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[Justin]

Paula Radcliffe won the 10k at the EC last night in 30:01.09. That's not a typo. It does read 30:01.09. That's 13 secs better than Ingrid Kristiansen's 1986 European Record and the second fastest time ever behind the 29:31 of Wang Junxia.

It was absolutely teeming down with rain in Munich the whole race. Radcliffe went to the front at the gun and by 1k, O'Sullivan and Ribeiro were the only ones with her. Then Ribeiro dropped back (and eventually out, looking stunned). Then O'Sullivan dropped back too. Radcliffe was all alone for the last 8k. She lapped all but 2nd-4th. O'Sullivan broke her Irish record but finished 46 secs down. National records were set by women who had been lapped.

In all of sport, in all my life, I have never seen anything quite so crushing, quite so awe-inspiring. It was just brutal, devastating strength. The faces of the other athletes registered variations of shock and humilation. Think of the times in sport when you saw someone or a team utterly destory good opponents.

Radcliffe's 12 months - World Half Marathon Champ, World X Country Champ, 2:18 London Marathon, 8:22 3k National Record, CG 5k gold, European 10k gold in awesome time. She may or may not run the 5k later in the week - depends how she feels. She's running the Vhicago Marathon in October so you will get a chance to see what all the fuss is about.

Wonderful, womderful, wonderful. The most popular woman in Britain. Our best athlete.

Justin

PS Dwain Chambers ran 10.08 in the 100m qf; no-one else has run under 10.23. He'll win if he can stand up for the whole 100m. MLF is out injured. Obikwelu and Campbell look the only other half-decent sprinters. No Pintusevich in women's 100m so Thanou looks just as dominant as Dwain.

[Dan]

Socks is certainly on a roll.

Dan

[Justin]

Well, where to start.

Great sprints at the EC:

Men's 100 - Chambers 9.96, Obikwelu 10.06, Campbell 10.15 (-0.3)

Brilliant run by Chambers - a great start for once and the race was over after 10m.

Men's 200m - Kenteris 19.85, Obikwelu 20.21, Devonish 20.24 (-0.5)

Oh yes, at last. I was so pleased for Kenteris because I think he's been so unfairly maligned. 2000 - OG; 2001 - WC; 2002 - EC. The man's a champion. This was an awesome run, described by Michael Johnson as a complete race - great start, powerful bend, accelerated into the straight, held form the whole way. Wonderful. Campbell was dq in the qf for a lane infraction. Devonish ran faster in the semi than the final.

Ingo Shultz won a poor 400m; Kipketer was an easy 800m winner (credit to an unfit Bucher for a gutsy silver). Spaniards dominated the distance races except the 1500m, won by a Frenchman in a near dead-heat with the Spanish defending champ (same time!)

Wonderful marathon - a Finn knocked 5 minutes off his best to win in 2:12 in awful weather. He was the only one to really have a go and he was REALLY TIRED for the last few miles but it was a brave and enjoyable run.

Colin Jackson and Steve Backley both won their 4th consecutive EC titles. Jonathan Edwards didn't get it together and lost to Christian Olsen. There were some great field events - 68m discus in heavy rain - and some poor ones (8.08m won the LJ).

The UK men were too good in the relays, epsecially the 4x100m. Diagana ran a great 47.58 to win the 400mH by nearly a second.

Thanou was an easy winner of the women's 100m; Muriel Hurtis won the 200m but Kim Gaevert of Belgium was closer to both than predicted. She also had some uncomplimentary things to say about Thanou.

Drug insinuations were a sad theme in Munich. Paula Radcliffe was subject to some laughable speculation in some press quarters. After the 800m, in which Jolanda Ceplak destroyed the field from gun to tape, Kelly Holmes made some cheap accusations which she refused to back up. Cowardly and stupid. I thought she was above that.

Then yesterday a Turkish woman no-one had heard of front ran to a 3:58 1500m victory, with Gaby Szabo unable to overtake her in the home straight. Unlike Holmes, Szabo took her defeat (to an athlete who hasn't raced outside Turkey all year) with good grace, but it's pretty clear she thinks she's been robbed. It was stunning run by the Turk - very strong, very brave and very good to watch.

