I don’t think it’s recency bias when I say Kipyegon’s season must surely rank as one of the greatest seasons by any athlete in history.
3x world records (1500m, mile, 5000m)
2x world titles (1500m, 5000m)
1x Diamond League trophy (1500m)
Unbeaten across all distances too.
Friendships that last a lifetime 🤝
See the heartwarming surprise reunion between Mary Peters 🇬🇧 and Heide Rosendahl 🇩🇪, 50 years after they competed against each other at Munich 1972.
Watch more in our new original docu-series, '72 - A Gathering of Champions' ⬇️
Two of the smallest nations in the world by population (Dominica: 74,412 and St Lucia: 179,651) have won gold medals at these championships.
There really isn’t a more global sport than athletics.
Only one participant turned up today for the 100m finals at the Delhi State Championships, fearing dope tests. For a more detailed story read tomorrow's Express
Can we talk more about the fact Hawkins was only a few seconds behind one of the recent greats of the event (Desisa) and a 2:02 guy (Geremew) and dropped a big negative split in conditions which were still far from ideal? The guy is as tough as nails.
If you want to feel wholly inadequate, not only is Nadia Battocletti an Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, she is also an engineering graduate AND fluent in three languages.
Spare a thought for Nigeria who were SEVENTH in the first heat of the men’s 4x100m in 38.20.
That time would have won the second heat which was won by China in 38.24!
2:19:48 Paris
2:18:20 World Champs
2:18:43 London
Judith Korir becomes the first athlete to run three sub-2:20 marathons in a year and she ran all three in just under six months. 🤯
FWIW I think you can simultaneously acknowledge the new shoes are having a profound impact on road times AND that Letesenbet Gidey is also a once-in-a-generation talent.
French steeplechaser Ophélie Claude-Boxberger has tested positive for EPO but this is only half the story.
Her partner is a French team doctor who wrote to the French anti-doping agency last year about the number of times she was being tested.
Respect for Marie-Josee Ta Lou who will run in the heats of the 4x100m less than two hours before the 200m final.
Côte d’Ivoire does have a credible chance of a medal in the event, especially if one of the big teams slip up.
Fun fact! Agathe Guillemot is the first athlete to make an Olympic 1500m final who also shares the name with a seabird since Eileen Seagull in Munich 1972.
From the archive: Dafne Schippers and Jessica Ennis-Hill cross the line together in the heptathlon 200m in London 2012.
Also shows you just how good Ennis was in 2012 to live with Schippers in the 200m!
Well that’s the second time Asher-Smith has beaten Richardson this season over as many distances. If she didn’t know much about Dina at the start of the season, she should by now.
After javelin gold in Tokyo, Neeraj Chopra is closing in on a dizzying 2.5 million followers on Instagram.
Prior to Tokyo 2020 he had 143,000 followers!
For the first time in history, we saw:
-5 athletes break 44s in the M400 F
-3 athletes break 49s in the W400 F
-4 teams break 3:20 in the W4x400 F
-7 teams break 3:00 in the M4x400 F
The Stade de France was a magic carpet for 400m runners!
India had never won any sort of medal in athletics since making their debut in 1920 but now they have a gold medal!
Neeraj Chopra is the Olympic javelin champion!
Brilliant run from Charlotte Purdue! She goes to third on the UK all-time lists behind Radcliffe and Yamauchi with 2:25:38! Great stuff.
#londonmarathon
With Hodgkinson (800m), Muir (1500m), McColgan (5000, 10,000m) and Bird (3000 steeplechase) all on the team, the Brits really could dominate the middle/long distance events in Munich!
Adeleke is still only 19 but she is already one of Europe’s most complete sprinters.
Just imagine being able to run 7.17 for the 60m and also drop a sub-51 4x400m leg!
💥NEW IRISH 60M INDOOR RECORD FOR RHASIDAT ADELEKE💥
Double European U20 100m/200m Champion, Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC), has broken the Irish 60m indoor record with a blistering 7.17PB in the heats of the NCAA Indoor Championships in Alabama🤩
I know wavelights are polarising but I thought they added a real presentational value to Kipyegon’s WR yesterday.
Being able to see exactly how far ahead of the record she was in real-time was a brilliant indicator of just how much she broke the record by.
