That’s the best three legs of an Australian relay I have seen in ages. Daniel Batman + Josh Ross + Patrick Johnson were very impressive - Shirvington was less than. It looks as though as he loses about 3m on the home straight.
What is going to happen? Are Aus. going to find a replacement?
Do you have a suggestion?
I don’t they have any other sprinters there. Maybe John Steffenson can’t see him running.
Why is Matt running last anyway?
You have 2 200m semi finalist and a 100m semi finalist running 1, 2 & 3.
I would run Ross last - I have the feeling he enjoys the pressure
I saw Chris Neofytou practising with the team (No Shirvo) a month or so ago. He looked alright, and has a 10.35 to his name this season. As far as I know Paul Dibella was offered a place, but turned it down.
PJ is in awesome form. He was unlucky with his 100m, got scared after a false start and got left in the blocks.
Batman is scary. I thought he would make the final easily. His heat killed him - 20.68 into a 2.1m/s headwind! Reacted like a sack of shit in his semi and didn’t have enough steam to chase anyone down.
Josh Ross also looks impressive. I don’t think his start does him justice. I can see him running alot faster if he improves his start.
I really hope Neofytou gets to run the final.He is in better shape than shirvo who has been struggling majorly in recent months runnin 10.5w and only 10.7-8’s!! Id put Neofytou on the start he is an awesome starter and can runner a killer bend and he is definately in quicker shape than shirvo…
Id have the race set up like this… Neofytou- Johnson - Batman - Ross
Unless Neofytou is injured put him in for god sakes!!!
Is Shirvington still coming over to the UK to train with Linford? If so I think that is a major mistake. Why dont these athletes go back to the training they know works for them ie when they were running fast
I tend to agree.
Shrivington is a disaster. I saw post-race interview with him and the other guys and he seems to realise he isn’t in the best of form. (to say the least)
I honestly rate Aus. a chance for a medal if they can replace Shirvo with someone (half) decent.
btw Eo84, are you from brisbane?
I dont think Linford is such a great coach.
If there he is there put him in. Although I find it strange that he didn’t run in the heat and gave one of the other boys a rest…
I do hope they can medal, especially with the USA team out (I think they are?)
Im from Perth, Neofytou and I have been rivals since under 16’s (1999) and were both on the Aus world youth team back in 2001. I know first hand about his blistering start! Ive been basically had injury problems and two major operations since 2002 one operation late 2003 and another this year… Hoping just to get back on the track and PB again with no injuries!
Aussies have a good chance of a medal if Neofytou gets a run especially on the 1st leg, the other runners are strong and fast enough to give us a good chance (provided they have good baton changes)
Well Kris run, Australia came 5th. They had 3 Commonwealth teams above them.
1 4 France FRA 38.08 (WL)
(Doucouré Ladji, Pognon Ronald, De Lépine Eddy, Dovy Lueyi)
2 3 Trinidad and Tobago TRI 38.10 (NR)
(Pierre Kevon, Burns Marc, Harper Jacey, Brown Darrel)
3 5 Great Britain & N.I. GBR 38.27 (SB)
(Gardener Jason, Devonish Marlon, Malcolm Christian, Lewis-Francis Mark)
4 6 Jamaica JAM 38.28 (SB)
(Clarke Lerone, Thomas Dwight, Waugh Ainsley, Frater Michael)
5 2 Australia AUS 38.32 (SB)
(Batman Daniel, Ross Joshua, Neofytou Kristopher, Johnson Patrick)
6 7 Netherlands Antilles AHO 38.45 (NR)
(Goeloe Geronimo, Rafaela Charlton, Duzant Jairo, Martina Churandy)
7 8 Germany GER 38.48 (SB)
(Kosenkow Alexander, Blume Marc, Unger Tobias, Broening Marius)
8 1 Japan JPN 38.77
(Suetsugu Shingo, Takahira Shinji, Yoshino Tatsuro, Asahara Nobuharu)
Awesome race. Well done to Australia.
38.32 isn’t bad for a team with nobody below 10.20!
Neofytou’s change to Johnson was ordinary and probably cost them a tenth, but can be fixed (if needs be) by CG next year.
I like P. Johnson on the second bend much more than I like him on the home straight.
Batman is a obvious selection for the first leg (he is monster), but I think Neofytou would probably be better. Batman down the back straight (200m strength), Johnson on the second bend, J. Ross brings it home.
Thats a solid medal chance at CG next year.
Why no 4x4 for australia? I am assuming injuries.
I think Patrick runs great bends and I think Daniel is a 100m runner. So I am not sure. Josh should of run last.
The last change was crap!
Injuries and poor form meant no 4 x 4 team.
Most of Australian athletes are looking at Commonwealth games.
In fact most of the best marathon runners didn’t bother trying for selections - slightly different competition patterns.
Johnson took off too early. This isn’t hard to fix.
I agree with J. Ross running last and PJ definetly needs to be running that second bend - he was eating people up in the heat. Neoftyu runs well out of blocks, and I think Batman would do well on the back straight.
DiBella and Basil are question marks for CG. I don’t think Basil is in form this year, and DiBella opted out of WC for personal reasons.
Basil coming out of the blocks in his 2004 shape would make AUS. a very serious contender!
Isn’t good that Australia has 7 runners who can get us to finals. Where are not in USA or other teams. It would be exciting if they all got the form going and let fly.
Teams like France have proven that the quickest individuals don’t necessarily win.