Run-Down Forums

[Conway]

Typically not of interest to Americans as we have no one competing, but Commonwealth is a major event for others and an indication of how things may be when the Euro season resumes in a few weeks ...

Most of the world's top non American sprinters will be there ... Many African naitons will participate which means a large number of top end distance runners will be there as well ...

Seems like this meet would give someone like Lagat the oppotunity to strut his stuff and maybe get a confidence boost going in to the second half of the Euro season ...

Same for the European Championships ... Especially on the women's side ... A preponderence of top level women's competitors are European !!!

So for othe next few weeks we may be faced with these two competitions as our main source of entertainment from the sport ... And THAT is not a bad thing ...

[Distance_Guru]

The Commonwealth Games are a big deal outside the states. A former competitor of mine will be running in the 10,000 for New Zealand. He won't be in contention to place high, his PR is 28:00. But coming from a D2 school and being the class act that he is I'll be pulling for him anyway.

I don't suppose the Commonwealth Games will get any air time in the US though
_________________
Time is the fire in which we burn

[graeme]

The commonwealth games are cosidered a big deal by fans, but not always by the competitors. Here in Canada, none of our top runners want to compete in the Commonwealth Games because they happen during the European season and they have little to gain. There are also funding issues, but that's a whole new topic.

That's just the impression I've gotten from Canadian athletes, it may be different in Europe and Africa.

[Conway]

I think you're probably right ... Back when the Olympics were the only big deal there was a need for some other forms of competition in between ... Now there are the World Championships, Olympics and a very lucrative European circuit ... Commconwealths are now mostly for bragging rights !!! So I am sure a lot of athletes look at it as an inconvenience ... Same with the World Cup ... I was excited in 1979 when it first started ... No Worlds yet ... It was a big deal ... Now (as abig a fan as I am) I yawn about the World Cup !!!!

I've never seen any of the Common wealth on US TV ... None of the European Championships either .. Too bad as there is a relativelly high level of competition ... The sprints are usually very good at Commonwealth ... And the Euros are exciting all the way around ...

[Conway]

A reminder to everyone that the Commonwealth Games begins tomorrow !!!

[graeme]

We usually get very good coverage of the Commonwealth Games in Canada... I'll let you all know if anything exciting happens

[Conway]

Cool ... We only get TV coverage of trck here in teh States when American are involved .. And in most cases lucky to get that !!! Course Canada has not had the best of squads lately ... Who do Canadians feel are their top medal hopes ...

[Justin]

Some useful CG links:

Official site (athletics section ):

http://www.commonwealthgames2002.org.uk/Sports/Athletics/default.asp

BBC site (all sports):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/commonwealthgames2002/default.stm

Men's 100m heats have just finished. Nothing dramatic - Chambers the quickest at 10.19, MLF 10.25. QFs later today.

Frankie Fredericks has pulled out of the 100m. He's decided not to risk the 100m as he's been injured, but will run the 200m.

Justin

[Conway]

Thanks Justin ... Were you able to see the heat ?? IF so how did everyone look ... SEmis and finals are tomorrow correct ???

[Justin]

Quarters all won in under 10.20:

Chambers 10.17
Lewis-Francis 10.13 / Collins 10.20
Aliu 10.16
Emedolu 10.19

These 5 look the class of the field. Chambers looked the most impressive, although he had a terrible start in his qf - bad enough that if he repeats it in the final he'll lose. MLF looks very good as well but didn't run away from Kim Collins - they were both cruising. Aliu and Emedolu ran harder for their wins. No Obadele Thompson - he pulled out of the qf after a mediocre heat. Gardener qualified but ran poorly; Nkansah may also be a threat.

Semis and final tomorrow. Semis at 19:05 and 19:15 and final at 20:35 - very close together. That's UK time (GMT +1hr) of course.

Justin

[graeme]

I won't be able to see anything live, it's all being televised at prime-time, so I havn't seen the 100m heats yet.

As far as track goes, we don't have a lot of people with a really good chance of medelling as far as I know. But there's Mark Boswell and Kwaku Boatang who could both medal in the high jump on a good day. Diane Cummins is ranked 8th in the world in the 800m, so she has a small chance. Kevin Sullivan and Graham Hood will both be there, they have PRs of 3:31 and 3:33 respectively in the 1500, but neither have been running at that level for the last couple years. We also have a triathlete that will be going for gold.... I'm sure you've heard of Simon Whitfield before. He recently came off a broken color bone and two broken wrists to won two world cup races, but the field in the Commonwealth Games with be a lot tougher. He was also the Olympic champion in 2000 so I'd say he has a good chance. Our other male triathlete failed a drug test, but still has a chance of being reinstated.

Outside of athletics, Canada has done very well so far, we already have 7 medals, which puts us in 2nd place behind Australia. I think England has 6.

[Paul]

Justin, thanks for the Commonwealth links.

Graeme, noticed that your last couple of posts elevated you to Jr Varsity status. Congrats!! Hope your hip is back to normal.

Paul

[Conway]

Congrat graeme !!!!

Justin, is the meet being braodcast on BBC or Eurosport ... Am going to try to listen in today ... Should be an exciting final ... Should be close between MLF, Chambers, and Collins ... Although I give the Brits the edge as Collins is not nearly as sound technically ... And usally in a big meet it's he who makes the fewest mistakes !!! And I am going to predict 10.02 as the winning time ... Which still leaves it wide open ...

What's goin on with the Q-milers ... There are some decent ones within the Commonwealth ... But the times seems unusually slow ... Unless guys are just holding back due to lack of overall quality ... Hard to tell without being able to see it ... Too bad some secondary cable network does broadcast things like this to help with their programming !!

[Justin]

Well. Blimey. Wow.

Kim Collins - 9.98
Uchenna Emedolu - 10.11
Pierre Browne - 10.12
Deji Aliu - 10.15
Dwight Thomas 10.15
Jason Gardener 10.22
Chambers DNF
MLF DNF

Collins and MLF got great starts and were way ahead. Collins ran 10.08 easing up in his semi and was always a threat. Chambers got a terrible start in his semi but ran 10.06. He did the same in the final and was left. He pulled a calf muscle straining to catch up and DNF. Meanwhile Collins was away but Lewis-Francis ran him down and was coming by at 80m when...he pulled a hamstring and sprawled on the track, crying and thumping the track. He would have won. Chambers has all the speed in the world but gave away over a metre in the first ten.

Credit to Collins, who kept his head in front of a loud and partisan (but very friendly) home crowd. What a disapointment though - huge build-up here and it's live on primetime TV (8.30pm Saturday night) - perhaps 10m viewers (from 60m popn).

Sigh.

Justin

[Justin]

PS Coverage on BBC is virtually blanket, although T&F shares the spotlight with lots of other sports of course. All the athletics finals will be shown though, guaranteed.