(Un)Official Athletics Australia/Running Australia chat

And Peter Bol

Huge from Jess to front up for the 5km and absolutely monster the field like that.

Enormous run. Showed up a big difference too between the calibre of Jess and Linden vs the others.

Nice win in the 5k for Jess. Would have thought Rose would have been closer

they have a podcast called the "Coffee Club pod" or something

Kind of bad how they then put only a small group of people in the AUS kit and name people early for the team especially given what happened. People who don’t know the story will start thinking & commenting “what about Hull?”

My conspiracy theory is AA didn't want an auto-qualifier to be 'wasted' on Sarah Billings. They will want both Hull and Hollingsworth at the Games and there was no way to get Hull in that spot (plus she will be selected anyway).

A great race. Linden as always put everything into it but Jess' kick was crazy. Rose is still finding form post injury but I'm more worried about Lauren and Georgia ATM. At this rate neither make the CG team.

Loved Abby defending her title. Claudia looked a bit tired but credit to Abby.

The Gout race was wild. Fastest ever u20 time in history but Knighton who is suss. Loved Aiden and Caleb doing so well too. He is bringing so much hype to the sport which I can't complain about as aths in Aus is a fringe sport let's face it.

It begs the question who are the 3 most loved athletes by the fans in Australia? I'd go Jess, Gout and Pete by far

Did I miss they auto named some people for CG? If so please link it or post who here. Thanks:)

Team announcement hmmm I found it.

Nina, Nicola, Pete, Liam, Reece, Lachy, Cam and Abby are no brainers. All won nationals and have standards capable of medalling or making finals.

The fact they didn't just pick Jess and Kurtis. Like come the f on they are major medalists.

And the fact they picked Claudia will not be popular atm as she didn't win nationals in a way but did lol. Not saying she shouldn't be on the team but probably should of waited to avoid the rage.

Interesting quotes from Jess in this article.

au.news.yahoo.com

I don't care about national title: Hull on 1500m drama

@YahooNewsAU

Australian middle-distance star Jessica Hull insists she's moved on from her shock 1500m defeat to a young rival at the national athletics championships.

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"I honestly don't care about the national title. I've got 10 of them myself.
"Like, if that's what you want to do to win one, go ahead.
"But it's not the fault of any athlete. It's a bigger, wider circle that sometimes gets involved."

I really hope that Jess and Claudia rise above any 'beef' and that everyone can separate the athletes from the process. Some of the social media stuff made me feel sick for Claudia.

Is Jess talking about Mottram here as the wider circle? Or Steven Hass who is Claudia's manager and Hull's recently ex-manager?
The AA machinations must be interesting. No love lost between Bideau and Mottram, Hull's team is also obviously not super close with AA. I was honestly surprised someone in there went to bat for Claudia.

Interesting article on the ‘Sportshounds’ website at the link below.

The article reports a discussion with a well known official who apparently had some involvement in the adjudication process around the Hull/Hollingsworth incident.

The report includes the following:

“Sporthounds sought clarification and were granted a trackside audience with the official who organised the appeals process – International Technical Official and World Athletics Gold Referee Brian Roe. Sportshounds has dealt with Roe professionally on athletics issues for almost 40 years.

Roe explained the front-on TV footage showed Hull was not blameless and had moved to cut off Hollingsworth as the rookie attempted to overtake on her inside in the home straight. According to Roe, who said he was not involved in the final decision, the difference was a matter of centimetres.”

sportshounds.com.au

Don’t Mess With Jess

https://passagetopusan.com/

Track and field rules state that athletes who jostle and obstruct during a race face disqualification. So why was the

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Boston Marathon is on the 20th (Monday) with a few Aussies on the startline. Anyone got any major predictions/calls for these names?

Women's
Isobel Batt-Doyle AUS 2:22:59 (Valencia, 2024)

Izzie's coming off a 68:51 at Marugame Half in February and pacing 25km of Nagoya Marathon in March.

Lisa Weightman* AUS 2:23:15 (Osaka, 2023)

47 years old this year with a 2:29:34 SB at Sydney last year. This is Lisa's 7th world marathon major. Father time may be catching up, but I'm still keen to see what Lisa can do after so long at the highest level.

Men's
Patrick Tiernan AUS 2:07:45 (Houston, 2024)
Pat's a complete mystery for me. He was banged up again towards the end of 2026 and hasn't raced in the lead-up. He came 11th at Boston last year in 2:08:08

Brady Threlfall is also toeing the line, but is not in the pro fields obviously.

No idea the shape of Lisa or Pat, but glad to see them on the start line. 2:20-mid would be a great day for Lisa.

I think Izzi mentioned on her YouTube (or maybe RunWithIt pod) that she plans to go with the lead US women. That should be within her capability (only Em Sisson @ 2:18 would perhaps be beyond her) and I think this racing mindset rather than running for a time will suit Izzi. I've got Izzi top 10. ~7th if she has a ripping day.

Brady to surprise himself with 2:22:30

I don’t think this is a Jess v Claudia issue.

It would likely be Mottram and Bideau. Nic coaches Sarah Billings. Mottram went to batt for Claudia to prevent an athlete that Nic coaches from winning a National title over his athlete.

Would love Lisa to smash out a high finish and good time. Her longevity is astounding and she was still stiff to miss out on Paris. Not to bring that up again.

Nina...

Gout, Jess.....and then Cam/Nina/Nicola? Pete probably still a bit tarnished from the doping stuff?