Rio 2016 Olympic Qualifying standards approved

Chivito550

http://www.iaaf.org/download/download?filename=643c6a52-5447-42ff-a2f6-311b26a5b786.pdf&urlSlug=rio-2016-olympic-games-entry-standards

Dan man

Some very tough standards.

These standards in particular are very tough and if you can achieve those you won't be far off being a medal candidate....

Men's Long Jump 8.15m
Men's Hammer 78.00m
Men's Pole Vault 5.70m

Women's Hammer at 71.00m is also pretty tough.


I hope this puts an end to the policy of not sending athletes without the automatic qualification standard. Now that there are no B standards and the quotas will be filled by IAAF by invitation it means those who qualify are there by merit and should not be turned away by the OCI / AAI. Anyone who can jump more than 8.00m in men's long jump for example is world class so to say you need to get 8.15m before you are on the Irish Olympic team would be ludicrous.

Dan man

Also, the IAAF World Relays coming up in Bahamas in just over 2 weeks time are going to be crucial for Olympic qualification. Hopefully our men's 4x400m team can get into the top 8 teams there and book their quotas for the Olympics.

Dodge

Based on 2014 performances, Ireland would qualify the following athletes (not many...)

Men
800m - Mark English
400m - Hurdles Tom Barr
20k walk - Rob Heffernan
50k walk - Rob Heffernan/Brendan Boyce

Women
200m - Kelly Proper
20k walk - Laura Reynolds
Marathon - 5 qualifiers!

Oregano_State

Dodge wrote: »

Based on 2014 performances, Ireland would qualify the following athletes (not many...)

Men
800m - Mark English
400m - Hurdles Tom Barr
20k walk - Rob Heffernan
50k walk - Rob Heffernan/Brendan Boyce

Women
200m - Kelly Proper
20k walk - Laura Reynolds
Marathon - 5 qualifiers!

Adding to the above list, we could hope to have Brian Gregan reach the standard in the 400m if he can improve on his 2013 PB. Paul Robinson and Ciarán O'Lionáird will be gunning for the 1500m standard, and even though it is tough, if they race to their ability it's well within reach I believe.
There are also a few male marathoners that will believe they can get the standard, although it is soft IMO compared to what it will take to get within an ass's roar of the podium.

Run and Jump

Men's marathon is 2:17:00 - tough on Mick Clohisey and Thomas Fraser who ran 2:17+ in Rotterdam on Sunday. The women's marathon could be another selection drama...

Chivito550

Dodge wrote: »

Based on 2014 performances, Ireland would qualify the following athletes (not many...)

Men
800m - Mark English
400m - Hurdles Tom Barr
20k walk - Rob Heffernan
50k walk - Rob Heffernan/Brendan Boyce

Women
200m - Kelly Proper
20k walk - Laura Reynolds
Marathon - 5 qualifiers!

Tbf last year was a Euro year. The likes of Robinson and O'Lionaird weren't going to be chasing fast times when they weren't needed. Robinson was 4th in Europe so he should be a certainty to make it to the Olympics provided he stays fit and healthy.

Also I assume performances from both 2015 and 2016 will count for Olympic qualification rather than just 2016. That's the way it was done last time.

Dan man

Oregano_State wrote: »

Adding to the above list, we could hope to have Brian Gregan rech the standard in the 400m if he can improve on his 2013 PB. Paul Robinson and Ciarán O'Lionáird will be gunning for the 1500m standard, and even though it is tough, if they race to their ability it's well within reach I believe.
There are also a few male marathoners that will believe they can get the standard, although it is soft IMO compared to what it will take to get within an ass's roar of the podium.

Also, Alex Wright (20km / 50km walk) has already dipped below the qualifying times before in 2014 so he should be able to do so again.

Dodge

Chivito550 wrote: »

Tbf last year was a Euro year

I wasn't suggesting that would be our team, just pointing it out for info. I'd expect a few more to get the time (including O'Lioiaird, Gregan and 3 in the marathon)

Hopefully some more come through

Oregano_State

Additionally, I'm hoping for big seasons from Dara Kervick, Harry Purcell, Paul Murphy, and Karl Griffin. While I would expect them all to improve big-time on their PBs this year, the Olympic standard will probably be out of reach. Although Kervick and possibly even Purcell and Murphy will be hopefull of sneaking onto the 4x400m relay squad.

vanderlyle

Explain the meaning of "Top 8 at IWR + 8 from Top Lists" to a noob?

Dan man

vanderlyle wrote: »

Explain the meaning of "Top 8 at IWR + 8 from Top Lists" to a noob?

The top 8 teams at the World Relays in Bahamas this year in each relay event will qualify automatically for the Rio Olympics.
At the end of the qualifying process, the best 8 teams, not already qualified, in the IAAF world list (based on best times) will make up the 16 teams per event.

Chivito550

Dan man wrote: »

The top 8 teams at the World Relays in Bahamas this year in each relay event will qualify automatically for the Rio Olympics.
At the end of the qualifying process, the best 8 teams, not already qualified, in the IAAF world list (based on best times) will make up the 16 teams per event.

