a mean -2.5 m/s headwind in the final, she would have run close to 11.05 with a +1.0 m/s following wind.
The athlete that I had pegged for that 3rd slot at the start of the year, World U-20 bronze medalist Kristal Awuah, hasn't looked good for most of this season to be honest. She was I think wrongly selected for the 200m in the U-23 champs after a one-off good run into a headwind in Bedford, and she was poor throughout the event, even if she made the final. And in the 100m her preferred sprint distance, she was way out of the picture at the Anniversary Games. In September last year, she was running her 11.16 PB at the Berlin World Challenge Meeting and was looking capable of quicker. Now, unless she has a sudden uptick in form in a couple of weeks, I don't see her getting a place on the plane to Doha.

Women's 200m:

(Pretty sure Asher-Smith won't run this in the Trials since she's pre-qualified for Doha as the reigning European champion from last year and will likely be using the Birmingham Diamond League 200m as her tune up for the World Champs. So with her not running the 200, we could potentially have *4* qualify for the World Championships in a fortnight's time. So my 1-2-3 in the trials will be...)

Dobbin - She has been on fire this season and if the conditions are favourable, she could break her Scottish record again and go sub 22.5. She;ll be the British champion at the trials.
Williams
Possibly Ashleigh Nelson or Bianca Williams (only if the latter shows the same turn around in form she showed at last year's British Trials though)

[carterhatch]

I noticed Ms. Awuah had, what seemed, a very deliberate staccato step in a race I watched, and for the life of me couldn't fathom if this was a decision by her team ... no one has mentioned Desiree Henry so I am guessing some sort of injury?

On this forum in general, nice to see some new-ish people posting, despite the infernal spam postings that I complained to AW about to no avail...

[carterhatch]

Focusing on w200, what has happened to Shannon Hylton? I also wonder about Finette Agyapong, a season or two ago I saw her as a great hope for 200/400, but she has certainly plateaud and when i have seen her run a 400 relay, she doesnt seem to really relish it... if KJT ever decided to also enter, along with all those others have mentioned, including DAS, Dobbin, Hunt, a rejuvenated J Williams, it would be quite a race if all fit

[RunUnlimited]

I noticed Ms. Awuah had, what seemed, a very deliberate staccato step in a race I watched, and for the life of me couldn't fathom if this was a decision by her team ... no one has mentioned Desiree Henry so I am guessing some sort of injury?

On this forum in general, nice to see some new-ish people posting, despite the infernal spam postings that I complained to AW about to no avail...

I watched her running throughout last summer during the World U-20's where she got the bronze medal.... She did *not* run with that accentuated action then. Whatever her team got her to work on during the winter, in my eyes, is clearly not working. The sooner she ditches that running "style", the better.

As for Desiree Henry, well she's only run a couple of times this year, very early in the outdoor season and hasn't shown up since. Hopefully she's fit, but to be honest, it was always going to be tough to make an immediate return to top class running after the surgery she went through.

[treadwater1]

I hadn't contemplated Muir doing the 800/1500 until you mentioned it, would she want to? She does hold the UK lead but would be pushing out another very good athlete, I suspect she will stick with the 15, its her favoured event and she would be fatigued after 3 800 rounds

Neita over Lansiquot in the 100 for the second spot for me. Neita has got into the knack of producing good runs at trials and has looked better than Lansiquot of late. I wouldn't rule out Awuah for third place, she ran extremely well in Glasgow

Jamie Webb is the favourite in the 800 based on his London run, he's one of our most improved athletes this season

[carterhatch]

I think Lansiquot might have timed her peak for next weekend... in any event I cant see beyond her, DASHER and Neita for the three Doha places

[carterhatch]

Mens 800 will be a must watch at the trails, but I fear 'carnage' .... I cant see any of the 1500 lads with the QT actually competing, which may complicate things for the 3rd choice... I dont know how many of the younger generation will figure, but if Burgin does run, and take it out from the front, it will make for a true run spectacle... if it is down to just Giles, Langford and Webb, it will be a last bend burn up... I will be interested to see if Staines does turn up, how he might be a spanner in the works... fact is, some one is going to be very disappointed ...


in contrast the m400 might as well be a zimmer frame contest ....

[jjimbojames]

Pretty sure Staines is planning on running. I think it will likely come down to 400m speed, but Giles and Learmonth always seem to find a way to make it hard for themselves!