2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland

[white lightning]

It starts in around 12 hours guys. It is around a 13 hour difference for me so be ready to watch it live tonight depending on where you live. Almost every country in the world can watch it free at europeanathletics.org I can't wait as the 100 opening rounds and semis are both on the first day.


Here is the link guys.



http://www.european-athletics.org/

 

[white lightning]

Christophe is ready to defend his title starting tonight. I predict a time in the finals of around 9.94 or so.

http://www.european-athletics.org/e...pionships-2012/11198-christophe-lemaitre.html

 

[white lightning]

Go to the live link I posted at the start of this thread. It's starting right now. I'm excited!

 

[white lightning]

The women were flying in round one of the 100 meters. Ivet Lalova led them all with a scorching 11.06. My other two sprinters that I also love looked great too with Verena Sailer and O. Povh easily qualifying. We are about a half hour away from the opening rounds of the mens 100 meters. I think Rytis Sakalauskas might just p.b. in this meet while Lemaitre should easily run a new seasons best and hopefully defend his mens 100 meters gold medal from the last euro champs. Hoping Gemeli, Kilty and many others put up some really fast times.

 

[foobar75]

Go to the live link I posted at the start of this thread. It's starting right now. I'm excited!

WL, I cannot see any videos or streaming at the link. The website is not very intuitive, or I'm just not looking at the right place.

 

[white lightning]

Here is the link my friend.


http://eurovision.digotel.com/ea/index.html

 

[white lightning]

Christope Lemaitre easily won his heat running a 10.14 while jogging over the last 10 meters. He looks good so far! The semi finals will be later on today. That is when the times will really get fast. We need to see alot of the euro sprinters take it to the next level. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Tside]

Yes! I would love to see Christophe get the gold. He looks superb. This is why we need him running 100m in the Olympics!

 

[white lightning]

Records
ER: 9.86 OBIKWELU Francis (POR) Athína 22.08.2004
CR: 9.99 OBIKWELU Francis (POR) Göteborg 08.08.2006
printed Reports Help



100m Men Final
28.06.2012 19:45


startlist

Rank Athlete Nation Reaction time Result


COLLIO, Simone ITA

ARAJS, Ronalds LAT

SAIDY NDURE, Jaysuma NOR

SAKALAUSKAS, Rytis LTU

LEMAITRE, Christophe FRA

VICAUT, Jimmy FRA

AIKINES-ARYEETEY, Harry GBR

SMELYK, Serhiy UKR

 

[mastermulti]

Records
ER: 9.86 OBIKWELU Francis (POR) Athína 22.08.2004
CR: 9.99 OBIKWELU Francis (POR) Göteborg 08.08.2006
printed Reports Help



100m Men Final
28.06.2012 19:45


startlist

Rank Athlete Nation Reaction time Result


COLLIO, Simone ITA

ARAJS, Ronalds LAT

SAIDY NDURE, Jaysuma NOR

SAKALAUSKAS, Rytis LTU

LEMAITRE, Christophe FRA

VICAUT, Jimmy FRA

AIKINES-ARYEETEY, Harry GBR

SMELYK, Serhiy UKR

looking forward to this. Nice to see Sakalauskas' competitive foe/friend Arajs has surfaced at last this season.
Looking at the photo finishes of the 3 semis, the winning three guys looked to have things well under control. Hard to see anyone else getting a look in at the medals.
Aikines -Areetey is pretty fast for a body builder lol


Just to whet everyone's appetite here's a vid of Veronica Sailer from last champs. Can't believe the fight and courage she showed. A really great race!
Couldn't help but notice how genuinely well the girls all got on after the race. Genuine respect all round. (seems we blokes have too many testosterone issues to be this gracious lol).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO0N4sx1ZWc

 

[mastermulti]

Extraordinary...............

at the half way point of the decathlon did anyone else notice that Ukranain Kasyanov won each of the first four events and was only 2 points behind first in the fifth event, the 400m.

