Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2023 i AW - Athletics Weekly Magazine

JANUARY 2023 AW Editorial Director What do you love about athletics? It's a question we at AW have been asking ourselves as we head into the new year. In the interests of getting 2023 off to positive start, we thought it would be a good idea to outline a few of our favourite things about the sport we cover (p56) and to offer a reminder as to why we all get so worked up about the art of running, jumping and throwing. It didn't take long to compile a pretty comprehensive list but, in putting it together, another question sprang to mind. Why don't more people love athletics? Surely it has all the right ingredients. It's global, there's drama, rivalry, unprecedented achievement – and I can think of a number…

DIGEST KATHARINE MERRY It feels like just five minutes ago that we were packing up and heading home from Eugene but, already, here we are again at the start of another World Championships year. Budapest is the big one we can all start looking forward to in 2023, but there are two showpieces which don't even take place this year yet will still exert an influence over what unfolds. For athletes, the Olympics and Paralympics really start to come into full focus in the year before they take place and Paris is now going to be looming large on the horizon. Every athlete out there wants nothing other than a smooth ride through to those Games but there will, of course, be bumps in the road. An injury or a niggle…

CLUB FOCUS FACILITIES DIGEST For years coaches and athletes have taken it for granted that there will be tracks to train on, pits to jump into and designated, safe throwing areas to throw in. Now, however, that idea is very much under threat. It seems that athletics tracks up and down the country are changing their usage policies. Our facilities may not be “facilitating” our sport any more. In fact, some of the changes could completely change the way coaches coach – and may even drive some away entirely. The track I coach at has recently decided to turn its athletics usage model on its head. In the kind of set-up which is echoed throughout this country, it used to be the case that I could simply turn up with my athletes…

1 Battocletti bounces back Nadia Battocletti stormed to the under-23 women's title on home soil despite an illness-hit year that included mononucleosis in the summer. “I only came off antibiotics 10 days before the race,” the Italian said after winning her fourth Euro Cross title after under-20 victories in 2018-19 and her first under-23 crown in 2021. 2 Britain's U23 double act Not only did Charles Hicks successfully defend his under-23 men's title but team-mate Zak Mahamed made it a one-two as Britain claimed gold. “Last year we didn't get it done as well as we might have wanted and that really lit a fire under us,” said Hicks. 3 Barnicoat's late charge Irish talent Nick Griggs looked to have the under-20 men's title sewn up before stumbling on rough…

Laura Weightman is smiling, but it's been a rough morning. First, she endured swimming in a cold pool, then — just when she needed it least — there was the added challenge of having to persevere with a cold shower. Relatively speaking, the leisure centre's broken heating was only a minor issue. It's the series of connected injuries which led to knee surgery in September of last year that have truly tested her resolve. The two-time European 1500m medallist, who had just started to explore her full potential over 5000m with a seventh-place finish in the 2019 World Championships final, was in fantastic shape when a seemingly innocuous knee niggle briefly interrupted her rhythm. She didn't dwell on it. In fact, in 2020 — a lockdown year to forget for…

PERFORMANCE NEWS LADDER PROVIDES THE STEPS TO SUCCESS What's your favourite running workout? We all have that particular session we either look forward to or will deliver an honest assessment of how well training is going. One well-known session is the ladder, whereby you increase or decrease the length of efforts as the session progresses. An example would be: 5min, 4min, 3min, 2min, 1min with recovery jogs which last half the duration of the previous interval. A new study, published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, suggests that performing a descending ladder workout such as the one outlined above could be highly effective in allowing you to be able to get more out of yourself in the long run. Researchers from the University of Udine in Italy sought to discover…

The average pair of shoes lasts less than six months but, if we send it to landfill, it could take up to 1000 years for some parts of that footwear to decompose. When it comes to clothing in general, every seven minutes we throw away enough clothes to reach the height of Everest. An increasing number of us, however, are concerned about the impact of our clothes on the environment. “How you kit up” is one of the four key ways we as runners and athletes impact the planet, according to The Green Runners’ environmental campaign. Even if you're not ecologically minded, given the cost of living crisis, you maybe interested to learn about ways you can wear your kit for longer. According to a survey of US runners by…

