Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2022 i AW - Athletics Weekly Magazine

Between them, the UK and US Championships had just about everything - high quality action, dramatic racing, fights to the finish and plenty at stake. The only thing missing? Spectators. It’s true that the rail strike across Britain didn’t make things any easier — neither did the gusting winds - but the smattering of populated seats at Sportcity in Manchester was a very real cause for concern. The same could be said for Hayward Field, where truly astonishing things were happening on the track which is about to host the World Championships. The possible reasons for the absence of big crowds are many and it was certainly no surprise to see social media awash with messages about how to “save athletics” as a result. If ever there was a summer…

While it may lack the intensity of an Olympic trials, there is no doubt that a US Championships far outshines the average Diamond League for drama and thrilling competition, with team spots and future medals on the line as well as the muchdesired American titles. The world ranking system has slightly diluted the jeopardy, with the top three not always now guaranteed a team spot if athletes are not in possession of much tougher qualifying marks than the past. Kenyan and Ethiopian trials may give better endurance races, too, but the sheer quality of the sprints and hurdles will barely be surpassed at the World Championships. Judging by what was on show from June 23-26 at Hayward Field, the American athletes will be on course for a record number of…

ANTIBIOTICS LOWER ENDURANCE AND MOTIVATION Taking a course of antibiotics might seem the fastest route to overcoming an infection, but researchers warn that the effects could backfire for athletes. Results of a study at the University of California, published in the journal Behavioural Processes, showed that, by killing essential gut bacteria, antibiotics potentially harm athletes' motivation and endurance. In the study on laboratory animals, some bred for high levels of running, and others that weren’t, faecal samples revealed that gut bacteria were reduced in both groups after 10 days of taking antibiotics. Although none of the animals exhibited any other obvious side effects from the medication, the distance run by the athletic animals reduced by 21 per cent - something the scientists attributed to microbiome damage. Even 12 days after…

Many athletes share one common trait when facing a big championship or event. No matter how much preparation work they have put in, they psych themselves out. It doesn’t matter how well prepared they are or how long they’ve been training, the doubts can creep in and athletes can convince themselves that they aren’t good enough. Unfortunately, mindset is one of the biggest deciding factors in winning a big event so here’s how to fight back against those mental demons and increase your chances of success. GET YOUR MIND READY It takes a positive mindset to win big. Giving an event too much “headspace” before the big day is a sure way to psych yourself out. Like any test, you’ve studied hard and you’re ready to perform. Confidence and positivity…

361° 361Europe.com FLAME £155.00 New from Chinese brand 361° the Flame is the latest race shoe to line up alongside the carbon-plated racing contenders. At first glance the shoe looks a little familiar, in fact without an easily recognised logo adorning it you might struggle to guess who has made it. The midsole shape with the 361°’s Quikbone carbon plate looks like it’s been inspired by Nike and the Quikflame midsole material is reminiscent of Saucony. Where the shoe differs is in the price. At just £155 it’s much cheaper than most of its competitors. In terms of performance, the Flame really does excel. It feels every bit as light, springy and energised as its competitors, while the ride is very stable and the toe-off from the carbon plate has…

How many of our Commonwealth Games-related questions can you answer correctly? 1 How many events will feature across athletics and para athletics in Birmingham? 2 Dan Greaves will compete for Team England during Birmingham 2022 in the F44/45 discus. What record feat did he achieve when he won bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics last summer? 3 The men’s 100m Commonwealth Games record (9.88) was set by Ato Boldon at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur. For which country was he competing? 4 Which country holds the record for both the mens and women’s 4x100m relays? 5 What is the total number of athletics medals Team England has won in the history of the Commonwealth Games? 6 New Zealand’s Yvette Williams has five gold medals to her name. In which events…

Look out for Candian middle-distance runner Will Paulson at this summer's Commonewealth Games as there's a chance you may recognise him from British races of yesteyear. The 27-year-old was born in Gloucestershire and won the English Schools inter boys 1500m gold in 2011 and senior boys title in 2013. In 2014 he was runner-up behind Charlie Grice in the British Championships over 1500m but went to the US to study at Princeton University then Arizona State and is now based in Oregon and, thanks to dual nationality now competes for Canada with a 1500m best of 3:36.86 and mile in 3:52.42 so far in 2022.…

