Sheena’s 2024 Athletics Thread

BoysForSeles

BoysForSeles

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An Olympics year and the World Indoors just started in Glasgow I guess it’s time this was opened for business.
 
We took a very small team for a home games didn't we, I think there was some protest from athletes and fans on twitter from what I saw
 
Halli said:
We took a very small team for a home games didn't we, I think there was some protest from athletes and fans on twitter from what I saw
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Yes, they were discussing it on Radio 5 this morning but I couldn’t get listening properly as I was working.
 
That was an enjoyable session. Good on Molly who seems very lovely and Josh looked great (trimming the beard a bit was also a good move).

Laviai did all she could in that race, Bol is just ridiculously good.
 
I’m in the arena for this but it’s just all a bit flat. The lack of British interest in most events is really noticeable. Another stupid British Athletics selection policy, coupled with loads of people (both British and not) prioritising the Olympics has not made for the best atmosphere really.

Josh and Molly were great last night and, yes, Laviai had a great run too and is surely on her way to a proper breakthrough outdoors this year.
 
What is our reason for not having a male 4x4 at a HOME GAMES? Is there an indoor qualifying time? Surely as hosts we could have shoved 4 of our guys out there!

Our females look strong, but hasn't Amber Anning just run under 51 seconds? I see she's not in our SQUAD
 
Halli said:
What is our reason for not having a male 4x4 at a HOME GAMES? Is there an indoor qualifying time? Surely as hosts we could have shoved 4 of our guys out there!

Our females look strong, but hasn't Amber Anning just run under 51 seconds? I see she's not in our SQUAD
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It’s the UK’s weird selection policy of only taking who they have to! Most of the 400m guys are not doing indoors, so it would have been a weakened team and the UK policy doesn’t believe in sending those they don’t think will medal. It’s fucking stupid and short sighted.

Amber is still at college in the US, which usually means their season takes precedence over ours, indoors at least. She’ll probably turn pro this year, likely after the summer, and you’ll see a lot more of her after that.
 
Sheena said:
It’s the UK’s weird selection policy of only taking who they have to! Most of the 400m guys are not doing indoors, so it would have been a weakened team and the UK policy doesn’t believe in sending those they don’t think will medal. It’s fucking stupid and short sighted.

Amber is still at college in the US, which usually means their season takes precedence over ours, indoors at least. She’ll probably turn pro this year, likely after the summer, and you’ll see a lot more of her after that.
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Thats not always been the case has it though, I am pretty sure for events like the Europeans or Commonwealths especially if its a big year we would take inexperienced or younger teams so they would have a chance before they got to the worlds etc? I know there has always been qualifying times but has it got much stricter in recent years?

Interesting about Amber - what a talent :disco:
 
Halli said:
Thats not always been the case has it though, I am pretty sure for events like the Europeans or Commonwealths especially if its a big year we would take inexperienced or younger teams so they would have a chance before they got to the worlds etc? I know there has always been qualifying times but has it got much stricter in recent years?

Interesting about Amber - what a talent :disco:
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So World Athletics has changed the way you qualify for a champs. Instead of just a straight achievable qualifying time, it’s now a really hard qualifying time (equivalent to top 10 in the world) and then everyone else is invited according to their position in the (massively flawed) world rankings. GB are the only federation who basically ignore the rankings and only take qualified times.

They did it in WC outdoors last year and loads of arguments and they’ve done more of the same this year, though to a lesser extent as there aren’t that many athletes competing. As host they can have an athlete in every event but have declined that. It’s just ridiculous. It does fuck all to promote the sport and doesn’t give an opportunity for younger athletes to shine.

The main person (rightly) moaning about it is 800m runner Guy Learmonth. He’s run twice this year and really well (1st easily in one race, 2nd when he was going for the time but missed it and blew up slightly), but just outside the qualifying time. Turned up at British champs, almost got a medical exemption because he was sick, ran anyway and lost by 0.001 (literally a thousandth of a second) and they didn’t pick him. He’s an indoor specialist, finalist last year, was in the top 12 or so on times and he’s already said it would be his final indoor champs and he’s from Glasgow. If he didn’t actually run the GB champs, they would have picked him. It was just a cunty thing to do with no real reasoning.
 
