Relay Split

Plenty has been written and said about the latest British Men’s 4x100m relay failure yesterday. Everyone has their own ideas about what went wrong and how it should be rectified. However, the comment that has prompted me to write this blog was Darren Campbell’s view that British Athletics should consider cutting funding for athletes paid to run relays. I completely disagree with this.

If you had to give a one word answer why the sprinters make mistakes in global finals, surely that word would be – pressure. This is not just limited to relays. At these very championships, why did Justin Gatlin overstride and lose ground in the last ten metres of the 100m final? Why did Christine Ohuruogu go off way too quickly in the 400m final? The reason was that whilst already under the pressure of running in a major final, Usain Bolt and Allyson Felix found ways to increase that pressure so Gatlin and Ohuruogu didn’t think clearly and lost enough physical control to make a mistake.

Now imagine how the 4×1 relay runners felt: ‘I’m in a major final. I’ve worked my life for these 13 or so seconds. I don’t want to let myself down. I don’t want to let my country down. I don’t want to let my team mates down.’

Darren Campbell wants to add these thoughts ‘If I mess this up I lose my funding. I may have to get a job. Perhaps my parents will need to re-mortgage their house so I can keep training full time. How will I support my kids?’ Is that more or less likely to make mistakes occur?

But what do I know? Why would you listen to me, an ok middle distance coach and largely unsuccessful team manager? Why not listen to a man who’s been there and made the same mistake? Craig Pickering wrote an outstanding blog http://craigpickering.com/2015/08/what-is-wrong-with-the-great-britain-mens-relay-team/ Read it. After every point he makes, like me, you’ll probably say ‘yeah, that totally makes sense.’

A team can train and train and train but you cannot recreate the adrenaline of being in a major final. However, you can drastically reduce the chances of errors occurring by practising in as high intensity a situation as much as possible. There are opportunities for this – the World Relays and the Diamond Leagues where 4x100m relays are available. James Ellington, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Danny Talbot and Richard Kilty will never win a global individual medal over 100m or 200m. They are very unlikely to ever make a final. However, Adam Gemilli, James Dasaolu and Chijindu Ujah are very likely to make individual finals and have a decent shot at medalling. If they don’t want to attend relay practise sessions, go to the World Relays or run 4x1s in Diamond League, then that’s fine leave them to focus on the individual event. It will probably help them.

Ellington, Aikines-Aryeetey, Talbot and Kilty could be a very good team. They’re fast and they love the 4×1. That’s enough for me. The 0.10 they might lose over their leg, they can more than make up with a quick, slick changeover. Keep them on the relay funding, look at the Diamond League calendar, pick the ones they can compete in a 4×100 in and book their flights.

The other major mistakes, which completely ruined the team, were changing the running order and not telling the team until so late on. That was a recipe for disaster. Why are we blaming the team for that? Why threaten to cut their funding and not that of the relay coach or manager? What is the point in practising, and funding people to practise when you change what they’ve practised?

Remember when Britain picked some talented youngsters and trialled putting together a specialist relay quartet for the last World Championships? That team was Dina Asher-Smith, Ashleigh Nelson, Annabelle Lewis and Hayley Jones. They won a bronze medal – despite having slower individual pbs that many of the teams they beat. It worked. So do it again. The individual members of the team have had varying levels of success since then. But they all have something that Dasaolu, Ujah and Gemilli don’t have (so far) – a global senior medal.

By the way, my British League teams, as a whole, may not have performed as I’d have liked, but I am proud that the relay teams I put together almost always perform a lot better than the sum of their parts.

My Top 10 British Track and Field Performances Of The Commonwealth Games.

Having seen nearly all the Commonwealth athletics I wanted to write a list of my favourite home nation performances of the games.

Compiling this list was a lot harder than you might think. It was definitely more a case of narrowing down a long list than trying to think of ten worthy performances. There’s no place for Greg “I’m no one hit wonder” Rutherford, Libby Clegg’s romp to the home nation’s only athletics gold, Adam Gemilli’s further step towards Olympic Gold (you read it here first), nor Steve Way’s short journey from an office working, kebab eating, beer drinking (aka normal mid 30s British Man) to becoming the most talked about male or female marathon entrant.

Possibly closer to the list were the law student, turned singer songwriter, turned perma smiling long jump silver medallist Jazmin Sawyers and the three Welsh lads who bantered, grunted, postured and performed their way into the decathlon top ten. The people who made it were:

10) Dan Greaves and Aled Davies – Mens F42/F44 discus. I love the fact that the Commonwealth Games have become the first multi sports event to integrate para sports into their competitions. Some of the events were in the peak viewing evening sessions and some weren’t. Tucked into the first Monday morning was a high quality discus final. The scoring system meant two exceptional athletes from different categories could compete with each other, and the points difference remained close with the two heavyweights exchanging the lead before Greaves triumphed by a mere 11 points, out of over 1,000.

9) Sally Peake – Women’s pole vault. On the night of the pole vault final, the competitors were greeted with the cold, wet, Scottish conditions. If they are annoying to runners and a hindrance to throwers they are dangerous to pole vaulters. Incredibly six of the ten vaulters failed the opening height. Peake was the first to go clear. Immediately she was in the final four. As her competitors looked irritated by the conditions, Sally saw an opportunity and seized it with both hands (and a pole). She delighted in each clearance and laughed in the face of any danger. For a while it looked like she might win. Eventually she got the silver – and it was a much needed boost for Welsh Athletics.

