Interview with Jackie Gallagher:  How Can We Get Female Distance Runners To Achieve Their Potential At The Senior Level?

 As a writer, you sometimes wonder if people read what you write.  So it was heartening toread the comments to the article "Commonwealth Games:  Where Are Our Elite Females?" (http://www.runnerstribe.com/article/post/show/id/784-Commonwealth-Games-Where-Are-Our-Elite-Females-), which confirmed there are others who care about the subject of promoting the women in our sport.

I loved the suggestion of keeping the forum going, and have decided to go to the experts - elite women who understand running, know what they wish that they could have done differently, and are willing to pass this information on in the hope of helping others. I decided to start with a two-time world title-winning triathlete and 2002 Commonwealth games marathon bronze medallist Jackie Fairweather(nee Gallagher).

Fairweather is a former head coach of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) Triathlon program, and now a Senior Sports Consultant for the Australian Sports Commission, specialising in high performance.  That might be her day job, but she is still a competitive runner, winning the Commonwealth 100km Championships last September in 7:41:23, and is currently in marathon training for the upcoming M7 Marathon. She is passionate about supporting both men and women in the sport, and has great insights into what does and doesn't work.

RT:  Why do you think that we have so few elite female distance runners in Australia now?

JF:  I don’t actually think the number/depth of elite female distance runners has changed that much. In the 28 years I have been around I think the quantity and relative standard of the top level of female runners has varied from year to year but on average stayed about the same. It also depends on what you call “elite”. Again we only ever have 1-3 women who are truly competitive at a world level at any one time and I think that is the same now with Lisa Weightman getting up there, Benita Johnson on her way back into some form and similar for Eloise Wellings. There are a few others knocking on the door but yet to establish themselves. One thing I will say is that Australia is notorious, over many years, for having exceptional junior female distance runners who never realise their potential at senior level.



RT:   What do you think that we can do to promote more elite female distance runners in Australia?

JG:      Promoting more distance females... hummm. Apart from promoting the sport of athletics in general (in schools, in the transition from Little A’s to seniors, from Fun Running to Athletics, and promoting/publicising the talent and personalities we have), I think we need a much more supportive and collegiate environment in order to nurture more good female runners along. We need to support them and keep them healthy. Our biggest problem is, and has been for as long as I have been around, keeping them healthy enough to get some consistent running happening (over many years). In my opinion very few of our good distance females achieve their potential because they only last a couple of years before injury, illness and/or burnout hampers or stops their progress in the sport. This is not an easy problem to fix, but I wonder if we have put enough collective thought and energy into it...

RT:  There seems to be much more depth in elite female triathlon participants in Australia.  Why do you think this is?

JG:     I don’t think there is more depth in Triathlon. In fact I think there is less, however Australia’s top female Triathletes are among the best in the world. There is arguably not the same depth in the sport of Triathlon internationally as in distance running, but our girls are and have been consistently competitive and even world beating for 20 years! In Triathlon success has bread success – Michellie Jones showed the rest of us what was possible, but every one of Australia’s female Triathlon world champions (8 Aust women have won 12 world titles) have been bloody tough, hard working, ‘can do’, confident, trail blazers. In saying that, Triathlon is far from perfect – our conversion rate from Junior worlds representative to elite rep is pretty poor. Triathlon has not done a good job on managing what I call the ‘obligatory shit’ for females between about 17/18 and 22/23 (i.e. injury, weight gain and confidence issues). There is a lot of pressure on young Triathletes – it is a bit all or nothing, make it or not. But I think there are a few differences between the female Triathletes and runners:


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• Firstly I think triathlon allows for the obsessive attitude to training which is also common to runners, but because of the three disciplines there is perhaps less likelihood of overdoing it in one discipline (only so much time and energy!), but even more importantly you have to be strong to be a good Triathlete – they are not as frail and have to be more ‘balanced’ in order to be of the standard required across all three disciplines. As an example of this point... there have been a few 32min (+/- 30sec) 10k runners who have gone to triathlon with varying success, but I don’t believe it is possible for a female Triathlete to be able to run better than about 32min because in order to do so you must do too much running volume and be too light to be strong and have the energy for the swim and bike. So as a result successful female Triathletes don’t run too much and are not too light! For this reason I believe men with running backgrounds can transition better to triathlon than women – because they can be pretty light but still be strong. The women who had run backgrounds and did well in Tri were all ‘strong’ running women (myself, Emma Carney, Rina Hill) and didn’t need to be super light to run well off the bike, and didn’t need big volume to be in 32:30 shape.

