GB Athletics in optimism shocker!
August 24th 2007 02:20
Enough with the doom and gloom, enough with the pessimism. A little optimism please!
Ok, So Team GB isn’t going to be returning back to these shores in two weeks time heavily weighed down by metals of the gold, silver and bronze variety whatever the media might expect.
But it is important to remember that we aren’t going there to make up the numbers.
We DO have athletes that can make finals and dare I say it even snatch a cheeky medal!
Jessica Ennis has the best chance doing just that in the Heptathlon with her 3rd place on the world rankings and France’s Eunice Barber having to pull out with injury.
My guess is that Ennis will be the bridesmaid to the blushing Carolina Kluft.
In two years time however Ennis may well be the star attraction when the Swede concentrates on just the one event rather than the seven.
In the women’s 400m Christine Ohuruogu - fresh from her enforced 12 month rest - sped to UK leading time of 50.56 yesterday in a warm up race at the Osaka track indicating she is definitely not in Japan to make up the numbers.
That time would have placed her 5th in the final in Helsinki two years ago and in an open field she might well have just become an outside hope for a final place.
Yesterday’s time places her 9th amongst athletes attending the championships.
Goldie Sayers is another athlete with serious medal prospects, she’s ranked 4th in the Javelin and if she can produce another 65m plus throw I’m convinced she will medal.
Chris Tomlinson is ranked 7th amongst competing athletes going into the Long Jump event and looks well placed to at least secure a final birth if not be an outside chance for a medal.
However that is only if he can continue the form that has seen him set a new GB record of 8.29m this year.
Phillips Idowu will be hoping the back injury that has plagued him in recent weeks will have healed by the time the Triple Jump gets under way in the early part of next week.
Having secured the European indoor title in March and with Olympic champion Swede Christian Olsen out with injury the Londoner will be looking for a 17.60m jump to secure a medal, a target well within his reach after his 17.56m leap indoors.
Marlon Devonish seems to be filling his water bottle from the fountain of youth as of late and I can see him going all four rounds and reaching the final albeit as a probable bookend away from the white hot Powell/Gay rivalry.
His 10.06 PB looks set to be lowered even more on the rapid Osaka track.
Like Ohuruogu, Devonish is 9th fastest amongst those attending the championships.
As for the great white hope, Craig Pickering has more than enough about him to run 10.0X and make the semi-finals at least.
One for the future.
Those two plus Tyrone Edgar and Mark Lewis Francis will make up an extremely well drilled and hard to beat 4x100m quartet that look a fair bet to add the world title to their Olympic crown.
So there you have it.
I think 3 medals and 10 finalists would be a realistic benchmark for a successful championships for team GB.
Over to the guys in Osaka!
Ok, So Team GB isn’t going to be returning back to these shores in two weeks time heavily weighed down by metals of the gold, silver and bronze variety whatever the media might expect.
But it is important to remember that we aren’t going there to make up the numbers.
We DO have athletes that can make finals and dare I say it even snatch a cheeky medal!
Jessica Ennis has the best chance doing just that in the Heptathlon with her 3rd place on the world rankings and France’s Eunice Barber having to pull out with injury.
My guess is that Ennis will be the bridesmaid to the blushing Carolina Kluft.
In two years time however Ennis may well be the star attraction when the Swede concentrates on just the one event rather than the seven.
In the women’s 400m Christine Ohuruogu - fresh from her enforced 12 month rest - sped to UK leading time of 50.56 yesterday in a warm up race at the Osaka track indicating she is definitely not in Japan to make up the numbers.
That time would have placed her 5th in the final in Helsinki two years ago and in an open field she might well have just become an outside hope for a final place.
Yesterday’s time places her 9th amongst athletes attending the championships.
Goldie Sayers is another athlete with serious medal prospects, she’s ranked 4th in the Javelin and if she can produce another 65m plus throw I’m convinced she will medal.
Chris Tomlinson is ranked 7th amongst competing athletes going into the Long Jump event and looks well placed to at least secure a final birth if not be an outside chance for a medal.
However that is only if he can continue the form that has seen him set a new GB record of 8.29m this year.
Phillips Idowu will be hoping the back injury that has plagued him in recent weeks will have healed by the time the Triple Jump gets under way in the early part of next week.
Having secured the European indoor title in March and with Olympic champion Swede Christian Olsen out with injury the Londoner will be looking for a 17.60m jump to secure a medal, a target well within his reach after his 17.56m leap indoors.
His 10.06 PB looks set to be lowered even more on the rapid Osaka track.
Like Ohuruogu, Devonish is 9th fastest amongst those attending the championships.
As for the great white hope, Craig Pickering has more than enough about him to run 10.0X and make the semi-finals at least.
One for the future.
Those two plus Tyrone Edgar and Mark Lewis Francis will make up an extremely well drilled and hard to beat 4x100m quartet that look a fair bet to add the world title to their Olympic crown.
So there you have it.
I think 3 medals and 10 finalists would be a realistic benchmark for a successful championships for team GB.
Over to the guys in Osaka!
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