Athletics 2024 (Mod note #869)

https://x.com/acunnane10/status/1799184076189897214

I had to root around to see the race and found it eventually several hours after it had taken place. It should have been on RTE. When I turned on RTE 2 expecting to see it all I saw was rugby. Ridiculous!

A lot of people complaining about RTE. I watched it on the RTE Player, the stream was fine , not a bother, the coverage and commentary was good imho.

Yeah I think thats a bit overegged myself….plus, it was a stellar commentary. The whingeing about RTE is taking away from the positivity of the win itself.

Who was the commentator?

I liked their passion and knowledge.

I think there was always a good chance of this group medalling though and it should have been on a main channel. How many people are actually going to go looking for it?

Maybe it's because it is so rare, but there's nothing that beats an Irish track athlete winning a gold medal for excitement and hairs standing up on neck. It's just a different gravy altogether, coming from someone who wouldn't normally watch athletics.

Sarah Lavin wins her 100mH semi final in impressive fashion : could she medal in the final? It looks very much on.

Yes there was, it was live on the Player.

I've been watching it for 2 days straight (apple tv app) and not a blip.

Sarah Lavin racing in 20 minutes

Wasn't able to replicate the start he had the first time. Understandable considering the shItshow his heat turned into .

Did Lavin clatter the 2nd hurdle? Seemed she might have on replay, she was miles back quite early on.

unfortunate

Unfortunately, that was a red hot final and she would have needed a PB and two of the others to run below par to get even near the podium.

I’d cut Olutunde some slack. He just finished a computer science degree a couple of months ago. As somebody from the same background, it’s a tough slog and definitely impacts other aspects of your life. Now that he has more free time, he can devote himself more to training and recovery.

Having said that, he does need to move abroad to make meaningful improvements. A lot of the British sprinters train with an Italian group these days. It seems to be working for them. Daryl Neita and Jeremiah Azu are doing well there. Amy Hunt also seems to be making solid progress. That setup could be an option for him. Right now, I don’t think any of the top US training groups will be interested in a 10.3x guy.

Gutted for Sarah Lavin. I thought this was her night, but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately, her ceiling is probably 12.5x or at a stretch, a high 12.4x. Whilst an insanely high level, it probably means she’ll top out in the Olympic semi finals. I hope I’m wrong. I’d love to see her make the final in Paris.

On a positive note, tomorrow evening should be good. Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy both in the women’s 1500m final. I’m also very excited about the women’s 400m semi finals. Rhasidat Adeleke has a very manageable semi. She’s by far the class of the field. Sharlene Mawdsley has a fairly tough draw, up against Klaver. Will be interesting to see them go head-to-head. Unfortunately, Sophie Becker has the toughest of all three semis. She lines up against Natalia Kaczmarek, who I feel is the greatest threat to Adeleke’s gold medal aspirations.

Chris O’Donnell is also up tomorrow evening. His semi is ok-ish. If he could run another SB or get close to his PB, he has an outside shot of sneaking into the final.

I was watching it live on the Player, not sure if its on a replay. Its seems people have difficulty with the player but I've found it amazing this week, not a single pause, last night for 4 hours I didn't see a single advertisement.

I agree with Hamachi about his just finishing a degree and how it impacts preparation, the commentators highlighted that on the coverage Friday night, the young fella is impressive and has massive potential.

Siting here in my running gear waiting for to go out for a run watching the woman's half, fantastic coverage.

I do like her more and more as a commentator.

https://x.com/RTEsport/status/1799545394776424657?t=mU45Rhe8ZBR1lAapzKIycw&s=19

Fair enough comment I think.

Crazy that they can't get more than a handful of fans into the stadium for these events.

Agree on both points. I’m going to stick my neck out and say that I think Reekie will win the gold medal unless Mageean burns her off in a long run for home. If she leaves it to the last 200, Reekie will win.

Kaczmarek is a class act. You don’t get to be world silver medalist without immense ability. She’s also a much more intelligent racer than Klaver. She’ll be hard to beat for sure.

Nice to see Tom Barr qualify fastest in the heats this morning. He started very slowly and clearly has more in the tank. He need to go well under 49 to make the final. Congrats to Nicola Tuthill too. Great to start seeing some Irish breaking through in the field events.