Here’s the final article form Stuart Weir on the 2018 Athletics World Cup. Stuart Weir wrote this piece on his thoughts on the format and possible success in the future of the event.
🇺🇸🇺🇸Ladies and gentlemen, we give to you the winners of the inaugural #AthWorldCup – TEAM USA! 🇺🇸🇺🇸
.#Muller pic.twitter.com/Nc2LiiK4Uz— Athletics World Cup (@AthWorldCup) July 15, 2018
Day 2 reflection
Day 2 was the mirror image of day 1. Day one started with women’s pole vault; day two with men’s pole vault etc. Sam Hendricks won the pole vault and then gave some golf tips.
Here is your full result from the men’s pole vault.
1 – USA – 5.83m
2 – GER – 5.75m
3 – FRA – 5.65m#AthWorldCup #Muller pic.twitter.com/rxb2RweO4B— Athletics World Cup (@AthWorldCup) July 15, 2018
Hendricks won from Raphael Holzdeppe (Germany). Having won the competition with 5.83 (Holzdeppe 5.75), he gambled on raising the bar to 6.05. He said after the competition: “I love this stadium, I love London and I love to compete here. The 6.05m was do-able so I wanted to compete and give it a try. I jumped with new poles today and it takes time to get used to them like swinging new golf clubs”.
In the men’s long jump Luvo Mangyonga’s series of four jumps were all 8.48 and above. The women’s 200m was an epic race and the 100m hurdles produced a surprise winner. The men’s 400m hurdles was won by Kenny Selmon (USA) but it was an absolute delight to see Britain’s Dai Greene take third place. The 2011 world champion has hardly competed during the past four years because of injuries.
Luvo Manyonga’s shortest jump yesterday would have won gold at Beijing ’08, Daegu ’11, London ’12, Beijing ’15, Rio ’16 & London ’17. It was an equal stadium record (which he held). What a performance. pic.twitter.com/6LIgqUxRVQ
— James Rhodes (@James_Athletics) July 16, 2018
And to the punsters delight Lijiao Gong of China won the shot put medal. Another gong for Gong. The two relays were exciting but spoiled by each having only seven finishers. Some of these events are described in more detail than my other posts.
2018 Athletics World Cup, Shot Put, W, 1. Lijao Gong, 19.90m, 2. Pauline Goba, POL, 19.29m, 3. Maggie Ewen, USA, 18.23m, @AthWorldCup, @londonstadium, , @runblogrun, @BritAthletics , @euroathletics, @athleticsafrica, @asianathletics, @theshoeaddicts, @usatf pic.twitter.com/xOavhWLcB0
— RunBlogRun (@RunBlogRun) July 15, 2018
Overall it was another exciting day of athletics with excellence in track and field events. The stadium was only half full but not many track and field events around the world could boast 30,000 on Saturday and 25,000 on Sunday.
The event worked well. There are always compromises and teething problems in a new event. Some countries did not have an elite performer in some disciplines. Only four jumps/throws did not please some competitors but from the spectators’ prospective it made events seem quick and slick.
The event has attracted a bit of negative publicity with headlines like “stars stay away”. But those of us who turned up watched Elaine Thompson, Sam Hendricks, Luvo Mangyonga and Anita Wlodarczyk to name but four. We also saw a number of younger athletes having the performance of their lives and the first opportunity to run, jump or throw in front of 30,000 people. A lot of good things happened at the London stadium.
I’m not sure what the future plans are for the event but I’m convinced that it has a place in the calendar.
