Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i AW - Athletics Weekly Magazine

MARCH 2024 AW Editorial Director You can tell it's a bigger story than normal when friends who have little to no interest in running start getting in touch with you to ask about it. The shock death of Kelvin Kiptum in a car crash on February 11 reached far outside the sport of athletics. The 24-year-old's time at the top of marathon running was as brief as it was spectacular. Within a spell of less than 12 months, he put himself on the map by clocking the third-fastest time in history on his first go and then destroying the world record with his last. With he and Eliud Kipchoge due to face each other at the Paris Olympics, there may have been a succession on the marathon throne. Sadly, the…

DIGEST KENYAN GREATS The murmurs didn't take long to spread around the media centre at the London Marathon last April. Kelvin Kiptum had been quick but not radically so as he passed 10km in 29:12 and then halfway in 61:40 as part of an eight-strong group at the head of the field. It was at mile 19, however, when he began playing a different game from everyone else. A split of 4:33, the quickest of the race at that point, followed by 4:23 for the next mile, splintered the field completely as eyebrows were collectively raised. This was no temporary surge, either. The Kenyan just kept getting quicker, covering the 5km section from 30-35km in 13:49. Times of 4:21 for the 22nd mile and 4:23 for the 24th were also notable…

The spring kit drop from my sponsors arrived recently. Of course, the delivery always lands on the doorstep when I'm supposed to be doing anything other than gleefully unpacking wads of new season clothing and shoes but, with childish abandon and only a slight feeling of guilt, I dropped all of the boring chores I had lined up and transformed our house into a sea of packaging. While on the surface it might seem a superficial, materialistic kind of joy to be indulging in, I always let myself have this moment fully, because it is always a moment of slight disbelief and enormous gratitude. This big, tangible parcel is proof of a dream achieved, even if I'm in pursuit of a much larger ambition these days. This moment is for…

Jenny Meadows has revealed her heartbreak at a common cold which effectively ended her career. She had run four of the five fastest times in the world during the 2015 indoor season and was an overwhelming favourite to win the European title in Prague. However, she fell ill the week of the competition and was forced to withdraw from the final, having only just managed to scrape through the rounds. After a career blighted by Russian dopers, who had robbed her of multiple medals, another failure to miss out on gold had a profound mental effect from which she never recovered. “It is pathetic because all I had was a cold but I feel like it ended my career,” she says. “The December before that, all the news broke about…

AGE: 22 COACH: TRAVIS GEOPFERT There's a commentary that replays in Jack Turner's mind when the going gets tough. He'd prefer it not to exist, but its presence - an excruciating reminder of a disappointing British Championships in June 2022 - serves a valuable purpose. “2022 was just a mess,” he reflects, almost laughing in disbelief at his experience. Turner, representing the University of Texas at San Antonio at the time, had completed his first senior decathlon in May 2021 but ended up with three bulging discs in his back. It was a harsh return for ten hard disciplines and 7659 points, and an injury that led to him questioning his future in the event. Appendicitis at the end of that year resulted in his appendix being removed, another significant…

Racers SAUCONY Saucony.com ENDORPHIN PRO 4 £230.00 This latest update to the Endorphin Pro takes some inspiration from Saucony's Elite model of last season. Now featuring a midsole which combines the PWRRUN HG foam of the Elite with the PWRRUN PB foam, we have a lightweight yet highly propulsive platform that, when combined with the full-length carbon plate and Speedroll technology, provides a super-quick ride. At 39.5mm, the overall stack sits just under World Athletics’ 40mm limit and an 8mm drop into the forefoot naturally aids forward motion. The cushioning feels a little softer, especially in the heel, and it's a welcoming sensation, providing a smooth transition from heel to forefoot. The Endorphin Pro also has a pretty snappy feel as you push off, with the carbon plate making the…

Test your knowledge with our World Indoor Champs-themed teasers 1 When and where was the first World Indoor Championships staged? 2 What was unusual about how British athlete David King reached the final of the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade two years ago? 3 Which height did Mondo Duplantis clear to break the second pole vault world record of his career at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow four years ago? a) 6.16m b) 6.17m c) 6.18m 4 Which major sporting event was the Emirates Arena built for? 5 Can you name the venue which previously hosted major indoor athletics meetings in Glasgow before the Emirates Arena was opened? 6 Who is the last Scottish athlete to win a World Indoor Championships title? 7 Which nation finished on top of the medals table at…

DIGEST PICTURE THIS Molly Caudery announced herself as a pole vault medal contender for the World Indoor Championships after continuing her brilliant start to the year with a convincing win at the British Indoors. The 23-year-old Commonwealth silver medallist and World Championships fifth placer had improved her PB by eight centimetres to 4.83m in January but, in Birmingham, she cleared a world-leading 4.85m in clinching the UK title.…

