As there are so many great football blogs out there I am trying my best to steer clear of the big stories going on in the mad world that our American brethren call soccer.
So where do I go? I told you what I believe is going to happen at Wimbledon and I gave a tip for the US Open (don’t go with my tips I never win). What else is happening in the world of sport? Well quite a lot actually.
The European Team Athletic Championships take place in Stockholm this weekend and there is certainly a lot of British interest.
World Triple jump Champion Phillips Idowu is one hopeful who will not be in attendance and has not given a reason for withdrawing from the event.
The captain of the team is Dai Greene and the Welsh runner will be hoping to lead by example and win the 400m Hurdles, as this is the first final on the track he will be hoping to get the team of to a winning start.
Team GB Captain, Dai Greene.
In the last championships team GB finished second only behind a strong Russian team. Britain will be looking to a number of athletes to pull in the points.
Dwain Chambers is running in the 100m but will face really stiff competition from two gentlemen. Firstly, Francis Obikwelu, who has been slightly off colour this season but has the fastest personal best in the field at 9.86secs. My favourite for the event has to be Christophe Lemaitre of France who has the fastest time this year out of the 12 runners with a 9.96. Dwain has the second fastest time with 10.01 and will have to run really well to be in with a chance of first place.
Big Medal Chance!
Lemaitre is also running in the 200m and has a great chance at gold in this event as well. British interest lies solely with Daniel Talbot who has only ran 20.54 this season. Russian Roman Smirnov has the fastest time in the field this season with a 20.15 and will be there or there about when the final is run.
Another chance of a GB medal comes in the 3000m where Andy Baddeley comes up against Russian Yegor Nikolayev who has this year’s fastest time but Andy will be looking to upset the odds and come in first position.
Andy Turner has the fastest time by a long way in the 110m Hurdles and hopefully another win can come his way as he continues to emulate the great Colin Jackson and fly the flag for Great Britain.
One final men’s event that is always worth a mention is the 4x100m relay in which the Great Britain team have great history. Runners this year include Marlon Devonish, Christian Malcolm and Craig Pickering, as well as the 100m and 200m representatives.
There is also plenty of female interest starting with the 100m where Anyika Onuora has run 11.18secs the best time in the field by a good distance.
Jenny Meadows always seems to be around has a great chance of placing in the top three for her team in the 800m and will be hoping to improve on her season best of 1:59.27.
There is a very famous name in the 3000m Steeple in Eilish McColgan, daughter of Liz, who will be hoping to be in amongst it in the final of the race and emulate what her mother achieved on so many occasions.
In the 100m Hurdles Tiffany Porter is well ahead of the field and looks like she will bring home the 1st place like her male counterpart Andy Turner.
Sure thing? Tiffany Porter
So there you have it, the best hopes for Britain this weekend. I am sure these athletes will do their country proud and make sure you watch them in action as these will be the faces to look for come London 2012 which starts in just over 400 days.
What are your thoughts on the recent trand of picking up American and Caribbeann cast-offs to compete for GB?
ReplyDeleteI'm fairly sure Tiffany Porter was born in America and there are a couple of others who I can't think of right now.
A sign of the multicultural times we live in? Or people getting in the way of nurutured performers?
It happens in a lot of sports. Cricket being one strong example. I am in support of this as long as these athletes have British roots then they should be allowed to compete.
ReplyDelete