Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2023 i AW - Athletics Weekly Magazine

JULY 2023 I was reluctant to mention the Enhanced Games at all. To even acknowledge the newly launched project which proposes the establishment of a rival to the Olympics – without any of the drug testing – feels like giving it undeserved oxygen. It's an idea of the most horrible, anger-inducing variety which smacks of little more than a publicity stunt. Yet it's out there now and, on reflection, I think it's important to consider it – not as some sort of legitimate proposal, but because its arrival perhaps highlights just how much repair work needs to be done with the actual Olympics. Many people will retort that one look at the numbers of athletes to have been stripped of medals in recent years will tell you that the Enhanced…

AW DIGEST BEN BLOOM After marking his track return with a couple of 100m victories at a low-key Lee Valley sprint meeting last month, CJ Ujah bumped into the broad smiling Dwain Chambers. The pair shared a brief hug and then went their separate ways. To many people who take part in, watch or in any way care about athletics, the embrace represents the worst ills of the sport. One convicted cheat, who had previously described himself as a “walking junkie” during his worst drug excesses, welcoming back another. It is a legitimate stance to take – an understandable disdain for anyone who stains the sport in the most gutless manner. But, watching them encounter each other in public for the first time since Ujah was handed his 22-month doping ban,…

AW PICTURE SPECIAL ENGLISH SCHOOLS The English Schools Track and Field Championships is well known for helping to create stars. The event has featured in the athletics education of the likes of Mo Farah, Kelly Holmes, Greg Rutherford and Jessica Ennis-Hill. Both of the Brownlee brothers [Alistair and Jonny], Paula Radcliffe, Hannah England, Darren Campbell, Dean Macey and a myriad of other famous faces have also honed their craft at these championships. The next generation of talent battled it out on June 30 and July 1 as Alexander Stadium, stage for last year's Commonwealth Games, welcomed championships athletics back to Birmingham. Around 1700 athletes from across 46 counties took part in the 92nd edition, with athletes such as Innes FitzGerald (senior girls 3000m), Phoebe Gill (inter girls 800m), Noah Hanson (senior…

AW POWER OF LONDON DINA ASHER-SMITH Few of the athletes who enter the London Stadium on July 23 for the Diamond League's return will have quite the same emotional attachment to the venue as Dina Asher-Smith. Not since 2019 has this multi-purpose sporting monument, which reeled and rocked to the 2012 Olympics but now serves as home to West Ham United, hosted the world's finest exponents of track and field. But back they are coming and the sense of anticipation is very real – not least for the British 100m and 200m record-holder. It's 10 years now since she stepped off the plane as a European junior champion, aged 17, to be met with the news that a baptism of fire in senior athletics lay in her immediate future. Not only…

AW POWER OF LONDON VENUES…

ON On-mnning.com CLOUDBOOM ECHO 3 £260.00 Highly anticipated and worth the wait, the latest version of On's carbon-plated racer brings it right up to speed with the lead pack, having already produced some great results on the roads from the likes of Hellen Obiri. Now using a soft, PEBA-type foam, Helion HF (Hyper Foam), the Echo has the softer feel athletes were hoping for along with a full-length carbon plate. This is still not the same shoe we've seen some of the brand's sponsored athletes wearing - that's a prototype triathlon racer but at least this model is softer, more agile and more responsive than the previous versions. The fit is typical from ON, providing a sleek, wrap-around feel with a great build quality and finish. It's light at just…

XERO Xeroshoes.com MESA TRAIL £120.00 Inspired by the book Born to Run, the Mesa Trail is a barefoot type shoe from Xero, a brand that specialises in this variety of footwear. It's a relatively simple construction; a basic upper and thin rubber outsole stitched together with a 3.5mm thick inner sole. It's light, flexible and simply provides a layer of protection. The rubber outsole, designed for off-road traction, measures just 5.5mm thick and provides plenty of flexibility. The shape of the shoe allows the feet to spread out, adding to the natural fit and feel. Of course, this type of shoe will take quite an adaptation period, so proceed with care, but on good grass surfaces it's quite a welcoming to run in. I tried it for strides and some…