With a 10.57/100m and a 48/400m he looks to be pretty fast AND can throw and jump too.
It'd be good to see a score approaching 8,500 to give the Americans a little competition next month

 

[white lightning]

Kasyanov is a very gifted athlete. Similar to Trey Hardee and Clay. I hope he does challenge for a medal and maybe a few other european guys step up their game at the olympics.

I was happy to see Rytis look good in both heats but he took a really nasty fall. I hope he is ok. He was running at full speed and tripped shortly after crossing the finish line. It looked like one of his spikes got caught in the track and he did a belly flop on the track. He skidded a long ways. I really hope it doesn't effect his performance in the finals. I really want a new p.b. out of him but he will have to start better. Both of his starts were not good similar to Christophe.

Christophe has to run good tommorow. He needs a sub 10 for his confidence. His 100 & 200 times are just not up to par with his ability to sprint. He will win gold barring something crazy happening but I want a fast time.

I really wish Germany would have sent Christian Blum instead of Tobias Unger. In the semifinals, Unger didn't even show up. He is just getting too old similar to A. Kosenkow. I also wish Collio would have not barely beat out the other german Lucas. Oh well. Hoping some of our guys put on a show. We need some other guys to step it up besides just Christophe. He is my favorite sprinter but he can't do it all by himself. He needs some company in the major finals.

 

[Bk21]

the link given by WL has country restriction;

here's 4 links in one:

http://www.lshunter.tv/other-live-streaming-video.html

 

[white lightning]

What a great womens 100 finals. It was so close. The cold weather and negative wind may have ruined the times but not the excitment.

I'm very happy for Ivet Lalova. She finally got the gold medal she should have won years ago when she broke her leg warming up in the starting blocks. Lalova deserves this medal as much as anyone. Povh was so close but winning the silver is still nothing to be ashamed by. She is so explosive out of the blocks and Grincicate with the bronze for a rare sprints Lithuanin Medal.

 

[white lightning]

Christophe defends his gold medal in the 100 meters as the fastest man in Europe! He ran a time of 10.09 on a cold day with a wet track into a negative wind! I'm so happy for him as Jimmy Vicaut gave him one hell of a race. It was really weird that Rytis S. stayed in the starting blocks twice as if he never heard the gun. Strange race as Simone Collion was disqualified for a false start too.

Congrats Christophe. You truely are "The Master". What a epic performance in bad conditions.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Sakalauskas injured himself yesterday in semifinal and he wasn't supposed to start at all. Why he showed up in the blocks injured, only he knows...

 

[mastermulti]

Christophe defends his gold medal in the 100 meters as the fastest man in Europe! He ran a time of 10.09 on a cold day with a wet track into a negative wind! I'm so happy for him as Jimmy Vicaut gave him one hell of a race. It was really weird that Rytis S. stayed in the starting blocks twice as if he never heard the gun. Strange race as Simone Collion was disqualified for a false start too.

Congrats Christophe. You truely are "The Master". What a epic performance in bad conditions.

It needs be said that Vicaut was the only one to run to his best in the final. His 10.07 pb's were in much better conditions. He is surely the one to keep Lemaitre pushing hard as they fight for dominance. He's good for Christophe I think, not to mention good for French relay hopes.
I think a disappointed GrBr sprint squad will be a big relay threat as they try to regather some pride.

Props to the 23yo Latvian Janis Leitis who missed out on the 400m final while recording a PB and national record of 45.88 in tough conditions. His was equal 6th fastest time and the other 45.88 made it through.
I'm going for 21 year old Czech Pavel Maslak to just take it out. What I've seen of him in the 200 shows good speed and a fighting spirit. He mowed down Danny Talbot for 2nd last year in a race won by Lemaitre.

What happened to Verena Sailer? I've seen no race vids at this stage

 

[mastermulti]

Sakalauskas injured himself yesterday in semifinal and he wasn't supposed to start at all. Why he showed up in the blocks injured, only he knows...

