The return to the Olympic Stadium was why I was at the London DL. I wanted to see how the newly repurposed stadium could house football and athletics. In recent years, football stadiums in Europe have gone up without any access for athletics. Seb Coe put his foot down on this one, and part of the London 2012 legacy is this stadium.
Well, Seb Coe was right.
The stadium is perfect. On Friday night,under absolutely cold and windy conditions (early on, rain), the crowd of 30-35,000 were treated to wins by Usain Bolt and Mo Farah.
On Saturday, the magic happened.
Dina Asher-Smith won her 100 meter semi in 10.99, making the young Briton the first GBR woman under eleven seconds!
Two minutes later, in the long jump,
Shara Proctor leaped 6.98 meters on her last jump, breaking her
British record!
And the British men won the 4×100 meter relay!
Some fine races, and some great, great competitions.
After having seen pace making at its best in Monaco, in London it was about great racing, like Nijel Amos and David Rudisha. Like Laura Weightmann and Gabby Grunewald. Like Asbel Kiprop and Matthew Centrowitz leading fifteen men under 4 minutes in the iconic Emsley Carr Mile!
After the stadium quieted down on Saturday, July 25, in a silent stadium, I recorded my thoughts on this lovely weekend of Track & Field.
I hope that you like it.