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• One of the other big differences between Triathletes and runners is that triathlon is more collegiate and supportive. Women Triathletes train together more because the ‘pecking order’ is less of an issue because everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. In my experience and observation it is hard to get women in individual sports to train together because they get too stressed and (bitchy) because they can’t handle the competitiveness. Women need to feel accepted and need to get confidence from their environment. Head to head competitive environments are counter to this need. It is easier to get this in Triathlon because people have different strengths and weaknesses across the three disciplines so I think women feel more valued within the group for their individual strengths and the competitiveness is less direct. In distance running it is often easier and more comfortable for women to train on their own. Men don’t have the same problem because their pecking order is not quite so distinct and they have the egos and confidence to handle being beaten in training.  Plus I think that Triathlon by its nature has a lot more group training and therefore is a more supportive environment for women – they may not run together a lot, but at least in triathlon swimming and cycling is usually done in groups. Women need social support and connectedness (lots of studies of sport have shown this) and I don’t think there is enough of it in distance running in Australia. It is too easy for running women to isolate themselves.

• I don’t think there is a culture of supporting each other enough in women’s distance running. The Australian female Triathletes are certainly competitive against each other, but they have always gotten together in squads and camps and there is a much stronger sense of supporting each other and sharing hopes, fears, experiences etc – and younger girls get exposure to the older more experienced females. There is not nearly enough of that in Australian distance running. Also in Triathlon the men support the women a lot and vice versa. There is just a lot more mutual support and respect.
  In saying that, we now have a fabulous little squad of females in Canberra that is very supportive of each other. Dick Telford coaches the squad and I am part of it but also ‘assistant coach’ and a mentor for the girls – but the girls support and look after me just as much (or more!) as I do for them. It is the first time I have ever been part of such a positive squad of running girls (no bitchiness and everyone supportive of each other) and it is awesome. And the girls are healthy, happy, connected/social and improving gradually but steadily.
• Dare I say it, but I think the Triathlon coaches in general understand the female athletes better. There are several coaches who are just very good with female athletes. I think it is too easy for distance running coaches to give female athletes too much work too soon, not listen to them enough and push them to breaking point too often (and too young). Women will do the work until they break, feeling like they are weak if they complain or can’t keep up. By nature of the sport Triathlon coaches have to tailor the training to each individual, but I think there is too much of a blanket squad mentality in distance running – everyone has to do the same and if you don’t keep up you are not good enough. The biggest problem with this is what it does to the self-esteem of female runners... my heart breaks every time I hear about female runners who just feel so bad about themselves because they can’t keep up (in individual sessions and backing up for session after session) and feel pressure from their coaches to do so. It just happens way too often. In Triathlon there is much more of an awareness that everyone is different and some people can handle more, some less etc. 
  Also in Triathlon there is much more acceptance that sometimes people are tired and just can’t nail every session – coaches are much more attuned to picking up when an athlete needs rest and recovery time. I think the distance running mentality is too rigid – you have to get through three quality session and x amount of work or you are weak/soft/fail etc. Women are so hard on themselves and even if the coach is attuned to the fact that some people can’t do as much, female distance runners have taken on and internalised these unwritten rules of what training consists of week in week out. In my coaching, my biggest task is to give people (sometimes males too) permission to be tired, have a day off, vary from the “have to” mentality of the weekly training cycle. Females (endurance athletes) are hard on themselves and obsessive – this is not managed at all well in distance running.
  For many of the reasons above, female Triathletes are healthier than female distance runners. They have to look after themselves in order to be competitive in the sport. Distance runners can get away with not looking after themselves for a period of time – and too often by the time it catches up with them it is too late. Plus I think the Triathlon women have much better role models and culture around self-management which includes eating well, recovery strategies, body maintenance (massages etc), etc.

In saying all of this, I think Australian swimming is probably the sport that supports female individual athletes within a very competitive, but team supported environment. Swimming Australia puts a lot of thought and work into how they support and manage female athletes in order to get the most out of them.



RT:  Is there anything that you wish you had done differently in your athletic career, and/or advice that you would pass on to aspiring female distance runners?