So does next years World Relays not hold any significance for qualifying?

Dan man

Chivito550 wrote: »

So does next years World Relays not hold any significance for qualifying?

There are no World Relays next year, so no.

tunguska

Womens marathon qualifying time is very soft.......2:42. A full 6 minutes softer than London.

nobody told me

tunguska wrote: »

Womens marathon qualifying time is very soft.......2:42. A full 6 minutes softer than London.

The men's is soft as well in comparison to some of the other standards. Would we have a 10K runner that could run 28:00? I very much doubt it.

Sacksian

nobody told me wrote: »

The men's is soft as well in comparison to some of the other standards. Would we have a 10K runner that could run 28:00? I very much doubt it.

I'm in the middle of comparing the 2016 qualifying standards against the Irish all-time lists for track and field - I'll post it later when I have everything pulled together and double-checked. It's interesting to look at and see our historic strength in depth over various events. I've only done the men's so far but I'm in the middle of the women's. I haven't checked everything yet but I think the below is right...

7 Irish athletes have run under 28 minutes for 10k in history - Cragg (NR of 27:39.55 in 2007) and Fagan (27:58.48 in 2009) are the only still active athletes who have run under that standard.

37 Irish athletes have marathon pbs under 2:17. Of those, 4 are active - Mark Kenneally (2:13.55 in Amsterdam in 2011), Martin Fagan (2:14.06 in Dubai in 2008), Paul Pollock (2:16.30 in Dublin in 2012) and Sean Connolly (2:16.42 in Rotterdam in 2012).

9 have run under 13:25 for 5k and the only active Irish athlete to have done that is Alistair Cragg, when running the National Record of 13:03.53 in 2011.

We have only a single male athlete in history with a pb within the standard for each of the 200m, 400m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and discus and no male athletes have ever recorded pbs within the standards for 100m, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, hammer, javelin and decathlon.

I think that's right.

tunguska

nobody told me wrote: »

The men's is soft as well in comparison to some of the other standards. Would we have a 10K runner that could run 28:00? I very much doubt it.

I think pound for pound, the mens 2:17 is a way harder standard to achieve. I agree about the 10k standard.

groovyg

tunguska wrote: »

Womens marathon qualifying time is very soft.......2:42. A full 6 minutes softer than London.

Thats a very soft time, Lizzie Lee, Nicola Duncan, Sinead Diver, Maria McCambridge, Fionnuala Britton have previously run below 2.42 and Sarah Mulligan is likely to improve on her marathon time 2.42.

I wonder will it be based on age :rolleyes:

nobody told me

tunguska wrote: »

I think pound for pound, the mens 2:17 is a way harder standard to achieve. I agree about the 10k standard.

Ye agree the men's is a tougher standard than the women's,but in comparison with some of the other men's standards the 2:17 is achievable.

Dan man

I think we will qualify more than 20 athletes for Rio 2016. The standards are tough but I think more than 20 are capable of getting under the standards, especially if we qualify a relay team which seems likely at the moment.

Sacksian

Sacksian wrote: »

We have only a single male athlete in history with a pb within the standard for each of the 200m, 400m, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and discus and no male athletes have ever recorded pbs within the standards for 100m, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, hammer, javelin and decathlon.

I think that's right.

Just to add...if you look at our all-time lists, we have a lot more male distance athletes than sprinters in our history that have achieved times that would get inside the 2016 olympic qualifying standard.

BUT, our current sprinters are performing MUCH better than our current distance runners relative to their predecessors (and we’ve some very, very good young sprinters still coming through).

For men:

All 10 of the top 10 100m times of all time have come since 2000.
7 of the top 10 200m times have come since 2000.
7 of the top 10 400m times have come since 2000.
6 of the top 10 800 times have come since 2000.
4 of the top 10 1500m times have come since 2000.
2 of the top 10 5k times have come since 2000 (Cragg & Cathal Lombard).
4 of the top 10 10k times have come since 2000.
Only 1 of the top 10 marathon times has come since 2000 (Mark Carroll’s 2:10:54 in 2002 - 2nd on all-time list).

So, whatever about rising standards elsewhere, we haven't had a lot of distance runners in the last 15 years capable of competing with previous generations of Irish runners. Admittedly, we probably didn't have much of a tradition of sprinting previously but it's still progress.

Krusty_Clown

nobody told me wrote: »

Ye agree the men's is a tougher standard than the women's,but in comparison with some of the other men's standards the 2:17 is achievable.

The men's standard is 10% off the current WR. The women's standard is 16% off the WR. Admittedly, no one has come within touching distance of the women's WR in 12 years, but even using 2:20 as a marker, it's still relatively soft, at nearly 14% off that target. But generally speaking, yeah, they're both pretty soft compared to other events. That's a reflection of the fact that you don't get too many shots at the marathon, and the entire field goes off together in one race, so you don't have to limit the numbers, to reduce the number of events/participants.