Jake Wightman celebrates finally getting his hands on a British title, having burst past long-time leader Josh Kerr and Neil Gourley with 200m to go to win the men’s 1500m in 3:40.26. Gourley ran 3:40.38 and Kerr 3:40.63 - just three hundredths of a second ahead of Jake Heyward. After two silvers and three bronze medals during a decade of racing at the national championships, this Manchester victory was Wightman’s first-ever national gold.…

The great and the good of athletics in Britain were on show at the Manchester International Arena for this year’s national Championships, which also served as the trials for the upcoming World Championships. Perhaps one of the key players across the three days of competition, however, was the weather. Save for a momentary lull which gave Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake a 200m championships record of 20.05, the gusting winds made legal sprint times an impossibility and caused some frustration for those still searching for the qualifying standards which, allied to a top-two finish, would guarantee a spot on the flight to Eugene. Life was far from easy for the field eventers, either, being buffeted as they tried to jump and throw. In spite of all that, however, when it came to the…

Who were your heroes growing up and were they the ones who inspired you to get into track and field? My hero growing up was my dad. He taught me about hard work, which certainly came into play when I was an athlete. What I admired in him and wanted to emulate in myself was being in control. We had some difficulties as a family financially but my dad always figured it out and that’s what probably led me to being a control freak as I wanted everything to be the same. Being in control served me well as I didn’t, or couldn’t, care about the things that I didn’t control, such as my competitors and what happened in their lane. I was only focused on my lane and in…

One of the key tools at a coach’s disposal is the humble training plan - the cornerstone upon which athletic success is built. It will serve as a guide and something which will enable you to develop your athletes, both technically and in terms of conditioning, year in year out systematically. That said, I’d like to start by emphasising the importance of not being completely wedded to it. The training plan is only a guide. Yes, you can complete endless spreadsheets of training blocks and training sessions but life has a habit of getting the way and causing things to change. You can guarantee that at some stage athletes will turn up to training fatigued or stressed from issues either related to their training or due to outside factors. That…

UK TRACK & FIELD MÜLLER UK ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS, Sportcity, Manchester, June 24-26 See p14 for the key moments from Manchester. Men: 100(2.5): 1 J Azu (Card) 9.90; 2 R Prescod (E&H) 9.94:3 Z Hughes (SB) 9.97:4 J Efoloko (Sale) 10.12:5 H Aikines-Aryeetey (Sutt) 10.12:6 A Thomas (Brack) 10.14; 7 M Francis (W&B) 10.15. Para (4.6): 1 Z Shaw (Clee) 10.66. 200(2.0): 1 N Mitchell-Blake (NEB) 20.05; 2 J Ferguson (Leeds C) 20.23; 3 J Quainoo (B&B, U20) 20.40; 4 J Hanson (Woking) 20.46; 5 A Gemili (B&B) 20.48; 6 T Harries (Phoe) 20.80. 400:1 M Hudson-Smith (Bir) 44.92; 2 L Davey (NEB) 46.18; 3 R Mitcham (Bir) 46.22; 4 J Brier (Swan) 46.34; 5 A Haydock-Wilson (WSEH) 46.56; 6 D Putnam (B&B) 47.04; 7 B Higgins (Shef/Dearn) 47.43; 8 K…

When Ricky Lightfoot became only the third runner ever to win the Man vs Horse Marathon outright, he defeated more horses than you will see in the Grand National. The firefighter from Cumbria covered the challenging multi-terrain 22-mile course in Llanwrtyd Wells in North Wales last month in 2hr 22min to beat 60 horses, not to mention around 1200 fellow runners, too. The 37-year-old (pictured below) achieved the feat after not having slept for 29 hours either due to travel problems. His reward? A prize of £3500 from sponsors Whole Earth. Horses usually struggle in this event if the weather is either too hot - as they are required by vets to have regular breaks to cool off - or very wet weather, as they struggle on slippy ground. The…

