Birmingham DL: No Muir? No Houlihan?

Ooops!

https://birmingham.diamondleague.com/list-results-bham/

Muir apparently has a (hopefully minor) calf injury.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/athletics/2019/08/13/reece-prescod-laura-muir-injury-doubts-doha-world-championships/

(You know that "Schlachtenhaufen" (something like butcher's heap) is an even funnier name than "Klosterhalfen")

Lots of interest here, even without some of the biggest names. Schlachtenhaufen is perhaps the biggest name in one respect. Coming off her 4:03 PB I am interested to know what she might do here.

As for funny names, I think Johnson is funnier yet.

Houlihan might race once before worlds. Maybe. This is BTC we’re talking about.

Kkdjdhdjdj wrote:

Houlihan might race once before worlds. Maybe. This is BTC we’re talking about.

she might be over her Jerry quota already for the year

Kkdjdhdjdj wrote:

Houlihan might race once before worlds. Maybe. This is BTC we’re talking about.

Bitcoin?

Best news is that Max Burgin and Thomas Staines are in the 800m.

Wu Ming wrote:

Lots of interest here, even without some of the biggest names. Schlachtenhaufen is perhaps the biggest name in one respect. Coming off her 4:03 PB I am interested to know what she might do here.

I agree. It'll be very interesting to see how the youngsters do. Since Birmingham is usually on the slow side -- the women have never gone under 4:00 -- it probably won't be a fast race.

overflow wrote:

Kkdjdhdjdj wrote:

Houlihan might race once before worlds. Maybe. This is BTC we’re talking about.

she might be over her Jerry quota already for the year

She is still in "race deficit" with Jerry from last year. May have to skip Doha.

The fun for me is thirteen sub 10 men chasing a place in the 100 final here then ultimately the DL final

Got to laugh at the Daily Telegraph, exclusive? Laura Muir tweeted that she had torn her calf in the London DL days ago. She's back running by the looks of it though so fingers crossed she is fit for Doha. Would be crazy if she managed to miss out again. Have there been any faster (3:55) 1500m runners in history never to medal in an outdoor world event?

Birmingham is traditionally slow, but I'd like it if Konstanze does her thing front running it and just threw down the challenge to the rest - "catch me if you can." Though stats show that Elle Purrier and Gabriela DeBues-Stafford will both set PRs, as I think the last three times they've raced each other they've set PRs: BU indoor mile 2018 Purrier beat Stafford, NB Boston 2019 indoor mile DeBues-Stafford pips Purrier to the line, Rome DL 1500m 2019 DeBues-Stafford leaned by Jenny Simpson with Purrier 2 spots back. Would love it if Konstanze paced them both to PRs with the Canuck and the American rounding Konstanze with 200 to go like they did to Seyaum in January.

Also, forecast for Birmingham is a high of 62. Perfect running conditions - whomever was saying Schachtenhaufen was in 4:01 shape but couldn't do it in Memphis cause of the humidity, let's see if she can do a comparable mile time in a mild climate Diamond League.

Muir missed the medals not because she wasn't in good shape or injured but because of poor tactics and because others were better. I agree that it would be somewhat tragic for her to miss this time due to injury because she seemed better than ever this season.

When I saw that they were having the Mile instead of 1500m, I thought this was so Muir could attack the WR. Pity about the injury.

I hope Koko is not again trying to run tactically slowish against runners with a better kick at the end. If she is in any shape that would correspond to her 3k/5k races she will "pace" them to PBs the way she paced Quigley at Millrose Games.

Jo72 wrote:

I hope Koko is not again trying to run tactically slowish against runners with a better kick at the end. If she is in any shape that would correspond to her 3k/5k races she will "pace" them to PBs the way she paced Quigley at Millrose Games.

Konstanze can be a bit strange tactically. We'll see how she goes. The risk is both Embaye and DeBues-Stafford are probably stiffer competition than what Konstanze faced at the Millrose games. They've both done 4:18 and 4:17 respectively in the mile already in Monaco. By IAAF tables her 5000 was about a 3:57-3:58, or a 4:15 mile. If she goes hard, she should be able to do it, but we'll see if she is as fit over a mile as she is on the longer stuff.

Still could be good wrote:

whomever was saying Schachtenhaufen was in 4:01 shape but couldn't do it in Memphis cause of the humidity, let's see if she can do a comparable mile time in a mild climate Diamond League.

Ditto for whoever was saying Purrier would go sub 4:00 this summer.

Women's 200 looks pretty loaded. Women's 8 looks pretty good, Wilson, Grace, Rogers, Goule, Bishop, who is back trying to run under 2 (2:01 sb). Men's 15 lacks some firepower which makes sense (non-DL). Musagala v Tefera, Mcsweyn leads everyone else a few seconds back. 5 Kenyans 9:11 (SBs) or better in the women's steeple. A Men's 800 where everyone is pretty equal on paper. Men's 100 a preview for Worlds. & hopefully a fast women's mile to round out the meet.

Honestly this looks like a good me. No T&F since USAs. Ready to watch anything at this point.

NERunner053 wrote:

Women's 200 looks pretty loaded. Women's 8 looks pretty good, Wilson, Grace, Rogers, Goule, Bishop, who is back trying to run under 2 (2:01 sb). Men's 15 lacks some firepower which makes sense (non-DL). Musagala v Tefera, Mcsweyn leads everyone else a few seconds back. 5 Kenyans 9:11 (SBs) or better in the women's steeple. A Men's 800 where everyone is pretty equal on paper. Men's 100 a preview for Worlds. & hopefully a fast women's mile to round out the meet.

Honestly this looks like a good me. No T&F since USAs. Ready to watch anything at this point.

There are 30 medals to be won at the World Championships from 800m - 10000m for men and women. I'd only expect 2, MAYBE 3 to be won from entrants at this meet. Yawn.

Maybe people need to be asking where the Kenyans are? Their national championships were pushed back the other week, rather suspiciously, on the grounds that a lot of the top stars wanted to compete in the Diamond League.

The Ingebrigtsens and other Europeans deserve a break after the European Team Championships. Not sure where Tim and the rest are hiding.

Anyway, for me Max Burgin making his big league debut in the biggest league of all is better than what we got last year - Korir claiming to be ready to break the world record and starting a decline which already seems to have turned him into a spent force.

There are other fast people to go after as entrants besides the Kenyans, who would understandably not want to race right before their national championship. But when your expectations are so low as to have a 1:45 runner as the star attraction, we clearly aren't seeing eye-to-eye.

Birmingham's usually slow, maybe a lack of appearance fees for non-GB athletes?, and not worth the best middle distance runners' time. Zurich, Paris, Brussels, and Rieti, on the other hand, should provide some great action.