Hall's performances were very impressive when you consider them in their totality. If you break them down individually they were just 'very good' (on an elite global scale)
A 400mh only just inside 55 secs is average. Whilst her new 14 step stride pattern might on paper look good, she was over striding for most of the race. But she wont be scaring any of the specialists with that time.
1.89 is excellent for a heptathlete, as is a 2:03.23 over 800m. It wont scare the specialists of course, but they are great enough marks to be a heptathlon medal candidate in Budapest.
And here's the point: why is she still messing about with the 400mh when she should be focusing on the heptathlon? She has talent in the 400mh, but she is kidding herself if she thinks she can compete and challenge in both events with the World's best. The time spent in training trying to learn 14 steps does nothing for her heptathlon. She will not medal in the 400mh, but she can in the heptathlon. She has the chance to go over 7000 pts, but she wont be if she keeps pissing around with the hurdles. On top of that, all these excessive early season events are going to take its toll come Budapest. She was brilliant in Eugene last summer, but in the 800m, where on paper she was head and shoulders above the others, she was very fatigued running just under 2:07, only beating Sulek by 51/100ths (8pts). Vidts finished less than 2 secs behind (27 pts). With her far superior PB she would be much further ahead in that last event.
Yeah, I don't get why she's training for the 400mh either.
Last year I think the justification was that coming 2nd in the event helped her team get points in the NCAA Championship, but now she's pro so that doesn't matter anymore.
It's very unlikely she's going to make the 400mh team over specialists like Muhammad, Wilson, Little, and Cockrell, who all ran sub-54 last season (I'm guessing SML gets a bye as World Champion). My guess is she does it because she enjoys it but like you said, all these early season events + spending time training the 400mh could be taking time away from the Hep.
Why are people complaining? Anna Hall enjoys competing, what's wrong with that? I have enjoyed seeing Anna Hall do lots of different events this year.
She's much more entertaining than Sydney and Athing who have raced a total of only 60 meters this year combined.
I don't know. Maybe she's testing her own boundaries and seeing which direction she'd like to go in. And maybe she's just having fun -- and that's not such a bad thing either.
That is true, of course. We are just discussing her status as the best t&f athlete currently allegedly.
For 400 mH hurdles medal no any chance this year. SML and Femke are ~49.50i level runners and in-form Dalilah is also fast. Hall's is ~51i runner and technique is worse so for her 54 mH is good and 53 mH is super good.
In Budapest bronze would be below 52 seconds if Dalilah is still any good this year. Also very interesting what Britton Wilson and Little can achieve.
As for heptathlon Anna's chances for silver are very bright. Gold? - maybe too much, Nafi is 28 only and for sure will want to dominate until Paris to take her 3rd Olympic back-to-back-to-back title. She is a slow runner though so Hall should work on technical events, not on her 400 m hurdling pattern.
And here's the point: why is she still messing about with the 400mh when she should be focusing on the heptathlon?
Maybe she likes the 400m hurdles? It's a tough event and one can make the case that in combination with the other events, it's good training for the hep.
When Fred Kerley switched to the 100m, I thought he has no chance at a medal and he should concentrate on the 200m / 400m. Shows what I know.
I agree that her chances in the hep seem much better at getting a medal than the 400m hurdles. But she gets to decide what events she wants to race -- just like any other athlete.
I don't know. Maybe she's testing her own boundaries and seeing which direction she'd like to go in. And maybe she's just having fun -- and that's not such a bad thing either.
That is true, of course. We are just discussing her status as the best t&f athlete currently allegedly.
For 400 mH hurdles medal no any chance this year. SML and Femke are ~49.50i level runners and in-form Dalilah is also fast. Hall's is ~51i runner and technique is worse so for her 54 mH is good and 53 mH is super good.
In Budapest bronze would be below 52 seconds if Dalilah is still any good this year. Also very interesting what Britton Wilson and Little can achieve.
As for heptathlon Anna's chances for silver are very bright. Gold? - maybe too much, Nafi is 28 only and for sure will want to dominate until Paris to take her 3rd Olympic back-to-back-to-back title. She is a slow runner though so Hall should work on technical events, not on her 400 m hurdling pattern.
Hall has a higher ceiling than Thiam because she has a higher top end speed. That will help in 4 of the 7 events (800, 200, hurdles, and LJ). She still has a lot of work to do as a jumper but is talented enough to hit big PBs in the HJ and LJ.
She will never hit Thiam's marks in the shot and jav but she will be able to close the gap.
At the end of the day, Hall will go down as the clean world record holder.
Maybe, maybe. First checkpoint - Budapest. Until global title she is only fast-running perspective winner.
Thiam hasn't hit a PB in most of the hep events in several years. she will be 30 for the next olympics. Is she past her prime? While Hall is rising.
I believe Budapest is still Thiam's. Especially since Hall is spending way too much time pissing about with the 400mh when she could be improving her SP & JT.
2024 could be a different story though. If Hall drops the 400mh, focuses on her technical events, she can topple Thiam.
But bear in mind that in her last 6 championship heptathlons, Thiam has only once scored less than Hall's 6755 last season, and that was her 6677 from 2019 when carrying an elbow injury. What Thiam does have is a champions mentality; she can lift her game when challenged and when it matters. If Hall continues to improve as we expect she will, by next year she might be good enough to beat her. But....bear in mind Thiam has also worked on her own weaknesses, and in 2022 and now 2023 indoors, she is her fastest over 60mh/100mh; 200m & 800m.
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