1 How many times and in which years has London hosted the Olympic Games? 2 What was the capacity of the London Stadium when used for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012? 3 In which South East London town was Dina Asher-Smith born? 4 Which British Olympic silver and bronze medallist made history as the first to use starting blocks at the Olympic Games in 1928? And what career did he pursue when an injury forced him to retire? 5 In which year did London last hold a Diamond League meeting? 6 Which stadium held the 2021 British Grand Prix when it had to be relocated from London? 7 In which order did the three Team GB gold medals come on Super Saturday at the London 2012 Olympics? Bonus point if you can remember…

AW DIGEST JUNE 7:54.10 Daniel Komen's world best for two miles of 7:58.61 dates back to July 1997. While it is not a particularly popular distance, it has survived attacks from Haile Gebrselassie, Joshua Cheptegei, Eliud Kipchoge and Mo Farah over the years. On June 9 in Paris, though, Jakob Ingebrigtsen took more than four seconds off the Kenyan's mark with 7:54.10. Paced by Benoit Campion and then Kyumbe Mungti until just after 2000m, Ingebrigtsen started steadily with a first mile of 4:00.3 before closing with a superb 3:53.8. As he passed 3000m in 7:23.8 – compared to Komen's 7:27.3 – it was clear the record was his. 7:52.11 On a magical night of world record-breaking at the Paris Diamond League, Lamecha Girma smashed the 19-year-old steeplechase mark held by Saif…

Bislett Games, Oslo, July 5, 1986 10,000m, 1st place, 30:13.74 (WR) Bislett was a really nice crowd, especially for us as Norwegians, but athletes from all over the world also felt that the audience helped them to produces good races. You still have that, even if the stadium has changed since 1986. Now there's a warm-up area under the stadium but we used to have to go up a hill to run up in a park, so it's a big difference. Me and my coach, Johan Kaggestad, were telling people that I was planning to run much faster than I had done the year before. In 1985, I was the first one who ran 10,000m under 31 minutes but, at that time, I wasn't training for the 10,000m – my…

AW PROMOTION MOVE EVERY MIND “WE ARE SEEKING INPUT FROM EVERYONE, REGARDLESS OF GENDER, SPORT PARTICIPATION, OR EXERCISE LEVEL Last year, ASICS launched its inaugural State of Mind Index, with the aim of exploring the positive relationship between exercise and mental health. Conducted in 16 countires and involving 37,000 people, the study proved a direct correlation between exercise and improved mental health – the more you move, the better you feel. However, it also revealed a gender exercise gap which showed that women, especially young women, are exercising significantly less than men. The desire to better understand what is causing this exercise inequality and what could be done to address it is driving ASICS’ next major piece of work – the new Move Every Mind study. The global sportswear brand is…

AW POWER OF LONDON CRYSTAL PALACE Venture down to the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre and you immediately feel the history and significance of the place. Opened in 1964, its purpose was to provide facilities for athletes of all levels – from the grassroots to the very elite – to train, compete and hone their craft. The indoor arena has hosted, and still does host, a number of sports. The 50m swimming and diving pool was closed in 2020 but basketball, beach volleyball and boxing are just three of many events that have taken place in recent years. Step outside of the centre across the walkway and you are met with the world renowned 16,500 capacity athletics stadium. The venue hosted the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) Championships – the precursor to…

AW INTERVIEW MOUNTAIN HIGH Just seven months after its inaugural staging in Thailand, World Athletics’ vision for a major global Mountain and Trail Running Championships took its next steps forward during June. The second edition saw the competitors descend on the European heartlands of the sport, specifically Innsbruck-Stubai. They turned out in substantially greater number, with over 1100 athletes from 68 countries entering. Some very competitive battles unfolded during four days of competition which featured a challenging men's and women's vertical mountain race over 7km with 1000m of climb, a short trail race of approximately 45km featuring 3000m of climb, a long trail of around 87km with a massive 6500m of climb, and the classic up-and-down mountain race over 15km with 1500m of climb. There was a good showing from the…