JG: Anything I would have done differently? Hell yes! ..and no... I am/was an obsessive female endurance athlete! I have overtrained myself into the ground (ruining my Sydney Olympic dream), and have at times not had enough confidence in myself. I have also had my eating issues/struggles over the years. I have made a lot of mistakes, but I think the fact that I have always tried to learn from them has made me a better athlete and person. It took me far too long to learn that me as a person was more important than my performances! All my experiences and lessons learned have given me better insight and empathy and enabled me to help, guide and support some other females (and males). Hopefully I can continue to do this. Big advice – seek support and assistance from others. Don’t try to do it all on your own. But get the support from others who listen to you and accept and treat you as the individual that you are – and who are positive for you.
I guess what I did well, looking back at my history, is that I built up steadily over many years. The first 10 years of my running life (pre-Tri and from age 14-23) I only ran 50k/wk, but with good quality. This set me up well to increase my training (but with a good background and very good base speed) as a Triathlete. When I finished Triathlon I had a very good endurance base from which to go to marathons. I think I would have better run PBs if I had met Dick earlier and spent my Tri years running, but I don’t regret my Tri career and give full credit to my coach Brett Sutton, who believed in me like no one else (and certainly a lot more than I believed in myself!) and showed me what was possible. I know I would not have achieved what I did without him.

RT:  To what extent do you think that 'eating issues' are affecting our female distance runners?

JG:  Eating issues... not talked about nearly enough and not nearly enough support or understanding. I have seen SO MANY running careers cut short because of eating issues in distance females.   I’m not sure of the solution to this one, but I think it comes back to better managing and supporting women being obsessive and hard on themselves, and also finding a way to create a more supportive, connected environment around our female runners. Women need to support each other. This issue is not absent in Triathlon, but it is much much less of an issue...

RT:  Anything else that stands out for you and suggestions for the sport?

JG:  I will repeat the highlighted bit above: Females are obsessive and hard on themselves and this is not managed at all well in distance running – by coaches, by other female distance runners, by the system...

By Cindy King.

In April after the national athletics championships, Athletics Australia (AA) announced its first round of nominations for the Australian athletics team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in

The purpose of this article is not to debate whether or not the “A” qualifiers are too difficult.  Based on world records and times that are being run around the world, 2:01.00 for the 800m, 4:09.50 for the 1500m, 15:20.00 for the 5,000m and 32:10.00 for the 10,000m certainly seem reasonable.

Good on the women who are out there competing and trying to make the team, but the question seems to be, why don’t we have more elite Australian female distance runners?

Elite distance coach and manager Nic Bideau does not think that things are as negative as the team named in April suggests. “This year we've had Nikki Chapple run 68.37 for a half marathon, Lisa Weightman win a marathon, Eloise Wellings place 2nd in Osaka 5000m, Kaila McKnight place 2nd in Daegu 1500m and Benita Willis place 17th at the world cross country.  Throw in Lara Tamsett, Lisa Flint, Becky Lowe, Zoe Buckman and Melissa Rollison and we certainly have produced some talent that is still active.  Most Commonwealth countries would be proud of those stocks. Perhaps the AA high performance team didn't look closely enough at what is required to compete for the medals at the Commonwealth Games when they wrote the selection criteria. Of those mentioned, only Eloise and Lisa are confirmed in the team but in my opinion at least 4 of the others, possibly 5 could be contenders for Commonwealth medals in October - if they manage to get themselves into the team.”

Athletics Australia National Distance Coach Tim O’Shaughnessy agrees “the situation is not as dire as it appears”.  He notes that in the Zatopek 10,000m race in December of last year, 6 women got under the “B” Standard for the Commonwealth Games.  And “the women’s 1500m is a mystery to me.  I believe that the talent is there but that they just have not had the opportunities or made the opportunities to be aggressive enough to make the times happen. We’re still hopeful that they will make the times. And in another case, Nikki Chappel’s injury has come at a bad time.”

Injuries appear to be the biggest hurdle he faces in developing our femaledistance stars.  “We not only lose them at the top end – we also lose them in the development phase.  At the end of 2009 I came across a picture of a development camp that was held at the beginning of 2008.  There were ten girls in the photo with Sonia O’Sullivan, many of whom had competed internationally, and within that 2-year period every single one of them had suffered a major injury, most of them stress fractures.”

This begs the question of why girls are so susceptible to stress fractures. Again, this is not an easy question to answer, but we know it is related to diet (getting adequate calcium and calories) and that a disproportionate number of elite female runners suffer from clinical and sub-clinical eating disorders in their efforts to achieve what they believe is the ideal female running body. But when they get too thin they lose both fat and muscle, and muscles work to protect bones from the stresses of elite running.

