We’ve ticked into December, so talk about Christmas is no longer the sole province of the commercially voracious.

So let’s start this ‘all I want for Christmas’ list with a wish for a couple of Olympic 10,000 metres qualifiers on 10 December to celebrate the opening of Melbourne’s new Lakeside Stadium.

The chances that we will get them have just been enhanced with the announcement that Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Micah Kogo will run the men’s race. Kogo is the sixth-fastest man all-time with his personal best 26:35.63 set in winning at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels in 2006.

With Kogo – plus a couple more yet to be announced – helping drive the pace, Ben St Lawrence and Craig Mottram will have every opportunity to run the 27:45 Olympic A-standard.

Something similar in the women’s race looks beyond even the most optimistic Christmas wish-list, but if the likes of Emily Birchacek, who had a great run in the Chiba Ekiden Relay, and Jess Trengrove can get down into the 32-minute range there will at least be a platform to build on.

Speaking of Mottram brings me back to one of last year’s wishes. Back then, I was speculating on the comeback prospects of Mottram, dual 400 metres hurdles world champion Jana Pittman and 50km walk world champion Nathan Deakes.

Mottram certainly made a big step back in 2011. Deakes got half-way there, completing his first 50km since Osaka 2007 and then leading the world championships race in Daegu for over 30km before succumbing to hamstring cramps. Pittman took one step forward – beating Lauren Boden in 55.75 in Perth – before taking one back almost immediately.

So it would be great to see all three up and firing again in 2012.

Our 2009 world champions – Steve Hooker and Dani Samuels – were also down on form in 2011, so a return to previous performance levels is also on the wish-list for them. Hooker is approaching – but, crucially, not yet at - that stage of his career at which anything further is a bonus. Samuels, though, the youngest ever world champion in her event, surely has plenty more to give.

Speaking of world champion curses – if there is such a thing, may Sally Pearson avoid it in her build-up to London.

Another high performer who has been on the injured list is national shot put record holder Scott Martin. The big fellow is listed to compete at the Zatopek meeting, along with Dale Stevenson, so let’s hope he gets there and gets going.

Fingers crossed, too, for Ryan Gregson, who managed to progress to the semi-finals of the 1500 in Daegu despite significant injury worries for the second year in a row. Gregson is a major talent, but it is hard to do much if you cannot get to the line fit and in good shape.

What about from an international perspective? The most fervent wish, I guess, is that Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and, now, Yohan Blake, all get to the line in London fit and running well. On recent history, it is probably a forlorn prospect.

Can Kenenisa Bekele build on his late-2011 return in the long-distance track events, to regain the form and fitness to not just run fast, but also to do it in a championship race. He’ll need to be at his best to withstand Mo Farah, Ibrahim Jeilan, Galen Rupp and whatever new talent comes forward.

Ethiopia also needs an injection of fresh talent, or a revival of the existing talent, to challenge Vivian Cheruiyot and Linet Masai in the women’s distance events.

I hope, too, that David Rudisha can add an Olympic title to his world record and world title in the 800 metres.

I hope that the Polish revival in men’s pole vault and the emergence of a couple of Cuban stars continues.

Finally, let’s hope the wonderful blossoming of marathon talent we have seen through 2011 comes together for a pair of memorable Olympic marathons in London.

If all those Christmas wishes are granted, it is going to be a grand Olympic year.

National record holder Ryan Gregson (NSW) has this morning ran home strongly to hold his position and advance to the men’s 1500m semi-finals at the IAAF world championships in Daegu (KOR).

Clocking 3:40.01 to finish 8th in his heat, Gregson’s time was the second fastest by athletes outside the auto-advance places and the fourth fastest ever by an Australian at the championships. It is a sign of continuing improvement for the Flame star after a slow comeback from an injury that forced him out of last year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi (IND).

“It has been a really tough twelve months so a result like this here is a bonus, to get through to the next round is a sign of a gradual return to where I was last year," Gregson said.

“I just pushed and pushed up that home straight, I knew that I might sit outside the top six so I had to get the time required. 

"Honestly, I was hoping that it would be a little slower so that I could use my finishing pace to go through automatically but that didn’t happen so I just did as much as I could.”

Unfortunately, Gregson’s training partner and fellow men’s 1500m starter Jeff Riseley (Vic) did not progress. The Australian 1500m champion, Riseley today crossed the line in 3:42.22 to finish one spot outside the advance places in 7th.

“I don’t know what to say, I am just so disappointed,” Riseley said.

"I have had a great year in training, and thought I had it all setup ready to go here but out there today it didn't happen."

Competition continues at Daegu Stadium tonight, with three Flame athletes set to don the green and gold.

Taking to the thrower’s cage is Australian discus throw record holder Benn Harradine (Vic) in the men’s discus throw final as he looks to recapture season best (66.07m) form, while Lauren Boden (ACT) and Kaila McKnight (Vic) will push to advance through to finals in the women’s 400m hurdles and 1500m respectively.