ROAD FRIDAY UNDER THE LIGHTS CHRISTMAS 5, Battersea Park, December 16 Henry McLuckie won in a UK-leading 5-mile lime of 23:37, while Dani Chattenton was first woman after the organisers had to work hard to clear the course of snow and ice. Overall: 1 H McLuckie (SB) 23:37; 2 A Clarke (AFD) 23:46; 3 J Escalante-Phillips (C&C) 23:50; 4 N Shreeve (C&C, M35) 23:51; 5 H Brodie (Bed C) 23:52; 6 D Mulryan (TVH) 23:54; 7 S Jamaal (Lon Hth) 24:09; 8 O Way (ESM) 24:18; 9 E Smith-Rasmussen (Newk) 24:20; 10 M Wilson (Sun) 24:22; 11 T Butler (SB) 24:24; 12 J Millar (B&W) 24:28; 13 W Bryan (Soton) 24:29; 14 C Wyllie (DMV) 24:31; 15 R Wilson (High, M35) 24:33; 16 P Roddy (THH) 24:40; 17 R Sesemann…

GET IN TOUCH: Email us at haveyoursay@athleticsweekly.com or via our social media channels Make cross country an Olympic option This is not a new idea or argument but, to me, watching the recent European Cross Country Championships really reinforced precisely why the discipline would make for a wonderful addition to the Winter Olympics. The imaginative course which involved an intriguing indoor section and some biting hills which really kept the athletes on their toes produced some fantastic races which went right down to the wire and were highly entertaining. With a healthy Italian crowd cheering on the athletes and a stunning backdrop in Turin, surely this kind of event is deserving of the kind of wider exposure which only the Olympics could provide. At the very least, it's a wonderful…

While Britain was in the depths of a lengthy cold snap last month, Irishman Sean Tobin was making marathon history in chilly climes rather further afield. The 28-year-old clocked 2:53:33 at the Antarctica Ice Marathon to win and record the fastest time ever seen for the 26.2-mile event on the continent. It broke the previous mark of 2:54:54 from USA's Mike Wardian. “I had to go deep inside myself, it's one of the hardest things I've ever done,” Tobin told the Irish Independent when speaking of his performance at Union Glacier, just over 1000km from the South Pole, where runners faced temperatures of — 14C during the race. Underfoot conditions were hard, too, with Tobin — who has represented Ireland at global level in cross country in recent years and…

DIGEST Sebastian Coe has given the clearest indication yet that he is to seek a third term as president of World Athletics. The two-time Olympic champion, who took over the role from the late Lamine Diackback in 2015, is in the final year of his current four-year term, with another election due in August at the World Championships in Budapest. Coe beat Sergey Bubka to the job eight years ago and was then elected unopposed in 2019. During a recent briefing with the athletics media, the 66-year-old was asked by AW if he would be looking to continue in the role beyond 2023. He said: “I'm keen to continue with the work I'm doing but that is a matter for my colleagues and, ultimately, that is a matter for the…

INTERVIEW CHRISTIAN TAYLOR Women's triple jump has developed massively in the last few years, what do you believe needs to change in the men's event to move past Jonathan Edwards’ world record of 18.29m? Around 2015, I felt the stars were aligned for that record [to fall], with myself and Pedro Pichardo both going over 18m. The momentum started building but unfortunately it still never lined up at the right moment and time. I say all this but it's just a moment in time. That's the beautiful thing about world records. You can look at all the stats and to be honest you hope and cross your fingers but, at the end of the day, it's about the athlete that is most ready for that moment. Yulimar Rojas has shown that.…