8) David Weir – T54 Mens 1500m. Weir had struggled since the gold after gold after gold after gold medal winning days of London 2012. I wondered whether he’d be the same again and whether his motivation had lessened since achieving the best possible achievement in his sport. The last lap of his 1500m proved otherwise. His turn of speed was devastating and his high quality opponents like Kurt Fearnley and Josh Cassidy could only fight for the minor medals. In 30 seconds you believed he could repeat his London achievements in two years time in Brazil.

7) Eilidh Child – Women’s 400m hurdles. Eilidh provided the Jessica Ennis moment of the games. She was the ticket the home fans wanted, and there was considerable pressure on her to perform – not that you’d have known it watching her interviews or races. She took the expectations and the hurdles in her stride and duly delivered a silver medal. The marketing team breathed a sigh of relief.

6) Lynsey Sharp – Women’s 800m. If Child’s silver medal was delivered with ease Sharp’s couldn’t have been more stressful – going right back to the London Olympics. In January 2014 an injury and illness filled year and a half finally looked to be over as she tearfully collected her 2012 European Championships gold medal from her Dad in an event in Glasgow (following the winner’s disqualification for doping offences). She worked her way through poor early season form and got herself into great shape in time for the games. Then she delivered a surprisingly poor performance in her semi final scraping into the final as a fastest loser. On the eve of the final she was taken ill, with a traumatic condition keeping her awake all night. I often struggle to sleep on the night before races through pre races nerves and pressure that is only from within. I then worry that my lack of sleep will make me run poorly. However, I really only have to answer to myself and I won’t have to explain my performance to the nation. Imagine how Lynsey Sharp felt.
650m into the final, she looked boxed in and unlikely to trouble the leaders. Sheer desire in the last 150m saw her find a way past some great athletes and claim a silver medal.

5) English Mens 4 x 400m team. This was an excellent race between England, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago who were closed matched throughout the four laps – with the performance of a new boy – Matt Hudson-Smith the reason this makes number 5 on my list. His progression this year has been phenomenal and he looks the real deal. It’s almost as if he’s won an X Factor style competition to grace the World’s stage, but unlike X Factor contestants he hasn’t gone through media training, so he’s like a rabbit in the headlights when being interviewed.
But he isn’t like this on the track. He hauled the team into first place on his leg and responded well when high quality sprinters tried to pass him on the home straight. His coach’s name is Tony Hadley – there was only ever one colour medal he was going to win.

4) Laura Weightman – Women’s 1500m. Laura is coached by Steve Cram, a man with several other jobs. He’s done very well in setting her programme of training and racing – but it takes a particular type of person to follow this unsupervised. They need to be self motivated, but also sensible. Weightman has gained considerable speed and racing guile over the last few year. She was shocked to claim the silver medal in Glasgow. She shouldn’t have been. I think it will be the first of many. Kenya and Ethiopa need to take notice.

3) Jo Pavey – Women’s 5,000m. I’ve been watching Jo Pavey run for 17 years and she’s STILL really good – world class. Most distance runners lose speed in their early 30s and move up to the marathon. Jo’s done that, done well at it, and then moved back to the track! In the 2012 Olympics she finished 7th the 5,000 and 10,000 metres setting a pb in the latter. She then took time out to have her second baby and decided to go back to the 5,000 in Glasgow. Finding herself in the lead group she kicked at the bell, went into the lead and was quickly overhauled. In the home straight she kicked again and secured a bronze medal. A 40 year old has no right to finish like that! Even Steve Way must’ve been impressed.

2) Jodie Williams, Bianca Williams and Anyika Onoura – Women’s 200m. British Athletics has been littered with sprinters who have been brilliant at a young age, looked like future world beaters and then struggled to improve. A year ago Jodie Williams looked like another of these. In contrast, Bianca Williams has steadily improved each year. Anyika Onoura is older than the two and has been at the top of British sprinting for a while. Three very different routes to very similar results in Glasgow. All three looked masterful in their semi finals, making the final with ease. The three of them then cast aside the Jamaicans and recorded PBs to finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th behind probably the best in the world – Blessing Okagbare. Dina Asher-Smith has just won the World Youth title. The future, and the present, of British Women’s sprinting looks exciting. Don’t bet against them splitting the long dominance of Jamaica and the USA.

1) Steve Lewis – Mens Pole Vault. Although this was a great competition, ending in a jump off between Lewis and Luke Cutts, you might wonder why it makes it to number one. To know the answer you have to go back to October 2012 and the loss of his mother to cancer. From 5th place in the London Olympics, Lewis no-heighted at the Moscow World Championships last year. His post competition interview was thoroughly saddening. I saw a man who, nine months after his loss, was clearly still struggling to come to terms with it, and struggling pick himself up for the big stage, a man with a lack of direction or desire to succeed. I worried he’d fade away and we wouldn’t see him again.
I don’t know how he pulled himself through it, but to see him clear barriers, fight for the gold and get so much joy from achieving it was, for me, the most heart warming story of the games.