Athletics – Worldwide Sports News

July 25, 2024

Purple reign: why Paris Olympics track could be the fastest in history

The Stade de France track has a new colour and, organisers hope, could provide the platform for a host of new records

It looks a little different. Feels a little different too. For centuries, purple has been associated with royalty. Now, for the first time in Olympic history, it will be the colour of the track. And in Paris they believe a new speed king has arrived in town.

One of the few athletes to step on the track so far is Alain Blondel, the head of athletics at Paris 2024 and a former European decathlon champion. “It’s even nicer than we expected,” he tells the Guardian. “The general feedback is: ‘Wow.’ That it looks great. That it is spectacular.”

July 24, 2024

Wada move after Chinese doping case could threaten LA 2028 Olympics

Wada takes US anti-doping agency to independent court
Ruling could jeopardise 2028 and 2034 Olympics

The World Anti-Doping Agency will take the United States Anti-Doping Agency to the Independent Compliance Review Committee next month, a landmark move that could jeopardise the country hosting the 2028 and 2034 Olympics.

Wada is taking the step as a result of a dispute with Usada over its handling of a case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance in 2021. The move would be the first time Wada has taken the US anti-doping body to the Independent Compliance Review Court and could come with huge implications for global sport given the US’s outsized commercial influence.

July 21, 2024

Nina Kennedy among three Australians to fine-tune for Olympics with wins in London

Reigning world champion clears 4.85m in women’s pole vault
Mackenzie Little and Oliver Hoare take out Diamond League events

Australian athletes Nina Kennedy, Mackenzie Little and Oliver Hoare have geared up for the Paris Olympics with victories at the London Diamond League on Saturday, while the women’s 4x100m relay team impressed with another area record.

Reigning joint-world champion Kennedy cleared 4.85m to win the women’s pole vault, as Little threw a personal best of 66.27m to take out the women’s javelin at London Stadium. Hoare finished first in the men’s one mile with a season-best 3:49.03 to secure his first Diamond League victory and round out Australia’s biggest gold medal haul in one day of the elite athletics series.

July 19, 2024

‘It’s in reach at the Olympics’: Gabby Thomas on the science of speed and hunting down Flo-Jo’s record

Harvard graduate in neurobiology is favourite for the 200m gold in Paris and has her sights set on a 36-year-old mark

“As I get into the blocks, I’m hyping myself up and thinking: ‘Let’s go, one shot, no second chances’. But once I’m on the line, it’s blank thoughts. I don’t want to hyper focus on anything. It’s just about reacting to the gun. The hay is in the barn. You’ve done all the training. It should be muscle memory at this point. Overthinking it will just tense your body up and slow you down.”

Gabby Thomas wants you to understand exactly how she feels seconds before an Olympic final. How adrenaline is flooding her body with the force of a burst dam, while her mind is trying to empty itself before the crack of the starter’s pistol. That internal conflict. Fight before flight.

July 17, 2024

Zharnel Hughes hits back at rival Noah Lyles over Netflix putdown

Team GB sprinter says jibe ‘raised all the red in me’
Hughes using Linford Christie clips to spur push for gold

Zharnel Hughes believes he can emulate Linford Christie by winning 100m gold for Britain at the Olympic Games next month. But first he has a score to settle with the brash US world 100m and 200m champion Noah Lyles, who he says “raised all the red in me” with a withering putdown that went viral after the launch of Netflix’s new track and field series, Sprint.

In the clip from last summer, Lyles is asked by a journalist what it would take to win the 200m at the London Diamond League. “Whatever I run,” he replies. When Hughes says he wants to show that he is “ready as well”, his American rival tells him: “If you don’t have main character energy, track and field isn’t for you.”

July 9, 2024

Olympic champion Athing Mu’s Paris dream ends after omission from US team

800m champion fell during US Olympic trials
22-year-old had hoped to be named in relay team

The only real surprise when the US track and field roster for the Paris Olympics came out on Tuesday was who didn’t make the list: Athing Mu.

Although the middle-distance runner didn’t qualify at the US Olympic trials to defend the 800m title she won at the Tokyo Games, she was under consideration for a spot in the relay pool. Instead, one of the biggest names in track will be left on the sideline for Paris 2024, which start later this month.

July 8, 2024

UK Sport targets record Olympic medal haul for Team GB

Target of 50-70 medals for Paris
‘Confident we are on an upward trajectory’

Team GB’s athletes will be part of the “most sophisticated high-performance system in the world, bar none” at the Paris Olympics and could win a record-breaking tally of medals. That was the message from UK Sport and the British Olympic Association on Monday as they confirmed that Team GB would send 327 athletes in 24 sports to France. Notably, there will be significantly more women (174) than men (153) for the second Games in a row.

UK Sport has set a broad medal range of 50-70 medals as it aims to be top five in the medal table yet again. However, its director of performance, Kate Baker, predicted that if all went well, Britain could eclipse the record 67 medals won at the 2016 Rio Games.