Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i AW - Athletics Weekly Magazine

DECEMBER 2023 Euan Crumley AW Editorial Director W ho did you vote for? We had a brilliant response to this year's AW Readers’ Choice Awards and thank you to the thousands of you who took the time to deliver your verdicts on the athletes of2023. We have a line-up of incredibly worthy winners and I can't really quibble with the vast majority of the results. In fact, I think the only result I disagreed with was the identity of the International Female Athlete of the Year. Faith Kipyegon got my vote but, in truth, Femke Bol wasn't too far behind in my thinking. Both have been nothing short of outstanding and a model of consistency. On p22, the rest of the AW team each pick out their moment of the year…

DIGEST UK FINANCES The numbers could barely be more alarming. The UK Athletics annual accounts just released show a loss of £3.7million for the financial year up to the end of March. It makes for the most sobering of reading and lays bare the monetary mountain the governing body is having to climb. In a variety of ways, the staging of events during the last financial year alone resulted in a loss of almost £2million. Even into this financial year, the London Diamond League - an unqualified success which saw the Olympic stadium full and a much-needed feelgood factor returning to the sport on British shores - lost a significant six-figure sum, despite receiving £150,000 in support from UK Sport. With no title sponsor or broadcast income to combat those issues,…

MY GREATEST RACE CONSTANTINA DITA At the age of 38, the Romanian became the oldest winner of an Olympic marathon with a clean break from the field that allowed her to savour a flying last lap around the Bird's Nest and a run to redemption that proved her doubters wrong I tried to get a medal in Athens in 2004 but I finished 20th. Afterwards, my coach who was my then-husband and I came back to Colorado and we put everything we did wrong down on paper so we could get it right for 2008. Almost four months before Beijing, I went back to high altitude. For interval training, I was going out at 1600m up but for the longer runs on Thursday and Sunday, I went up the mountain to…

When Mondo Duplantis stands at the end of his run-up, he isn't thinking about medals. He's thinking about moments. Specifically, his mind is filled with the sequence of small events which, when carried out correctly, add up to the greatest moment of all – that short but oh so sweet freefall back to earth after the bar has been cleared that signals his job has been done. The 24-year-old AW International Male Athlete of the Year is unchallenged at the top of his sport. He is the Olympic pole vault champion and, this year, won his second consecutive world title during a season where he broke his own world record twice. Those are the headline stats, but there's more. In 2023, Duplantis won 16 out of the 17 competitions he…

AWARDS JOSH KERR BRITISH MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AND MEL WATMAN PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR When Josh Kerr takes time out of his increasingly busy schedule to chew the fat with AW, a little over three months have passed since the golden moment he'll never forget. “I would say that 50m to go in Budapest is going to be a lifelong memory,” he grins. “It was like: ‘You've got this one, just stay on your feet and you'll be all right’. That was pretty special.” Indeed it was. One of the standout races of the year, in fact the one AW readers voted the Mel Watman Performance of the Year, saw the 26-year-old following the example his Edinburgh AC clubmate Jake Wightman had set 12 months previously by outmuscling the much-fancied…

SPOTLIGHT The last time the European Cross Country Championships was held in Laeken Park in Brussels, the British team punished their rivals with “six of the best”, quite literally. Led by Steph Twell and Charlotte Purdue, GB athletes remarkably swept the top half a dozen places in the junior women's race. Mo Farah was beaten to senior men's gold by Sergiy Lebid of Ukraine, but overall the Brits won a third of the medals handed out that day as every runner went home with some silverware. That was back in 2008 and the class of 2023 will go home happy if even some of the success from 15 years ago is replicated at this month's event on December 10 in the same Belgian arena. Certainly, Britain has a couple of…

Q: With Christmas coming, how can I keep myself focused when the temptations to ease off are everywhere? MARK GIBSON Daley Thompson is often quoted as having said: “I train twice on Christmas Day because I know the others aren't training at all. It gives me two extra days.” I do love the dedication and determination that is clearly behind it – but as a tactic for long-term high performance I wouldn't recommend a mindset that ignores your need to rest and recover both physically and mentally. Maybe ask yourself how many days of the year are you 100 per cent focused on your athletics? If you answer 365 I'll give you a really hard Paddington stare and suggest we talk about balance, burnout and performance. The brain is not…

Best ‘super’ trainer SAUCONY Saucony.com KINVARA PRO £200.00 Following the advent of racing super shoes, so 2023 saw the rise of the super-trainer – lightweight carbon-plated shoes which are perfect for faster-paced training runs. “I loved the deep stack of cushioning the Kinvara Pro provides which, combined with the plate, makes it ideal for those tempo runs and longer efforts,” says Paul Freary. “I ran all my Sunday long runs in this shoe in the build-up to the Berlin Marathon this year and it feels as good when running steady as it does when pushing the pace. It has training shoe cushioning combined with racing shoe performance.” Best marathon racing shoe NIKE Nike.com VAPORFLY 3 £234.95 The Vaporfly was a clear winner for this category. We thought we'd let the…

