Summer Olympic Sports in between Olympics thread.

[RussellEbertHandball]

With Marchand and McIntosh being all round swimmers who dominate the individual medleys and win events involving other strokes and so young, at 22 and 18 respectively, and to a lesser extent Kaylee McKeown, now that she can win titles at both Olympics and world Champs in 3 backstroke events, if all 3 stay in the sport until at least 2032, and not doing 3 relays like Phelps did, at the end of their careers they might have the most individual event titles at global level, especially if Ledecky retires at LA Olympics.

Because of the strength of US relay teams and relative weakness of their nations' relay teams they will never catch the total titles/golds won by Phelps and Ledecky.

There is no guarantee they will have 15+ year careers like Phelps and Ledecky, but if they do, they will challenge them.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Friday evening euro time.,

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Some big results in Belgium this morning including a couple of World Champs qualifiers making selection interesting.










From Track Athletes quick summary

PBs to:
Ben BUCKINGHAM 3000mSC 8:15.14 - Zooms him up the rankings - and auto qualifier is 8:15.00
Matthew CLARKE 3000mSC 8:16.57 - same for Matthew Clarke
Jackson SHARP 5000m 13:13.80
Toby GILLEN 5000m 13:16.71

Others:
Ella CONNOLLY 100m 11.39 6th
Bendere OBOYA 400m 52.03 3rd
Cooper SHERMAN 400m 45.51 4th
Tess KIRSOPP-COLE 800m 2:01.60 6th
Carley THOMAS 800m 2:02.20 7th
Ellie SANFORD 800m 2:02.51 9th
Maudie SKYRING 5000m 14:51.26 3rd
Michelle JENNEKE 100mH 12.91 1st (12.81 in heat)
Liz CLAY 100mH 13.12 9th
Celeste MUCCI 100mH 13.45 16th
Jacob MCCORRY 110mH 13.58 7th
Mitchell LIGHTFOOT 110mH 13.85 11th

 

[GC2015]

Nice to see Gout Gout at the Gabba yesterday. I guess he's a Brisbane Lions fan considering he was wearing their hat yesterday. When's his next race?

 

[AdelaideGT]

When's his next race?

Tokyo World Championships 200m heat (Sept 17) - unless he has a warm-up hit-out in Brissie before that.

 

[mighty_lions]

Nice to see Gout Gout at the Gabba yesterday. I guess he's a Brisbane Lions fan considering he was wearing their hat yesterday. When's his next race?

saw him outside the gates, he does some training at our facility in Springfield he lives in Ipswich

 

[GC2015]

saw him outside the gates, he does some training at our facility in Springfield he lives in Ipswich

Good stuff. Maybe the Lions can convince him to transition into footy after (he hopefully wins the gold at) the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.when he'll be the ripe old age of... 24 haha. Imagine watching Gout Gout exciting 60,000+ AFL fans every fortnight by running down the wing at the new Olympic stadium in Brisbane. Would be an unreal outcome for the AFL and footy in Queensland.

 

[AdelaideGT]

Maybe the Lions can convince him to transition into footy

Please NOOOOOOOOOOO....

The footy codes already steal too many Aussie kids who could be world-beaters in an Olympic sport..

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Gout ain't going to footy. He's done bugger all on the international stage and Adidas signed him for a $6m+ deal for 8 years to cover Brisbane Olympics, late last year.

Wait to when he does something like winning medals and big meets. There is no salary cap or ASA cap in athletics.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

TrackAthletes

Latest updates on Irish athletes, events, and more.

www.trackathletes.ie

Quick Updates​

11 Aug 10:15
Some Overnight results:
3 Aussies competing in Sweden, 3 podiums
Chris Mitrevski gets another win & has pushed up into ~33rd/36 qualifying quota place. Down to compete on Tuesday in Hungary.

Seth O'Donnell also had a big qualification advance - 2nd to another Almgren NR, in 7:34.03 (PB by 30 secs!), puts him very close to a qualifying QP for 5000m, which he is listed to run in Finland on Wednesday.

