Former British hockey player makes GB debut in Turkey just one year after switching sport

Standards must be low in GB.

This is just not true, she raced right throughout her youth at a high level and ran a marathon in 2021.

There's not as much depth compared to the US, but there won't be, given the population difference.

Coevett is known for his lies. Look at the 99.9% lie too. He doesn't care. He just lies.

No, you're lying. She ran a 3:17 marathon in 2021. That's about a time you might expect from her obvious talent off of little more than hockey training. She was clearly talented at High School, but you don't know how seriously she was taking it. You're implying that she was competing for titles in school, and that I claimed she had never ran in her life.

Now log in and out of your multiple devices paid by Jama Aden and downvote me.

Now address your lie about the 99.9%

Hockey involves a lot of running.

Nienke Brinkman who held the Dutch women's marathon record before Sifan Hassan was also a hockey player before she switched to trail running and ultimately marathon running during Covid.

https://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=227682

You're definitely correct to say that football sweeps up all the best basic athletes into he UK. Someone like Theo Walcott could have been an elite sprinter if he'd have chosen athletics as a teenager. But he was earning in a week what most track athletes earn in a year while at Arsenal. A lot of midfielder and wingers in particular have the basic talent to be elite middle distance runners but even a career in the third tier of English football is far more lucrative than all but the very best track athletes earn

I think Hockey and Soccer are fairly similar in the aerobic demands of serious level players - having discussed this with several ex hockey players i know through coaching. One thing where the sports differ in UK is that about 99% of serious hockey players come from about 8% of the school population - in that non-selective state schools almost never ever do the sport beyond a couple of taster sessions in PE. High level hockey players will have lots of transferable qualities to distance running - training regularity, nutritional knowledge to decent level, motivation, perseverance - and the knowledge that there's close to zero chance of earning a living at it (Lottery funding obvs at real elite level)

Coevett is incapable of refraining from lying.

Just to be clear here, Ms. Axford was a field hockey player, not an ice hockey player, so she had a soccer-like background of years of running in games and training.

She got an injury after the Boston marathon last year and wanted to come back too quickly.

You can’t even qualify for the Olympics in Boston.

Hopefully she has a more professional approach in the future.

shes not that good, its just that the "elite" athletes in england dont run cross country so you get weak athletes running for GB in the cross country. she will never get near a team on the track.

What does this have to do with doping or Kenyans? Did you bump your head?

The Blatant lie is in bold

There is no reason to believe Walcott would have made it as a sprinter. He went to English Schools in the junior boys age group, an age at which many aren’t training but rather relying on natural ability, and was knocked out in the heats. He has perpetuated the myth by saying, off no basis whatsoever, that he reckons he could have made it sub 10.

The quickest footballers are flattered by the fact that they are only ever seen running alongside other footballers. You could likely count on one hand the number of premier league players who wouldn’t be embarrassed in the final of the women’s British Champs 100m.

Not discounting the tendency for pundits and commentators to overstate the speed of certain players, but you're kidding yourself to think that every person with sub-10 potential becomes a sprinter. Why on earth would they if they could earn 100x the amount of money and a much more enjoyable career by playing football?

Remember, we're only seeing what these guys can do off football training, on a soggy football pitch, in baggy shorts and shin pads.

I’m sure there are a few footballers that could have been good sprinters… likely far more that would have been good middle distance runners though given the demands of the game - very limited opportunities for someone to accelerate for 30+ metres in a football match. When Gemili played, before taking athletics seriously, the coaches said they struggled to know how to play him to give him a chance to use that speed. Likely some decent throws prospects too given the wingspan of some of the big guys.

i just find it odd you chose to reference a particular footballer who had actually competed over 100m and demonstrated himself to be no more than a fairly good club level athlete.