Athletics 2022

Delighted for Ajee Wilson to finally get a world title, especially after being shut off the pole position for years by intersex athletes. I had kinda wondered if she was past her best already, but this weeks suggests a different story. Looking forward to seeing her battling it out with Mu and Hodgkinson in the coming months. Lovey finish by Hailu to get the silver also.

Bit surprised that Jakob was beaten in the 1500 but nothing wrong with a silver medal. He looked a bit flummoxed when he had no one to chase, and when he hadn't dropped Tefera with 400m to go I knew it was all over.

Entertaining race as always in the men's 3000m, it's one of my favourite distances to watch. Third consecutive silver medal for Girma at a major championship, I'm sure he'll be winning gold some day.

Overall a pretty good weekend of athletics, Sarah Lavin making the final was definitely the highlight from an Irish perspective. Looking forward to the outdoor season now!

Diamond League kicks off in two minutes time! Tune in to BBC 2 from 5pm or watch the YouTube stream here. Startlists/schedules are here.

Think I'm looking forward to the women's 3000m the most, should be a great duel between Niyonsaba and Kipyegon. I wonder if a sub 8:20 could be on the cards?

Great day for Louise Shanahan, runs a sub 2 to take down Ciara Mageean's 800m Irish record!

Some delayed comments on the Doha action.

Not exactly thrilled to see Niyonsaba beat Kipyegon. Granted, it was Kipyegon's first race of the season and she was boxed in for a lot of the race. I think had she been able to start her kick around her usual 250m to go she'd have won. Whilst the question of whether Niyonsaba will be allowed to continue long term still looms large, I doubt she'll be banned between now and Eugene, so hopefully Kipyegon can figure out a way to beat her. I know it's a contentious issue, but I don't want Niyonsaba winning any more medals on the World/Olympic stage.

Also curious to see Girmawit Gebrzihair in the women's 3,000. Anyone remember when she raced as a '16 year old' back in 2018? 😅

Very interesting to see Alison Dos Santos get the win over Rai in the 400m hurdles. He's flown relatively under the radar given the other-worldly brilliance of Warholm and Rai, I wonder is he ready to pose even more of a threat this year?

Bit concerning to see Stewart McSweyn doing so poorly right now, he's really struggled since getting covid at the beginning of the year. He's one of my favourites and always makes a race interesting, so I do hope we see him back at his best soon. Great win for El Bakkali in the steeple too, although I could've sworn Girma got it. On to Birmingham on Saturday!

Birmingham DL getting underway now on BBC! Entry lists here. I'll be keeping an eye on Louise Shanahan in the women's 800m at roughly 3.50pm, would be nice to see if she can get close to sub 2 again!

On to this weekend, some good action coming up in Eugene, all startlists here. There's three world record attempts taking place, Francine Niyonsaba in the women's two mile while both Letesenbet Gidey and Joshua Cheptegei will be attacking their own 5,000m world records. The two mile record is the one I'd be most confident of going down, Meseret Defar's mark of 8:58.58 is what Niyonsaba will be aiming for. Sifan Hassan was originally supposed to be in the race too but pulled out unfortunately. The Friday night session will be in the middle of the night our time so not sure where it's being shown, but I'll throw up a link later if I come across one.

Meanwhile, Saturday's action will be shown live on BBC 3 from 9pm. For anyone who doesn't know BBC3 recently returned to Sky Ireland on channel 169. Unfortunately the weather isn't supposed to be great so we may not see many fast times, but some loaded fields in the men's 5,000m, women's 1500m and steeplechase should make for a great meet.

Some good stuff last night. Faith Kipyegon looking as amazing as ever, ran her second fastest 1500m of all time in 3:52.59. Really hoping she'll take a crack at the WR this year, she's definitely capable is everything goes right on the night. Muir had a terrible day, finishing 11th in 4:04, hoping it was a just a once off.

Keely Hodgkinson looked as great here as she did in Birmingham to reel off another Diamond League win. Looking forward to seeing her next matchup against Mu, which will likely be at Eugene again for Worlds in 7 weeks time.

I think Emma Coburn's best is unfortunately behind her, was a total non-factor in the steeplechase in 9:18. Olympic silver-medallist Courtney frerich wasn't a whole lot better, finished even further behind in 9:20.

Rabat Diamond league starting now, YouTube stream here https://youtu.be/uxJ3fVJjGzc

Also being shown on BBC three, sky channel 169

FBK Games in Hengelo will be one to watch tomorrow as the women's 10,000 is doubling as the Ethiopian world championships trials. An absolutely loaded field with Gidey, Ayana, Tsegay, Yehualaw and Taye all thrown in for good measure. A WR record may even be a possibility, and it'll all be streamed on YouTube from 2.45pm.

Late to comment on the Rome action, but Athing Mu looked phenomenal. Cool as a breeze on her way to an easy 1:57.01 win, honestly looks like she has a chance to take down the seemingly unbeatable WR.

Lamecha Girma went sub 8 in the steeplechase for the third time this year, all achieved in a ten day span! If he can shave another second or two off his time then I think he can challenge El Bakkali at Worlds.

Laura Muir still struggling to find her best form and so far yet to run sub 4 in the 1500m, although I think she picked up some injury recently? She's got about 5 weeks to get back in shape. Meshesha is looking like she could be a force in the 1500. Encouraging run from Mageean, best we've seen from her in a while.

Great duel in the men's 5k, Kimeli outkicks Krop to run 12:46.33 and move to #7 on the all time list.

On we go to Rome this Thursday!

Oops 🙈🙈🙈