In a slower week of racing, as everyone slowly builds up the Olympic Games which officially got underway today with a soft-ball game, Trackstaa looks back at a week still full of important athletics news.
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Katir steals the show in Gateshead
Despite several high profile withdrawals, the meet in Gateshead was still mouth-watering and it did not disappoint. Undoubtedly the performance of the night was from Spanish athlete, Mo Katir, who must be most improved athlete of the year. Katir utterly smashed his personal best and ran a 7:27.64, which is the 3rd fastest ever by a European, faster than the great Eliud Kipchoge ever ran over 3000m and officially the 15th fastest time in history.
Katir seems to like Gateshead, he ran a brilliant race to win there in May in the 5,000m and only a week ago he wowed the Monaco crowd to finish second behind Timothy Cheruyiot in the 1500m, setting a national record in the process (3:28.76).
The race itself was expertly won, he allowed Stewy McSweyn to lead the pace, knowing that he wanted a quick time and then picked him off in the final 150m to ease to a comfortable win.
There were more stand-out performances, particularly on the men’s side, this time, where Elliot Giles held off Jake Heyward by a tenth of a second to take the win in the men’s mile. Giles’ 3:52.49 means he’s one of only 4 British men to have run 1:44, 3:34 and 3:54 for the 800m, 1500m and mile respectively. He’s in esteemed company with the likes of Seb Coe, Steve Cram and Peter Elliot. It’s a milestone which even alluded the great Steve Ovett. It was disappointment for Jake Wightman, however, who had been looking to run a fast time. He led from the start but as Giles and Heyward made their move with 130 to go he couldn’t respond.
In the sprints, Trayvon Brommel bounced back with an impressive win. His win means, despite defeat last week, he’s still the favourite for Olympic gold. His time 9.98 was hardly blisteringly quick which probably came from a slightly sluggish start but it means he’s back to winning ways. After the race, he said, “I’ll take that win and I really want to get back into training…and get ready for Tokyo.”
There were impressive runs by the women too as Elaine Thompson-Herah cruised to a great win in the women’s 200m. Coming into this Olympics slightly under the radar, she showed the world she’s still got that class. It wasn’t a quick time (22.43) but she’s got plenty of room of improvement too so she’ll be dangerous in the Olympics.
21-year-old Dutch superstar, Femke Bol remains unbeaten after she won by a healthy 10 metres the 400m Hurdles (53.24). One of the most consistent performers in the world this year, Bol is improving hugely and is now the 4th fastest 400m hurdler in history. Unlike their previous meetings, Shamier Little was nowhere to be seen this time. Bol will almost certainly push the favourite McLaughlin for a medal in Tokyo.
The men’s 800m was a great race too with Isaiah Harris taking the win in 1:44.76 ahead of the US Trials winner, Clayton Murphy who was a disappointing sixth (1:45.72). Kinyamal and Bol took second and third.
Kate Grace continued her remarkable run of form since failing to qualify for the US Olympic Team running a string of 1:57s before setting a new world-lead in the mile (4:27.20).
You can read the full results right here.
Tinman Strikes Back
This has been a week where the name Tinman Elite has been back at the forefront of fans minds with the release of their groundbreaking series ‘Inside Tinman Elite’, back for its second iteration. In a multi-episode documentary, the film looks back at the season from sea-level training camp back at the start of 2021, right through to now.
The cinematography is, as you would expect, masterfully done, but it’s more than just a few 15 minute episodes of cool shots and nice views. It’s pretty emotional and viscerally honest. Naturally, it covers some of the big stories from the Tinman Elite season including their disappointing performances, injury problems and, of course, the split from Coach Tom Schwartz. Our view is that it’s a must watch but it still leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
Elsewhere, this week and in news which most fans won’t find too surprising, Tinman Elite also announced that Joan Hunter, Drew’s Mum, would be taking over as the team’s Head Coach.
She’s amassed 25 year’s coaching experience and coached 10 national champions, 10 national high school record holders and 18 state champions and, she’s Drew’s Mom (American spelling), Nawhh.
No, in all seriousness, her pedigree at high school level is pretty peerless but most people will agree this is professional level, elite sport and it’s a bit different. A fact she’ll no doubt be aware of herself. Given that it would be fair to say that Tinman Elite members haven’t quite performed to the level they would have wanted recently, it’s going to be really interesting to see the impact that she has on this team.
On her new appointment, she said, “I’m really excited about actually being able to work with a smaller group…and the challenge of working with higher-level athletes who have big goals. I had plenty of dedicated high school kids, but it’s a new challenge.”