O’Shaughnessy notes that the boys coming through get injuries, but that they tend to be shorter-lasting. “It could be eating, or it could be a lack of general sport in the girls’ younger ages.  Their bodies do not seem to be conditioned well enough to handle the stresses and loads of training.  We need to do more work around this area.”  Eloise Wellings, who has qualified for the team in the 5,000m and the 10,000m, concurs with this theory. “Beyond nutrition, one of the reasons why I have suffered 10 stress fractures is that my muscles were not strong enough to support the impact of running. So I focus on lots of core work and a little bit of lower body work to build lean muscle in my legs.”

Anna Thompson, who ran the 5,000m at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and the 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games in 2006, also notes that we need to get a greater base of runners into the sport, on the theory that only a few of those who compete will become champions.  She ran a cross country race in Chiba, Japan in February of this year, and there were over 300 junior Japanese girls in a cross country race – “all fast!”

We are achieving the mass numbers of females competing at the non-elite level.  Approximately half of all Little Athletics participants are female, and in 2006 more women than men registered for The City to Surf Fun Run in Sydney, which is the largest in the world. It is in the area of elite female runners that we need to improve, not necessarily mass participation.

What can The Runner’s Tribe readers do to help ensure that the 2014 Commonwealth Games have a full complement of female distance runners?

1.      Encourage any girls that you know to compete in all sports, including athletics.

2.      Be a real track fan!  Go to track meets and support the athletes so that athletics becomes a popular sport for girls.

3.      If you are a parent or role model of a developing female athlete, encourage them to focus on strength and fitness, not leanness.

4.      There may still be more additions to the team, so cheer on all the athletes who do make it to India – it hasn’t been an easy road for them to get there!

by Cindy King

But First, What are the Great North Walk 100s?

The Great North Walk is a 250km walking track in the Central Coast of NSW, between Sydney and Newcastle.  The Great North Walk 100s (GNW100s) are two simultaneous trail races - you get to pick between 100 kilometers and 100 miles (160km).  The number of entrants is limited to 100 people in both races, with the entrants having to achieve certain cut-off times at Checkpoints, and finish within the overall time limits of 22 hours for the 100 kilometre race and 36 hours for the 100 mile race.  All entrants had to be over age 18, and have pre-qualified by running a 4:30 or faster marathon in the previous three years, or an equivalent performance over a greater distance.  There is support offered during the race – runners can have their ‘drop bags’ with personal supplies delivered to their nominated checkpoints, and they are allowed to have support runners.

 This is not a race for the wary, as the blunt warning on the race website testifies.  “Entrants need to cope with precipitous ascents and descents, muddy trails and creek crossings, slippery rocks and roots, and hard-to-follow trail…. there are a number of sections where running is impossible….  It is easy to get lost or injured on this course….”

 How did the races pan out this year?

 Temperatures in the mid-thirties made for tough conditions.  Race director Dave Byrnes commented that “…fortunately, runners adhered to the warnings to hydrate and I believe that there were only two who required IV drips to aid recovery.  There were, however, more withdrawals than would have been expected in cooler conditions.”

In the 100 mile event, second-time competitor Andrew Vize prevailed over Philip ‘Spud’ Murphy and Darrel Robbins.

 Female competitors made up only 15% of entrants for both races, but those who did compete proved once again that women fare well against men over the untramarathon distance. Peggy Macqueen of Queensland set a new course record in the 100 mile race, finishing 4^th overall in a time of 27:18, and there were 3 other women in the top 10 – Robin Cameron, Meredith Quinlan, and Allison Lilley.

In the 100 km event (which is actually 103.7, but who’s counting once you have raced that far; spare a thought for the 100 mile racers who actually race 14 km more than 100 miles….) Clarke McClymont prevailed over Matt Cooper and third placegetter Dave Coombs.  Matt had been a clear leader on record pace through the first three legs (81.7km) but then missed a turn in the last leg, losing as much as an hour, resulting in his being second by 28 minutes.  Marie Doke, Kelly Books and Kirrily Dear also achieved podium finishes in the 100 km.

 All of the 50 finishers have a story to tell.  One has to admire 66-year old Bill Thompson, who finished the 100 Mile event for the 4^th year in succession.  Each time he has finished within the last 15 minutes before the 36 hour cut-off. Runners now know that if they get passed by Bill they are in trouble. To give you more insight into what it takes to complete this event, we have interviewed four participants – one of the winners, a first-timer, and a married couple who completed the course together.  Here are there stories.