EURO CROSS JAKOB INGEBRIGTSEN Four years ago, Jakob Ingebrigtsen took on the might of east Africa in the under-20 race at the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark. On a gruelling course the Norwegian faded to 12th and collapsed at the finish line. Since then he has won Olympic 1500m and world 5000m titles, so it must be tempting to return to the event next month in Bathurst, Australia, to test himself against the world's best in the senior race and lay some ghosts to rest. The 22-year-old has ruled it out, though. The quest to take the world 1500m crown from Jake Wightman on the evening of August 23 in Budapest is far more important than Bathurst in February. Going Down Under next month, he believes, would involve too much…

February 18 World Cross Country Championships Bathurst, Australia February 18-19 UK Athletics Indoor Championships Birmingham February 25 Saucony English National Cross Country Championships Bolesworth Castle, Cheshire Lindsays Scottishathletics National Cross Country Championships Falkirk Welsh Cross Country Championships Brecon Abbott World Marathon Majors 2023 March 5 — Tokyo April 17 — Boston April 23 — London September 24 — Berlin October 8 — Chicago November 5 — New York March 2-5 European Indoor Championships Istanbul March 11-12 European Throwing Cup Leiria May 21 European Race Walking Team Championships Podebrady May 23 IAU 50km World Championships Port Elizabeth May 27 Night of 10,000m PBs Highgate, London June 3 European 10,000m Cup Pace, France BMC Grand Prix 2023 May 27 — SportCity June 10 — Loughborough July 1 — Watford July 29 —…

SPOTLIGHT FAVOURITE THINGS With 2023 lying ahead of us, we at AW are preparing to cover what looks like being yet another eventful year for athletics. There's never a dull moment lit this sport and it tends to feel like we're rarely far from the next controversy breaking or being plunged into a fresh crisis. There will be difficult issues to tackle and not all the headlines will be positive but, in the interests of beginning the year on a bright note, we felt this would be the perfect time to offer up a few reminders as to all that is great about athletics – and why we love it. The calm before the sprinting storm That moment ahead of a showpiece final, when the stadium is full but the athletes…

ON CLOUDNEO On-running.com £25.00 PER MONTH Run, recycle and repeat is the message from On with this new initiative, the Cloudneo. It is a subscription-based service that will update your shoes every six months. For the £25 monthly subscription fee you get a new pair of shoes twice a year and simply return the old pair in the bag provided. The old shoes then become the raw materials for new ones, completing this circular manufacturing process. The shoe itself is an everyday trainer, with the same great fit and feel that many On users will already be aware of. You'd be hard pressed to notice it's made with recycled materials as it iooks, feels and performs as well as any other shoe in this category.…

Do you stretch as part of your warm-up? For years, athletes have been advised not to but the research which led to that approach is becoming dated. Has anything changed? The argument goes that held, passive stretches in particular — but even dynamic and ballistic ones — can impair subsequent athletic performance. It's argued that an overly stretched muscle loses its resilience and tensile properties — basically, it has less “ping”. This slows down powerful muscular actions, such as those required for sprinting, throwing and jumping. The research A good place to start is with research reviews. In 2018, sports scientists writing in Sports Medicine reviewed “current literature” relating to the “Acute Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Muscle Flexibility and Performance”. The researchers wanted to specifically look at dynamic stretching…

I've had persistent tennis elbow for years. What exercises could you suggest to remedy this? Tennis elbow occurs on the outside of the elbow and you feel the muscles bounce when you cock your wrists back like you're lifting your knuckles up in the air. Right at the elbow you can feel the muscles. They have a common tendon that attaches to the wobbly bit, probably a bit higher up than you think. You don't need to play tennis to have tennis elbow, by the way! How do you remedy it? A great way to deal with it is to do a series of eccentric [slow, lengthening] exercises. Essentially you get a weight, get your forearm resting on a table and you slowly would move this down and up for…