Sacksian

I was thinking about current and historic depth in Irish athletics and trying to see which events have progressed in terms of performance in the last 20-30 years and which have stagnated. So, if we could use pbs from our all-time list, how many Irish athletes in history could have qualified for the various events and how many of those are athletes still competing?

I’ve included some indoor times that are on the all-time list just because it was easier to do so - not sure how useful it is but just one of those things that you start to wonder about and get carried away! And there are probably errors because I was watching PSG-Barcelona at the same time so I’ll proof and edit later tonight.

Main question I'd have is about our field standards, particularly throws. Anyone know anything about them?

Excuse the length of the post - I'll stick up the women's equivalent at lunchtime.

2016 Olympics Men’s Track & Field Standards in Context of Irish All-Time Performances

No male athlete has ever achieved the 2016 standards for 100m, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, hammer, javelin and decathlon, and only a single athlete has ever achieved the standard for 200m, 400m, 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

The 3k steeplechase (but not since 1985) and high jump male standards have both been achieved by two Irish men in history.

100m - Qualifying Standard - 10.16

Paul Hession’s national record is 10.18 from 2007, so no Irish athlete has ever run this standard.

The most recent times on the all-time list are Jason Smyth’s 10.22 from 2011, then Steven Colvert (10.35 in 2012) and Marcus Lawler (10.38 in 2013 - aged 18).

200m - Qualifying Standard - 20.50

The only Irish time within the standard is Paul Hession’s national record of 20.30 from 2007.

Steven Colvert (20.57 in 2012), Marcus Lawler (20.87 in 2013 - again aged 18) and Jason Smyth (20.94 in 2011) all have times on the all-time top 10 from the last five years.

400m - Qualifying Standard - 45.40

The only Irish time within the standard is David Gillick’s national record of 44.77. However, Brian Gregan has a PB from 2013 of 45.53, so just outside the standard.

800m - Qualifying Standard - 1:45.80

Only 5 Irish men have ever run inside the 800m qualifying standard, including Mark English. I was interested to see that Paul Robinson’s 1:45.86 from 2013 is just outside the standard but he’s obviously more of a 1500m runner. Guys like Karl Griffin, who ran 1:47.44 aged 19 in 2014, and Harry Purcell (47.82 for 400 aged 18 in 2014) might be better bets for 2020.

1500m - Qualifying Standard - 3:36.00

10 Irish male athletes, including both Paul Robinson (3:35.22 in 2013) and Ciarán Ó Lionaird (3:34.46 in 2011), have run inside the standard in our history. I guess the other possible qualifier would be John Travers, who ran a 3:37.27 split during the Morton Mile last year. He’s obviously still improving year-on-year - another 1.27s would be a fantastic achievement though. I don’t know if there’s anyone else capable of that time.

5000m - Qualifying Standard - 13:25.00

9 have run under 13:25 and the only active Irish athlete to have done that is Alistair Cragg, who did so when running the National Record of 13:03.53 in 2011. Not sure if we have anyone who could attempt the standard. Kevin Batt ran 13:39 a couple of weeks ago but, of athletes still competing, Ciarán Ó Lionáird (13:33.64 in 2011) and Mark Christie (13:28.21) are ahead of him on the all-time list.

10,000m - Qualifying Standard - 28:00.00

7 Irish men have run under 28 minutes for 10k - Cragg (NR of 27:39.55 in 2007) and Fagan (27:58.48 in 2009) are the only still active athletes who have run under that standard. Paul Pollock (28:32.18 in 2014) and Ciarán Ó Lionáird (28:32.30 in 2011) are the next best among athletes still competing.

Marathon - Qualifying Standard - 2:17:00

We have 37 athletes with pbs under 2:17. Of those, 4 are active - Mark Kenneally (2:13.55 in Amsterdam in 2011), Martin Fagan (2:14.06 in Dubai in 2008), Paul Pollock (2:16.30 in Dublin in 2012) and Sean Connolly (2:16.42 in Rotterdam in 2012).

Outside the standard, but under 2:18, and still competing are: Gary Thornton (2:17.29 in Rotterdam in 2012), Sean Hehir (2:17.35 in Dublin in 2012), Barry Minnock (2:17.40 in Hannover in 2012), Mick Clohisey (2:17.43 in Rotterdam last week) and Thomas Frazer (2:17.45 in Berlin in 2013).

3000m S/C - Qualifying Standard - 8:28.00

2 Irish athletes have ever run this standard in our history, Brendan Quinn’s national record of 8:24.09 in 1985 and Liam O’Brien’s 8:27.24 in 1984. The third best time is from 1985, the fourth 1984 and the fifth best from 1974.

Tomas Cotter’s 8:41.02 from 2013 is the fastest by a currently active athlete.

110m H - Qualifying Standard - 13.47

Peter Coghlan’s NR of 13.30 from 1999 is the only Irish time inside this standard. However, Ben Reynolds ran 13.49 in 2013.