In international action, Kenyan world record holder David Rudisha will lead out in the men’s 800m final, 2008 Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) will soar in the women’s pole vault final and American LaShawn Merritt will start in the men’s 400m final.

13th IAAFworld championships

Day 4

Tuesday, August 30

19:00 (20:00 AEST):

W 400m Hurdles (SF): Lauren Boden (ACT)

19:55 (20:55 AEST):

M Discus Throw (F): Benn Harradine (Vic)

20:35 (21:35 AEST):

W 1500m (SF): Kaila McKnight (Vic) 

ENDS

Current world lead Mitchell Watt will headline the men’s long jump at the Samsung Diamond League in Stockholm (SWE) this Friday night, with the IAAF world championship bronze medallist set to lead an Australian start list of eight.

His first competitive hit-out since injuring his heel last month, Watt is sure his cautious recovery will bode well as he maintains his focus on winning gold at the IAAF world championships in Daegu.

“The doctor said about ten days ago that it was fine to jump on, and I haven’t had any pain for about two weeks,” Watt said.

“But with the world championships as my main goal my coach Gary Bourne and I have decided to take it slow, avoid jump sessions and give it as much time as possible.

“All of my training has been going better than ever and I’m sure it will be fine, I’m just keen to test it and hopefully get something big out in the process.”

Watt arrived at Athletics Australia’s Cologne base as the best in the world this year after twice leaping 8.44m, at the Australian Athletics Championships and Round 2 of the Diamond League in Shanghai (CHN), before soaring 8.20m (w: +3.0) at the Bad Langensalza Long Jump Meet in Germany last month.

“My build up over here has been good, Cologne seems to be a bit quieter than I remember in 2009 but I think that’s because the world champs were in Berlin that year,” Watt continued.

“Personally it’s very different though because leading into the last world champs I wasn’t expected to do as well as I did whereas this year I came to Europe as the world leader, will hopefully head to Daegu in the same fashion and I want to return home as the world champion.

“After that I can assess my build-up to London and there is no better way to head into an Olympic year than as the best in the world. I think we all know that theselection trials will be here before we know it and I want to make sure that I am on my game both in Daegu and as the Australian season fast approaches.”

Joining Watt on the runway is Olympic champion Irving Saladino (PAN) and fellow AustralianRobbie Crowther. Saladino in Paris two weeks ago jumped 8.40m (w: +0.2) to win and challenge for the number one spot, while Crowther will make his Diamond League debut.

Watt continued: “Saladino’s jump in Paris was massive so I am hoping to try and beat him, but for the most part I am treating it as a rehearsal for the world champs

"I want to get something big out early so I know my heel is right and from there we’ll see what happens

“It’s great to Robbie on the start list too, he has been jumping consistently at 8.00m and I’d be rapt to see him PB as a starting point but maybe even get the qualifier to push for selection.”

Also competing in the field is national record holder and Commonwealth discus champion Benn Harradine, who at the Paris Diamond League heaved 64.98m for 5th. Olympic and world champions Gerd Kanter (EST) and Virgilijus Alekna (LTU) will challenge him in the circle.

Harradine has enjoyed an impressive European campaign to date including five podium finishes and a season best performance of 66.07m, just 38 centimetres shy of his personal best.

On the track, Australian record holder Ryan Gregson and world championships bound Jeff Riseleywill join Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop (KEN) in the men’s 1500m, while Lachlan Renshaw andTamsyn Manou will compete in the men’s and women’s 800m events respectively.

Tristan Thomas rounds out the Australians in action in the men’s 400m alongside world indoor champion Jamaal Torrance (USA), with the Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder racing after two top-three performances at the Spitzen Leichathletik (46.53) and the Pergine Valsugana Meeting Internazionale (47.24).

To view and download start lists from the DN Galan, please click here.

IAAF Diamond League – Round 11

(DN Galan)

Stockholm (SWE)

Friday, July 29

4:30pm (12:30am Saturday, July 30 AEST)

800m: Lachlan Renshaw (NSW) (non-Diamond League event)

5:00pm (1:00am Saturday, July 30 AEST)

Discus throw: Benn Harradine (VIC)

6:15pm (2:15am Saturday, July 30 AEST)

400m: Tristan Thomas (ACT) (non-Diamond League event)

7:05pm (3:05am Saturday, July 30 AEST)

800m: Tamsyn Manou (VIC) (non-Diamond League event)

8:10pm (4:10am Saturday, July 30 AEST)

Long jump: Mitchell Watt (QLD), Robbie Crowther (ACT)

9:05pm (5:05am Saturday, July 30 AEST)

1500m: Ryan Gregson (NSW), Jeff Riseley (VIC)

ENDS

One of the consequences – intended or otherwise - of the IAAF’s shortening of the qualifying period for this year’s world championships is that some events have an alarmingly low number of qualified athletes.