The Winner

Andrew Vize is a 28-year old Sydneysider who works for Macquarie Bank.  His meticulous preparation for the 100 mile event paid off for him a with over a 1-hour victory.

Was this your first GNW race?  What has been your running background so far?  

The 2009 race was my second year at the Great North 100 miles.  In 2008 I placed 6th in a time of 29:05.  In 2009 I managed to win the event and knock almost 4 hours of last year’s time.   

I’ve been running since the middle of 2007 when I met the Ultramarathonman, Dean Karnazes.  He signed a copy of his book “Confessions of an all night runner” and 3 days later I ran a marathon.  I’ve done a lot of training since then and I truly enjoy all aspects of this sport. 

I’ve also completed two 6 foot tracks, two North Face 100km races and ran 250km from Newcastle to Sydney along the Great North Walk in 66 hours and 36 minutes – normally it takes two weeks to hike.  

I’m only just beginning in this sport and I really appreciate the camaraderie and advice from the more experienced runners.  I have a lot of ideas for future runs which I cannot wait to start planning and completing with my mates. 

Unlike some competitors, I don’t use other races in the year as training runs.  I keep them separate.  I really need to put a lot into each race including making sure I am both physically and mentally 100% ready to stand on the start line and give it everything I have for the next 50km ,100km, 100 miles or 250km.  You cannot have any doubts. 

What made you choose to do the event? 

I really respect the course because it’s totally brutal.  If you have any weaknesses at all this course will find them very quickly and then absolutely hammer you for them over the next 175km or until you DNF.   

My preferred events are long, tough trail races where you are totally smashed by the end of it.  I want the course to take me right to the edge, show me what’s there and then if I’m good enough on the day I will be able to come back from the abyss and run strongly all the way to the finish.  It has to challenge me both physically and mentally.  The course is scenic and brutal in equal measures and they don’t come much tougher than the Great North 100 miles.   

I like a race where competitors are forced to deal with the consequences of actions taken earlier in the race.  Some people go out hard, and try to hold on.  Others go out slowly and speed up as the race goes on.  For every action you take on the first day you will be forced to deal with the consequences over and over again during the night or into the second day and there is nowhere to hide out there and some people don’t like the answers they are presented with on the day. 

Also the Terrigal Trotters and the race Director Dave Byrnes are perfect hosts and every single volunteer makes the event a huge success. 

How did you train for the event? 

My training for the event started on 1 September, which gave me roughly 10 weeks until race day.  During the 10 weeks I logged 1,100 kilometres and half of this was done on the actual GNW course.  My weekly long runs ranged from 45km-72km and were done mostly on Saturday’s with the occasional night run with pelting hail and overhead lightning storms to keep us company. 

During the week I train around Balmoral doing hill sessions, faster trail running and a flat long distance run on Wednesday.  I try to run twice per day and run back to back days to give me two full recovery days per week. 

I have a great group of friends that I train with for the long runs and I always look forward to spending time with them on the trail outside of race conditions.  It’s my way of unwinding from a busy week and it is always terrific fun to see who will get lost, fall over, run out of food or cop most of the sledging on any particular day. 

Were you confident that you could win it? 

No, never.  I was still looking over my shoulder in the last 100 metres as I ran onto the beach at Patonga.   

I never even considered that I could, should or would win the Great North 100 miles, I’m still buzzing from the win and it feels great. 

I was the first to leave Checkpoint 4 at 103km but with 72km and over 12 hours of racing through the night still ahead of me I never allowed my thoughts to drift from the few metres of trail directly in front of me and where my body was at in terms of heat, hydration, food intake and any signs of muscle fatigue. I was very lucky to have an experienced trail runner, Marcus Warner, as my pacer and together we ran well through the night and kept a good distance between us and the 2nd and 3rd placed runners – Phillip Murphy and my great mate Darrel Robins. 

My crew which comprised my sister, Rebecca Vize, and my fiancé, Laura Petherbridge.  They were responsible for making sure I was in and out of the 6 checkpoints quickly and brought me up to speed on splits to other runners behind.  As a runner you really have very little idea about how the race is unfolding in front of or behind you and you need this information in order to adjust your race plan over the next stage. 

What was the biggest challenge? 