400m H - Qualifying Standard - 49.40

Thomas Barr’s NR of 48.90 is the only Irish time inside this standard. Jason Harvey ran 50.13 in 2013.

High Jump - Qualifying Standard - 2.29

Adrian O’Dwyer (2.30 in 2004) and Brendan Reilly (2.29 in 1999) are the only Irish athletes to have ever achieved heights meeting this standard.

Pole Vault - Qualifying Standard - 5.70

Our national record is 5.36 (Brian McGovern in 2013). The next best height is 5.02 by John Hallissey in 1997.

Long Jump - Qualifying Standard - 8.15

National record is 8.07 by Ciaran McDonagh from 2005. Next best is Adam McMullen’s jump from indoors earlier this year.

Triple Jump - Qualifying Standard - 16.90

National record is 16.27 indoors by Colm Cronin from 1978. Next best is Hugh Maguire (15.88 in 1986). John Bresnihan’s 15.34 is the 6th best triple jump of all time. That’s from 1906!

Shot - Qualifying Standard - 20.50

Our national record is 20.04 (Paul Quirke in 1992).

Discus - Qualifying Standard - 66.00

Nick Sweeney’s national record of 67.89 from 1998 is the only Irish throw recorded inside the standard.

Hammer - Qualifying Standard - 78.00

Our national record is 77.80 (Declan Hegarty in 1985).

Javelin - Qualifying Standard - 83.00

Terry McHugh’s national record of 82.75 from 2000 is outside the standard. The second best throw is 79.55 (Michael Allen in 2006) and the third best throw of all time is 72.46 by Ben Houghton in 2006 (10m off the NR).

Decathlon - Qualifying Standard - 8,100 pts

Our national record is 7,882 (Carlos O’Connell from 1988).

20km Race Walk - Qualifying Standard - 1:24:00

We have 4 athletes inside the 20km walk standard. Alex Wright did a 20000m walk inside the standard (1:23:28.09 from 2014).

50km Race Walk - Qualifying Standard - 4:03.00

6 Irish athletes have walked inside this standard, including Robert Heffernan, Brendan Boyce (last month), Alex Wright and Colin Griffin.

Postscript:

Ciarán Ó Lionáird has a great range, from a 1:48.40 indoors 800m (albeit, on an oversized track) to a 28:32.30 10k but Athletics Ireland really should just clone Mark Carroll - national record at 3000m, 2nd all-time at 5k, 10k and marathon, 3rd all-time at mile, 5th all-time at 1500m.

rom

Sacksian wrote: »

I was thinking about current and historic depth in Irish athletics and trying to see which events have progressed in terms of performance in the last 20-30 years and which have stagnated. So, if we could use pbs from our all-time list, how many Irish athletes in history could have qualified for the various events and how many of those are athletes still competing?

I’ve included some indoor times that are on the all-time list just because it was easier to do so - not sure how useful it is but just one of those things that you start to wonder about and get carried away! And there are probably errors because I was watching PSG-Barcelona at the same time so I’ll proof and edit later tonight.

Main question I'd have is about our field standards, particularly throws. Anyone know anything about them?

Excuse the length of the post - I'll stick up the women's equivalent at lunchtime.

2016 Olympics Men’s Track & Field Standards in Context of Irish All-Time Performances

No male athlete has ever achieved the 2016 standards for 100m, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, hammer, javelin and decathlon, and only a single athlete has ever achieved the standard for 200m, 400m, 110m hurdles and 400m hurdles.

The 3k steeplechase (but not since 1985) and high jump male standards have both been achieved by two Irish men in history.

100m - Qualifying Standard - 10.16

Paul Hession’s national record is 10.18 from 2007, so no Irish athlete has ever run this standard.

The most recent times on the all-time list are Jason Smyth’s 10.22 from 2011, then Steven Colvert (10.35 in 2012) and Marcus Lawler (10.38 in 2013 - aged 18).

200m - Qualifying Standard - 20.50

The only Irish time within the standard is Paul Hession’s national record of 20.30 from 2007.

Steven Colvert (20.57 in 2012), Marcus Lawler (20.87 in 2013 - again aged 18) and Jason Smyth (20.94 in 2011) all have times on the all-time top 10 from the last five years.

400m - Qualifying Standard - 45.40

The only Irish time within the standard is David Gillick’s national record of 44.77. However, Brian Gregan has a PB from 2013 of 45.53, so just outside the standard.

800m - Qualifying Standard - 1:45.80

Only 5 Irish men have ever run inside the 800m qualifying standard, including Mark English. I was interested to see that Paul Robinson’s 1:45.86 from 2013 is just outside the standard but he’s obviously more of a 1500m runner. Guys like Karl Griffin, who ran 1:47.44 aged 19 in 2014, and Harry Purcell (47.82 for 400 aged 18 in 2014) might be better bets for 2020.

1500m - Qualifying Standard - 3:36.00

10 Irish male athletes, including both Paul Robinson (3:35.22 in 2013) and Ciarán Ó Lionaird (3:34.46 in 2011), have run inside the standard in our history. I guess the other possible qualifier would be John Travers, who ran a 3:37.27 split during the Morton Mile last year. He’s obviously still improving year-on-year - another 1.27s would be a fantastic achievement though. I don’t know if there’s anyone else capable of that time.

