This sport is seriously bad at promoting events. How is it possible that this race with some of the world's best 1500m runners has happened with no coverage/publicity?
I'm a new fan of Track that has recently fell in love with the sport, so I'm actively trying to keep up with events and I still have no idea what event this is from, how is a casual fan meant to keep up with the sport at all?
for better or for worse, this website is your best bet. i'm attending my first professional track meet next Sunday since following the sport in late 2016 and generally watch olympic trials/usas on tvs when I'm at work, and olympics/worlds wherever will put them on, but for big races I have splits and results in front of me and am following the thread on here (I don't post much anymore). one thing you will learn is that t&f is not set up for the tv formats that other televised sports follow, bc throws/jumps happen by turns, 100-800 happen in rounds that are exciting but relatively short ( I think you could add 1500 to that as well) and 3000i through 10k is not something an uninformed viewer can appreciate as easily, hence world athletic's push to get rid of 10000 on the track. the coverage doesn't really translate especially for an American audience, and our running stars in the US are not generally household names save for some notable exceptions. take any major marathon in the US for example, people turn out to watch their friends run, enjoy a day where the city is partially shut down, they aren't necessarily aware of who the US runners competing in the elite race are (meb and shalane are exceptions) and that's marathoning. very few people go to a track meet just to go and don't necessarily understand the sequence of events, whereas football/basketball/baseball/hockey etc are broken up into even increments of competition throughout the game and the gameplay is essentially binary (you are on defense or offense with little to no grey area) track doesn't have that and for an invested fan that is what makes it so exciting and heartbreaking to watch someone go from 1st to 4th in the last 50m of a mid-d race or to have a dominant athlete like grant Holloway get upset as the favorite in an olympic final. but again, trying to explain those nuances to people who never ran competitively at any level (I'm excluding road running from this as I think people grasp that a little better) is super hard and even harder to broadcast to make it appealing to said audience
I saw mo Farah run the London 10k in 2019 which is a non championship event and everyone in the crowd knew his name, probably 1/4-1/2 knew Andy butchart's name (super nice guy btw), whereas the average person MIGHT know who Noah Lyles or Galen Rupp are and that's a big cultural difference I think
us meets/races just don't get coverage and its really hard to be a casual fan of the sport. blocking off time in my schedule to watch specific meets like millrose, the 10, mt. sac( not national/ international championship meets like ncaas, us champs, olympics etc.) and pulling up live results and message boards when you can't get good coverage on a tv has allowed me to follow races a lot better, not the same as watching it on tv or live but it's the best you can do. also some cities are better to live in than others, if you live in Boston or NYC you can catch professional running at a really high level more readily and *comparatively* easily than if you live in a smaller midwest city or in the south. it is what it is, hope this helps
Wightman looked great for his first race in a year and a half. Kessler looks like he's made another leap. They should both be very happy
I think Hobbs’ fitness is good, but maybe more importantly that was a confidently-run race. He got out well enough, protected his spot, and made a confident move. No panic in the last 200. He's been fit before, but this was the most seasoned he’s looked.
I have no idea what internal demons predicated this rant, nor what you're trying to say? My point is straightforward. Settle down and enjoy the races for what they are. Easy to understand.
Predictions? Staking your knowledge? Ban you? Danica bet? Mendoza line? Who knows wtf you're talking about?
Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean we're still not out to get you.
I'll be more clear. You're judging my take on Wightman by a lens of a snob.
I can be enthusiastic about a kick and give my rendering.
I'll enjoy the races how I want. I don't subscribe by a Scandinavian standard of life...I go by mine. And Wightman impressed me with his kick.
I can say that.
Brass tacks, don't judge my judgment just because you think you have clout.
Because believe me, I'll remember this and if I'm right, I'm going to remind you every hour of every day about your judgment.
How about you chill, Lars?
You're a loon. Completley batshat crazy! I have exactly the same opinion on Wightman as you do.
So Wightman looked like a marathon runner in his first race back in over a year, but Kessler looked great in just managing to hold him off?
Bit of a straw man. Wightman looked a tad rusty, but good overall. He had 1 moment where he tried to lazily pass Kessler early, and Hobbs easily shut that down. He had a lapse in concentration where he let the gap grow with 2 laps to go, which would cost him 5-6 places in a Diamond League race. But he had a nice rally to the finish, and is only .56 off the qualifying time now. I don’t quite get going to Australia when he could save a lot of travel and snag it behind Nuguse in NYC but whatever, I’m sure they have their reasons ($).
Cash plays some part, but as Wightman explained, it's a chance to do something different and he has no plans to compete at World Indoors so why not just get on the outdoor track early?
Wightman's first race after a year of injury. Nice to see his kick is still there and he's running well straight away. He'll be back under 3:30 by the summer
+1
I have been quite negative on Wightman lately but I must say this was a surprisingly fast season opener considering his lost 2023 season.
And Hobbs looks to have his best opener ever.
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But they still have to find more than 3 seconds to equal the Norwegian who ran 3:30.60 in his season opener in 2022.