FIXTURES JANUARY 6 • scottishathletics Indoor 3000m Championships Glasgow scottishathletics.org.uk • Manchester Indoor Open Meetings Sportcity saleharriersmanchester.com JANUARY 7-8 • England Athletics Senior & U20 Combined Events Indoor Championships Sheffield englandathletics.org JANUARY 8 • 79th Elgoibar Juan Muguerza Cross Country Spain worldathletics.org • BMC Sheffield Grand Prix Sheffield britishmilersclub.com JANUARY 11 • Gateshead Harriers Indoor Series gatesheadharriers.com JANUARY 14-15 • Area Indoor Championships Various englandathletics.org JANUARY 14 • British Athletics Cross Challenge Perth britishathletics.org.uk JANUARY 15 • Chevron Houston Marathon chevronhoustonmaraihon.com • Tata Mumbai Marathon tatamumbaimarathon.procam.in • USATP National 35km Race Walking Championships California usatf.org JANUARY 21 • Kenya National Cross Country Nairobi worldathletics.org JANUARY 22 • 4J Studios scottishathletics Indoor SUPERteams Glasgow scottishathletics.org.uk • Cardiff Met Grand Prix Cardiffmetathletics.co.uk JANUARY 27 • Init Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe worldathletics.org JANUARY 28…

DIGEST JACK BUCKNER Jack Buckner spent his first official day as UK Athletics chief executive watching Jake Wightman winning world 1500m gold in Eugene. It could barely have been a more positive start to his reign and there were plenty of other impressive British performances at the major championships which followed to maintain that feelgood factor. Yet while things have been looking up on the track, the picture is not quite so rosy off it. The recent publication of the governing body's annual accounts, during the 12 months up until March 2022, make for grim reading. A loss of £1.8 million, brought about by the costs of operating during a pandemic and major staff changes which included the replacement of Buckner's predecessor Jo Coates as well as the departure of Olympic…

MY GREATEST RACE MARK RICHARDSON Bislett Games, Oslo, July 9,1998 | 400m, first place, 44.37 (PB) There had been a change in my training regime. Martin Watkins, my coach up until Atlanta 1996, helped me towards winning an Olympic silver in the 4x400m relay. He did an absolutely fantastic job, but I had the opportunity to spark a coaching relationship with Roger Black. He wasn't actually my coach, but I guess Roger was so satisfied with clinching individual Olympic silver that he was just more open to inviting the competition in or maybe passing the baton on. I've got no idea why, but the time was right. I was just like a sponge, I wanted to learn from him and I thought what he'd done was incredible so I wanted to…

INTERVIEW FEMKE BOL Femke Bol is an exceptional athlete. She is also a realist. This 22-year-old from the Netherlands has been a revelation since her big breakthrough at the European Indoor Championships of 2021 and has since set remarkably high standards. Already her medal collection is sizeable and continental domination secured. Olympic bronze in the 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics brought with it a stunning European and national record of 52.03, while she moved a step further up on the global podium with world silver in Eugene last summer. Under normal circumstances, she would be the one to beat. The problem is, though, that her event also features another young woman whose bar is set even higher. Olympic and world champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is developing a habit of breaking the…

Ed Bird has been on AW’s radar for a while now and his performances in 2022 backed up our gut instincts. Not only did he make the shortlist for the AW Readers’ Choice Awards, he won 3000m bronze at the European U18 Championships and came out on top at the England U20 Championships. There has been cross country success too, finishing ninth at the European Cross Country Championships and being part of Great Britain's gold medal-winning junior team in Turin. We caught up with the 17-year-old to discuss a breakthrough summer and find out what's next. How did you discover your love for athletics? Back in 2016 I placed second in a local assault course race called Ultimate Warrior and found that I loved competitive running. Prior to that, I'd…