Without a doubt the heat was the major threat to a successful race for each and every person standing on the start line.  You can prepare for the massive hills, you can prepare for the distance and you can prepare for the non-stop running through the night, but for me the heat was the great unknown.   

Just about every other foreseeable issue can be mitigated by targeted training and a well thought out race plan.   

You can try to train for the heat, but sitting in a sauna or a steam room for 30 minutes is nothing like running hundreds of kilometres under a blazing sun with temperatures in the mid to high 30’s. 

How do you stay awake for that long????? 

I make sure I have plenty of sleep in the three nights leading up to the race.  The night before the race I don’t sleep much at all, but I am relaxed and this doesn’t worry me as I usually eat my race breakfast during the night when I can’t sleep.   

We also had a chat with his ‘pacer’, Marcus Warner, who provided insight into Andrew’s strengths:

“There was no better prepared athlete for this course. He had trained on every section of the course in all conditions including the heat, and the night sections he ran at night with full gear. He had his nutrition and his race strategy very well documented and he had an excellent crew. I witnessed him spend no more than 90 seconds at anyone checkpoint with his crew knowing exactly what he needed to eat and take with him for the next 30km section. His briefing of my role as pacer was excellent. By training together I knew exactly the shape he would be in at the 100km point and knew exactly what I had to do to push him hard through the night if he was likely to podium and over the 78kms we ran together we executed this perfectly. When Tim Cochrane came in ahead of him at 100km point with a 10 minute lead and looking very unwell. I knew I had to push Andrew to get out ahead of Tim and post a significant lead for the first two night sections. Andrew lifted perfectly and made my job so easy.  By the second night section we had a 1hr lead over our nearest rival and knew that for the final 25kms we just had to hold our course, maintain strategy and make no silly mistakes. Andrew Vize doesn't make mistakes ! so I knew we had it. I couldn’t think of a better person to pace and he was very genuine in his thanks for all involved in his success. I think he has a big future.

This is part 1 of a 2 part article. Stay tuned for the second installment...

Kleinert Interview - Berlin World Champs

Brought to you by Edward Ovadia who is in Berlin with official IAAF accreditation covering the championships for Runnerstribe.com

The Aussies were well represented in the mens 400m semi finals, the first event up on the evening of day five. In the first semi was Joel Milburn, the second Sean Wroe, and the third John Steffensen. The qualification requirements were strict, with only the first two making it through, and then the next two fastest. Milburn struggled a bit in his semi, after not having had the best season. Wariner won the semi in 44.69. Wroe gave it a good shot, and looked to be coming home well, but just lost the legs a little in the final straight, and only managed to finish fourth in 45.32. LaShawn Merritt won in a new world leading time 44.37, and looks to be the one to beat. Steffensen had a big crack, and was close to leading with 100m to go, but like Wroe didn't have the legs. Steffensen was fifth in 45.50. But while none of the boys made it though to the final, the relay hopes are looking brighter than ever, and the Aussies could be set for something special there.

Milburn: "I haven't had the best European season leading into this, I've been training awesome, the last five or six weeks I've put in a really good block of training, so I've known that the form's there, it's just I haven't had the race fitness. I've been out running 46s, not running the low 45s I need to run."

Wroe: "You set such high goals for yourself, and you've been in a position where you've made the semi finals before, and obviously made the semi finals last year, and you just want to go that one step further. I mean, I really gave it a shake out there tonight, I attacked the first 200m, but just ran out of legs in the last 100m."

Steffensen: "I put myself up there, I declared I was fit, and it's a testament to the guys who beat me, they've been running well all season. It's just championship running, and if you don't come in championship form, you're not gonna be in the final! The relay's always exciting, and obviously on paper we've got a pretty great time. I think we all need a bit of a rest in the next couple of days, but then we'll sit down with team management and try and freshen up and out together the best possible team so we can get the best possible result come Saturday!

Merritt: "I feel good, that was a great race. I wanted to run an excellent race and I raced smartly. So with 44.37 I cannot complain. Jeremy Wariner? He made the final and he is the main competitor. But there are six [other] men in the final and I take them all seriously."

In the womens 100m hurdles, Sally McLellan ran a solid semi final to come second in a fast 12.66 seconds. But Dawn Harper took it out in a personal best 12.48, to take over from McLellan as the fastest woman in the Wolrd Champs field this year. Lopes-Schliep also looked good in winning her heat in 12.60.

