2021 European Indoor Track & Field Championships

sprintstar

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when you think of Del Ponte's time in the 60m, she was just over 1 stride length from going sub 7 seconds....food for thought.
 

jacknyc

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What's interesting to me, is that Del Ponte and Femke Bol have the same coach, Laurent Meuwly of Switzerland.
He also coaches all the Dutch 400m runners. The Dutch men and women both won the gold medals in the 4x400 meter relays.
They also took the silver and bronze in the men's 400m. So this coach is having an incredible positive effect on all the runners that he is working with.
I just wish Dafne Schippers would join his training group before she's too old.
Schippers best in the 60m is 7.00. Unhearlded Del Ponte is right behind her now, with her 7.03 win.
 

white lightning

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What's interesting to me, is that Del Ponte and Femke Bol have the same coach, Laurent Meuwly of Switzerland.
He also coaches all the Dutch 400m runners. The Dutch men and women both won the gold medals in the 4x400 meter relays.
They also took the silver and bronze in the men's 400m. So this coach is having an incredible positive effect on all the runners that he is working with.
I just wish Dafne Schippers would join his training group before she's too old.
Schippers best in the 60m is 7.00. Unhearlded Del Ponte is right behind her now, with her 7.03 win.

Laurent Meuwly is an amazing coach. So talented. Just imagine if more of our guys and girls had the right coaching. Even someone like Christohpe Lemaitre who after his first year or two went
downhill and never switched to a new coach. When things aren't working you have to switch things up. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over & over and expect a different result!

Del Ponte should be able to go sub 11 this summer in my honest opinion. I see no reason that she can't easily acheive this. I wish Swoboda was in the final as we might have seen them both push each
other to new personal bests and quite possibly they might both have gone sub 7 seconds in the 60 meters! The world record of 6.92 is sitll held by the Russian Legend Irina Privalova from many decades ago! :)
 
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jacknyc

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It would have been great to have Swoboda in the race.
I don't think she would have won, but she might have pushed Del Ponte to sub 7.00.
Odds are very strong that Swoboda would have taken the silver, and then the Finn would have gotten the bronze.
Swoboda didn't race because she tested postive for corona virus.
A positive corona virus test also prevented Poland from competing in the men's 4x400.
They were good for a medal there, almost certainly.
So that was 2 medals Poland lost unnecessarily, which would have brought their medal tally to 12.
As it was they had 10 medals to finish 2nd to Britain.
 

white lightning

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Even after all of these decades, Russian Irina Privalova still holds the World Womens 60 Meters World Record. What a legend she was and still is! :)

 

mastermulti

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just out of interest looking at a Del Ponte win last year - note the athletes' speeds are noted in 10 metre increments in the replay from 3.15 on.
I hadn't ever noticed that before .... so the best hit 37.xx kph
 

jacknyc

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Two new rising stars in the 800m - 19yr old Keely Hodgkinson of Britain and Patryk Dobek, a former 400m hurdler, of Poland.

A little further info about these two.
Keely just turned 19 yrs old, 3 days before her victory! Basically a sophomore in college. It was her first senior championships and she won! A bright future ahead for her. It seems Britain has an endless supply of middle distance talent.

Meanwhile, Patryk Dobek, is a really incredible story. He just started running the 800m in February!! February 12th to be exact. He's only run 3 finals since then, and won them all, including the European Championships!! That is incredible! Can't wait to see what he does this summer.
FYI, Poland finished 1st, 2nd, and 4th in the men's 800m.
I have been impressed with the Polish athletes. They seem to really come through in the big races.
 

jacknyc

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. . . Meanwhile, Patryk Dobek, is a really incredible story. He just started running the 800m in February!! February 12th to be exact. He's only run 3 finals since then, and won them all, including the European Championships!! That is incredible! Can't wait to see what he does this summer.

More on Dobek from Letsrun.com
"The Most Remarkable Story From Europeans – Patryk Dobek Moves Up To The 800
One of the constant obsessions during the 20+ years of LetsRun.com’s existence has been fans wondering, “How fast could sprinters be at 800 if they move up?” as shown here and here.

Well at the European Indoor Championships, something remarkable happened. Poland’s Patryk Dobek — the former 400 hurdler who as of one month ago had never run an 800-meter race in his life — ran the 800 and did quite well. In case you haven’t seen the results, I don’t want to ruin it for you. Just watch the video below.


One thing I’m wondering: is Dobek the first guy in world history to run 1:46 in the third 800 competition of his life?

Update: We have learned that Dobek has actually raced one 800 prior to this season as a kid. According to this Polish database, he ran 2:08 at age 15 in 2009."
 

white is right

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More on Dobek from Letsrun.com
"The Most Remarkable Story From Europeans – Patryk Dobek Moves Up To The 800
One of the constant obsessions during the 20+ years of LetsRun.com’s existence has been fans wondering, “How fast could sprinters be at 800 if they move up?” as shown here and here.

Well at the European Indoor Championships, something remarkable happened. Poland’s Patryk Dobek — the former 400 hurdler who as of one month ago had never run an 800-meter race in his life — ran the 800 and did quite well. In case you haven’t seen the results, I don’t want to ruin it for you. Just watch the video below.


One thing I’m wondering: is Dobek the first guy in world history to run 1:46 in the third 800 competition of his life?

Update: We have learned that Dobek has actually raced one 800 prior to this season as a kid. According to this Polish database, he ran 2:08 at age 15 in 2009."
Jeremy Wariner had this thrown out when he was a shade past his peak, he never took the bait and ran real 800 meter races until he was obviously shot and too faded to become world class at this distance.

I remember seeing a SI cover on a 600 meter specialist who was world class indoors (I forget his name he was a Black American) but was more of national class 400 meter runner and one at the 800 meter level.

This is rare but not totally unprecedented.
 
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