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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 18, 2023 12:22:07 GMT -8
I spent a few hours today comparing the online betting sites and their odds with the TFN predictions. Neither considers the mixed 4x4 anything but a gimmick (as do I) so nothing was posted re the race. That leaves Dunmore out of the discussion, yet the only Duck with a chance for Gold. Otherwise, not looking very good medal wise. Jess Hull is projected 8th on the gambling sites and 9th by TFN, giving her a spot in the 1500 final if she runs well. Nikki Hiltz is 13th on the gambling sites, 8 inTFN. TFN has Jorinde 9th in the SP and 4th in the DT, while the gambling sites have her 3rd in the DT. VAN KLINKEN IS THE ONLY DUCK WITH A LEGITIMATE SHOT AT A MEDAL. The gambling sites have Ilhemeje 10th in the TJ, while TFN ignores him.
And that, my friends, are the pre-meet Duck selections. We can all hope for an upset here or there, but reality says we'll probably come home with one medal (and the mixed 4x4, however that plays out). I have my Duck hat, a few Duck T-shirts and will root hard for our Ducks.
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Post by olephill2 on Aug 18, 2023 20:31:06 GMT -8
Thanks, Bruce.
When is the last WC or Olympics when no Duck medaled? I'm thinking 2009 World Championships perhaps? I may look it up this weekend if I have time.
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 18, 2023 21:20:44 GMT -8
Thanks, Bruce. When is the last WC or Olympics when no Duck medaled? I'm thinking 2009 World Championships perhaps? I may look it up this weekend if I have time. Good question and would like to hear the answer. As you know, these meets leave little time the first weekend as we run back and forth to the apartment. Made a trial run to the stadium yesterday and the good news is that it's only 19 minutes from our place to the gate, but we'll go early this morning since there are often entrance snafus the first couple of days. As you'll all see later, the stadium is a thing of beauty, right on the Danube and about 5km from the center of town. There's a huge fan area with lots of booths and the medals will be given outside the stadium. Part of me likes that, but it seems a little unfair to the athletes. We flew in on Wednesday with a connection in Paris. The entire French team was on our flight as were the Kiwis. I wished Tom Walsh luck and then silently cursed the federation for putting him in coach. Just found a link to all WC results from the beginning: trackandfieldnews.com/world-championships-results/ |
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 19, 2023 6:22:16 GMT -8
SPOILER ALERT DAY ONE AM HILTZ AND HULL. DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE TV COVERAGE!
Both Hull and Hiltz advanced, both running calmly and completely in control of their fates. Impressive racing in what amounted to pretty fast heats. In other Oregon news, Ryan Crouser didn't look very good as he's battling blood clots in one leg. There's some question whether he's even going to win. Previously a heavy betting favorite, his stock dropped today. The good news is that he only had to throw once and got an auto Q. Bad news is that his was "only" the 4th best throw of the day. We'll get an answer this evening.
Other news of note that might not have been broadcast is that Anna Hall appears to have some hamstring problems. After an excellent hurdles race, she seemed to be nursing her hamstring in the HJ and jumped well under her PB by about 9cm (3.5" Danish and Mallardg).
Finally, Dunmore did not run a semi leg in the mixed 4x4. I'm hoping she'll run for the Gold tonight as we didn't throw a very good team out there, despite easily qualifying for the final.
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Post by olephill2 on Aug 19, 2023 12:52:21 GMT -8
Thanks, Bruce. When is the last WC or Olympics when no Duck medaled? I'm thinking 2009 World Championships perhaps? I may look it up this weekend if I have time. Good question and would like to hear the answer. As you know, these meets leave little time the first weekend as we run back and forth to the apartment. Made a trial run to the stadium yesterday and the good news is that it's only 19 minutes from our place to the gate, but we'll go early this morning since there are often entrance snafus the first couple of days. As you'll all see later, the stadium is a thing of beauty, right on the Danube and about 5km from the center of town. There's a huge fan area with lots of booths and the medals will be given outside the stadium. Part of me likes that, but it seems a little unfair to the athletes. We flew in on Wednesday with a connection in Paris. The entire French team was on our flight as were the Kiwis. I wished Tom Walsh luck and then silently cursed the federation for putting him in coach. Just found a link to all WC results from the beginning: trackandfieldnews.com/world-championships-results/OK, I looked it up. 2009 indeed was the last WC or Olympics in which no Duck medaled. 2019 was close, but Cravon Gillespie earned a medal from running in the prelims of the 4x100m. Have so much fun at the meet and enjoy Budapest! |
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 19, 2023 13:46:55 GMT -8
AGAIN SPOILER ALERT! DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE EVENING SESSION
Dunmore didn't run in the 4x4 mixed final, but it was a very exciting race, especially knowing that Femke Bol was running final leg for the Netherlands. We figured the US would need a 5-10m lead at the final handoff; in fact, there was a 2m deficit. Alexis Holmes ran a Raevyn Rogers-like final lap and caught the Dutch superstar, at which point Bol tumbled to the track and dropped the baton onto the infield. Holmes' time was a crazy 48.82. US needs to run her in the "real" 4x400 final. I still think it's a gimmicky race, but it was fun to watch! The only other Duck who competed this evening was Emmanuel Ilhemeje whose opening leap of 16.91 allowed him to make the 12 man final, finishing 7th in the qualifying. He doesn't put on the fun show he used to for the Duck faithful, but he has an outside chance to medal and almost certainly will medal if he can equal his SB of 17.29.