CROSS COUNTRY Liverpool Cross Challenge, November 25 Hugo Milner and Megan Keith enjoyed clear victories as they confirmed their selection for the European Championships. Henry Dover and Innes FitzGerald won the under-20 races. Senior men: 1 H Milner 28:38; 2 M Stonier U23 29:02; 3 J Rowe 29:02; 4 R Leonard U23 29:03; 5 C Johnson 29:06; 6 Z Mahamed 29:12; 7 A McMillan 29:13; 8 C Elson 29:15; 9 A Manthorpe 29:17; 10 C Wheeler 29:20; 11 T Tarragano U23 29:21; 12 W Barnicoat U23 29:25; 13 J Dempsey 29:26; 14 J Wigfield 29:30; 15 J Crowe 29:32; 16 M Scott 29:32; 17 S Stirling 29:33; 18 H Mcluckie U23 29:38; 19 G Wheeler 29:38; 20 S Beattie 29:41; 21 J Kingston U23 29:43; 22 D Evans 29:44; 23…

DIP FINISH Cross-country running's quest for innovation is set to hit the Essex Championships at Gloucester Park in Basildon on January 6 with short spectator-friendly laps, music and commentary from a DJ and a Night of the 10,000m PBs-style marquee that athletes will race through. Nick Wetheridge of Basildon AC has teamed up with Gerry O'Doherty from Billericay Striders to liven up this traditional grassroots county event. “This will be the first cross country of this nature to be held in the UK,” says Wetheridge, “and I hope to incorporate various ideas from the track and cross country, while also keeping to the traditions of the sport.” Wetheridge was inspired to do something after spending a few days with Eamonn Martin at the World Champs in Budapest. As regular AW…

DIGEST PICTURE THIS PICTURE THIS One of the more unlikely occurrences of the year came to pass at the Liverpool Cross Challenge on November 25, when nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis showed un at Sefton Park. In an athletic domain about as far removed as it is possible to be from the sprinting and long jumping world which he ruled over for so long, the Track and Field Head Coach at the University of Houston was in town to help distance coach Kyle Gibson on an athlete recruitment drive. With two English athletes already on the books, they are looking to add more and widen their reach. Lewis was only too happy to chat and pose for pictures with well-wishers, as well as hand out some of the winners’ medals. “It's interesting…

DIGEST CARLO CAPALBO Running as an activity, says Carlo Capalbo, will never die. As a sport, however, he believes it is facing big challenges. That's what keeps him up at night. The passionate Neapolitan has long found himself under running's spell and is now a key figure in the world of road racing. He is the founder and head of RunCzech, a Prague-based organisation which organises and stages a range of major international running events but also, under Capalbos motto of “All Runners are Beautiful”, aims to connect and grow running communities. It's that key element of connection where he believes the real issue lies. His chief concern is that there is nothing of substance tying the recreational participant in the pack to the elite athlete on the front line. “In…

PAUL FREARY, Products Reviewer As an ‘older’ runner, many of my favourite running moments are those experienced vicariously through athletes on the track and TV. When one of those athletes is someone you know, the moment is made even more special. One such moment arrived when Rory Leonard won the 10,000m at the European Under-23 Championships. I've known Rory's father, Tony, since my childhood. Tony started running at Bolton Harriers in the 80s with my father and became an international athlete. Like my dad, he was an athlete I aspired to emulate. Having had the pleasure of sharing a few miles on the road with Rory, it was superb to see him make his mark on the international scene. I must admit to having moments of nervousness during the race, but…

AWARDS FEMKE BOL INTERNATIONAL FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR Femke Bol is a multi-tasker. Whether it's breaking barriers over the flat 400m, clearing barriers over the 400m hurdles or being the star member of her nation's 4x400m relay squad, the AW International Female Athlete of the Year has shown herself to be only too willing to carry the burden of a substantial workload. It was an approach which saw her win world medals both indoors and out last year, as well as a memorable golden European hat-trick. Yet still something didn't feel quite right. Heading into last winter, another job was added to the 23-year-old's to do list – to re-learn her favourite event. “She had run her best time in Tokyo,” says Laurent Meuwly, Bol's coach and mentor referring to…