5000m - Qualifying Standard - 13:25.00

9 have run under 13:25 and the only active Irish athlete to have done that is Alistair Cragg, who did so when running the National Record of 13:03.53 in 2011. Not sure if we have anyone who could attempt the standard. Kevin Batt ran 13:39 a couple of weeks ago but, of athletes still competing, Ciarán Ó Lionáird (13:33.64 in 2011) and Mark Christie (13:28.21) are ahead of him on the all-time list.

10,000m - Qualifying Standard - 28:00.00

7 Irish men have run under 28 minutes for 10k - Cragg (NR of 27:39.55 in 2007) and Fagan (27:58.48 in 2009) are the only still active athletes who have run under that standard. Paul Pollock (28:32.18 in 2014) and Ciarán Ó Lionáird (28:32.30 in 2011) are the next best among athletes still competing.

Marathon - Qualifying Standard - 2:17:00

We have 37 athletes with pbs under 2:17. Of those, 4 are active - Mark Kenneally (2:13.55 in Amsterdam in 2011), Martin Fagan (2:14.06 in Dubai in 2008), Paul Pollock (2:16.30 in Dublin in 2012) and Sean Connolly (2:16.42 in Rotterdam in 2012).

Outside the standard, but under 2:18, and still competing are: Gary Thornton (2:17.29 in Rotterdam in 2012), Sean Hehir (2:17.35 in Dublin in 2012), Barry Minnock (2:17.40 in Hannover in 2012), Mick Clohisey (2:17.43 in Rotterdam last week) and Thomas Frazer (2:17.45 in Berlin in 2013).

3000m S/C - Qualifying Standard - 8:28.00

2 Irish athletes have ever run this standard in our history, Brendan Quinn’s national record of 8:24.09 in 1985 and Liam O’Brien’s 8:27.24 in 1984. The third best time is from 1985, the fourth 1984 and the fifth best from 1974.

Tomas Cotter’s 8:41.02 from 2013 is the fastest by a currently active athlete.

110m H - Qualifying Standard - 13.47

Peter Coghlan’s NR of 13.30 from 1999 is the only Irish time inside this standard. However, Ben Reynolds ran 13.49 in 2013.

400m H - Qualifying Standard - 49.40

Thomas Barr’s NR of 48.90 is the only Irish time inside this standard. Jason Harvey ran 50.13 in 2013.

High Jump - Qualifying Standard - 2.29

Adrian O’Dwyer (2.30 in 2004) and Brendan Reilly (2.29 in 1999) are the only Irish athletes to have ever achieved heights meeting this standard.

Pole Vault - Qualifying Standard - 5.70

Our national record is 5.36 (Brian McGovern in 2013). The next best height is 5.02 by John Hallissey in 1997.

Long Jump - Qualifying Standard - 8.15

National record is 8.07 by Ciaran McDonagh from 2005. Next best is Adam McMullen’s jump from indoors earlier this year.

Triple Jump - Qualifying Standard - 16.90

National record is 16.27 indoors by Colm Cronin from 1978. Next best is Hugh Maguire (15.88 in 1986). John Bresnihan’s 15.34 is the 6th best triple jump of all time. That’s from 1906!

Shot - Qualifying Standard - 20.50

Our national record is 20.04 (Paul Quirke in 1992).

Discus - Qualifying Standard - 66.00

Nick Sweeney’s national record of 67.89 from 1998 is the only Irish throw recorded inside the standard.

Hammer - Qualifying Standard - 78.00

Our national record is 77.80 (Declan Hegarty in 1985).

Javelin - Qualifying Standard - 83.00

Terry McHugh’s national record of 82.75 from 2000 is outside the standard. The second best throw is 79.55 (Michael Allen in 2006) and the third best throw of all time is 72.46 by Ben Houghton in 2006 (10m off the NR).

Decathlon - Qualifying Standard - 8,100 pts

Our national record is 7,882 (Carlos O’Connell from 1988).

20km Race Walk - Qualifying Standard - 1:24:00

We have 4 athletes inside the 20km walk standard. Alex Wright did a 20000m walk inside the standard (1:23:28.09 from 2014).

50km Race Walk - Qualifying Standard - 4:03.00

6 Irish athletes have walked inside this standard, including Robert Heffernan, Brendan Boyce (last month), Alex Wright and Colin Griffin.

Postscript:

Ciarán Ó Lionáird has a great range, from a 1:48.40 indoors 800m (albeit, on an oversized track) to a 28:32.30 10k but Athletics Ireland really should just clone Mark Carroll - national record at 3000m, 2nd all-time at 5k, 10k and marathon, 3rd all-time at mile, 5th all-time at 1500m.

Excellent post. Thanks

Krusty_Clown

Sacksian wrote: »

Excuse the length of the post - I'll stick up the women's equivalent at lunchtime.

