Elite Athletics Thread

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fuzzyduck79 Apr 2021 6:51pm, 9 Apr 2021 157 posts	0 fuzzyduck79 I'm not really on Purdue's side with any of this now. Seen the "but she ran 83 miles last week" touted as some sort of mic drop, yet she has stated in interviews before that 120 would be her norm when training for a marathon. So she would need to add half again pretty much. Six weeks to get up to that? At a push, if you're protecting an injury from flaring up again. Pulled out of World Half Marathon Champs, unable to compete at the trials. Not likely to do much even if she was given a place, and could well fail to make start line, or DNF. Looks like she just feels like Olympic selection is some sort of right because she ran some marginally quicker times once. I've also just realised that Purdue wore Next% for her races, Twell has raced in New Balance (Fuel Cell probably? Not as good in my view. Hawkins wears them, they aren't a bad shoe from what I can tell, not aware of any WRs falling in them) So I'd be willing to bet Twell would beat her in Next%
Cheg Apr 2021 7:05pm, 9 Apr 2021 2,809 posts	0 Cheg Nice Fuzzy. I am late to the party on this and not fully read up. I do understand that Olympic participation is a dream but that’s all it is. No medal or sharp end prospects. None of the competitors have solid arguments for being there. It’s a very individual sport thing appealing I don’t think team sports appeal not making the World Cup squad. I was listening to a podcast the other day and Dion Dublin said he won the Golden Boot in a World Cup year and wasn’t selected. I do remember the 800m selection argument in 2012 was pretty spicy.
SPR Apr 2021 7:28pm, 9 Apr 2021 33,877 posts	0 SPR Fuzzy - Athletes are entitled to the decisions made about them to be based on correct information. Decisions can then be debated but the information to make that decision should be correct. Athletes rarely have ideal cycles and 83 miles is still a lot. Again decision can be justified but That's what the article says. The Next argument doesn't really cut it as Twell will be racing in NB and there won't. Cheg - No reason why each sport should be treated the same. Athletics is an individual sport and it's good that the whims of selectors can be questioned. In a team sport whims still happen but unfortunately for the individual, they have to fit in with the manager's plan for the team In 2012 it was the selection of one athlete with a B standard rather than 3 with the A that was controversial. Meadows was struggling with injury. Okoro was definitely a stronger on a one to one basis but was punished (or rewarded Sharp) for the trials run. She might have been better off not running when you think about it as before the weekend she was a shoo in. I was at the trials to witness itand it was madness. Wasn't the first time she'd done it so can understand it a bit but she was still the better bet to make the final that year.
SPR Apr 2021 7:34pm, 9 Apr 2021 33,878 posts	0 SPR A relay would be the one where there's no real chance of appeal in athletics and there's been fast runners left out before as it's about the team flow.
larkim Apr 2021 8:08pm, 9 Apr 2021 13,963 posts	0 larkim I think there's only one side of the story there. Purdue will no doubt be reporting some facts and omitting others that the panel took into account. Appeals conducted in the press are not the way to do it. Good luck to her in the legal routes she does deploy, but in the end 3 people into 2 places doesn't work and one of her, Piasecki and Twell was always going to have a good argument that they'd been unfairly omitted.
SPR Apr 2021 8:17pm, 9 Apr 2021 33,879 posts	0 SPR I think it's fair enough for her to call out dodgy facts in public and TBF she's the most experienced marathoner of the three so with fitness she's probably top pick. I said at the time though that they're close enough on time that fitness arguments would be hard to overturn. Trust me isn't a great argument when there's not necessarily a massive upside to picking you over the others.
fuzzyduck79 Apr 2021 8:18pm, 9 Apr 2021 158 posts	0 fuzzyduck79 Think I’d be a little wary that we are only seeing one side of things because Purdue is the one making a noise. The panel might have a slightly different version of events, and they have no obligation to put that in the public domain. Purdue has since ditched Next% for the Adidas shoe worn by men’s HM record holder. But no races to assess how well she performs in it over the distance. The big points for me are she wasn’t fit to represent GB last October, wasn’t fit to fight for her place at the trials, and her previous times were not worthy of pre selection. Whether she was able to run for 30 mins or 75 mins last week (or whichever week they were meaning) seems barely relevant to me. If she was outstandingly the best female runner competing for a place (eg 2:18-2:20 marathon times) then it’s a different situation. But she isn’t.
fuzzyduck79 Apr 2021 8:20pm, 9 Apr 2021 159 posts	0 fuzzyduck79 Larkim, had Twell been omitted I think nobody was have raised an eyebrow as plan was that Twell was doing 10,000m anyway
Cheg Apr 2021 8:24pm, 9 Apr 2021 2,810 posts	0 Cheg We don’t have the depth of the US but isn’t their Olympic selection for athtletics based purely on the trial? It’s ‘fair’ but they’ve left some real quality at home before. I don’t know what they did if Michael Johnson had a tight hammy and missed the trials.
fuzzyduck79 Apr 2021 8:28pm, 9 Apr 2021 160 posts	0 fuzzyduck79 I believe some big names have missed out due to not being fit for US trials or having a stinker on the day. Their system is “fairer” from that angle (no opaque selection system) but you might end up not taking your best athletes

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