For those still unaware, the qualifying period for Daegu opened on 1 October last year, cutting nine months of the period athletes have to attain the entry standards. In effect, it was a whole season, as only the early part of the southern hemisphere season falls into the last three months of the year.

With many athletes spending a good part 2011 focused on the process of making their national teams, it leaves precious little time to actually post qualifying performances. The impact is more severely felt in middle and long-distance events where the tactics of getting in the first three can militate against achieving the time required to qualify.

Indeed, as the next phase of the Diamond League kicks in with meetings over the weekend in Paris and Birmingham, only a dozen men (on a three per nation basis) have so far achieved the A-standard of 3:35.00 in the 1500 metres.

The situation is not as stark in the 800. Nineteen athletes (again on the three per nation basis and assuming I didn’t go cross-eyed counting) have attained the A-mark of 1:45.40.

Of course, one athlete per nation can be entered with a B-standard, but it is an alarming thought that just over a month before entries close, the world championships 1500 could be run as a straight final if it were restricted to A-qualifiers.

As noted, the 800 is better, but there are still not enough A-qualifiers to fill the three semi-finals so mysteriously beloved of championships organisers these days.

The state of the women’s 1500 is not much healthier, in terms of A-qualifiers. Only 16 women (three per nation) have run 4:05.90 or faster. Around 20 have bettered the 800 standard of 1:59.80.

The US championships had close and exciting racing in the distances, but no US man has an A-standard in the 1500. No British runner is qualified and no Australian either. We expect that to change, of course, but the time constraints leave little margin for error.

What’s even more disturbing, is the paucity of qualifying races. Outside the Diamond League and a couple of other meetings, very few men’s 1500s are won in 3:35.00 or better. Yet in the orchestrated races of the League, almost anyone can qualify. Eighth place in Doha and seventh in Shanghai ran under 3:35.00.

Admittedly, these were Kenyan runners who won’t count on a three per nation basis, but is eighth in Doha any more worthy of a run in the world championships right now than the winner of highly competitive races in the Australian or US titles (neither of whom is yet qualified).

 I’ve written before about the paucity of 10,000 metres races around the world which produce qualifying times. A 3:35 standard appears to be pushing the 1500 the same way.

There are hidden ‘kickers’ in other changes announced for this year. The cost to fans of the decision to make the first round of the 100 metres a ‘qualifying round’, with a small number going through to join the qualified athletes in what used to be the quarter-final round, has already been noted. No longer is it possible to buy a ticket for the first session of athletics at a world championships or Olympics and see all the best sprinters.

But there will be a nasty surprise awaiting athletes, too, if the change means a more savage pruning from the new ‘first round’ to the semi-finals. Sprinters who used to be able to count on at least two races, with a third, in the semis, if they ran their socks off, will now find themselves getting just one. Lucky these blokes will be safely off the track when they find out they won’t be coming back the next day!

__

Regardless of the qualifying standards, it’s been a good week for Australian distance runners, with Jeff Riseley and Kaila McKnight added to the Daegu team after achieving the standards in the men’s 800 and women’s 1500, respectively.

With Craig Mottram and Collis Birmingham racing over 5000 metres in the Birmingham DL on Sunday and Riseley, Tamsyn Manou (nee Lewis) running the 800, and Ryan Gregson and Jeremy Roff among those chasing the 1500 qualifier over the coming weeks, let’s hope several more join them in the team for Daegu.

Footnote: Matt Centrowitz, Leonel Manzano and Andrew Wheating, the US Daegu men's 1500 selections (Bernard Lagat, second in the trial, ceded his place to Wheating), all got the world championships A-standard at the Paris DL. Rather proving the point about DL races, trials winner Centrowitz finished 11th (3:34.69), Manzano sixth (3:33.66) and Wheating ninth (3:34.39).

I’m at Falls Creek at the moment. On the way down here my iPod broke so I was listening to Michael Buble and Dixie Chicks CD’s. My Dad is a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks and I have a soft spot for them on the odd occasion. Musically, I’m pretty diverse, but lately I’ve had a huge obsession with Rihanna, for obvious reasons.

Falls actually isn’t that far from Wollongong. I left at 8am and by 4pm, I had driven here, had a petrol stop, a few toilet breaks, a grocery shop, and unpacked and settled into the apartment. So I reckon the actual driving time is around 6 and a half hours, which isn’t too bad. 