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Post by mallardg on Aug 19, 2023 14:22:03 GMT -8
Thanks for the updates Bruce. Well by now we all know how disappointed everyone must be with his performance, as poor Ryan Crouser had to fight those clots in his lower leg. Furthermore, shame on you Bruce. After so many years trying to be a high jumper,and setting bars for the pole vault...I learned long ago to divide those pesky centimeters by 2 1/2 to get within fighting difference of the real result, which by the way is still in inches for some of us old timers. Great start to these Games, the men's 100m sprint finals are sure to be super competitive, and we might get a new face (spelled Dharnel) on the top rung of the podium. Solid races by Hocker and Nuguse in the 1500. the semifinals should be a barn burner.
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 19, 2023 21:48:39 GMT -8
Thanks Mallardg. Took about five years, but I've fully made the conversion and they are not giving any marks in imperial measurements here....not even the announcers and certainly not the scoreboard. In fact, it was only when I got back last night and looked at a US site that I realized Crouser had thrown over 77! When you think about Barnes' 75'10" that we all knew for years, that 77' throw last night has more impact since I never thought of Barnes' mark in meters. And let's not forget that Barnes' best was most likely dirty (common in those days and deemed the only way to compete against the Eastern bloc). After serving a doping suspension (and assuming he wasn't using a masking agent), the best he could do was just under 71'....and then he got banned for life shortly thereafter, so Crouser's mark takes on even more impact. He gave a very generous and thoughtful interview on the track after his event. I'm aching this morning after running halfway across the stadium to see the SP up close. This 73yo body keeps trying to do the same stuff I did a decade ago, difference being I need a celebrex the next day!
The heat and humidity are something else and one of my seat mates who has been to every WC since 1983 decided he wasn't going to put his body through it any more.
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 19, 2023 22:03:58 GMT -8
A few words on the stadium, the organization and Budapest in general: First, I've come to expect a lot of dis-organization on the first few days of a WC. Yesterday, apart from the usual Seiko snafus, the meet went off almost perfectly. Huge kudos to the Hungarians for really being ready to host these worlds. The stadium itself is beautiful, though not as comfy as Hayward since they're using plastic seats that get old after a full day (plus the two hour rain delay yesterday). Entry is super easy. A perfunctory security check and then one scans one's own ticket to open the turnstile. Exit quite another thing as they didn't build enough staircases from the concourse and there are several bottlenecks on the way back to our tram.
The public transport is brilliant with trams, subways and even a river ferry bringing folks to the stadium. The inbound trams involve a bit of a wait, but we're outbound from the stadium to our apartment, so once we finally make it to the platform, we're home free. Our tram runs every 10 minutes and it takes 9 minutes to our place. All in all, it's taking us less time to commute than it did last year in Eugene. Since all buses are electric and the trams run electrically on rubber wheels, you don't even hear them. I'm sure you've all seen how beautiful Budapest is and the opening ceremony (which is usually some horrible show involving schoolkids dancing poorly in traditional costumes) was more about what a lovely city Budapest is. They also kept it brief and to the point. I hope they showed the rock band playing in the SP area during introductions; that was very cool. More later, we've gotta get moving for a 9am morning session!
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 20, 2023 12:19:36 GMT -8
Sunday at the track. SPOILER ALERT! READ NO FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED TODAY'S ACTION.