‘Inside Tinman Elite’ is linked below in the content of the week section, go check it out.
Oliver Dustin took on The Times
In a week where the racing action was fairly minimal, Oliver Dustin found his name plastered across headlines of one of the UK’s most read newspapers, The Times. In an article written by Matt Lawton, Chief Sports Correspondent, Lawton published a story which alleged that Dustin was about to be banned from the sport and miss his Olympic dream thanks to an amount of cocaine discovered in his testing sample.
Unsurprisingly, this shocked the athletics world and everyone wondered whether one of GB’s potential medal hopes would be going to the Olympics at all. The 20-year-old ran a world-lead 1:43.82 back in June and has a kick as formidable as any. In fact, many people believed he won the British Championships only to be ruled out a photo finish by Elliot Giles.
However, a mere few hours later, The Times retracted their story, posting a new one saying, in fact, that his sample had been contaminated and that he would indeed be going to the Games after all. This drew a swathe of criticism across the running world. It reaked of irresponsibility by an experienced journalist at a well-regarded paper; limited facts of a story that could have had major reprucussions for the athlete’s reputation, mental health and preparation for the biggest few weeks of his life.
In an Instagram post, he confirmed that the story was indeed false and that he would be seeking advice from his lawyers to look at legal action against The Times. Frankly, who can blame him. As a fan, I’m just glad he’s going to the Games and competing in a stacked 800m field.
Someone check on Paul Chelimo
Whatever Paul Chelimo is on, we want a bit! The Olympic silver medalist who recently won the US 5000m Olympic Trials (13:26.82) in interesting fashion, by essentially pushing Woody Kincaid and Grant Fisher out into lane 4 to stop them from overtaking him, has been posting some interesting tweets this week about the bed situation in Tokyo.
For those that aren’t aware, the Japanese hosts have installed beds which are designed to prevent horny athletes getting frisky. The cardboard, it is claimed, will break at the slightest unusual movement and under the weight of 2 people.
What these ingenuis people failed to properly appreciate however, is that there are more ways to get your freak on than simply in bed, unless the floor, walls, shower, bath are also all made of sex-proof cardboard.
Sir Mo Farah sets sights on one last hurrah
Arguably the greatest championship distance runner in history, Sir Mo Farah has proclaimed his intention to run one more race, despite picking up a stress fracture in his left foot.
The last few months have been disappointing for the double-double Olympic champion after he failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics despite 2 efforts to run the necessary qualifying time for the 10,000m.
In perhaps a further sign that he’s in the twilight of his career, he was interviewed by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire and, of his plans for his last race he said, “I think will be a marathon or half-marathon and I’d like to show one more track event…what goes up must come down at some point, so I know my career will because that’s just life. But, at the same time, I don’t want it to end like this. I want to keep pushing it and then when I want to finish, I’ll finish.”
One thing is for certain, the fans will be queing up to see his final race. My money is on the Great North Run 2022.”
Timothy Cheruiyot selected for the Kenyan Olympic Team
It’s been a race die-hard athletics fans have been looking forward to ever since Jakob Ingebrigsten and Cheruiyot raced in Monaco last year, with 19-year-old Ingebrigsten smashing the European record to run 3:28.68. However, when Cheruiyot came 4th in the Kenyan trials, many had resigned themselves to the fact that the race wouldn’t happen.
Although he came second to Cheruiyot last year, it truly felt like it was the start of a changing of the guard. Now, despite thinking otherwise, Cheruiyot and Ingebrigsten, the 2 stand-out favourites for the gold medal will face up in the Olympics for the big race.
Despite Cheruiyot winning their most recent race at the recent Monaco Diamond League, Jakob finishing third in 3:29.65, and running a persona best 3:28.28 (7th fastest all-time), Jakob was off a virus that had put him out of action for 2 weeks. Indeed, that he managed to run sub 3:30 given his preparation was nothing short of miraculous.
Cheruiyot’s inclusion has made the men’s 1500m one of the most hotly anticipated races of the entire Olympics with so many truly outstanding athletes. Aside from the 2 we have already mentioned, Stewy McSweyn ran another Oceania Record 3:29.51 and that’s before we even mention the USA’s reigning Olympic champion, Matthew Centrowitz, rising star Cole Hocker and formidable British pair Jake Wightman (3:29.47 PB) and Josh Kerr. We cannot wait!!
Other news
Luis Grijalva has signed his first professional contract with HOKA One One.
Waleed Suliman of Ole Miss joins the Brooks Beasts.