Oh wow, I do understand the premise that our team need to be challenging for medals but SURELY especially at a home games where we have the opportunity to have an athlete in every event and we haven't done that something is fundamentally wrong in our system. We have the calibre for that its not like all our entrants would be lost causes! Agree, for the promotion of the sport to not have a relay team for the men and for athletes like Guy to miss out, it all needs reviewing. Who heads up GB Athletics, what does Seb Coe say on it all?
 
Seb Coe can’t say anything, but there’s going to be some kind of legal challenge, I’d think. It’s basically discrimination by country.

I’ve done some work recently for another international federation where the exact same thing happens and the athletes have had the decision (and the policy itself) overturned.

The other issue is British Athletics is basically broke and in a complete mess so they have nil interest in taking people they don’t see making headlines.

What sucks for me is that not EVERYONE can be a medalist by the very nature of the sport. Someone working their entire life to become an Olympic athlete shouldn’t be having their dream ruined when they’ve legitimately qualified.
 
Yes definitely, of course any challenge or overturning would be too late for the athletes currently but for the future it definitely needs looking at.

I am about to watch last nights action (all on record - Brits and Gladiators last night)
 
Can we watch the World Relays next week on any channel in the UK do we know?
 
The weirdest thing is that I was in this thread about half an hour ago for no reason and now it’s been bumped.

It’s bound to be on a World Athletics YouTube channel.

They’ve dumbed it down this year, though- it’s literally just the Olympic events so all the nonsense like hurdle relays aren’t taking place :(

Interestingly, though, it’s the main qualifiers for the Olympics. They pick the top 14 teams from this event and then the top 2 remainders on times (blatantly so if the US drop the baton twice they can still go to Paris!).
 
How are our relay teams looking? I think I scanned the teams a while ago when announced, is there no Dina yet?
 
Halli said:
How are our relay teams looking? I think I scanned the teams a while ago when announced, is there no Dina yet?
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Dina is in the US. She’s run a couple of relays with her training partners, including a really good 4x4 split (about 51.2 but she said she took it too easy and had loads of energy left and can go a lot faster).

She won a 200m yesterday in the same time as her fastest for 2023, which is really encouraging. She runs a 100 today.

The relay teams should be fine without her- we’ve got a super strong 4x4 and the 4x1 even without Dina and Daryll (who is running in the Diamond League in Shanghai today) will qualify comfortably presuming there’s no disasters. We should be medal contenders in all 5 relays in Paris.
 
Ooh promising :disco: I can't wait.

Thanks for the reminder about Shanghai DL - its live on the RED BUTTON now and I have it on
 
I caught up with this yesterday.

Schippers joining on commentary was a choice by the BBC. It was improved on the second day when she was limited to brief post race analysis.

I really hope Charlie Dobson stays fit this year.

Irish fans must be so excited about Rhasidat Adeleke. She looked so good.
 
I think Schippers was part of the World Athletics feed rather than a BBC choice. Terrible apparently (I didn’t watch).
 
I haven't seen any footage yet but over the moon for Keely and Josh, big wins for them :disco:
 
Happy for Ireland in the mixed 4x4! I didn't see the race though, why were GB so far back?
 
Bit of a disappointing turnout, even for the evening session. @Sheena did they hike prices too far?

Mind, being slotted between Roland Garros and the Euros and a month before Paris is a rough draw. It was always gonna fall short(er) in comparison to Munich.
 
Halli said:
Happy for Ireland in the mixed 4x4! I didn't see the race though, why were GB so far back?
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A lot of the other countries entered athletes also competing/potential medalists in the individual event, we did not. If we usually put out a B team in the mixed relays at international champs, this was a level below. We were in the race for the first leg but not after that.

Disappointed to see KJT pull out, hopefully it is nothing serious. Thiam has come back looking very good again.
 
I see our Shee is guesting on a certain athletics podcast today :disco:

I'm going for a walk in a bit, will have a listen then.
 
Halli said:
Happy for Ireland in the mixed 4x4! I didn't see the race though, why were GB so far back?
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As @FetchFugly said. We just aren’t bothered and in Olympic year I’m not entirely sad about that.

The pricing is appalling- 800 EUR for a week’s pass at the start- but they’ve been heavily discounting and there were 13 EUR tickets this morning and still no one there.