Usain Bolt looked back to his old self after looking a bit tired in the first two rounds of the 200m. He cruised to become the fastest qualifier for the final, running an easy 20.08 seconds. He looks set for at least a 19.50 in the final, but whether he can dip under that and challenge another world record will be seen on the day! Wallace Spearmon won the other semi final in 20.14, but didn't do it as easily as Bolt did.

Bolt: "I am feeling much better than yesterday. My birthday is on Friday, but I did not plan a party. I will have the day for myself, but I cannot do a lot because the 4x100m relay is on Saturday. Yet, I will not run the relay heats on Friday. As far as the 200m are concerned and a new world record? I have really not done the same amount of work like I did for the 100m."

Next up was the womens 200m heats, where all the favourites made it through easily. Most impressive was Allyson Felix, who won easily, as did Marshevet Hooker, who won her heat in a season best 22.51, to be the fastest qualifier for the quarter finals.

Then came the big one! The mens 1500m final. Could Lagat defend his title? Can the Kenyan duo of Asbel Kiprop and Augustine Choge take it out? Will Mehdi Baala's comeback take him all the way to the gold? Who else will figure? Will it be fast? We were about to find out.

Choge took the lead, with Lagat tucked in on his shoulder, and passed one lap in 59 seconds. 800m was passed in the same order, in 2:00. Kiprop was at the back, and stayed there. With one lap to go the clock was at 2:44, and the race was on. Lagat got boxed in, and Kiprop was last with 300m to go, and left himself too much to do. (Kiprop was apparently warned by Kip Keino not to be last at the bell in the final after the semi final.) Mekonnen from Ethiopia took the lead with 300m to go, and made a run for home. Kamel, who had come Down Under early this year, kicked down the straight, and managed to get ahead of Mekonnen and a fast finishing Lagat, who had also had too much to do after getting out of his box. Coming into the home straight, everyone was still in it, but when the dust settled it was Kamel first, in a 50.5 second last lap, Mekonnen second, and Lagat third, with Kiprop out of the medals in fourth.

Kamel: "I am really happy because nobody expected such a race today. Nobody expected Yusuf to win the world title. Yes, I was confident that I can win because I had good times at 800 metres and I felt OK. Kenyans promised they were gonna do a fast race but they did not. But even if they did, I was ready for it and I was not afraid."

Mekonnen: "I am delighted to have got silver. It's the first time Ethiopia took silver at the World Championships [in the 1500m], and I'm very happy."

Lagat: "It is disappointing to surrender the World title,. But I proved that I can still run with the young guys. I was able to come out here and got third place. Everything I was trying to avoid in this race [tactics-wise], it happened. Yusuf Saad Kamel is a worthy successor, he is the son of Billy Konchellah, a great Kenyan runner. So he is not a surprise for me. What actually surprised me was that Kiprop and Choge will not be on the podium, I feel bad for them. Even if I am the oldest runner in the field with 34 years, I still have the hunger to beat the field. So I am looking for Korea [in 2011] and the London Olympics. I do not look at age, but at progression."

In the womens 100m hurdles final, one of Australia's big medal hopes was Sally McLellan, Olympic silver medallist, and a real contender for the gold. Problem is, so is the entire field, with seven of the eight finalists having PBs between 12.45 and 12.51. McLellan got off to a great start, and was tied for the lead over the first six hurdles. But then the rest of the field started to catch up to her, and unfortunately McLellan hit the last hurdle and they went past her. In the end it was the Jamaican Brigitte Foster-Hylton who took it out in 12.51, from Lopes-Schliep, and Ennis-London, with McLellan gutsy in fifth.

McLellan: "I don't have a reaction yet, I'm still a bit in shock. I didn't have the best weeks leading up to these championships, I had a really bad back injury, I couldn't even get up without assistance. So yeah, it wasn't the best week before Worlds, but I think that was my best race of all three of them, even though it wasn't the best time, I hit a couple of hurdles, and I think as I get on in the European season coming up, I'll be able to get better and better with each race."

The mens discus final was a thrilling one for the German crowd. Poland's Piotr Malachowski took on Germany's Robert Harting. Malachowski took the early lead from Harting by 50cm, and extended it to nearly a metre with a throw of 69.15 to claim the Polish national record. But Harting was never far behind in every round, and with the two throwing one after the other the competition was very exciting. Then in the last round, Harting, who was first up, launched his best attempt of 69.43, to claim the German record and take the lead in front of his home crowd. Malachowski had one throw to respond, but could only manage 67.33, and the gold was Harting's. The German crowd went wild!