All in all, a pretty good day for Duck fans. Both Hocker and Hull ran well-planned races and easily qualified for the finals, which will be held on Wednesday evening for the women and Thursday evening for the men. Cole went out very aggressively and there was little doubt he'd hold on for the top six slot he needed for the final. Jess bounced around a bit, but finished with a strong final 400 to easily make the final. Hiltz didn't fare as well, fell behind early and I think she's at that stage where two back to back races in the 4 minute range are beyond her capabilities. But she's young and I've little doubt she can build that strength as she races in bigger and better fields. Despite their solid showings today, both Hull and Hocker remain longshots in their fields of 12 finalists. Meanwhile, in the throws Jorinde looked solid and easily qualified for the WDT 12 women final with the 8th best throw of the day, about a meter short of the Auto Q. Her 63.20m throw was well short of the 70m she threw at ASU two years ago and she'll have to throw at least 67m for any sort of medal chance. She's very capable of medaling.
At this point we have medal hopefuls in Hocker (Thursday), Hull (Wednesday), Van Klinken (both DT and SP, finals are Thursday and Saturday respectively) and Ilhemeje (Monday) with no other Duck entries left.
UPDATE: My apologies to Nikki. Her last place finish in her heat was better than the winner in H1. In fact, she did run 4 minutes. There's an argument for going back to the old system (even though were it 5+2, she still wouldn't have qualified)
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Post by olduck66 on Aug 20, 2023 13:52:45 GMT -8
Thank you Bruce for the daily postings. I realize that you are a supreme world traveler and for sure I am very jealous that you are attending yet another world event. If by chance you talk to Letsile, remind him how nice Eugene is. LOL. Enjoy!!!
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Post by chileduck on Aug 21, 2023 9:26:40 GMT -8
it's really great having our own TrackDuck exclusive reporter on scene. thanks Bruce. yesterday was the first time I got to see the events live, and I was pretty impressed with the maturity that experience brings to both Hocker's and Hull's races. they did exactly what they needed to do. stay up front, on the rail, and out of harm's way and it really worked out well for them. I think Cole will exceed his seventh place finish at Tokyo.
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 21, 2023 13:19:04 GMT -8
it's really great having our own TrackDuck exclusive reporter on scene. thanks Bruce. yesterday was the first time I got to see the events live, and I was pretty impressed with the maturity that experience brings to both Hocker's and Hull's races. they did exactly what they needed to do. stay up front, on the rail, and out of harm's way and it really worked out well for them. I think Cole will exceed his seventh place finish at Tokyo. I sure hope so, Chile, but man, that's one formidable final. One thing I don't see is another Centro in Rio time. There are too many great kickers in the field and someone's gotta try to take it out super fast. That someone will most likely be named Ingebritsen. We shall see. Without revealing anything, the last three events today represented the three best event finishes I've ever seen. The best will probably always be Raevyn's 4x4 leg and second best would be Mondo in Eugene last year, but for a trifecta, tonight was surely it and I hope everyone got to see it live. Now for the obligatory SPOILER ALERT. Only one Duck out there today, Emmanual Ilhemeje. Kudos for making the final 8 and getting six jumps, but he never at all got it together. During the prelims he was all business, but he did get the crowd involved prior to his leaps today. Fact is, he wouldn't have made the final but for Hibbert's complete meltdown with three fouls. After the prelims, I thought Hibbert could win it all, or at least get a silver. But, hey, the kid's only 18 years old and I'm reasonably certain most of us never performed before 30,000 people at that age. |
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Post by bruce3404 on Aug 22, 2023 1:44:09 GMT -8
It's all about Jorinde and Cole this evening and both should be on TV at 11:20AM and 12:30PM PDT, most likely on Peacock (maybe USA network) since NBC surely wouldn't want to upset their soap opera fans. I really believe Jorinde will get a medal and Cole has a chance depending on how the race plays out. I fully expect Ingebritsen to go out hard as he almost always does and it may take sub 3:30 to even medal in which case Cole would be in trouble.
Last night's finish was simply spectacular. The men's DT was surely the most exciting ever as Stahl broke the Slovenian's hearts in round 5 (we were surrounded by hundreds of Slovenian fans with flash cards and organized chanting of "Kristian, Kristian, Kristian" every time he stepped into the circle), then Ceh responded to take the lead back and then Stahl threw a superb 71m throw to once again break the Slovenian's hearts when Ceh couldn't respond. Given the heat and dead air, that 71+ was phenomenal. Then we had Grant Holloway decimate the field from hurdle 1 to the finish with a bronze for Roberts and, finally, small q Richardson from lane 9 (and with a bad start) ran down the Jamaicans and re-established US dominance in the 100, something we haven't seen since the London WCs in 2017. As mentioned above, I've never seen such excitement in the last 30 minutes of any meet, ever. More later this evening.
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Post by ducktafnut on Aug 22, 2023 3:52:44 GMT -8
Actually, Bruce, flip that M on the 1500m upside down and make it a W. Hull is the featured Duck today, not Hocker. Hocker is tomorrow.
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