Elite Athletics Thread

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SPR
SPR
Jul 2024
3:04pm, 14 Jul 2024
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SPR
Femke Bol has improved her 400mH PB by half a second and become the second woman under 51 seconds. Definitely makes the 400mH at the Olympics very interesting now!

x.com
SPR
SPR
Jul 2024
3:22pm, 14 Jul 2024
45,209 posts
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SPR
Just reading some stuff about stride patterns and McLaughlin was the first athlete to use 14 steps at any point starting in 2021 and changes to 15 after 7 currently from what I read. Sounds like Bol has switched to the same pattern and is reaping the benefits.
larkim
larkim
Jul 2024
3:52pm, 14 Jul 2024
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larkim
Isn't the venue for that record Chaux Les Finds (sp?) where the altitude is a massive benefit? Borderline illegal for records, the place lots of British also-ran sprinters go to to set PBs etc.
SPR
SPR
Jul 2024
7:31pm, 14 Jul 2024
45,224 posts
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SPR
I missed the altitude initially. Letsrun says it's worth 0.23 so still a decent improvement if that's correct.
larkim
larkim
Jul 2024
8:27pm, 14 Jul 2024
25,113 posts
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larkim
Oh yes, still need to have form to run that quick. It's more the 100m/200m sprint times that have historically raised some eyebrows there I think.
larkim
larkim
Jul 2024
10:12am, 16 Jul 2024
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larkim
For "reasons" had a look at the way swimming selects its participants for the Olympics. Really quite different to athletics.

- Max number of swimmers overall identified for the "meet"
- Qualification thresholds set by reference to the 14th placed finisher in heats in previous Games
- Secondary thresholds +5% to achieve max number (as necessary)
- No gender balance in participants

I'm sure there are more differences etc.

Results in some events having lots of participants one Games cycle, and very few the next etc. E.g. Women's 100m Freestyle has I think only 16 participants this time vs 50+ last time because the heats in Tokyo were so fast that the quali bar has been raised.

Probably difficult to apply universally to athletics with "tactical" races in MD heats etc, but I wonder if any similar approaches are used behind the scenes to set WA quali standards etc.
SPR
SPR
Jul 2024
10:21am, 16 Jul 2024
45,233 posts
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SPR
The Olympic standards were set to have 50% via standards and 50% via qualifying (another reason why the UK selection policy is nonsense).

Max numbers are set by IOC for each sport AIUI. WA will then allocate numbers per event.
larkim
larkim
Jul 2024
10:29am, 16 Jul 2024
25,147 posts
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larkim
Yes, but to calculate those times they must have used some benchmarks from "somewhere". The 50:50 split is an aspiration / rule of thumb which will always be "wrong" by the time athletes have posted their times.

The difference on the numbers from the WA perspective is that they break it down so that each event has a quantity, in a way that swimming doesn't. I wonder if that "number of swimmers" calculation also then accommodates swimmers doubling up etc? I need to read some more!
SPR
SPR
Jul 2024
10:54am, 16 Jul 2024
45,234 posts
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SPR
Well although I don't know the details, we know they will know the times people ran in the previous qualifying period and up to the date they need to set the standards. The shoes had an effect they couldn't have predicted (not sure whether that's true for this time as well), it's certainly possible for the marathon depending on when standards were decided as it feels like the catch-up by other brands has been post the last Olympics.

WA allowed more athletes in the marathon (not sure if they did elsewhere as well) once doubles were accounted for.

TBH I don't see how swimming is better if results in significantly variable fields. Of course the previous standard only method in athletics could have resulted in events have more/ less athletes than expected. Rankings method should mean that doesn't happen unless the standard is significantly soft by that point.
SPR
SPR
Jul 2024
11:00am, 16 Jul 2024
45,235 posts
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SPR
This says the standards were approved in Nov 2022 so suggests about a two year window in normal circumstances after the previous Olympics to decide on standards.

olympics.com

About This Thread

Maintained by SPR
A thread to discuss any interesting stories or developments in elite athletics.

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