It was all the more bizarre that neither Rytis Sakalauskas nor Ronald Arajs finished the race. Even if injured a finish at all would have got points for their respective countries since all top 8 get points. A jog down the track and perhaps a restrained acknowledgement to the crowd would at least have been in the spirit of things

 

[Zeus]

White lightening, you are the absolute expert when it comes to athletics so your opinion matters. Lykourgos Tsakonas who's only 21 and is training in Greece under disgusting conditions, just finished first in the second heat of the semis with 20.47 while he obviously stopped in the last 15-20m. He went to the Euro Championships with 20.52 and last year his record was 20.97 I believe..........His progress is extremely good I think?!

Do we have a new Kenteris in here or am I being too optimistic again?
http://a.media.gossip-tv.gr/items/cache/0dd008dcc3288e7a4e2b7c011175c3d9_L.jpg

 

[white lightning]

Lykourgos Tsakonas is very talented. First off I need to rewatch the race but he was just disqualified for going outside his lane. This is complete b.s. They usually only call this if it is blatant and if it impedes another runner. The guy just ran another p.b. and had a excellent chance to be on the medal stand tommorow. I'm so angry right now.

In answer to your question. I was and still him a huge Kenteris Fan. Tsakonas is very talented but I'm not willing to put him in that category of Kentreris yet. Don't get me wrong. The potential is there as he is still only 21 year of age. I just have to see alot more from him. We have seen guys like Paul Hession run 20.30 when he was younger and never go past that. Other examples would be Sebastian Ernst, Johan Wissman , etc. The thing I do like about Tsakonas is that he has that Greek Fighting Mentality. He is not only talented but very mentally tough. Most champions have that killer attitude. They hate to lose similar to Christophe although he is not as vocal. So I think he has a chance to be very good but I will have to watch him for a few more years to give a better hypothesis. If I had to guess right now, he will probably get down to around the 20.20's range but that might be his peak. Honestly it is still too soon to tell.

 

[white lightning]

I was very happy to see Pavel Maslsk win the gold in the 400 meter finals in a solid time of 45.24! This kid is only 21 and he gets better with every race. Sub 45 second races will not be too far away. My only hope is that they don't make him into just a 400 meter man. I think having him run the 200 and 400 races actually helps him more than it hurts him. Deak Nagy took the silver and he is even a little younger than Maslak.

 

[white lightning]

I rewatched the 200 semifinal with Lykourgos Tsakonas winning it easily despite coasting the last 20 meters or so. I still can't see any reason why he should have been disqualified. It looked like him and Danny Talbot might have grazed each others elbows possibly for a half a second but it didn't seem to cause either sprinter any harm and neither went outside of their lane from what I could see. In my honest opinion, Tsakonas should be in the finals. It sucks as he was our best hope outside of Talbot to medal.

Has anyone else here have any additional info, pics or video evidence as to why he was disqualified? Thanks guys.

 

[Zeus]

I rewatched the 200 semifinal with Lykourgos Tsakonas winning it easily despite coasting the last 20 meters or so. I still can't see any reason why he should have been disqualified. It looked like him and Danny Talbot might have grazed each others elbows possibly for a half a second but it didn't seem to cause either sprinter any harm and neither went outside of their lane from what I could see. In my honest opinion, Tsakonas should be in the finals. It sucks as he was our best hope outside of Talbot to medal.

Has anyone else here have any additional info, pics or video evidence as to why he was disqualified? Thanks guys.

I know that was a BS decision. He qualified with the best time from all athletes and the way he did run, especially in the end, he seemed like he could possible dismantle his personal record in the final...........It's OK, I expect him to shine at the Olympics.

 

[white lightning]

In my honest opinion, Lykourgos Tsakonas would have won the gold or silver medal today in the 200 finals. What a damn shame.

I was happy to see Danny Talbot take the bronze but it's too bad Borlee faded to finish 4th. I was hoping those two would take the silver and the bronze. Martina ran good but it would have been a better race if Tsakonas was there. The weather sure has been awful for alot of the euro champs. Either rainy, windy, cold or all of the above.

On another note, the French 4 x 100 Relay team won gold. The Italians took the silver and the Germans took the bronze medal.

 

[jacknyc]

Borlee ran in the 4 x 400 relay earlier in the day.
I'm sure that affected his performance in the 200m.