My training is going consistently well but I'm having real trouble with race day anxiety which is really affecting my performance. How can I bring more calm to my racing? PETER NAISMITH JOSEPHINE PERRY You are not alone in struggling with race day anxiety. There are lots of different reasons it appears but often the core of the matter is that when we start to think about race day we are rarely focused on the efforts required, the people we will catch up with or the process of actually running but on the outcome and what that will say about us; both as a runner and also as a person. If we are focusing on outcomes (whether that is time or placing results or the fear of not achieving what…

NIKE Sportsshoes.com VAPORFLY 3 £234.95 Unquestionably the leader in terms of super shoes, the Vaporfly is back in the form of this third-generation model. It is ever so slightly lighter and slightly re-modelled, but ultimately provides pretty much the same ride and performance as the previous version. While the overall stack of the shoe remains around that World Athletics limit of 40mm, the amount of ZoomX cushioning has been increased by a couple of millimetres by reducing the thickness of the outsole to accommodate it. While this will most probably affect the durability of the shoe in the long term, the ride is slightly softer thanks to the perforated design of the forefoot rubber. From the word go the shoe feels as fast as ever – that soft, springy ride…

HAVE YOUR SAY The need for speed Why are so many athletes running so fast? It felt like there was a point last month when it was more of a surprise that a race didn't include some sort of record than when one fell. Is it all down to the carbon spikes? Is it the springier, faster tracks? Is it the ever developing knowledge around training, nutrition and injury prevention? I suspect it's not just one single element, rather a combination of those factors which is producing these astonishing results. We can't deny the spectre of doping is ever far away, either, but there's no doubt that the sport is in a fascinating era where you can't take your eyes off the action. Kevin Sullivan GET IN TOUCH: Email us…

AW DIGEST KATHARINE MERRY The last weekend of June produced two performances on the track that hit the headlines and got people talking for very different reasons. One involved outright athletic excellence, the other centred around an athlete stepping a very long way out of their comfort zone. I did the in-stadium commentary and announcing at the European Team Championships in Poland and, as soon as I saw Belgian shot putter Jolien Boumkwo's name down to run the women's 100m hurdles, following the withdrawal of two of her team-mates, I instantaneously knew it was a story which would go viral. It was outside of the norm, it was quirky and it was no surprise to me that it became the most requested video clip from European Athletics from that whole event…

Renee Regis comes from a particularly high British athletics pedigree so it is perhaps no surprise that she is one of the country's rising sprinting stars. The daughter of John Regis (a multiple global medal winner and longtime British 200m record-holder) and Jenny Stoute (two-time Olympian and Olympic 4x400m bronze medallist) she is now making a name for herself on her own merits, winning major age groups medals, including individual 100m bronze and 4x100m gold at last year's European Under-18 Champs in Jerusalem. Having overcome injury woes in her younger years, the Londoner is now training hard to chase the Olympic dream. We caught up with her to hear all about her journey so far and what the future has in store. Probably a silly question but I'm guessing you…

AW SPOTLIGHT BRAM SOM For more than half a decade, the same athlete seemed to lead the field in almost every major men's middle-distance race on the international one-day circuit. During his career as an 800m runner, Bram Som won the European title, competed at two Olympics and made three World Championship semi-finals. His personal best of 1:43.45 remains the Dutch national record some 17 years on. But he is happy to admit that he remains best known for races he did not finish, rather than those he did. “I got more attention as a pacemaker than as an athlete, that's for sure,” he said of his metronomic ability to run any assigned time, which led him to develop a reputation as the world's leading pacemaker. And yet for a man…

AW POWER OF LONDON DIAMOND LEAGUE The summer of 2019 might have been just four years ago, but in some respects it almost seems like a different age. This was pre-pandemic and the primary concern of the world's top athletes was managing to peak in time for a World Championships in Doha which would not get up and running until October of that year. It's hard to be believe that that summer was also the last time a Diamond League meeting played out in London. The Anniversary Games, which clung on to that Olympic feeling of 2012, was a tremendous showcase for athletics in Britain. While it's right to spread the word throughout these shores, it has also seemed alien not to have a big event in a place which is…