COLLABORATION ASICS Last December, AW travelled down to Seville to witness a new research project by ASICS on the perception of effort. The purpose of the experiment was to discover the relationship between how athletes run and their perception of effort, physically and mentally, focusing on the impact of pacing. For the experiment, ASICS created a 600m lap with asphalt surface at the Plaza de America. When elite athletes from ASICS ran on the circuit, wearing the new METASPEED™ Series – the METASPEED™ SKY PARIS and the METASPEED™ EDGE PARIS – they were either running at a constant pace or one which varied. The aim was to establish their perception of effort during both types of pace and to, crucially, understand their physical and mental states in response to changes in…

MY GREATEST RACE BRENDAN FOSTER On home turf, the European champion vowed to christen the revamped Gateshead Stadium with a world record bid. The event caused quite a stir and set a mark that stood for almost four years In 1972, I ran the 1500m in the Olympics and was fifth. I thought: “That's as good as I'm going to get,” so I stepped up to the 5000m. I ran two miles at Crystal Palace in 1973 and broke the world record but then, in the autumn of that year, Gateshead Council decided that, with money in the budget following local government reorganisation, they would build a proper track at the stadium instead of the ash track which we'd had for years. They held a reception for my two miles record…

SURFACE TENSION Q: I am a distance runner who recently tried a few training sessions on a track. However, having not done much track running, I have been left with a couple of lower leg niggles. Is this common when switching to the track and can I prepare myself better? Nicola Anderson This sounds to me like tibial stress syndrome, better known as shin splints, but there can be a few issues caused when you suddenly switch to running on a surface you're not used to. There is research that indicates there are subtle differences in running technique between different surfaces - and that also applies to things like ground contact time and limb stiffness. As a rule of thumb, the harder the surface the more compliant the leg is…

INDOOR MICROPLUS UK ATHLETICS INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS, Birmingham, February 17-18 Men: 60: 1 J Azu (Card) 6.60; 2 A Robertson (Sale) 6.68; 3 0 Edoburun (E&H) 6.71; 4 E Jones (Liv PS) 6.73; 5 D Hammond (Card) 6.76; 6 N Walsh (Sale) 6.77; 7 A Clayton (Gift N) 6.79; 8 K Gowan-Wade (B&B) 6.83. P: 1 K Santos (Norw) 7.00; 2 Z Shaw (Clee) 7.04; 3 Z Skinner (Bir) 7.22; 4 0 Abidogun (Horw) 7.45; 5 S Burrows (Charn) 7.47:6 K Keyworth (Manc H) 7.87; 7 M Facey-Dell (Shef/Dearn) 8.19.200: 1 R Akinyebo (BFTTA) 21.28; 2 S Nguie (Traff) 21.38; 3 H Taylor (Harrow) 21.47; - D Patterson (Jag, U20) DNS; - B Snaith (NEB) DNS. 400: 1 L Thompson (Shef/Dearn) 46.69; 2 B Higgins (Shef/Dearn) 46.79; 3 I Osei-Tutu (WSEH)…

GET IN TOUCH: Email us at haveyoursay@athleticsweekly.com or via our social media channels Parkrun changes I'm a parkrun event director, a race director, I've done hundreds of parkruns and I'm honestly struggling to see how the decision to remove course and age category records (see Dip Finish p98) negatively affects anyone at parkrun. I can still see all my data and the data of anyone I've run with. I still have a full record of all my times and positions if I'm interested in them. I can even see the first finishers for every week at every event. This change has been coming for a decade ever since they removed the points league. Since then they've been fudging the distinction between a “race” (which has very strict rules around medical…

DIP FINISH When parkrun decided to ditch lots of statistics from their website, including course and age category records, they possibly didn't anticipate the deluge of coverage and criticism. The story appeared on BBC1's evening news and saw numerous newspaper columnists voicing their opinion. It even led to at least one parkrun event director quitting. Parkrun insists the decision was not influenced by an ongoing campaign to make participants declare their sex at birth after it was reported that at least three female records were set by transgender women. But critics such as Mara Yamauchi, the former international marathon runner, were furious and accused parkrun of throwing female runners under the bus. Weekly results of the 5km race, which is run by thousands of people every Saturday morning, will still…

