2019 IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (Doha, QAT) Day 1

[RunUnlimited]

So, 28 pulled out in the end. Not far off half the field. IAAF should be ashamed; Marathon athletes get a few big races a year, if they're lucky, and they chuck them in that cauldron to suffer? Horrendous conditions & no fans - they evidently thought of the athletes when they chose Doha as the host... Bring on Eugene.

I remember major championship marathons that have taken place in hot conditions before, LA '84, Athens '04 and Osaka '07 coming to mind, but never have I heard of so many dropping out *and* the fact that there was virtually no spectators to watch them. What a travesty.

[Christy93]

I was silly enough to sit up watching until the end. It looked absolutely brutal, I havent seen to many athletes in so much discomfort before, quite uncomfortable viewing.

[Sovietvest]

Paula thought Lyndsey Sharp ran with a lack of confidence. I though it was the exact opposite. Even though she knew (or should have known) that she could afford to come 7th in her race, get beaten by the girl from Lesotho, and STILL qualify as long as she broke 2:02, she chose to sit and kick against 3 girls that over they years she has been very closely matched against.

Personally I think running a n 800 4 seconds off your pb is less tiring than running 25 seconds off your pb but with a a final 100m full-out sprint, so it was even a good strategy from the point of view of saving her energy.

[Sovietvest]

Any thoughts on the wind conditions in the stadium? I was surprised by the really slow 400mH times. I don't mean the times by the top guys who were obviously holding back, but rather by the number of 48 / low 49 second guys running high 49s and 50 seconds, flat out. Could it be the the aircon is causing some swirling winds?

[RunUnlimited]

Any thoughts on the wind conditions in the stadium? I was surprised by the really slow 400mH times. I don't mean the times by the top guys who were obviously holding back, but rather by the number of 48 / low 49 second guys running high 49s and 50 seconds, flat out. Could it be the the aircon is causing some swirling winds?

It was notable in the horizontal jumps too. The qualifying competitions for men's long and triple jumps were notable by the lack of over 8m/17m jumps. Normally solid qualifiers like Manyonga, Sumaai in the LJ and Christian Taylor and Will Claye all struggled to get to the required qualifying distances. If it was just a couple of them doing this then I would have just shrugged it off as them holding back a bit for the final, or being a bit rusty after the length of season and gap between their last comp and the Worlds. But to have some many below par seemed strange.

Maybe we're jumping the gun and come the finals of the respective events the performances will pick up, but yeah, it seemed rather underwhelming out there overall.

[RunUnlimited]

Welp... That just disproved that theory!

SAFP in the HEATS of the 100m, just ran 10.80!!!!

[Sovietvest]

We weren’ talking about the sprints.

[philipo]

It was notable in the horizontal jumps too. The qualifying competitions for men's long and triple jumps were notable by the lack of over 8m/17m jumps. Normally solid qualifiers like Manyonga, Sumaai in the LJ and Christian Taylor and Will Claye all struggled to get to the required qualifying distances. If it was just a couple of them doing this then I would have just shrugged it off as them holding back a bit for the final, or being a bit rusty after the length of season and gap between their last comp and the Worlds. But to have some many below par seemed strange.

Maybe we're jumping the gun and come the finals of the respective events the performances will pick up, but yeah, it seemed rather underwhelming out there overall.

ironic that we have watched a great LJ final; must admit that the 100m men looked poor all round.

[RunUnlimited]

ironic that we have watched a great LJ final; must admit that the 100m men looked poor all round.

lol!

I guess they really *were* holding back for the final tonight!