by Stuart Weir
Sandra Perkovic, photo by Colombo/FIDAL
Christian Coleman post race: interviews are hard enough…photo by Stuart Weir
Stuart Weir has been at Doha, Pre, and now, Rome. He is a keen observer of the sport. He also has a sense of humor. Most of all, Stuart Weir acts as the eyes and ears of the RunBlogRun reader. How do I describe you? RunBlogRun readers are the ultimate athletics fans, cross country, indoor, outdoor, road running. They want to learn something about the athlete, the event or the discipline that they did not know before. Many times, they use our social coverage while they are at the meets or watching them on a digital device. Stuart observes and puts to pen those observations. The good, the bad and the ugly is such a column. Because of it, we learn that elite athletes have a lot to juggle at a major event, and that their event is just the start.
The good the bad and the ugly:
Serial winner: Sandra Perkovic won the discus. Sandra Perkovic won the celebrity masterchef. I wonder if she had a bet on the horses too.
Good answer: I said to an athlete in the mixed zone, “It’s OK to be tired”. Her reply: “Not if you have run as slowly as I did”.
Gone with the wind: Ronnie Baker ran a world lead 9.93 into a negative wind. Imagine what time he could run in favorable conditions.
Standards are slipping: Kenyans only took five of the six podium places in the two steeplechase races. And five of six podiums in the men’s 800m and 1500m
Most open event: Women’s 100H. Three races, three winners. I wonder whose turn it will be next time.
Biggest cheer of the evening: Filippo Tortu’s third place in the 100m. Just what the home crowd needed
Most unsatisfactory result: In the women’s high jump second to sixth all jumped 1.94; two many DL points awarded on countback.
Needs attention: The system whereby an athlete comes fourth in the first DL race of the season and then cannot get a lane in the next. Places in DL events need to be on merit not whim.
Most enjoyable DL of the season so far: Rome and I am not in any way influenced by my two free glasses of prosecco.
Most embarrassing and insensitive moment of the evening: Christian Coleman comes into the mixed zone, visibly and understandably disappointed by his fourth place finish. He is asked to hold up a piece of paper and wave it around to publicize some forthcoming event. If this kind of thing has to be done – which I doubt – it should be done at an appropriate time. Not when someone has just competed.