AW POWER OF LONDON VERITY OCKENDEN Asa fresh-faced speck in a green and white cotton vest, my Mum seemed very far away on my first scan of the pristine houndstooth stands of the Olympic Park on May 5, 2012. She sat next to a grinning Dewi Griffiths, sharing his chips as gunshot after gunshot inaugurated the newly-built facilities for the British Universities’ Championships. We were guinea pigs at the stadium's pre-Games test event and I felt as small as one, but one step on to the track so soon to host the world's best sent a shiver of courage through my veins. I ran 2:14 to qualify second in my heat, and a 2:12 PB to finish sixth in my semi-final the following day. Little did we know that Alexandra Bell,…

AW INTERVIEW DEVON ALLEN In its different iterations down the years, the false start rule has never managed to please all of the people all of the time. Athletics history is littered with those who have raged at falling foul of the regulations in their attempts to go on the “b” of the bang. Frustration at months, even years, of work going up in smoke before the race has even got going has resulted a number of emotional outpourings. Some athletes will accept their fate more readily than others but one of the most famous cases of protest is now almost 20 years old. American sprinter Jon Drummond held up the Paris World Championships for almost half an hour when he was disqualified from the 100m quarter-finals, lying down first in…

SAUCONY Saucony.com TRIUMPH 21 £160.00 While only seeing small updates from the previous version, the Triumph 21 is an improvement. One of the main changes is a flat knitted upper which takes on a super plush feel that holds the foot in place beautifully. The premium sensation extends to the lining where a soft, seamless construction is neatly padded around the heel for a fit that welcomes the foot with a sock-like feel. The deep 37mm stack of PWRRUN+ foam is unchanged from the previous version, soaking up every stride with ease and offering a great push-off with a responsive ride where you notice the energy-return thanks to the slightly bouncy feel. The same PWRRUN+ foam is used in the inner sole, which adds further to the overall plush fit…

FIXTURES JULY 13-16 ● European Under-23 Championships, Espoo european-athletics.com JULY 15 ● National Athletics League, Various nal.org JULY 18 ● Gyulai István Memorial, Székesfehérvár, Hungary worldathletics.org JULY 19 ● Belfast British Milers Club, Belfast britishmilersclub.com JULY 21 ● Herculis Meeting, Monaco diamondleague.com JULY 22 ● Scottish Athletics Jumps Grand Prix, Dunfermline scottishathletics.org.uk ● Scottish Athletics Throws Grand Prix, Kilmarnock scottishathletics.org.uk JULY 22-23 ● England Athletics Senior and Para Open Championships, Chelmsford englandathletics.org JULY 23 ● London Diamond League diamondleague.com ● Irish 10-mile Road Running Championships, Dublin athleticsireland.ie ● BMC Gold Standard Races, Manchester britishmilersclub.com JULY 25-29 ● European Youth Olympic Festival, Maribor eyof.org JULY 28-AUGUST 8 ● FISU World University Games, Chengdu fisu.net JULY 29 ● BMC Grand Prix, Birmingham britishmilersclub.com JULY 30 ● Scottish National Athletics League, Grangemouth scottishathletics.org.uk AUGUST…

The European Team Championships in Poland ended month when organisers played the wrong version of a song as Italy celebrated their first-ever victory. Organisers of the European Games – the multi-sport body which includes the European Team Championships in its overall programme – put out a statement referring to “abnormal events” and they invited European Athletics to explain what had happened. It turned out a football fans’ version of a song composed by Ricchi e Poveri called Sara Perch Ti Amo, which contained the words “who doesn't jump is a Juventus hunchback” was played by accident. Generally, the championships probably won't be remembered for being a classic. From a British perspective, the team failed to register an individual victory in any event for the first time in history.…