Claudia Hollingsworth had a good hit out over 1500m, finishing 2nd in a tactical race in 4:09.43 Off to Poland for DL 800m

In Germany Hochsprung
Yual Reath finished 6th with 2.15m after Eleanor Patterson finished 4th the day before with 1.96m
Some fast times in Sestriere:
100m heats Torrie Lewis 11.25 (+2.7), Bree Rizzo 11.45 (+2.7)
200m Kristie Edwards 22.79 (+2.8), Mia Gross 22.93 (+2.8)

 

[toxic]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I woke up and watched some of the meet on World Athletics website. Hanna England's call had to be the least inspiring I've ever heard of a WR. Unlike past WRs Mondo didn't clear it by a huge distance, in fact there was a lot of touching of the bar, but she was very flat calling the attempt.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Georgia Griffiths last 300m was some great front running. None of the major Africans were in the field but she flew home recorded a PB and another World Champs qualifier. On world rankings she is 17th in 2024-25 qualifying period and the 18th fastest individual in 2025.

Selection for the 800m and 1500m will be interesting as more than 3 in both events have run qualifiers. In 1500m Billings has already been selected and Jess Hull and Linden Hall have runner faster than Griffiths, Hall by less than a second and Billings has the slowest time of the 4.





Peyton Craig ran another qualifier and I think its his 3rd fastest time ever, in another very quick 800m won in a 1.42. He got boxed in a bit, so couldn't really push it to get a 4th or 5th type finish.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Looks like the US women will be the dominate part of the US team if Track and Field News predictions are accurate - 8 golds to them and 5 to the men. No Mix relay result is predicted, or not in the graphics Angus at athSTATS prepared.

In Paris it was 7 each for USA team, at the 2023 world champs in Budapest it was 6 for the men, 5 for the women and the mixed relay, and at the 2022 world champs in Oregon, it was 6 for the men, 7 for the women.


Nina Kennedy is selected by Oz Athletics and gets an automatic invite as defending world champion, but she hasn't competed since September last year when she jumped a 4.88 and won in Belgium. I don't know if she is fit enough to go to Tokyo or what she has done in training so she probably wont push for a medal, but Kurtis Marschall in the men's pole vault will.

If Liam Adcock jumps 8.34 like he did in Rome in June, (he jumped 8.33 at the Perth Track Classic in March), then he probably wins a medal. He and 3 others have jumped 8.34 and this is 3rd longest this year. Furlani has jumped 8.37 and Tentoglou 8.46.

Jemima Montag in the 20km walk is a big chance to medal. The mixed 4x400m team won silver earlier this year at the World Relays in Guangzhou. Peter Bol is an outside chance for bronze in the 800m but it will be a quick final. The men's 1500m should be quick, but if its not and its a tactical race, then Cam Meyers is also and outside shot for bronze. I think that is about it for Oz medal chances.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Michael Phelps has come out with a statement attacking US Swimming. You can read the full statement in the article linked below.

Phelps Pushes Back On USA Swimming, Releases Statement Despite Being Told To "Stay Quiet"

Michael Phelps has released a lengthy public statement criticizing USA Swimming's leadership, and is calling for major organizational changes.

swimswam.com

Twenty-three-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps has released a public statement criticizing USA Swimming’s leadership, and is calling for major organizational changes.

In his statement, Phelps argued that “poor leadership” and weak “operational controls” have created systemic problems over the past nine years. He revealed that he and other past Olympians had previously sent concerns to USA Swimming officials earlier this year, but received no meaningful response.

Phelps also addressed the culture of silence, saying he “was told to be grateful for the chance to compete and that it was more important to stay quiet and to keep the peace.” Now speaking out publicly, Phelps expressed doubts about whether he would want his own sons competing at elite levels given the sport’s current state.

The 40-year-old, who has been fully retired from competing for the past nine years, called for full transparency from the organization in its operations, streamlining athlete services, and a new approach to the grassroots level of the sport to rebuild what has been in decline in the last five years.