Great post. Look forward to reading the female equivalent. It serves as a good reminder that just qualifying for the Olympics is a significant achievement.

rom

Sacksian can you include a link to these stats please.

Dodge

rom wrote: »

Sacksian can you include a link to these stats please.

The Irish all time list is here
http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/toplist.php?list=topirlallt&Ind=0

Chivito550

Great stuff Sacksian.

Dubgal72

+1 to the above, great post and thanks

Sacksian

Here are the women’s equivalents. As ever, E&OE!

Can’t wait to return to full training myself, so I can go back to over-analysing my own performances rather than other people’s.

2016 Olympics Women’s Track & Field Standards in Context of Irish All-Time Performances

We have no female athletes in history with pbs within the standards for 100m, long jump, triple jump, shot, discus, javelin and heptathlon.

Only a single female athlete in history with a pb within the standard for each of the 110m hurdles, high jump, pole vault and hammer.

The 400m standard has been achieved by two Irish women.

100m - Qualifying Standard - 11.32

Our national record is 11.40 (Ailis McSweeney in 2010).

200m - Qualifying Standard - 23.20

3 athletes have run under 23.20 for 200m, if you include Ciara Sheehy’s indoor 23.17. including Kelly Proper (23.15 last year).

400m - Qualifying Standard - 52.00

We have two women under 52.00 for 400m - Joanne Cuddihy (national record of 50.73 in 2007) and Karen Shinkins (51.07 in 1999)

800m - Qualifying Standard - 2:01.00

Four have run inside the standard, including Rose-Anne Galligan’s NR of 2:00.58 from 2013 and Laura Crowe (2:00.93 in 2013). Ciara Mageean ran 2:03.07 at 17 in 2009 but isn’t an 800m runner (even if she could probably run the standard for a few distances!). Both Siofra Cléirigh-Buttner (2:03.81 in 2013) and Aislinn Crossey (2:03.93 in 2013) ran their pbs aged 17 and Cléirigh-Buttner ran hers winning a schools championship, so I suspect she could have gone faster on that day against stronger competition. They could both improve a lot this summer.

1500m - Qualifying Standard - 4:06.00

3 Irish women have run inside the standard, the most recent of which was Geraldine Hendricken in 2002. Ciara Mageean ran 4:07.45 at 19 in 2011. Orla Drumm’s 4:09.95 from 2012 is the next best in the last 5 years.

5000m - Qualifying Standard - 15:20.00

We have 9 athletes inside the 5000m standard, with both Sonia O’Sullivan (14:41.02 in 2000) and Catriona McKiernan (14:49.40 in 1996) under 15 minutes. Maria McCambridge (15:05.86 in 2004), Fionnuala Britton (15:12.97 in 2012) and Mary Cullen (15:18.34 indoors in 2009) are the three active athletes who have run this standard.

10,000m - Qualifying Standard - 32:15.00

5 athletes inside the 10,000m standard, with Fionnuala Britton the only active athlete to have achieved this standard. Mary Cullen's PB of 32:21.42 (from 2007) is no.8 on the all-time list.

Marathon - Qualifying Standard - 2:42.00

31 Irish athletes in history have pbs within the 2016 qualifying standard of 2:42. Of these, 13 ran their times in the last 5 years.

3000m S/C - Qualifying Standard - 9:45.00

3 athletes inside the standard. Fionnuala Britton (9:37.60 in 2011)and Stephanie Reilly (9:42.91 in the same race) are both active athletes to have achieved this standard. Sara Treacy’s 9:47.92 from 2014 is just outside.

110m H - Qualifying Standard - 13.00

Derval O’Rourke’s NR of 12.65 is the only Irish time inside this standard.

400m H - Qualifying Standard - 56.20

3 athletes have run under 56.20 for 400m hurdles, including Jessie Barr (55.93 last year).

High Jump - Qualifying Standard - 1.94

Deirdre Ryan’s NR of 1.95 from 2011 is the only Irish height to meet this standard.

Pole Vault - Qualifying Standard - 4.50

Tori Pena’s NR of 4.60 from 2013 is the only Irish height to meet this standard.

Long Jump - Qualifying Standard - 6.70

Irish national record is 6.62 indoors (Kelly Proper in 2010).

Triple Jump - Qualifying Standard - 14.20

Irish national record is 13.62 (Taneisha Scanlon in 2005).

Shot Putt - Qualifying Standard - 17.80

Irish national record is 17.06 indoors (Marita Walton in 1982).

Discus - Qualifying Standard - 61.00

Irish national record is 57.60 (Patricia Walsh in 1984).

Hammer - Qualifying Standard - 71.00

Eileen O’Keeffe’s NR of 73.21 from 2007 is the only Irish throw to meet the Olympic standard.

Javelin - Qualifying Standard - 62.00

Irish national record is 54.92 (Anita Fitzgibbon in 2013).

Heptathlon - Qualifying Standard - 6,200 pts

Irish national record is 5442 (Kelly Proper in 2013).