Running wise, things are going alright. I had a couple of setbacks with my foot but now it seems that it’s going to be okay. I’m up here with Brett Robinson, ‘Cracker’ Jack Bolas and Craig ‘Rowdy’ Miller. Cracker and Rowdy are Americans who joined the Melbourne Track Club last year and have both fitted in well. Brett has come up to Wollongong from Canberra before and trained with me and we work well together and seem to have a few tussles in training. Rowdy is an easy going and laid-back customer which is why he received a fitting nickname. Cracker is a bit of a hulk and spends most of his time working on his party muscles, but most of the time they’re all pretty good company. 

I can’t say I really do much in my spare time when I’m training at altitude. I’m not someone that needs to be out doing things. I’m quite happy just laying low and watching movies and TV shows on my hard drive. I’ve been getting through ‘Breaking Bad’ which was recommended to me by Adrian Blincoe. It’s a good series so far and I can’t believe how hectic everything gets toward the end of season two. 

I’ve got to a decent level in my training but I won’t race this Australian season as I’d probably struggle to beat the girls. My first race will be the 1200m leg of the distance medley relay at the Penn Relays in late April. After that I will head up to Mt. Laguna, just up from San Diego in California to do a month of altitude training. From there that will bring us to June and my coach Nic Bideau will make a choice as to what happens from there. The main thing I have to do though is get to that point with no interruptions so I can give myself the opportunity to qualify for the World Championships. 

Cracker is going to come to mine for a little bit after the Sydney Track Classic to see Wollongong and get some training done. I told him that he will scare the kids away with his monstrous chest but as we speak he has got his head phones in and pumping out some incline bench. Be well.

RG: Skip stepped up my mileage gradually over time when I was younger so when I was 17 I was probably doing up over 100km, maxing out at around 110km

Q: How do you have both the speed for the 1500 and the aerobic ability for the 5k to nab all 3 records within a few weeks?

RG: I'm lucky enough to be naturally quite fast so I mainly work on my endurance which is my weakness. So I was able to train more like a 5km man.

Q: As a 17 year old how fast did you do your long runs/ recovery runs?

RG: All recovery runs very easy because it's all in the name, 'recovery'. Long runs harder, if I feel good, push it along a bit, but if I'm tired, I just jog easy.

Q: What was the biggest difference between your training from 2006 to 2007?

RG: Nothing. Just consistently getting it done for a number of years made everything click in November 2007.

Q:  As a 17 year old did you ever have rest days?

RG: Always had a rest day on Friday when I grew up. Skip thought it was essential to have a full day of recovery. But now I run much more, I need all the days of the week to spread the running around.

Q:  As a 17 year old how many days a week would you train on the track?

RG:  In winter never and in summer once a week. Reps still weren't short though. Always working on strength with an occasional shorter tune up session to get me ready for a race.

Ryan Gregson, three minutes 31.06 seconds, 1500 metres Australian record, Monaco Diamond League Meeting. Wow!

That would just about sum up the general reaction to Gregson’s performance. We knew he was good, knew he was that good even: but that good, this soon? Wow!

It’s not so easy to get ambushed by a result these days what with cable, live internet streaming, the 24-hour news cycle and Runner’s Tribe. It’s sobering to think that it was only 15 years ago _ 1995 _ that the IAAF went ‘live’, well live-ish, anyway, with internet cover of its Atlanta Grand Prix meeting held to mark the opening of the 1996 Olympic stadium.

Back then, even us mainstream media people had limited access to results. Unless it was big enough to make the morning radio news you had to wait until you got to the office to access the overnight results.

Now, however, many results are only as far away as the importance you place on them. Thus, if you have cable and an international sports channel, you can watch live in the middle of the night. Otherwise, you can log on to the internet as soon as you get up.

Performances such as Ryan Gregson’s in Monaco, however, transcend the technology to elicit a delighted ‘wow’. A ‘pb’ by four-and-a-half seconds, breaking a national record that had stood for 18 years, and all this from a man just turned 20 _ ‘wow’ barely covers it.

It was an amazing performance in an amazing race. Silas Kiplagat of Kenya improved by five seconds to win in 3:29.27, the fastest in the world this year, the fastest since 2006. He became the 19^th man to break 3:30, Amine Laalou, the Moroccan who followed him home, the 20^th.

Gus Choge, the Commonwealth Games 5000 metres champion, was third in 3:30.22. Choge was going to win in something like 3:28 before the ‘bear’ jumped on his back on the final bend. He had led by 10 metres at 1200.

Then came the two revelations _ Andrew Wheating, the US NCAA 800/1500 champion from Oregon, and Gregson _ in 3:30.90 and 3:31.06, respectively. Six of the first eight ran PBs, the other two _ Choge and Bernard Lagat _ their fastest of the year.

Kiplagat’s previous best _ if you had looked hard enough _ was a 3:34.28 chasing Asbel Kiprop home in the Kenyan championships. Among those he beat was Nicholas Kemboi, who before Monaco held the year’s fastest time, so he was obviously more than handy.

So ‘wow’ it was, for Gregson and all-round.