AWARDS INTERNATIONAL U20 MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR ERRIYON KNIGHTON Erriyon Knighton is only just getting warmed up. Off the back of a brilliant 2022 season, where he claimed a maiden world 200m bronze medal, was victorious in a Diamond League for the first time and also recorded a personal best of 19.49, the Tokyo Olympian delivered again in 2023. Still aged just 19, Knighton improved on his World Champs performance in Oregon last year with a 200m silver medal in Budapest in August this year, became US champion over the distance and went sub-20 seconds on eight occasions. For the AW International Under-20 Male Athlete of the Year, everything is about the process and there's still a long way to go. How do you feel when you look back on 2023?…

AW AWARDS BRITISH FEMALE U20 ATHLETE OF THE YEAR ABIGAIL IVES Abigail Ives hit the headlines earlier this year when she ran a sub two-minute 800m and became just the 30th British and fourth under-20, woman to do so. The 19-year-old also picked up a silver medal in the 800m at the European Under-20 Championships in Jerusalem in August and it's fair to say she has announced herself via this breakthrough season. AW readers agree and voted the Basildon athlete as the British Female U20 Athlete of the Year. Firstly, congratulations. The people have spoken and our readers have named you as their British female under-20 athlete of the year It feels absolutely amazing to win this award. It's definitely like a cherry on top of an overall hugely successful year for…

For Jim Walmsley, winning the Ultra-Trail du MontBlanc (UTMB) this year at his fifth attempt was the realisation of a dream. On two occasions he had failed to finish, while fifth place in 2017 and fourth in 2022 had left the 33-year-old American with unfinished business. Leaving no stone unturned in his quest, he moved from Flagstaff in Arizona near to the resort town of Chamonix in the French Alps, the base for the UTMB races, to fine-tune his approach. It is the original UTMB challenge of a little over 100 miles which remains one of the “must-do” races for many trail runners. Success is seen as one of the sport's pinnacle achievements. Yes, Walmsley had won America's blue riband 100 miler, the Western States, on three occasions – including…

WORTH THE WEIGHT? Q: I coach a squad of developing 100m and 200m sprinters. Can you tell me if they should be doing weights as part of their training? SOPHIE TEASDALE Weight training is widely used by most sprinters but there is much debate about its exact effectiveness. Coaches can add exercises to their sprinters’ training because they “think” they should be there – and this can apply to weights. As a coach you want to really understand what a weight training exercise is going to do and, specifically, you want to consider how it will transfer. Bondarchuk's questions Dr Anatoliy Bondarchuk, the exSoviet hammer thrower and coach, has spent many years researching training transfer. The term basically means the extent to which an exercise – for example weights, plyometrics…

GET IN TOUCH: Email us at haveyoursay@athleticsweekly.com or via our social media channels Happiness for Holly I read the fascinating feature issue with Holly Bradshaw in the November issue of AW with great interest. I admired her honesty – so few athletes are willing to really express what life can be like in the sport – but I was also left feeling saddened by how her relationship to the sport had changed. To read that she feels “damaged” is disturbing and should serve as a reminder that sportspeople are only human after all. She only has a few months left in the sport and I hope she can rediscover the love which made her pursue it in the first place. I wish her all the very best for her Olympic…

DIGEST NOVEMBER 5 The Jamaican who won 100m, 200m and 4x100m gold in Tokyo has appointed Walcott, who heads up the Elite Performance Track Club based out of Kingston, Jamaica. The clubs roster contains some of Jamaica's most prominent track and field athletes and includes the likes of hurdlers Rasheed Broadbell, Rushell Clayton and Megan Tapper. The standout name, however, is 10-time world champion ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce, meaning two of the nation's superstars will head for Paris 2024 under the guidance of the same mentor. The pair will re-unite in a training camp once again for the first time in three years, given both used to be at MVP Track Club. Since joining Walcott, Fraser-Pryce has gone on to claim her fifth world 100m crown and run a personal best of 10.60,…

OPINION KATHARINE MERRY I do enjoy awards season, which we're in the thick of right now, and was only too happy to cast my vote for the AW Readers’ Choice Awards this year. It was the perfect prompt to look back through the past few months and remember the performances which have shaped the class of 2023. As with every year, it was tough to make a decision when it came to a few of the categories and it was also a reminder of how subjective the process can be. Ultimately, it comes down to your personal opinion on what you've enjoyed about that person's performances and that can be based on a variety of reasons. It could be because you know that athlete, it could be because you like how…

AWARDS KATARINA JOHNSON-THOMPSON From “spectator” to centre stage. Katarina Johnson-Thompson went from feeling like she had been on the outside looking in at Oregon 2022 to becoming the world heptathlon champion for the second time at Budapest 2023. Fate had seemed to be conspiring against her, with injury upon injury continually thwarting any ambition she might have held of building on that first global gold from Doha 2019. Back in May, however, she finished second at the presitigious Hypomeeting in Götzis with a score of 6556, her best since breaking the British record with 6981 in Qatar. An epic battle with America's Anna Hall began to unfold in Hungary. Johnson-Thompson sat in second overnight after finishing the first day of competition with the fastest 200m of the field in 23.48. She…