20km Race Walk - Qualifying Standard - 1:35.00

We have 4 athletes under 1:35 for 20km walk.

----

For women:

9 of the top 10 100 times have come since 2000 (the exception is Michele Walsh’s 11.43 NJR from 1978).
8 of the top 10 200m times have come since 2000 - the exceptions being Michele Walsh’s 22.51 in 1978 and the 23.65 by Pauline Millins in 1982, tied with Sarah Lavin in 10th).
6 of the top 10 400m times have come since 2000.
6 of the top 10 800 times have come since 2000.
5 of the top 10 1500m times have come since 2000.
8 of the top 10 5k times have come since 2000.
7 of the top 10 10k times have come since 2000.
6 of the top 10 marathon times have come since 2000 (but two of the top 5 are from the 80s when I would have thought much fewer women competed).

Postscript:

Sonia O’Sullivan dominates the women’s all-time lists, holding the NR at every distance from 1500m to 10,000m and only lost the 800m record in 2013. There’s no point comparing her to anyone else. However, unlike men’s distance running from 3k s/c - 10k, we have a number of athletes who - if fit - are more than capable of achieving the standards for Rio.

Ososlo

Sacksian wrote: »

Here are the women’s equivalents. As ever, E&OE!

Shot Putt - Qualifying Standard - 17.80

Irish national record is 17.06 indoors (Marita Walton in 1982).

God, I haven't heard that name in quite a few years! She was my PE teacher! If only I'd cared back then about sports I might have been inspired!

Great work Sacksian on the two posts!

Sacksian

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Great post. Look forward to reading the female equivalent. It serves as a good reminder that just qualifying for the Olympics is a significant achievement.

For sure. And this is probably a discussion for another thread, but I think it also shows how strong some of the historical performances were for distance running. Which I think raises (again!) the question in the case of certain events as to why the best performances of all-time in many events have not been improved upon in the last 30 years.

I was interested in the steeple and marathon particularly, but looking down the lists in the field events (throws and jumps) is a bit sobering.

The triple jump has John Bresnihan from 1906 at no.6 in the all-time list, as well as Daniel Shanahan (no.9) and P.D. Looney (no.13) from 1888 . I don't know enough about the event to know if these are typos or not!

Chivito550

Great stuff. Just a minor correction of phrasing. The times quoted above are PBs. Joanne Cuddihy achieved her PB in 2007, but the current Olympic standard has been achieved by her many times since, as recently as 2012. So 2007 was not the most recent time this was achieved. The all time Irish lists where you would have gathered the info only says when each athlete ran their PB.

Minor detail though. Good work.

Sacksian

Chivito550 wrote: »

Great stuff. Just a minor correction of phrasing. The times quoted above are PBs. Joanne Cuddihy achieved her PB in 2007, but the current Olympic standard has been achieved by her many times since, as recently as 2012. So 2007 was not the most recent time this was achieved. The all time Irish lists where you would have gathered the info only says when each athlete ran their PB.

Minor detail though. Good work.

Sure, I've generally expressed it as "athletes with pbs inside the standard" for that reason and, you're right, they're not their most recent times inside the standard - apologies if that wasn't clear - I'd imagine I've slipped up in the phrasing a few times above!

If you went with all the times ever achieved inside the standard, it would be a lot more work, although it would probably be a better illustration of the historical strength of men's distance running.

Chivito550

Sacksian wrote: »

Sure, I've generally expressed it as "athletes with pbs inside the standard" for that reason and, you're right, they're not their most recent times inside the standard - apologies if that wasn't clear - I'd imagine I've slipped up in the phrasing a few times above!

If you went with all the times ever achieved inside the standard, it would be a lot more work, although it would probably be a better illustration of the historical strength of men's distance running.

God no, no need for that. The analysis you've done is more than enough.

Dan man

Great work Sacksian, thanks for all the effort, it was a pleasure to read.
Love this sort of analytic detail, hope we can see more of it as we look forward to Rio 2016.

Chivito550

Dan man wrote: »

Great work Sacksian, thanks for all the effort, it was a pleasure to read.
Love this sort of analytic detail, hope we can see more of it as we look forward to Rio 2016.

Dan, will you be doing the same thing on the Sports forum for Rio like you did for London? The 2012 stuff was quite epic.

Dan man

Chivito550 wrote: »

Dan, will you be doing the same thing on the Sports forum for Rio like you did for London? The 2012 stuff was quite epic.

Hopefully, plenty of things to chew on this year with so many qualification events coming up.

YFlyer

Dodge wrote: »

The Irish all time list is here
http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/toplist.php?list=topirlallt&Ind=0

Male 2014 top 20 performances here

http://hp.athleticsireland.ie/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=247

pconn062

Only seeing these now, great work Sacksian. I'm amazed by some of the field event records, the men's pole vault 5.36 and 2nd is 5.02? :eek: And the 3rd best ever mens javelin is 72 meters? I know we have zero history in field events but those figures are amazing.