The event organisation has also been appalling- gates opened so late you miss the first events, people having suntan lotion taken off them in 32 degree heat, not allowed reusable water bottles, day two and none of the week passes worked on the gates, then demanding ID (which I didn’t have) and not understanding why loads of us on a group booking had the same name on the booking anyway. It’s farcical!

Also, I’ve been ranting in the stadium about the new times only qualifying system so much that my good friends at the Backstraight Boys podcast have had me on to talk about it. Link below, I’m on from about 11:30 in for about 10 minutes but it’s a really good athletics podcast anyway (definitely my favourite) with a GB focus and loads of great guests so you should probably subscribe! (edit- thanks for the plug @FetchFugly !) Was so nervous, but hopefully came across ok in the end!

 
The Irish gold was incredible. Genuinely one of my favourite athletics moments ever. We were able to wander right to the front of the seating (we’re on the finish line anyway), I was watching the race but at the last minute threw my phone up to capture the Irish reaction- see my video below. So, so happy for them.

Also, Dina’s Mum introduced me to Rhasidat Adeleke’s Mum (name dropping much? Sorry!) who we stood with. She was in absolute floods of tears and just so lovely to see. She told me to pray for Rhasidat in the 400m- I told her something, she ain’t going to need it. She is incredible and I’m putting money on her for gold in Paris. And I can’t wait to see the celebration for that then!


 
Sheena said:
As @FetchFugly said. We just aren’t bothered and in Olympic year I’m not entirely sad about that.

The pricing is appalling- 800 EUR for a week’s pass at the start- but they’ve been heavily discounting and there were 13 EUR tickets this morning and still no one there.

The event organisation has also been appalling- gates opened so late you miss the first events, people having suntan lotion taken off them in 32 degree heat, not allowed reusable water bottles, day two and none of the week passes worked on the gates, then demanding ID (which I didn’t have) and not understanding why loads of us on a group booking had the same name on the booking anyway. It’s farcical!
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Yeah, sports event organisation in Rome is... it's a special thing :zombie:
 
Really disappointing to see the European Championships confined to the BBC iPlayer, with next to no promo. You'd hardly know they were taking place.
 
The Euros are a bit after the lord mayor’s show this year, accept before in this case.

Didn’t expect Thiam and KJT to go head to head here ahead of Paris so was surprised when they both turned up.
 
Sheena said:
As @FetchFugly said. We just aren’t bothered and in Olympic year I’m not entirely sad about that.

The pricing is appalling- 800 EUR for a week’s pass at the start- but they’ve been heavily discounting and there were 13 EUR tickets this morning and still no one there.

The event organisation has also been appalling- gates opened so late you miss the first events, people having suntan lotion taken off them in 32 degree heat, not allowed reusable water bottles, day two and none of the week passes worked on the gates, then demanding ID (which I didn’t have) and not understanding why loads of us on a group booking had the same name on the booking anyway. It’s farcical!

Also, I’ve been ranting in the stadium about the new times only qualifying system so much that my good friends at the Backstraight Boys podcast have had me on to talk about it. Link below, I’m on from about 11:30 in for about 10 minutes but it’s a really good athletics podcast anyway (definitely my favourite) with a GB focus and loads of great guests so you should probably subscribe! (edit- thanks for the plug @FetchFugly !) Was so nervous, but hopefully came across ok in the end!

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The qualification changes really don't work watching on tv either.

You were great. I loved the ranting and hearing how everyone was so pleased for the Irish fans.

The BSB podcast is always such a fun listen, informal and gossipy. Wonderful that that they have the lovely Jaz as their new temp too.
 
FetchFugly said:
The qualification changes really don't work watching on tv either.

You were great. I loved the ranting and hearing how everyone was so pleased for the Irish fans.

The BSB podcast is always such a fun listen, informal and gossipy. Wonderful that that they have the lovely Jaz as their new temp too.
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She’ll be in for a while we think. She’s great on it as well!

I’ve known them years- genuinely great people. Loved being on there!
 
Nice input on the podcast Shee, never listened to them before as I’m not very podcasty but will definitely keep an eye out for more.

The new qualification system seems to be based on the swimming model, and I guess the idea is to make qualifying rounds more competitive or high level from a viewers/entertainment perspective but yeah, it doesn’t work for athletics.
 
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