This sport is seriously bad at promoting events. How is it possible that this race with some of the world's best 1500m runners has happened with no coverage/publicity?
I'm a new fan of Track that has recently fell in love with the sport, so I'm actively trying to keep up with events and I still have no idea what event this is from, how is a casual fan meant to keep up with the sport at all?
Follow World Athletics on Instagram. They'll always share info on "How to Watch" a day or two in advance of an event.
If you're not on Instagram, I just checked out their website and they have this new option to sync the athletics calendar with own calendar (I use Google Calendar).
I just did it, it's pretty cool. You don't have to sync every competition. Only the ones you're interested in (if you want more indoor races, sync the "World Athletics Indoor Tour").
I see the next event on the tour is on Tuesday in Poland. And when you click on that event on your calendar, it pulls up all the details you need.
"Inside Track" is the the place on their website where they livestream events. You sign up for free, they just need an email. If a livestream is geo-blocked in your country, it means your country is showing it on tv. They always list the tv stations so you know where to go. Hope this helps.
Wightman's first race after a year of injury. Nice to see his kick is still there and he's running well straight away. He'll be back under 3:30 by the summer
+1
I have been quite negative on Wightman lately but I must say this was a surprisingly fast season opener considering his lost 2023 season.
And Hobbs looks to have his best opener ever.
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But they still have to find more than 3 seconds to equal the Norwegian who ran 3:30.60 in his season opener in 2022.
Wow Jakob opened the 2022 season with a 3:30 indoors, that’s incredible. What happened again at worlds later that year?
So Wightman looked like a marathon runner in his first race back in over a year, but Kessler looked great in just managing to hold him off?
Bit of a straw man. Wightman looked a tad rusty, but good overall. He had 1 moment where he tried to lazily pass Kessler early, and Hobbs easily shut that down. He had a lapse in concentration where he let the gap grow with 2 laps to go, which would cost him 5-6 places in a Diamond League race. But he had a nice rally to the finish, and is only .56 off the qualifying time now. I don’t quite get going to Australia when he could save a lot of travel and snag it behind Nuguse in NYC but whatever, I’m sure they have their reasons ($).
Bit of a straw man. I was responding to Honest Mike's claim that Wightman's kick was Kipchogesque. I have only just been able to watch the full race, and now I see that his kick was indeed impressive. I assumed the OP was being sarcastic. It seems an odd comparison to make with a marathon runner.
* half of the race is blanked out by several replays of a female American long jumper, and of her wriggling her behind in displeasure. If this was the actual NBC coverage, it's no wonder our sport has gone from being bigger than tennis to smaller than badminton and BMX racing.
Bit of a straw man. Wightman looked a tad rusty, but good overall. He had 1 moment where he tried to lazily pass Kessler early, and Hobbs easily shut that down. He had a lapse in concentration where he let the gap grow with 2 laps to go, which would cost him 5-6 places in a Diamond League race. But he had a nice rally to the finish, and is only .56 off the qualifying time now. I don’t quite get going to Australia when he could save a lot of travel and snag it behind Nuguse in NYC but whatever, I’m sure they have their reasons ($).
Bit of a straw man. I was responding to Honest Mike's claim that Wightman's kick was Kipchogesque. I have only just been able to watch the full race, and now I see that his kick was indeed impressive. I assumed the OP was being sarcastic. It seems an odd comparison to make with a marathon runner.
Kipchoge was 5,000m world champion with a devastating kick.
Bit of a straw man. I was responding to Honest Mike's claim that Wightman's kick was Kipchogesque. I have only just been able to watch the full race, and now I see that his kick was indeed impressive. I assumed the OP was being sarcastic. It seems an odd comparison to make with a marathon runner.
* half of the race is blanked out by several replays of a female American long jumper, and of her wriggling her behind in displeasure. If this was the actual NBC coverage, it's no wonder our sport has gone from being bigger than tennis to smaller than badminton and BMX racing.
August 31, 2003. Eliud Kipchoge would shock the world in the men's 5000m final at the 2003 World Championships held in Paris, France. At just 18 years old he...
Cash plays some part, but as Wightman explained, it's a chance to do something different and he has no plans to compete at World Indoors so why not just get on the outdoor track early?
Well 3:33.5 in Australia is gonna be harder than doing it in Millrose. Worse competition (Stewy? Myers?), windy conditions possible, uncertain pacemaking etc. Millrose is going to be a perfectly set up race. Olli Hoare ran 2.4 seconds slower last year in miles 2 weeks apart (first Millrose then Australia). It was windy and he had to drive the pace himself. So to me, I think he’ll get the points and be qualified (at Rabat/Oslo) anyway but if not for going for a marginal appearance fee to probably a substantial one I don’t think the Australia venture is the best way if he wants peace of mind. I think he’s kinda doing it to avoid some flak for skipping World Indoors.
I am British and even if Wightman raced a couple more indoor events he wouldn't be getting any flak whatsoever for not competing at World Indoors. He would have to win the British Indoor Champs first and it's clearly a competition that doesn't do anything for him. It would be foolish for him to try and peak now (and he would have to peak, given the competition) coming back from injury given what's at stake in the summer.