Radcliffe's 10k was the best single performance in a meet which varied from top top world class to quite mediocre. Mediocre also describes the organisation. Here's a list of calamities:

- a cable was left across the track during a 1500m heat
- an official stepped in front of the 20km walk leader out on the course
- a cameraman stepped in front of a UK runner in the 1500m
- an Irish 200m runner had to dodge at the last moment to avoid crashing into a camera boom at head height
- that Irish runner was then told to run again...all alone...to see if he could run a qualifying time. Insult added to near-serious injury
- the men's 1500m was announced as a dead heat then changed as the joint 'winners' were celebrating
- Lev Lobodin was left off the official results for the Decathlon, denying him his moment to celebrate his bronze after the last event

Plus, the starting was terrible - 30 second holds in the on-your-marks! At one point Natasha Danvers stuck her hand in the air to say she wasn't ready and was given a false start! Yet Abi Oyapitan was allowed a -0.017 reaction time in the 100m! Inexperienced, inflexible and ignorant officials damn near spoiled things for everyone.

...and I thought that not having someone there to tell the marathon runners they were finished (as happened in Manchester) was terrible.

Last thought - MJ is a wonderful summariser and commentator. He was very professional and had plainly done a lot of research, especially on UK athletes (he was working for BBC). His exchanges with the likes of Steve Cram, Roger Black and John Regis were also great.

A great few weeks of athletics, perhaps with only the Manchester 100m as a let down. Roll on Zurich, London, and the World Cup!

Justin

[Dan]

Wow, that's qutie the recap! Thanks, Justin. With Kenteris finally going under 20.00 in a big way, I've definitely got to start giving him more respect... I'd say he's now put himself into a category shared by Donovan Bailey (one of my favorites) -- great when it counts, spotty or a no-show when it doesn't.

That officiating sounds horrendous. I had heard about a few of those mishaps individually, but seen altogether is embarrassing.

I recall MJ doing some Indoors commentating during his competitive career and being pretty bland. He's probably the commentator I most look forward to hearing from now, so kudos to him for obviously taking the job seriously and honing his skills to a high level (and for not learning from Carol).

Dan

[Conway]

Justin ... Nice recap ... I was pleasantly surprised at the high level of marks ... But as some was also surprised at where some of them came from ... I've been gone for a week or so and last night was looking at a few "boards" and the common theme was the disbelief (I'm toning it down) at various athletes who compete little if at alloutside of their own boarders - and rarely at that ... Yet are able to put up those kinds of marks ... Among those prominently mentioned were the Turkish woman, Thanou, and Kenteris ...

Obviously these athletes ran what they did ... My question is do we know or know where to find trianing programs for these individuals ... The comments that I constantly see is that they can't possibly do this without aid ... Seems to me that an explanation of triaing would put waste to those kinds of statements ..

Conway

[Paul]

Justin, I keep forgetting to post how exciting that last day of Commonwealth Games relays must have been. Britain, as I recall, won the 4 x 100 in a dead heat with basically their 200m people, and the other relays looked great from the competitive standpoint also. Cathy Freeman ran as I read she might.

Paul

[Justin]

Yes it was great. In the 4x100m Darren Campbell got to anchor the England (NOT Britain) team to gold on his home track but it was real close - same time as the Jamaicans. The Jamaican team thought they'd won and if it had been in Kingston they would have been given it but this was in Manchester so the English team was given it! It was so close a case could be made for either side and in that case I'd always want the hometown win because it's good for the meet.

The 4x400m was even better thanks to 3rd and 4th legs of 44.5 and 44.1 (yes, 44.1) from Jamie Baulch and Matt Elias for Wales. However, England's 3rd and 4th men - Chris Rawlinson and Daniel Caines - ran 44.8 and 44.5. The result was a desparate lunge for the line in which Caines just held off Elias by 1/100th. If it had been a 402m track Elias would have won - indeed, at first he thought he had done. Michael Johnson was just cooing over Elias - so fast, so smooth, so determined. Meanwhile, Michael Blackwood of Jamaica (the individual champ) had led into the straight but dropped the baton under pressure. But Caines and Elias were already going past him at that point.

The Jamaican women's 4x4 team also dropped the baton when strong favourites and their women's 4x1 team was outrun by the Bahamas. They planned on 4 relay golds and got 2 silvers.

The CG relays meana lot because it is the only time Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland and England get to compete as those nations. This means a lot to proud Welshman like Elias, Baulch, Malcolm and Jackson and to Scots like Lee McConnell, especially in the relays.

Justin

[Dan]

I've moved the drugs portion of this thread to a new topic:

http://run-down.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=852

Please use that one if you wish to discuss the matter any further so that this topic can be left for what it was intended -- discussion of the Commonwealth Games and European Championships.



Dan