June saw a significant restructuring of the UK Athletics (UKA) Performance team. Stephen Maguire has been named as technical director at the governing body, a position from which hewill oversee the strategy for the World Class Performance programme and coincides with the decision to make Christian Malcolm's role as Olympic head coach redundant at the end of this summer. Maguire was beaten by Malcolm to the head coach role two years ago when the governing body was run by chief executive Jo Coates. But, with Mark Munro recently leading the organisation as interim CEO and with Jack Buckner poised to replace him this month, UKA has brought Maguire back into the fold and leaves Malcolm out in the cold, although UKA say there will be opportunities for the former sprinter…

Dining alone in a small Greek restaurant in Milan while the sole waitress's six-year-old son laid my place at the table and I clutched yet another set of strange keys in my palm, I wondered if I had slipped up again in my final preparations for this year’s British Championships. Even at 9pm the city's pavements were still sweating out the heat of the day and I had managed to choose an Airbnb without air conditioning in a noisy neighbourhood. Settling in for as good a sleep as I was going to get in readiness for the next stage of my journey from the Swiss Alps to Manchester the following morning, my ill-judged travel plans felt frustratingly far from professional, but you know what? The tzatziki was delicious and my…

The 1992 Olympic champion recalls how she coped with the pressure of expectation to land another global gold - breaking the world record for good measure - after what had been a far from perfect build-up It's very different being an Olympic champion. The year before, they’d say “she might get a medal” and you're a bit of an underdog. Then, all of a sudden, you find yourself in the firing line and you’re public property. I put a lot of pressure on myself as well because I still felt that I had more to give with the worlds coming up. By winning the Olympics, I still felt like I had more to prove. I was scared of failing, scared of not being that athlete, scared of whether I could…

This summer marks 20 years since Bob Weir won a discus bronze medal for England at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Aged 41 at the time, it was the final medal-winning act of an amazing career that began in earnest with Commonwealth gold in the hammer in Brisbane in 1982 and included Commonwealth gold in the discus in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, plus three Olympic appearances, a dozen national titles and British records in both of his events. His unique double at the Commonwealth Games will probably never be seen again. “It is not the same as a sprinter running both 100m and 200m, but more like somebody doing both pole vault and hurdles at this level,” says fellow thrower Shaun Pickering, who first competed against Weir at the English…

I pulled my glute while hill sprinting last October. I kept training and now can’t sit for long without very sore pain in the glute area. My pace has disappeared and I have a shorter stride. I now feel like I run with one good leg and one poor one. Any advice? If you pull or strain a muscle, typically a soft-tissue injury is six to eight weeks to recover from as a result. Given that we’re eight months on it doesn’t sound like it’s been given an opportunity to recover because you kept training, so just stop. What we need is an accurate diagnosis and my guess is you’ve potentially irritated your sciatic nerve or you have caused a huge amount of tension in your glute. Is there a…

JULY 4-7 • European Athletics U18 Championships Jerusalem european-ahtktics.org JULY 8-9 • English Schools Championships Sportcity, Manchester esaa.net JULY 9 • 4J studios scottishathletics Masters Championships (+ Para Success) Dundee scottishathletics.org • BWAA Grand Prix Series Stoke Mandeville bwaa.co.uk • South of England U20/Senior Inter-Counties Championship Horspath seaa.org.uk • North Belfast Harriers Afternoon of Miles Belfast athkticsni.org JULY 9-10 • 4J studios scottishathletics Combined Events Championships Dundee scottishathletics.org • Snowdon Trail Marathon and Snowdon 24 Llanberis welshathletics.org JULY 10 • Wenlock Olympian Games Much Wenlock wenlock-olympian-society.org.uk • Northern League - East and West Various northernathletics.co.uk • scottishathletics Masters 5000m Track Championships Dundee scottishathletics.org JULY 13 • BMC Gold Standard races Watford britishmikrsclub.com JULY 15-24 • World Athletics Championships Eugene worldathletics.org JULY 16 • Southern Athletics League Various southernathletics.org.uk JULY 16-17…