Athletics 2012
 

Not just a sneaky "I got there first" thread! ;)

First event of the season is on Saturday live on BBC, the Edinburgh Cross Country. A very strong field, with Mo Farah's top challenger present.

"Some of the world’s best distance runners will compete in the Bupa Great Edinburgh XCountry Men’s 3K , including three current Olympic gold medallists, Kenenisa Bekele, Asbel Kiprop and Brimin Kipruto competing in the UK for the first time in Olympic Year.

Bekele at the 2008 Games in Beijing won both the 5000m and 10000m titles while the Kenyan pair of Kiprop and Kipruto triumphed in their respective 1500m and 3000m steeplechase races."

After that, more world wide cross country events, and an indoor season starting in Glasgow on 28 January, and going onto the World Indoor Champs in Istanbul in early March.

http://www.greatrun.org/events/Infor...?ctid=240&id=2

Well done grassmarket! I'm looking forward to the new season. There should be some good battles ahead. Blake vs Bolt & Farah vs Bekele et al. David Rudisha - already looks like one of the greatest athletes of all time. The progression of young Kirani James in the 400m. America vs Jamaica in the women's sprints. Vlasic vs Chicherova. The rise of Jennifer Suhr who's now the main challenger to Isinbeyeva. And will Caster finally put her foot down and go for the 800 m world record. Finally, me in the Olympic stadium!! Good season ahead! :)

Mo Farah will be doing the two British indoor events, a 1500m at Glasgow and a 2 Miles - presumably a record attempt - in Birmingham.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/16429132.stm

Anything but convincing from Bekele, beaten by a whole gang of British journeymen and all the Kenyans. It was a mild day in Edinburgh, and he made his name winning Cross Country World Champs so it wasn't anything he hadn't done before.

Yes I'd read that Bekele may skip London. Wonder if his heart is in it any more.

Should be an interesting season, as the rewards for UK athletes who do well in the Olympics could be huge financially in terms of endorsements etc, as it will be the most watched athletics event for many years in the UK. So the race is on to get selected for the UK team.

Have any of the regular posters here managed to get tickets to any athletics sessions? Me and my other half have managed to get 2 tickets for 2 different evening sessions, so we feel pretty happy with that.

Yep i lucked out & got tickets for 4th August Evening session. :D

Bekele had been talking himself up in the media recently but just appears to be talk at the moment.

Nice advert with Mo on tv at the moment.

Amazing news from an indoor event in Lyon. British pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale set a new national record of 4.87 making her the second highest jumper of all time! Only Isinbaeva has jumped higher indoors (Feofanova and Jen Stuhr have gone better outdoors.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/16670397.stm

That is seriously impressive .....

Hopefully she can reproduce that form outdoors and in London.

Film here

http://www.athleticsweekly.com/video...87m-uk-record/

Great stuff from Holly. Really hope she can be consistent at those big heights & an Olympic medal is a real possibility.

British High Jumper Robbie Grabarz also been jumping well & cleared 2.34 at a meeting yesterday.

Other news - Nelson Evora has confirmed injury will prevent him from defending his Triple Jump title in London. With Teddy Tamgho's off track misdemeanors it seems to be falling apart for some of Idowu's rivals this year.

Also appears to be ructions in Eithiopia with a number of athletes being suspended for not attending a training camp including Bekele & Dibaba. Am sure it will be resolved in time for the Olympics but not helpful and I imagine the Kenyans are having a good chuckle.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/16652042.stm

The young American kid that won the World Champs is always going to be the biggest obstacle for Idowu in London imo along with Tamago , i think that kid will beat Edwards WR at some point.

Cheers.

That is a remarkable improvement. What is the latest on Isinbayeva? Is she still a favourite for the Olympics or has she passed her best

My Olympic tickets cover the Womens Pole Vault Final!

The last few seasons she has not been in the form she was 3-4 years ago, and in fact was showing signs she was bored with the whole thing. Part of the problem was that none of her competitors were really putting in great heights either, so she had gotten used to winning without working hard at it.

Thanks for the info. I'm not an expert on athletics by any means , but I had heard of her. In an interview in the Times today she admits to having weight problems, you would have thought that would be a huge disadvantage to a pole-vaulter. She is only 20, and could be a real star, but I think her attitude must change. Perhaps this record will get her into full fitness. I hope so.

I suppose not that many talented athletes choose the pole-vault,so there aren't all that many to compete against, as opposed to the high jump for instance..

Steph Twell is back to full fitness, but is coming up against some talented 1500m runners for an Olympic spot. Dobriskey,England and Charlene Thomas are all good athletes. Should be a good race to see who gets the places.

Think you are being a tad harsh on her. She has only been training seriously for a year or so i believe, before that it was just a couple of times a week. Most athletes don't start training seriously until their late teens so she's followed a standard pattern. And for someone with a poor attitude she seems to be doing remarkably well.

I agree I think she was getting bored. She took a year off as she was already world number one and had no one to challenge her.

Even being half as giid as she was she is still better than most. Will be interesting to see if she can get that hunger and desire back and perform like she used to in an Olympic year

BBC have indoor athletics from Glasgow on BBC1 + HD on Saturday afternoon, 1330-1530. I haven't been able to find a list of the international competitors but there isn't a women's pole vault scheduled. Mo Farah is running, though, in the 1500m.

http://www.uka.org.uk/media/news/jan...ational-match/

Now watching. Events start at 2pm.

Just watched the jump on TV. She did that with a junior pole and they say a senior one can add 30cm. She's looking like the natural successor to Isinbayeva.

That's what I think, also. All the others like Rogowska, Murer, Feofanova etc and Isinbaeva herself look like they have hit a plateau. It's still a pretty new event and there are big gains to be made.

Pretty good performance from GB. Anytime you can beat RUS, GER and USA is worth celebrating. I liked Mo Farah in the 1500, it's good for him to have to scrap it out in a sprint finsih.