From his statement

There have always been cracks in the system but in the last nine years, I’ve seen those cracks grow. In 2016, I had the honor to be a part of a U.S. swim team in Rio that was arguably the most successful in the sport’s history and we won 57% of the medals we had the opportunity to win. Fast forward eight years to Paris, where Team USA won only 44% of the medals they had the opportunity to win in the pool, the lowest percentage the sport had seen since the 1988 Olympics.

 

[GC2015]

Michael Phelps has come out with a statement attacking US Swimming. You can read the full statement in the article linked below.

Phelps Pushes Back On USA Swimming, Releases Statement Despite Being Told To "Stay Quiet"

Michael Phelps has released a lengthy public statement criticizing USA Swimming's leadership, and is calling for major organizational changes.

swimswam.com

Twenty-three-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps has released a public statement criticizing USA Swimming’s leadership, and is calling for major organizational changes.

In his statement, Phelps argued that “poor leadership” and weak “operational controls” have created systemic problems over the past nine years. He revealed that he and other past Olympians had previously sent concerns to USA Swimming officials earlier this year, but received no meaningful response.

Phelps also addressed the culture of silence, saying he “was told to be grateful for the chance to compete and that it was more important to stay quiet and to keep the peace.” Now speaking out publicly, Phelps expressed doubts about whether he would want his own sons competing at elite levels given the sport’s current state.

The 40-year-old, who has been fully retired from competing for the past nine years, called for full transparency from the organization in its operations, streamlining athlete services, and a new approach to the grassroots level of the sport to rebuild what has been in decline in the last five years.

From his statement

There have always been cracks in the system but in the last nine years, I’ve seen those cracks grow. In 2016, I had the honor to be a part of a U.S. swim team in Rio that was arguably the most successful in the sport’s history and we won 57% of the medals we had the opportunity to win. Fast forward eight years to Paris, where Team USA won only 44% of the medals they had the opportunity to win in the pool, the lowest percentage the sport had seen since the 1988 Olympics.

It's always interesting to see how Americans react when other parts of the world catch up/go past to them. Of the 7 gold medals the US won in men's swimming at Rio 2016, Phelps was involved in 5 of them and of the 7 gold medals the US won in women's swimming in Rio 2016, Ledecky was involved in 4 of them.

My question would be - were the Americans actually that strong in Rio or were Phelps and Ledecky doing the vast majority of the heavy lifting to give the illusion of dominance? Seems like we're now seeing a true reflection of USA swimming because they don't have generational stars like Phelps and Ledecky to give the illusion of dominance.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

It's always interesting to see how Americans react when other parts of the world catch up/go past to them. Of the 7 gold medals the US won in men's swimming at Rio 2016, Phelps was involved in 5 of them and of the 7 gold medals the US won in women's swimming in Rio 2016, Ledecky was involved in 4 of them.

My question would be - were the Americans actually that strong in Rio or were Phelps and Ledecky doing the vast majority of the heavy lifting to give the illusion of dominance? Seems like we're now seeing a true reflection of USA swimming because they don't have generational stars like Phelps and Ledecky to give the illusion of dominance.

Phelps commented on medals, but also on the fact US Swimming hasn't had a CEO for 12 months and that sponsorship $$$ are down, which means funding for swimmers is down and funding programs leading up to LA haven't been completed.

The other big complaint is that US really show their depth in the relays and in particular the medley relays. The women won the medley relay in Paris but also in Singapore, 2023 and 2022 world champs.

The US men didn't win a relay gold in Singapore, didn't win a medal in the 4x200m which was a huge shock and didn't even win a medal in the Mixed medley relay which they won gold in Paris.