DIGEST FEBRUARY 7.27 and 7.67 There were two world records in the sprint hurdles on the first day of the USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque. Taking advantage of the 1511m altitude, Grant Holloway cut through the thin air to slice two hundredths of a second off his three-year-old men's 60m hurdles record with 7.27, while Tia Jones tied Devynne Charlton's women's world record, which had recently been set at the Millrose Games, with 7.67. Both Holloway's and Jones’ records were set in the heats, with Jones returning to win the final in 7.68. Holloway, who is unbeaten in the event over the last 10 years, did not run the men's final, which was won by Trey Cunningham in 7.39. Charlton's run in New York had shaved 0.1 of a second off…

OPINION KATHARINE MERRY The organisers of the Paris Olympics recently unveiled the medals that the world's best will be battling it out for this summer. There was a very nice touch with the news that some of the metal reclaimed from the construction of the Eiffel Tower is involved in the design. I love the idea and it reminded me of something similar that was done with the Sydney 2000 medals. My bronze from the 400m was made from coins which had passed through countless hands before going out of circulation not long before the Games. It made it feel like everyone in Australia was in some way a part of those Olympics. That medal does represent and mean a lot to me but I don't have it on display anywhere.…

While Colin Jackson's focus in Glasgow will primarily be on his role as part of the BBC commentary team covering the World Indoor Championships, one athlete who won't be competing this time around will still be foremost in his thoughts. Since October, he has been coaching Andrew Pozzi, Britain's 2018 world indoor champion in the 60m hurdles, full-time. The 31-year-old had been led by Malcolm Arnold until his long-time mentor's retirement. Then came a move to Italy to work with Santiago Antunez, an arrangement which came to an end not long after the Tokyo Olympics. Pozzi began to coach himself but, with Jackson having offered regular input throughout his career, an agreement was struck. Via social media, Pozzi was quick to highlight just how hard a taskmaster Jackson is. “I…

Thomas Dreißigacker might joke that he doesn't feel quite so young any more but, aged 36, the German has already packed an impressive amount into his career so far. While he studied sports science before going on to work at the national diagnostics centre in Leipzig, at all times coaching athletes remained a huge part of his life. A youth national coach and personal coach with the German athletic federation, at the age of 29 he was appointed as their head coach in charge of all running and race walking events, a role he performed for four years. Since early 2022, he has worked for the Swiss brand On, as head coach for the professional team OAC Europe. The group features athletes from across the continent and includes the likes…

As Fiona O'Keeffe raced to an historic victory and fastest ever marathon debut by an American woman (2:22:10), Rowe and his team-mates were watching with interest from their base in Albuquerque. “It was awesome,” he says. “You never quite know how an athlete will react to the last three or four miles, but she killed it.” Rowe has enjoyed his own standout performances this winter. He opened his season with 7:38.35 for 3000m in Boston on January 26. It was the sixth-fastest British indoor mark of all-time, and a big improvement on his three-year-old previous best (7:42.15), but it was over 5000m he wanted to make a significant impact. “Every year I've got a few seconds faster [in the 5k], but I need 15 seconds this year,” he said in…

MARCH 1-3 • World Indoor Athletics Championships Glasgow worldathletics.org MARCH 3 • Tokyo Marathon marathon.tokyo • Paris Half Marathon harmoniemutuellesemideparis.com • Vault Cardiff wpva.org.uk MARCH 8 • Jerusalem Marathon jerusalem-marathon.com MARCH 8-9 • NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships Boston • NCAA Division 2 Indoor Championships Pittsburg • NCAA Division 3 Indoor Championships Virginia Beach ncaa.com MARCH 9 • UK Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships & World Trials Wollaton Park britishathletics.org.uk MARCH 9-10 • European Throwing Cup Leiria leiria2022-23-24.com • England Athletics 10,000m Race Walk Championship, Moulton englandathletics.org • England Athletics U17 & U15 Indoor Combined Events Championships Sheffield englandathletics.org • Leinster U20 + Senior Indoor Championships, Athlone athleticsireland.ie MARCH 10 • Inverness Half Marathon invernesshalfmarathon.co.uk • Barcelona Marathon zurichmaratobarcelona.es MARCH 16 • English Schools Cross Country Championships, Pontefract esaa.org.uk MARCH 17…

Kenyan 800m runner Michael Saruni has been banned for four years after trying to get a look-a-like to take his drugs test. The 28-year-old, whose best is 1:43.25, locked himself in a toilet and asked his friend to impersonate him in order to give a sample on his behalf. When anti-doping officials realised what was going on, they then saw Saruni - an Olympic semi-finalist in 2021 - running away from the scene. The official verdict from his case says Saruni “adamantly evaded, refused and failed to give a sample or submit to sample collection and by collusion or trickery escaped or left the venue”. Saruni later claimed he was ‘baffled’ by the charges, insisting he had never evaded a doping test and that he was not told by an…