Last night on snapchat, Natasha Hastings, Jasmin Stowers and Phylicia George were watching the 400m in Brussels on a screen at the warmup track. When Santos won, Hastings said something along the lines of, "the South African guy won." When someone else said it's not him, she said, "Oh shoot that's not him? Don't you think he looks like that South African dude?".

This season has been historic in so many ways. It's a shame some of the top athletes have barely taken it in!

I saw that the screen said WB for Lynsey but I checked and, in 1984, Tatana Kocembova (CZE) ran a track 500 in 1:05.9. Maybe Lynsey's is the "Clean WB".

I'm sure it will be a WB for the highly contested road 500m, last contested in 1897, Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Year..

Konrad Bukowiecki tested positive for a stimulant, Higenamine, at the World U20 Championships - https://twitter.com/LouiseCapicotto/...19889403301888

It's a beautiful day in the North East for the Great North Run.

Not exactly sure what you point is? With athletes wearing their corporate gear and no doubt a big screen without commentary (or Engljsh commentary), it's hardly surprising that an athlete could mis-identify an athlete in another event.

Here are the start lists for the elite races in the GNR:
Men / Women / Wheelchairs

Mo is the only big name in the men's race; the rest of the field is probably the weakest for some time.

The women's race has a pretty strong field; Cheruiyot and Dibaba are the headline track names.

The wheelchair field is weak. What on earth could the big names be doing right now?

Taking a holiday with Clare Balding?

Looking like another GNR setup for Mo to win with handy pacing from a team mate.

Why do none of the other elite Men show up for this?

Who knows, but although Im sure it wasn't, it looked like a walk in the park for Mo today. Its very much his era.

After the worlds next year I guess Mo's goal is going to be to medal in the Marathon. Doesn't look like he has a World Record in him though. Bekele's times and indeed several others are quite exceptional at 5k and 10k.

That's a name from the past, iirc she was 2nd to Kratochvilova when the latter went under 48 seconds for the first time for 400 metres at Helsinki 1983.

He will still make a living from competing on the road post-2017, but I doubt he will emulate Galen Rupp in winning an Olympic (or WCh) marathon medal.

Certainly not in the Olympic distances. (He does have an indoor 2 mile world best to his name - which previously belonged to Bekele.)

That we are able to take it in and enjoy it and we know the sport inside out, but things are so fast paced for the athletes that they don't even know the names of some Olympic champions and world record holders. I was just saying that that's a shame especially this year as its been so good. I wonder how many athletes sit, watch and enjoy athletics. That's all!

I suspect many are only really interested in their own events and those of their training squad. I doubt many of the sprinters have much interest in the 'joggers' and vice versa.

I'm not so sure about that. Based on past performances you have to say yes.. he'd struggle. But Alberto Salazar isn't stupid. He wouldn't be suggesting Mo do Marathon distances if he didn't feel Mo had it in him to do well at that distance. I don't think Mo will have been putting in anywhere near the miles required in training previously because he simply didn't need to. But now that he's going for road distances.. he will up the miles and we'll see what he's capable of.

Whilst there's been one or two great fields in the past (e.g., Haile, Kenenisa & Mo a few years ago) I think it comes down to a combination of the following 3 reasons:

1) This year it was particularly weak, perhaps because of it being shortly after the Olympics.
2) It's not in a great spot on the calendar in any year - the super-elite guys are probably resting up before their autumn marathon attempts.
3) If you're a half-marathon specialist and have a shot at a WB, AR or NR you'd probably pick another half-marathon because the GNR is 'too much' * of a point-to-point course and therefore isn't eligible for record purposes.

* If the distance, as the crow flies, between the start and finish is more than 50% of the race distance then it's not eligible for record purposes because the athletes could benefit too much from a tailwind.

Caught up with Brussels this morning. Sandi Morris was the highlight but it was good to see Shannon Rowbury attempting another 5000m and shattering her PB. That's two American records she holds now. I wish she had made the career change to 5k years ago, I think she would be a serial medalist by now.

8.48 by Mayonga was a bit tasty too

To end the Diamond League season here is the prize money table for this season.

http://www.track-stats.com/diamond-l...ze-money-2016/

Field eventers might not do so well when it comes to TV time but they are well represented at the top of this list.

But what we don't know and we'll probably never find out is how much was paid out in appearance fees.

I've often wondered about this myself. I found this from quite a while ago:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_re...thread=3139387

But I do remember reading around two years ago that appearance fees were dropping. But I think a few of the stars Bolt, (obviously), Shelly-Ann, Scihppers, Mo and Dibaba (both) would still be on the figures quoted or mid-five figures.

https://twitter.com/BenColdwell91/st...17561921073152

GB now has 2 more bronze medals from Beijing after the latest round of testing & disqualifications.

I remember the guy who ran UK Athletics at the time got sacked because we didn't reach our medal target in 2008..

Wonder how he feels now?

I suspect Dave Collins was on the way out anyway. Rumours at the time were that British Athletics were sounding any coaches for some to e before Beijing.

Hopefully these medals will be awarded at the Worlds next year. Doesn't quite make up for things but at least getting it in front of a home crowd in a packed stadium will ease the pain a little.

And if it were not for Mo Farah - whose success owes very little to British coaching - his successors would hardly have done much better.

2008 1G 2S 3B
2012 4G 1S 1B
2016 2G 1S 4B

there has been some improvement - 21 top 8 finishes in 2016 vs 16 in 2008

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