AWARDS INTERNATIONAL U20 FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR SHAWNTI JACKSON Shawnti Jackson continued where she left off in 2022 with a spectacular campaign this year that included personal bests over the 100m (10.89) and 200m (22.35). The 18-year-old American clocked three highschool records over the season – on top of the 100m, she set marks in the 60m (7.16) and 300m (36.73). Coached by her dad Bershawn Jackson, an Olympic 400m hurdles bronze medallist and triple world champion, since her early teens, Shawnti has now joined Arkansas Razorbacks as the North Carolina high-schooler transitions to the NCAA. The AW International Female U20 Athlete of the Year has high hopes for 2024. How do you reflect on the 2023 season? I had to deal with stress fractures the year before so for 2023…

AWARDS BRITISH MOUNTAIN, TRAIL AND ULTRA ATHLETES OF THE YEAR TOM EVANS AND REBECCA FLAHERTY It has been a difficult end to the year for Tom Evans. He had been due to take on the Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100km last month but ultimately withdrew from the race after being ambushed by two men during a training run on Table Mountain. “I was mugged, beaten up, attacked, held at knifepoint and everything I had with me was taken,” said the 31-year-old, who was forced to hand over his wedding ring, phone and watch. However, he added: “It's been an awesome year and I won't let two criminals spoil it.” Your choice for the British Male Mountain, Trail and Ultra Athlete of the Year certainly does have much of which to be proud in…

“I am addicted to thepuzzle of excellence in movement” Top level coaches don't come much more experienced than Dan Pfaff, a man who has devoted his life to his craft. The now 69-year-old began coaching as a teenager out of a mixture of curiosity and a huge appetite for knowledge but also a desire to help not just his friends but his guidance counsellor. The American's journey has seen him rise from high school coach through to a number of high-profile positions globally, mentoring 49 Olympians (nine medallists), 51 world championship competitors (nine medallists), and five world-record holders. Most famously, he guided Canada's Donovan Bailey to 100m gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and Greg Rutherford to long jump gold on Super Saturday at the London 2012 Games, a…

PERFORMANCE BOOKS Good for a girl Lauren Fleshman, one of America's best distance runners in recent years, finished seventh in the 2011 world 5000m final, won two national titles at 5000m and has a best of 14:58.58. Now aged 42, she is a mother of two children, the co-founder of Picky Bars and works as brand strategy adviser for Oiselle. After writing on a popular blog for a number of years, she brought out a book called Good for a Girl: My Life Running in a Man's World that is part memoir, part manifesto and its success saw it announced as winner of the William Hill Sports Book of 2023 award. Fleshman writes: “This book is a sports story and a love letter to the running life, but above all it's…

FINISHERS QUIZ Test your knowledge of the past year with these teasers 1 Who did Sam Atkin replace as British 3000m record-holder following his run of 7:31.97 in Boston in January? 2 Where did Keely Hodgkinson set a world best time for 600m at the start of the year? 3 Which long-standing indoor world mark did Femke Bol break at the Dutch Indoor Championships in February. And who was the previous record-holder? 4 Which sport is the World Cross Country Champs venue of Mount Panorama in Australia better known for? 5 What happened to prevent Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey from winning gold in the senior women's race at the World Cross Country Championships? 6 The athletics world was in mourning in March following the passing of Dick Fosbury. What was he best known for? 7 Nafissatou Thiam broke…

DECEMBER 9 ● SEAA Masters & Inter Counties Championships Oxford seaa.org.uk DECEMBER 9-10 ● Loughborough Indoor Open lboro.ac.uk ● Honolulu Marathon honolulmarathon.org DECEMBER 10 ● European Cross Countr y Championships Brussels exchbrussels2023.com ● North Essex & South Suffolk (NESS) Cross Country - Hilly Fields Colchester nessxc.org.uk ● Barbados Marathon visitbarbados.org ● Maraton de Malaga generalimaratonmalaga.com ● Japan 10,000m championships Tokyo worldathletics.org ● Stockport 10 stk10.co.uk ● Manchester Indoor Open Meeting englandathletics.org DECEMBER 12 ● Northern Athletics December Open Sheffield northernathletics.co.uk DECEMBER 13 ● Track and Field Live Dublin athleticsireland.ie DECEMBER 16 ● Abu Dhabi Marathon adnocabudhabimarathon.com ● Greater Manchester Athletics Association Cross Country Championships Manchester race-results.co.uk ● Track Academy Indoor Competition Lee Valley trackacademy.co.uk DECEMBER 17 ● Hangzhou Marathon China aims-worldrunning.org ● Irish Open Race Walking Championships Dublin athleticsireland.ie ● Manchester Indoor…