He and other critics have acknowledged that illness had some affect in Singapore, but they want changes so they can dominate in LA in 2028 like they did in 1984 - when Soviets and Eastern block boycotted (won 20 of 29 events but 21 golds inc a dead heat gold by 2 US swimmers) and in 1996 in Atlanta when they won 13 of 32 events, (Russia next on 4 Popov 2 and Pankratov 2) and won all 6 relays and they didn't have a Phelps or Ledecky dominating winning multiple individual events.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

USA relay victories at Olympics since 1996. Men's + Women's + Mixed when they started

List of gold medalist relay teams in swimming at the Olympics and World Aquatics Championships - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1996 3+3
2000 1+3
2004 2+1
2008 3+0
2012 2+2
2016 3+2
2020 2+0+0
2024 1+1+1

world champs
2022 2+2+1 (mixed medley)
2023 1+1+0
2025 0+1+0

I have ignored 2024 world champs in Doha in February as the best swimmers didn't go.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

TrackAthletes

Latest updates on Irish athletes, events, and more.

www.trackathletes.ie

Quick Updates​

21 Aug 12:35
Results from Internationales Abendsportfest (Pfungstadt, Germany)
Significant PBs confirming Pfungstadt's reputation

800m
Georgia GRIFFITH 1:59.22
Tess KIRSOPP-COLE 1:59.95 (1st time under 2 mins!)

1500m
Jack ANSTEY 3:34.23
Lauren RYAN 4:03.79 (4th PB from last 4 races)
Maudie SKYRING 4:04.51 (after five 4:07s over the last 18 months)

Other results
Abbey CALDWELL 800m 1:58.02
Carley THOMAS 800m 2:02.50
Oliver HOARE 1500m 3:36.45

Night before in Lausanne Diamond league meet. It was pissing down with rain for most of the meet. When people hit the long jump board a couple of litres or more of water would spill up and out on the runway and side of it.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

The World Canoeing - Sprint Championships were on between Wednesday and Sunday in Milan. Foxtel/Kayo had the finals sessions between Friday and Sunday. I watched a couple of sessions on replay and Saturday night live and those are the first 2 events I mentioned below.

There were 24 events + para canoe events but only 10 are Olympic events.

The IOC has stuffed things around the last few Olympics as they have chopped and changed to cut back events, to keep a lid on athlete numbers and also introduced women's events for gender parity. I think maximum held was 14 at one Olympics, but they got rid of men's K-2 1000m for men in Paris and it had been at the Olympics since 1936 and also scrapped the men's K4-1000m for Tokyo.

Now they have 5 men's and 5 women's events and 4 of them are the same event and the women do the K1-500m not the K-1 1000m like the men. Oz has never medalled in a Canoe event ie a C class event at Olympics or world champs, rarely make a final and because of surfing and surf ski background, its the Kayaks ie the K class that Oz does well in.

Oz won 3 silver medals in Milan in Olympic events.

Men's K-1 1000m, the blue riband event Thomas Green just got pipped for Gold, by 0.18 sec by 2020 Olympic gold medallist and multiple world champ in this event, Kopasz of Hungary. Green finally caught the Portuguese paddle who lead from the front, at about the 850m mark, but Kopasz got Green in the last 20m. Green won the last gold medal in the K-2 1000m event in Tokyo with Jean van der Westhuyzen. They then switched to the K-2 500m in Paris and won bronze in that.


20 year old Natalia Drobot won silver in the K-1 500m. She went out hard and lead by almost a boat length at the 250m mark, but was caught with 100m to go by a multiple world champion and Olympic medallist Poland's Pulawska by 0.6 seconds.

This is the event 8 time Olympic champion Kiwi Liz Carrington has won the last 2 Olympics and has several world titles in the event. Carrington is 36, wasn't going to race in Milan, but took the call to fill in with a new partner in the K-2 500m, an event she has also won at the last 2 Olympics. Carrington won gold in the K-1 200m three times before it was cut and in Paris won gold in the K-4 500m. You can throw in 15 world tittles across multiple classes to go with Carrington's 8 Olympic titles. The Kiwis gave her a knighthood in 2022.

Watch out for Drobot in LA and Brisbane as she has mainly been racing in U/23 competitions.













On Sunday, Natalia Drobot joined up with Kailey Harlen in the K-2 500m. They got to the front just before the 250m mark and the Polish crew which included Pulawska caught them with 50m to go and won by 0.6 of a second. Lisa Carrington and partner finished 4th, a fair effort for someone who said she wasn't going to the world champs, but was talked into it a couple of months ago.





