Craig Pickering

[jacknyc]

This season is over for Pickering as far as I'm concerned. Today was their national championships which doubled as qualifying for the European Championships.
Pickering ran a 10.39 in the semis and did not qualify for the finals.
10.39 at this point in the season is pretty pedestrian. If that's the best he can do for the national championship, I wouldn't expect him to improve much in the next month or so.
Since he hasn't qualified for the British team and hasn't run any fast times, he'll only have local meets to run in for the rest of the season.
Let's hope he hasn't peaked at 18, and that this season is an aberration.

 

[albinosprint]

10.22 last year to 10.38 this year is a upset.

 

[freedom1]

There's another white British junior making noise in the long jump:

Rutherford's 8.26m leap just shy of British record

If Campbell's career is coming to a close, Greg Rutherford's is just beginning. The 19-year-old European Junior champion astonished even himself this afternoon by not only winning the men's Long Jump, but leaping to within one centimetre of Chris Tomlinson's British record in the final round.

"I'm definitely in with a shout now for the Europeans and I'm only 19!" said the emotional Rutherford, whose 8.26m puts him among Europe's top five. "This win has really got me up there among the best in the world. It's just a shame it was one centimetre short of the British record."

 

[White_Savage]

Pickering is not as skinny as some would make him out to be, he probably has as much upper-body strength as a sprinter who isn't juiced to the gills needs. More muscular than Jesse Owens and most other Black sprinters who ran before the miracles of modern chemistry.

 

[white lightning]

Pickering had a average race but only missed making the 100 meter finals by 4/100th of a second.With a little better start,he would have been in.Remember,he is only 20 and not everyone has ice in their veins like Wariner does!Craig is very talented and has the right people around him.He will be successful barring serious injuries.He has been hurt on & off all season.When healthy,he is very dangerous.He has a decade to prove himself.

Greg Rutherford is flat out amazing.Jumping a 8.26 is just incredible.He is now in the top 5 in Europe.He and Craig are very good friends and hopefully they will inspire each other.Greg runs the 100 in the 10.4 range also!Edited by: white lightning

 

[white lightning]

Ok,here we go.This weekend in England,Craig Pickering will be lining up against the world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica.Obviously they are in a different league as of the moment,however I will be interested to see how Pickering handles the pressure at his young age.He has been talked about for years as one of Englands greatest sprint hopes for the future.Will he crack under pressure or respond in a big way.I would love to see him get back into the 10.2 range in front of his home crowd.His form has not been up to par this season but let's hope he can put up some very fast times to build on for next year.

 

[jacknyc]

Don't expect too much, he's really not having a good season...after his 10.35w last wkend, even he said. "I wanted to run quicker this year and it's not worked out yet but I'll just keep working hard."

 

[white lightning]

I know he has struggled all year but I just have a feeling that he will aproach his p.b. in this race.It's amazing what can happen when you are pumped up and full of adrenaline.He's going to be in front of one of the biggest crowds of his life and they will be cheering for him and MLF.Show England what your made of Craig!

 

[freedom1]

10.46, nope, not a good year thus far.

 

[white lightning]

You called it.I was dead wrong.It's got to be so frustrating for him.Another young sprinter from the UK,S.Williamson struggled even more with a 10.71 so it wasn't only Craig.Also,Kim Collins a former 100 meter world champion from 3 years ago,was terrible too.It just has been a bad year for Pickering.The only bright side is that he is just a kid.I believe he turns 20 in the fall so he has plenty of time.He is probably more anxious than even us for next season!Hang in there Craig.

 

[albinosprint]

he is a good 6-7 years from his prime. we can't give up hope on him. i just don't want to see another shirvo!

 

[freedom1]

You guys think it was a good move to stick him in there with the top guys to get blown away? I mean psychologically, is it overly discouraging, or motivating?

 

[jacknyc]

I think it's a bad move.
Nobody likes getting completely destroyed by the competition. And no matter how you try to rationalize it, it can't be good for you psychologically to finish so far out of the race.

 

[white lightning]

That may be true jacknyc but you have to let him start at some point.Craig is in the big time now and has to realize that he is not even in the top 100 senior sprinters worldwide.I think it might somehow be a good reality check for him to continue training even harder and staying hungry.Alot of sprinters like MLF get spoiled early on and never advance anymore.I also love the fact that D.Kuc has already run faster than Craig a few times to show that he has alot of other young white sprinters worldwide just as hungry to get the first white sub 10 as he is.He will turn it around.I still believe in this kid but it will take several years to make the little progressions needed.Good luck to him.

 

[white lightning]

Craig will be running his first 60 this weekend in the Welsh Indoor Championships.He is favored to win.Let's hope that he can stay healthy and be a major force this year.He is only barely 20 years old and ready to make some noise.I will enjoy watching him and Dariusz Kuc this year as they are the future hopefuls for the next few olympics.Time is on their side.Edited by: white lightning

 

[Kali]

Craig ran 6.63 indoors at the Welsh Indoor Champs on 13th Jan. A new PB for him and inside the European Indoor Champs qualifying time. See article:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/athletics/6266811 .stm

 

[jacknyc]

Finally some good news from Pickering!
A big improvement from last year, and very early in the season.
Let's hope this is a harbinger for good things to come.

 

[white lightning]

I still can't find the article.Please post it here if you can.The link doesn't work for me.This is such great news.He has the talent to become Englands best sprinter over the next five to six years.I can see him making the olympic team with hard work and just staying healthy.He has the right people around him training him in all of the aspects of being an elite level sprinter!Good luck to Craig in what could be another breakthrough season!

 

[jacknyc]

From BBC.co.uk

Meanwhile, Craig Pickering set the fastest indoor time by an British athlete this year to dip below the Great Britain standard for the European Indoor Championships.

The 20-year-old ran a time of 6.63 seconds to win the 60m title at the Welsh Athletics Senior Indoor Open Championships in Cardiff this weekend.

"I've been training really hard," said the University of Bath athlete, who is also a member of Milton Keynes AC.

"I think I can go a bit faster still as the training eases off a bit."

 

[white lightning]

Thanks for the info jacknyc.I did a little research myself and also saw that he ran a 6.68 about a week and a half ago.Craig is off to a hell of a start.I just hope that being in college doesn't take too much of his training time away.So far,so good!

 

[surfsider]

Here he is pickering them up and putting them down!

This is from the Milton Keynes site and I believe it is from the Welsh Indoors.

 

[white is right]

He looks like a man now. He is starting to fill out. Hopefully he doesn't get too filled out as he may become to o solid. He definitely has the leg base....

 

[white lightning]

It's kind of funny becaue the greatest UK Sprinter ever is probably Allan Wells.He picked Nick Smith to be the first Welsh to go sub 10 in the 100.I even thought at the time that he had the wrong person.Nick is very,very skinny and will probably never come near a sub 10.Craig on the other hand is the best future hope for the UK in my opinion.He is still just a kid but already is running with the big boys.Here is to a huge year for the "white flash"Craig Pickering!LOL.

 

[Guest]

He looks retarded.

And 6.68 isnt all that fast. I run that same time, and im not even the fastest guy on campus.Edited by: McBride

 

[riggo]

What campus?