SPOTLIGHT VERITY OCKENDEN I'm a grown-up now, but I still chase after you like a five-year-old trying to catch a glimpse of Father Christmas's sleigh. Thing is, you've always been a slightly tougher nut to crack than that elusive old man in red. Some years I do everything right and I don't achieve any of the goals I wrote on my list, and other times when I'm expecting nothing but coal, you bring me the shiniest of rewards. Whatever happens, every January, my heart dances afresh at the chance to start the whole merry-go-round again. I'm always ambitious with my list. Every year I ask for a faster PB than the last, not bronze this time but silver, and not silver the next, but gold. You gave me countless county championships,…

Few running books have been as influential as Born to Run. When it was first published back in 2009, Christopher McDougall's tale of exploration and learning how to race across Mexico's remote copper canyons, adopting the running traits of the Rarámuri tribe, sparked an explosion in minimalist and barefoot running. While that particular trend may no longer be so widespread, in the intervening years the American continued to receive messages of thanks from readers whose running had been changed by the ethos of eschewing expensive footwear and focusing on the movement techniques and simple nutrition at the heart of the Run Free philosophy. It was coach Eric Orton who guided the author through that journey and, back then, in his mid-40s McDougall thought he might be lucky if the process…

SCOTT Scott-sports.com ULTRA CARBON RC £210.00 Carbon-plated racing heads off-road in this new shoe from Scott. Aimed at those venturing into the ultra-distance scene, the Ultra Carbon RC is equally happy with shorter runs and on most terrains. The shoe features a Carbitex carbon plate that provides added response from the lightweight extended rocker geometry. Scott's unique plate configuration stiffens when under pressure and becomes more flexible after toe-off to maximise its benefit. The cushioning is a 25mm heel stack which drops to 20mm in the forefoot and feels more than adequate on the trails, as well as low enough not to be unstable on uneven ground. This shoe is at its best on dirt and gravel tracks and drier forest trails although, with 5mm deep lugs, it can cope…

I was given a free lnov-8 Ultrashell running jacket to review a few years ago, and soon afterwards it sustained a rip on the arm when I was dragged on to the road by my dog. Priced £90, the jacket is not one I would normally buy and, given the amazing lightness and waterproofing, I carried on occasionally wearing it until this year when someone alerted me to Alpkit's repair service. I had never considered having kit repaired before. I posted this and another torn jacket and they were returned a couple of weeks later. The cost was £34 for the pair – well worth it to hopefully be able to wear these for many more years. You can see the repairs but only if you look closely as the…

Answers in the february issue of AW DECEMBER ANSWERS: 1 Andrew Pozzi, Malaika Mihambo, Trayvon Bromell, Hayley Carruthers; 2 Five; 3 Legend the Bigfoot; 4 Ethiopia (four gold, three silver, two bronze); 5 Hannah Cockroft, Kare Adenegan, Fabienne Andre; 6 29 (this is up from 26 in 2017); 7 Samuel Tefera (Ethiopia); 8 Tigist Assefa; 9 Jake Wightman; 10 50.68; 11 Kimberley Garcia Leon; 12 A basket of fruit and vegetables; 13 Eilish McColgan; 14 Chiang Mai, Thailand; 15 Shrewsbury. It celebrated the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt (1819) where the origins of cross country began over 200 years ago; 16 Barbora Spotakova; 17 31cm. She won the title outright by a metre; 18 Laviai Nielsen; 19 Yaroslava Mahuchikh; 20 Kare Adenegan — T33/34 Commonwealth silver medallist (England), Kristjan Čeh —…

DIP FINISH The end of the year is always the perfect time to pick through some stats but there was one particularly interesting trend which greeted the end of2022. Usain Bolt did not finish the year as the world's most written about athlete. It was, instead, Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra who topped the lists. Figures from media analysis company Unicepta for World Athletics highlighted that the Olympic champion had 812 articles written about him, with Jamaican sprinters Elaine Thompson-Herah (751), ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce (698) and Shericka Jackson (679) closest. Bolt, who retired in 2017 but is still the 100m and 200m world record-holder and had continued to attract the most coverage, was the subject of574 articles. “For the first year, Usain Bolt has not led the list of athletes that…