by Stuart WeirStuart Weir is busy writing for @runblogrun from the Gold Coast. This is Stuart’s athletics preview for the Friendly Games. I recall the story on the 1974 Commonwealth Games, which were held in ChristChurch, New Zealand. That was the first time I recall the Friendly Games moniker used for Commonwealth Games.
Walking in the Commonwealth Games village, photo by Stuart Weir
Some of many flags of countries at Commonwealth Games, photo by Stuart Weir
Nice beach! Gold Coast is host of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, photo by Stuart Weir
British team for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, photo by Stuart Weir
Athletics preview
All but three of the 71 countries in the 2018 Commonwealth Games will participate in the athletics (track and field) program which will involve just short of 1,000 athletes in a full program of events. Australia (107), England (91), Kenya (66) and Jamaica (58) are the biggest teams. At the other end of the scale there are 23 countries with five or less athletes.
That the Commonwealth Games take place in April complicates the season for athletes with some trying to peak three times in the season – for the World Indoors in March, the Commonwealths in April and the European Championships in August – as well as a few Diamond Leagues.
Eilidh Doyle (400h) explained how she changed her program to accommodate the spring Commonwealth Games. Normally she would start with winter core fitness work but not this year. “We pretty much started hurdling when I came back after the break in October 2017. We’ve had to adapt because obviously I was not in the right shape in October to run what I would normally run so I’ve just been concentrating on stride patterns and if it was windy we would adjust the hurdles”.
Winning a bronze medal in the World Indoors 400 metres was an unexpected bonus for Doyle: “In order to be ready for the Commonwealth Games in April we planned a full indoor season, not really targeting the World Indoors, just thinking that if I was running well enough to make the team that would be great because it would give me some extra races,” she explained. “Things went better than expected and I have started the year with a medal. So that gives me confidence going forward, knowing that my flat speed is there”.
Doyle also said that she liked the idea of having three championships to aim at, in contrast to 2017 when, she felt, that despite running some 30 races, her season was defined by one race – the World Championship final.
To put the Commonwealth Games athletics program in context, of the 139 medals awarded at the 2017 World Championships, 36 went to Commonwealth countries. In London Kenya was the leading Commonwealth country in the medals table.
Among the global stars competing this week are:
- New Zealand’s Tom Walsh and Valerie Adams (shot put).
- Dina Asher-Smith (England) 200m.
- England’s Andrew Pozzi will hope to add the Commonwealth 110m hurdles title to last month’s World Indoors.
- Botswana’s Isaac Makwala will hope to have a much less stressful competition than in London 2017 and even to win the 400m final.
- South Africa’s Caster Semenya could chase an 800m and 1500m double with another likely gold for her country going to world champion Luvo Manyonga in the long jump.
- Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei will be chasing a 5000 and 10000 double.
- The women’s pole vault could be one of the events of the games with England’s Holly Bradshaw and Rio Olympic Games bronze medallist, Eliza McCartney, in contention.
Having British athletes competing for different teams leads to some amusing possibilities. Eilidh Doyle (Scotland) commented on the odd situation of seeing her usually GB relay team-mates, Anyika Onuora and Emily Diamond (England) on the track and then realising they are not her team-mates this time. She joked: “I’ll just have to be careful that I don’t pass one of them the baton!”
Sally Peake (Wales) was asked how she would interact with her training partner, Holly Bradshaw (England) when the competition started: “I will speak to her”, she said, “but she is the enemy! She is my friend and training partner but the enemy during the competition”.
I am glad it is the friendly games.