Clearlier

pconn062 wrote: »

Only seeing these now, great work Sacksian. I'm amazed by some of the field event records, the men's pole vault 5.36 and 2nd is 5.02? :eek: And the 3rd best ever mens javelin is 72 meters? I know we have zero history in field events but those figures are amazing.

I had a French penpal whom I spent 6 weeks with in Transition year. The school that he went to was big into the pole vault and I got really into it during the time that I was there. When I came back I asked about keeping it up but nobody I asked knew where to send me. IIRC at the East Leinster's only one school (CUS) actually took part in the pole vault. Looking back I should have asked the CUS guys but I was incredibly shy then.

The pole vault as with most field event is pretty technical and requires a certain level of technical expertise to coach. I don't think that we have very much of that in Ireland.

RayCun

For the last year or so, there has been a regular pole vault training group in Santry. An inter-club initiative, backed by the Dublin Athletic Board

Clearlier

RayCun wrote: »

For the last year or so, there has been a regular pole vault training group in Santry. An inter-club initiative, backed by the Dublin Athletic Board

That's a great idea Ray (albeit 20+ yrs too late for me ). Obviously the Pole Vault has a particular challenge when it comes to equipment that makes this kind of group invaluable but are there similar groups for other field events?

Chivito550

Clearlier wrote: »

I had a French penpal whom I spent 6 weeks with in Transition year. The school that he went to was big into the pole vault and I got really into it during the time that I was there. When I came back I asked about keeping it up but nobody I asked knew where to send me. IIRC at the East Leinster's only one school (CUS) actually took part in the pole vault. Looking back I should have asked the CUS guys but I was incredibly shy then.

The pole vault as with most field event is pretty technical and requires a certain level of technical expertise to coach. I don't think that we have very much of that in Ireland.

The field events are EASILY the most fun events in this sport. Hands down. Far more craic than 20 mile long runs, or split 400s on the track. If I was any good at them I would focus on them, but alas I'm not.

I don't think Ireland is a great place for somebody like me to take up field events at adulthood. The track is enough of a battle as it is, but finding somebody to coach an adult beginner in field events I'd say is extremely difficult. A pity this country has such an apathetic attitude to field events.

RayCun

Clearlier wrote: »

That's a great idea Ray (albeit 20+ yrs too late for me ). Obviously the Pole Vault has a particular challenge when it comes to equipment that makes this kind of group invaluable but are there similar groups for other field events?

No, but PV is exceptional.
I would guess that field eventers usually gravitate towards a few coaches, in the same way that there are a few sprint coaches and distance coaches working outside the club structure... but apart from Bart Rogers for javelin? I don't know who those coaches would be

Sacksian

RayCun wrote: »

For the last year or so, there has been a regular pole vault training group in Santry. An inter-club initiative, backed by the Dublin Athletic Board

Ray, do you know anything about the jumps? The triple jump was the one that stood out to me - we've two jumps over 100 years old inside the men's all time top 10 (same with the long jump, actually). And I wouldn't have thought it would have the same barriers to participation as the pole vault?

I tried to find out more about Peter O'Connor's 7.61 in the long jump from 1906, which led me to his wikipedia page, which had this description of the jump:

It caused a sensation at the time, being only a fraction short of the 25ft barrier, and remained unbeaten for 20 years, a longevity surpassed only by Jesse Owens's 25-year record and Bob Beamon's 23-year record. It remained an Irish record for a remarkable 89 years.

Seems a shame that we had such a tradition and it's dropped somewhat.

Any idea about coaching groups for jumps?

RayCun

Sacksian wrote: »

Ray, do you know anything about the jumps?

zilch nothing nada

Santry is the only place in Dublin where you can practice pole vault (Tallaght is upgrading this year), and with so few practitioners and coaches a shared group made sense. From what I hear, there are some good performances coming out of that group but I don't know the details.

YFlyer

pconn062 wrote: »

Only seeing these now, great work Sacksian. I'm amazed by some of the field event records, the men's pole vault 5.36 and 2nd is 5.02? :eek: And the 3rd best ever mens javelin is 72 meters? I know we have zero history in field events but those figures are amazing.

Pat O'Callaghan won Gold in the hammer in 1928 and 1936.

Chivito550

YFlyer wrote: »

Pat O'Callaghan won Gold in the hammer in 1928 and 1936.

We also had a lad (name escapes me) who came 4th in triple jump in 1932. John Lawlor 4th in hammer in 1960. Nick Sweeney 6th in discus at Worlds in 1993, 4th in Euros 1994. Terry McHugh 10th in jav at 1993 Worlds. Brendan Reilly 8th at worlds high jump 1999, and Deirdre Ryan 6th at high jump worlds 2011.

But let's not kid ourselves. Highlights are few and far between.

Dodge

Chivito550 wrote: »

We also had a lad (name escapes me) who came 4th in triple jump in 1932.

Eamon Fitzgerald.


[off topic]
List of all Irish 4th placers in the Olympics
https://statsthatarepointless.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/the-worst-finish-possible/