The womens 800m was a very anticipated race, with the young phenomenon Semenya from South Africa taking on the World Champion Jepkosgei from Kenya. The first lap was passed in high 56 seconds, with Semenya leading the whole wa.y. She slowly started to string the field out in the second lap, with Jepkosgei sitting in behind. But with 200m to go Semenya kicked, and it was game over. She flew home to win by ten metres from Jepkosgei who just outdipped a surprise bronze medallist in Jennifer Meadows from the UK, who ran a personal best 1:57.93 to come third. Semenya ran 1:55.45, a world leading time, personal best, and 26th fastest time in history. Very impressive for an eighteen year old whose best last year was 2:04.23!
 

For six days, the world championships have been about letting your head go. On night seven, as real storms raged around the stadium _ not surreal, Lightning Bolt storms _ lightning flashed, thunder rolled, rain pelted down, it was a night for keeping heads.

Dani Samuels notably kept hers and the Sydney 21-year-old became a world champion in the discus _ more of that later. Many others lost their heads, or had them scrambled by the rain delays and the accompanying cold snap. Only four men cleared higher than 2.23 in a high jump competition hit particularly hard by the wet weather.

As ever, there were also some amazing brain snaps in the middle-distances, the semi-finals of men's 800 metres and women's 1500.

I have to admit to an intense dislike of the competition model which produces three semi-finals of the 800. Having only two automatic qualifiers from a semi-final seems to me at least one too few, and the two non-automatic qualifiers usually come from the same race. So instead of 2-2-2 and two more, it is invariably 2-4-2.

It also means that you cannot afford the slightest mistake. One wrong move and you're out.

That said, one thing I love about the system is that it usually ensures three cracking races. The first round and the final can be tactical; in the semi it's just run, run, run as fast as you can.

Somehow, the second semi-final here was jam packed with superstars, while the first and third were comparatively thin. Semi-final two had the defending world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Alfred Kirwa Yego, the Olympic silver medallist Ahmad Ismail, the Olympic fifth placegetter and new world 1500 champion Yusuf Kamel, 2004 Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy and perennial medal contender Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.

Talk about loaded: if the second semi were a ship, it would have been sinking way beyond the Plimsoll line.

As it turned out, all three semis produced carnage and, surprisingly, the fastest winning time of the three was Kamel's 1:45.01.

In the first, Abubaker Kaki unusually took the lead, presumably to eliminate the chance of being boxed. Instead, he was clipped from behind by Bram Som of the Netherlands. He clattered to the ground, Som came over the top of him and Poland's Marcel Lewandowski, unable to avoid the pair, came down as well.

This at least meant only two could qualify from the race, but the drama continued into the loaded dog of semi-final two as Ismail pulled out at the bell and Kiprop inexplicable stopped running at 600. Kamel, Borzakovskiy, Yego and Mulaudzi all got through from the race.

The third semi was tame by comparison, but still saw a dramatic change in the final few strides as David Rudisha lost form completely and was tipped out of second by Yeimer Lopez of Cuba.

Phew! The women's 1500 semis followed the men's 800 and saw the entire field in the second heat dawdle around and rely on a kick when they knew exactly what time they had to run. Chief casualty was Olympic champion Nancy Langat, who crashed literally, falling heavily to the track as she lunged through the finish line.

All this demonstrated one of my favourite sayings: "Never under-estimate the collective stupidity of a field of middle-distance runners.

Anyway, back to Samuels, who amply demonstrated the value of keeping cool, but also that triumph and disaster are two sides of the same coin.

The long rain delay meant she did not have any warm-up throws, and Samuels' first effort in the final wobbled out of her hand and outside the sector on the right scarcely more than 30 metres from where she stood.

It could have rocked her, but Samuels steadied and threw 59 metres in the second round. This still left her vulnerable to finishing outside the top eight until she improved to 62 in the third round. A 64-metre throw in the fourth _ the first of two personal bests _ put her into a medal, and a 65.44 in the fifth saw her vault into the gold medal position.

Cool, calm and collected the gold. What more can you say?


 

Len Johnson was The Melbourne Age athletics writer for over 20 years, covering five Olympics, 10 world championships and five Commonwealth Games. He is the author of The Landy Era, From Nowhere to the Top of the World, and a former national class distance runner (2.19.32 marathon) who trained with Chris Wardlaw and Robert de Castella.