The men’s 400m in the Lausanne Diamond League featuring Karsten Warholm is scheduled for 7.54pm, six minutes before the two-hour televised slot. There better be some way of watching it!
Ahh! A dramatic and heartbreaking finish to the Hamburg Marathon. Long-time leader Tiruye Mesfin succumbed to cramp right on the 42km mark.
She got up and continued but was closed down by Dorcas Tuitoek who won in 2:20:09 to Mesfin’s 2:20:18.
Wow! Rose Harvey knocked it out of the park. She finishes ninth in Chicago in 2:23:21, improving her previous best which stood at 2:27:17.
After only taking running seriously in 2020, she’s now fifth on the UK all-time list!
Oh, honestly. 🙄
Try telling this to Kenyans and Ethiopians who have to make long-haul trips to virtually any international meeting AND often have to overcome a multitude of visa problems.
🗣️“I like America, I like to race at home as much as possible. I get criticized for not going to Europe, but I coach United States athletes to put them on teams. In Europe, you can go to Italy, France, Germany, same thing like we can go to Atlanta, New York, so you got the
Hassan was fantastic but I am also impressed Susan Krumins finished seventh in a PB of 31:05.40 after illness threatened to ravage her season.
Her record in major events is phenomenal. She has finished inside the top-8 in 10 major champs races since 2013!
In all my years of following the Euro XC I would say two of my three favourite editions were Dublin (2009, 2021) plus Tilburg 2018.
Location is especially critical for cross country champs IMO. Get it right and the Euro and World XC is one of the best events on the calendar.
I’ve counted at least 12 national records in the women’s race in the Valencia Marathon.
And how cool Mauritius has an athlete who has qualified for the marathon in Paris 2024!
Unsurprisingly, Angelina Topic is also out of the Olympic high jump final.
But the fact she qualified for the final on a fractured ankle is nothing short of amazing.
Can we talk about Edna Kiplagat’s longevity?
1996 - Wins 3000m silver at the World U20 Champs
2021 - In the lead group in the Boston Marathon
#BostonMarathon
“Wow” is not the word I would have used.
It’s absolutely scandalous Houlihan is able to race through her doping ban without any consequences whatsoever.
Wow! Shelby Houlihan's time of 30:47 yesterday at the Okoboji Homecoming 10K (unofficial) would have been a new American Record. Not the sign of a runner in decline.
Meant to tweet this earlier but I forgot.
Merlene Ottey can say she has raced against athletes who have competed at the 1968 Olympics (Maslakova) and the 2024 Olympics (Kambundji, Popowicz-Drapala.)
#Olympics
#Paris2024
Thank you. The fact McColgan’s victory was reduced to a couple of paragraphs at the end of a story has really annoyed me.
What hope is there for women’s sport getting coverage in the mainstream press when a near European record has to play second fiddle?
🔥 Première victoire sur le cross long Elite 🚹 !
🥇 Jimmy Gressier (Boulogne-sur-Mer Ac)
🥈 Markus Georger (Luxeuil Athlé 70)
🥉 Fabien Palcau (Dijon Uc)
😋 Vous prendrez bien un bout de crêpe bretonne ?
💻 Suivez les
#CFCross
en 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗧 sur
Can we take a moment to appreciate the last three major women’s 1500m finals have been won in 3:51, 3:53 and 3:52 respectively? These women don’t mess around!
#WorldAthleticsChamps
It’s not the biggest takeaway but I’m still incredulous Jerry Schumacher has claimed he has never heard of nandrolone before. How is that possible after spending so many years at the elite end of the sport?
Brilliant run from Charlotte Purdue to finish 10th in the London Marathon in 2:23:26 to move back to third on the British all-time list!
Almost identical halfway splits of 71:44/71:42 as well.
#LondonMarathon
I’ve never seen anyone win a major 800m title like that before! 🤣
Mary Moraa went from first at 200m, near-last (if not last) at 500m before storming to gold!
It seems so unfair that Jonathan Borlee never won a global outdoor medal.
Surely no athlete in history has come so close but just missed out so many times?
Aarhus certainly knows how to arrange a tough cross country course!
Some photos from the recent European Police XC Championships. Different course to the World XC but still very demanding!
(Photos from Florian Carvalho’s FB page)