Boy, do I ever hate doing these kinds of blog posts!
You know, the kind when there's so little to report, it doesn't seem worth the time or trouble.
And when even that minimal amount of "noteworthy" marks just aren't that noteworthy.
But the European Championships of 2014 was a major meet, and thus deserves a post, however brief it might be.
So, on with it!
The one WR came in the Men's 50000 meters Walk.
Yohann Dinez walked an astounding time of 3:32:33 to shatter the WR by 1 minute and 41 seconds!
It's also, obviously, an EC Meet Record, as well as the National Record of France.
Another long distance Meet Record was set by Cristelle Daunay of France.
She won a great Marathon battle with Valeria Straneo of Italy.
Her time of 2:25:14 is the new MR.
Anna Wlodarczyk of Poland threw the Hammer 258-5 for the Meet Record.
It's also a new National Record, breaking her own.
She missed the Age 29 record by just 4 inches!!
But she moves from 4th A-T World up into 2nd!
Dafne Schippers is an up-and-coming Heptathlete, but here, she showed even more prowess as a sprinter!
Her winning 200 mark of 22.03 was a PR by 0.31 seconds!!
It's a new Netherlands National Record.
And it misses my Top 24 Performers list by just 0.03 seconds!!
Schippers also won the 100, but didn't break any records.
One who did---a boatload of them!!---was the previously unknown Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland!
In the 100, she set 2 National Records--11.32 in her heat, and 11.20 in the final.
She PR'ed twice in the 200 as well.
First to 23.02, then in the final, she ran 22.83.
Another National Record!
Sandra Perkovic was born 20+ years too late!!
Or maybe I should say her birthdate was perfect!!
Her winning Discus toss of 233-2 is the best mark in the World since 1992!!
She was just 2 years old then!
It's the new National Record of Croatia, breaking her own mark.
And it moves her from 20th A-T World up to 18th.
Ruth Beitia won a good Women's HJ with a jump of 6-7.
This is the new Age 35 record.
BTW, the Women's HJ was far better than the more-anticipated Men's version.
Yet another expectation of multiple 2.40 leaps for the men fell into the junk pile of failure!
There were 4 other National Records at the EC's.
Switzerland's Men's 4X100 Relay team ran 38.54.
They missed getting on my Top 24 Nations list by just 0.02 seconds!
Great Britain's Women's 4X100 Relay team broke their National Record by 0.19 seconds with their 42.24 winning time.
This moves them from Nation number 14 to 10th position!
Balazs Baji ran the 110H in 13.29 for the National Record of Hungary.
And Tatjana Jelaca threw the Javelin 210-8 for the National Record of Serbia.
Not in the European Championships, but Hua Koffi sprinted a 10.05 100 and a 200 in 20.25.
Both of these are National Records of Ivory Coast!
(These happened in the African Championships!)
Out of curiosity, I looked back at the Commonwealth Games Meet Records, to compare them to the just completed Euro's.
For the men, the Commonwealth Games produced 4 Meet Records.
The Euro's?
ZERO!!
(I didn't count the WR---and MR---in the 50K Walk, as the CG's didn't have the Walks this year.)
For the women, the score was 6 to 2, CG's over the EC's in the MR department.
This was caused by 2 reasons, IMHO.
1. Commonwealth athletes are better than European athletes.
2. Several records that should have been broken, weren't!
Of course, the latter reason also served for the CG's!
The next post will cover the next DL, in Stockholm, coming up in 4 days.
I checked the entry lists for Stockholm (as of today), but Mary Cain is NOT listed for the Women's 1500.
She'd said she would be running there (in her WJC interview), so this could mean her season is finished!!
See you all then!
Thank you, as always, for the report. I hope it's not true that Mary Cain's season is over. If so, it hasn't been much of a season compared to last year. In 2013, she ran frequently, over a long stretch of time, set PR's in practically every meet, set lots of records, and topped it off with a great performance at Worlds. This year she's competed rarely, set no records, set no PRs at her best distances of 800/1500/mile, but did have a nice win at world juniors in the 3K. That was a PR, but only because she hadn't really given the distance a good effort previously.
ReplyDeleteI hope there are good reasons for her virtual disappearance this year. All too often, when an athlete reaches an elite level, they basically stop competing. No top athlete in any other sport does this! Yet it's common in track and field. And, in my unofficial observation, this practice of sparse competition does not positively serve the athlete's performances. They tend to go downhill, having abandoned the pattern that got them to the top in the first place!
Well, I'm still hopeful we'll see great things from Mary for many years to come. And I hope we still see more of her this season. But I'm not greatly encouraged by what we've seen from her so far this year.
Yeah, it's strange about Cain.
ReplyDeleteBoth Mary herself and Salazar said she'd be running twice in Europe before she started school.
They both mentioned the 1500 in Stockholm.
Apparently, at least based on current entry list, she's NOT entered!
So either she'll be a late entry, or she's done.
One thing that's strange is that, in the past, Salazar would announce her health or other status vis a vis her future schedule.
This time, nothing!
I've checked Twitter, MileSplit, T&FN, but no announcements!
And I doubt it's her schooling.
When she said she'd be running in Europe, she specifically mentioned she'd be missing the first 2 weeks of school.
So maybe she just decided she didn't want to miss that school time.
But even so, some announcement to that effect should've been given.......or will be....soon!
To Marco & anyone else reading this: No blog about Stockholm! There were NO records broken of any kind---WR, AR, NR, MR, or Age Records! And NO marks that made my Top 24's (US or World), nor move an athlete up on those lists!!
ReplyDeleteProbably the WORST DL meet this year....at least regarding my blog's criteria (records & marks).
But I WILL have a post up after Birmingham.....and possibly TWO!
Birmingham is having a Men's and Women's 2 Mile, which is my favorite distance!
So I'm planning an "extra" post centered solely on the 2 Mile!
Watch for it!
Yeah, I did check to see if you had a blog post about Stockholm, but it was hardly worth being considered "Diamond League". I enjoyed Jenny Simpson's win, but considering the fact that she's in great shape this year, it was a disappointing time. I hope she takes the opportunity to give a real shot at Mary Decker's AR before the season is out. (I always still think of her as "Mary Decker" -- she's had so many married names I tend to lose track of them.)
ReplyDeleteA very down year altogether, with only a few redeeming highlights. BTW, what happened to Brianna Rollins? Injured? I must have missed the news about her, but she's been MIA in the meets I've checked. I hope this isn't another case like Aries Merritt, who has basically disappeared after an incredible 2012.