Ashley Buck won the silver in the non Olympic event of the K-1 1000m, once again leading at one stage but run down by the Hungarian bronze medalist from Drobot's K-1 500m race.

A great effort by Ukrainian Canoeist Liudmyla to win 4 golds in the paddle events C-1 200m and 500m, and C-2 200m and 500m. What a physique she has and great effort when your country is at war and all the mental anguish that goes with that. Everyone at the world champs are fitting fit, but the male canoeists/paddlers have rock hard looking physiques. Their arms are the size of branches on 50m trees. The East Europeans dominate the paddling events and are also pretty strong in the kayak events.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Another PB for Linden Hall on Friday night in Brussels Diamond League. She sat right on the pace makers backside and the rest of the field fell 15-20m behind them for about 800m. American Nikki Hiltz finally caught her with 20m to go.

The 1500m selection will be interesting. Sarah Billings got Selected back in April because she compete at all the Oz events and ran qualifiers. Jessica Hull has be be selected given what she has done around the world and in Paris. There will be an up roar if she isn't selected. So its down to Hall, Griffith and Caldwell for the 3rd spot.

Current world rankings are; Hull 3rd, Griffith 12th, Hall 16th, Billings 21st, and Caldwell 34th.

If you look at the times run since 1st May in European season, as rankings are done over the calendar year, then Hall has to be selected. From the Seasons Top List, All Performances

https://worldathletics.org/records/toplists/middlelong/1500-metres/all/women/senior/2025?regionType=world&page=1&bestResultsOnly=false&maxResultsByCountry=all&eventId=10229513&ageCategory=senior

Rank	Mark	WIND	Competitor	DOB		Pos		Venue	Date	Results Score

4

3:52.67

Jessica HULL

22 OCT 1996

AUS

3

Hayward Field, Eugene, OR (USA)

05 JUL 2025

1265

10

3:55.64

Jessica HULL

22 OCT 1996

AUS

Olympic Stadium, London (GBR)

19 JUL 2025

1241

16	3:56.33		Linden HALL	20 JUN 1991	AUS	2		Boudewijnstadion, Bruxelles (BEL)	22 AUG 2025	1235
17	3:56.39		Linden HALL	20 JUN 1991	AUS	6		Stadion Śląski, Chorzów (POL)	16 AUG 2025	1235

25

3:57.63

Linden HALL

20 JUN 1991

AUS

4

Stade Charléty, Paris (FRA)

20 JUN 2025

1225

39

3:58.25

Georgia GRIFFITH

05 DEC 1996

AUS

1

Nemzeti Atlétikai Központ, Budapest (HUN)

12 AUG 2025

1220

41

3:58.36

Jessica HULL

22 OCT 1996

AUS

2

Franklin Field, Philadelphia, PA (USA)

31 MAY 2025

1219

45

3:58.70

Linden HALL

20 JUN 1991

AUS

2

Stadio Quercia, Rovereto (ITA)

02 JUN 2025

1216

54

3:59.24

Sarah BILLINGS

07 MAR 1998

AUS

2

Stadio Olimpico, Roma (ITA)

06 JUN 2025

1212

58

3:59.32

Abbey CALDWELL

03 JUL 2001

AUS

3

Stadio Olimpico, Roma (ITA)

06 JUN 2025

1211

88

4:00.80

Georgia GRIFFITH

05 DEC 1996

AUS

4

Sports Training Center, Nanjing (CHN) (i)

23 MAR 2025

1221

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

The Diamond League Final in Zurich is run on Wednesday 5 field events and Thursday night which means an unfriendly time zone start of 1.30am AEST Thursday and Friday mornings in Oz, but most of the big races on Friday are from 2.30am to 5.30am AEST.

 

[AdelaideGT]

Thursday and Friday mornings

Day One: Nicola Olyslagers & Eleanor Patterson (High Jump), Kurt Marschall (Pole Vault) & Liam Adcock (Long Jump)

Day Two: Sarah Billings (800m), Jess Hull & Linden Hall (1500m), Georgia Griffith (3000m), Matt Denny (Discus), Mackenzie Little (Javelin)

Live and free on DL YT page.