MLF: "Fit" . . . for what?

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Mon 12 Feb, 8:37 PM

LONDON (AFP) - British sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis has been left bemused by the form which has seen him fail to qualify for next month’s European Indoor Championships in his home city of Birmingham.

At last weekend’s British trials in Sheffield the 24-year-old former world junior champion didn’t even make the 60 metres final.

Instead he finished fourth in his semi-final and 10th overall in 6.76 seconds.

By contrast, Craig Pickering, the European junior champion, and 19-year-old Ryan Scott claimed the first two places and automatic selection.

One discretionary place remains but, on current form, it is unlikely to go to Lewis-Francis with three-time European indoor champion Jason Gardener in line to be the third man.

Lewis-Francis, a member of Britain’s victorious Olympic and European sprint relay teams, admitted: “I don’t know what is going on. With the indoors, it would have been nice to compete in Birmingham in the European Championships.”

However, he added: "For me the big aim is outdoors. I’m strong, I’m fit, there is absolutely nothing wrong with me.

"I had a bit of a tight calf and a tight Achilles but it’s irrelevant. At the same time it’s just not happening right now, it’s definitely not happening.

"There is nothing at all I can do. I’ve tried to do everything I possibly can to get it right - probably I’m trying a little bit too hard. I don’t know, I really don’t know.

“There is nothing at all I can say to you to make it look good - because it’s definitely not good, I know that, you know that. I’ve not broken 6.70 this season and for me that’s terrible.”

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He’s been over training for the past 3 or 4 years, it’s so obvious. Just a month or so ago he was saying;
“I’m going to train harder than ever.”
6 weaks or so later;
“This is terrible”
and it seems he will keep pushing himself into the gound with pointless fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness,

and wait a minute…
Fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness.

He’s been on this dead end for 4 years, he was faster when he was a teenager.

Side note; I was getting into a rythm with the typing their, but my fingers started to “feel the burn” so I needed to ease of. Hint.

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:smiley:

you should have just copied n pasted
copied n pasted
copied n pasted
copied n pasted
easy…
I wonder, does MLF train with the aussie, Matt shirvington? :smiley: :smiley:

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MLF’s poor form is simply due to him having so long out with injury over the summer and then his off season compulsary 3 week break adding up to a total of around 10-11 weeks off!

Maybe he will be ready and ok for the outdoors but it just shows you can’t run an indoor season off of pure tallent without any direct training for it (like they assumed he would be able to!)

The strength and depth in the sprints in the UK at the moment is good and with the new indoor facility in London finally open people will be dropping more pbs earlier because they can now do speed work earlier.

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I know, but I actually started to like the rythm of the typing, it started to become rythmic, like meditation, zen like, even thera-peutic.
Comfortable. Certain, and safe in the knowladge that I knew what the next action would be.
Untill I realised… eventually… that I was just going round in circles. Flogging a dead horse. :frowning: :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue: :rolleyes:

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TopCat,
when was MLF’s injury last summer? I can’t remember, was it after the Europeans?

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Oh please… no dissrespect but…

I have to say, that MLF has not been in good form since Edmonton in 2003. Injury excuses can be made for this year if u like, but, in the previous 2 years before that, he wasn’t so good either.
British sprinting is also the worst it has been in years, this indoor season.

Darren Canpbell retired.
MLF cant even make the final of the british indoors, even with 10 weaks of last year (or 10 weaks off from speed work), his problem is not just injury.
Jason Gardner, got trumped this year in the 60m by a relative unknown in an unremarkable time.
Dwain Chambers might not even be comming back to track and field.

So I’d say it’s not a great state of affairs for UK sprinting right now, the post Linford wave is over. Now they’re just waiting for the next juniors to come through and it’ll be a few years before any can challenge on the grand-prix circuit.

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What are you on about…You are talking rubbish. Its not often I get heated in a discussion about British Athletics but in this case I am…Especially as I’m one of those athletes who fall into your “sad state of affairs” brackets.

Before you start to run off your gums about GB sprinters this indoors…Lets look at what times have been run this year.

Pickering: 6.55
Gardener: 6.59
Scott: 6.64
Williamson:6.65
Findlay:6.66
Moseley:6.66
Chin:6.67
Harry AA:6.67

These times are by no means shabby or slow…If the above list was full of 6.71 or slower I’d understand your statement.These sprinters are going in the right direction! Why make your judgement on looking at 4 athletes who in their own right have had a very good and prestigious track career!? Its time for the new breed to step up and get on the World/European map. Seems to me you’ve jumped on a band wagon with a true look at the performances this indoors…so far might I add…The season is by no means done…expect a few more dipping under 6.69/6.68 and maybe one more going sub 6.60.

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Perhaps MLF is training hard, but is it geared towards 60m, maybe his 300m reps have improved though. ???

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… and he’s big but is he strong?

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I never said his form was great last year in comparison to what he perhaps should in theroy be running based on what he did as a junior but 10.1x last year isn’t that bad. For him to come out and not even break 6.7 just shows that he must be out of condition because when you can run 6.5 you should be able to run 6.7 almost any day of the week. It has to be a conditioning issue or that he has achieved a negative adaptation from his training!!! If the later is the case then god help him.

As for Jason’s remarks, it’s not an easy life been an athlete and going from 20.8-20.0 is a big step that is hard to make. Regarding british sprinting not being that good, didn’t you see that mens 60m final at the weekend? That was just immense! A sure sign of things to come. How many other countries in the world have 8 athletes under 6.7 in a final?

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I was gonna ask that regarding MLF’s injury last year. Yeah good point regarding 8 6.6 athletes there, and yet there was Tim Abeyie and Christian Malcolm missing, both 6.6 athletes. Harry can run 6.6 also. There’s not a bad crop of young British sprinters. I agree, there is a transition, but it’s definitely on the up from last year.

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CARL LEWIS 1999;
“MALCOM LEWIS FRANCIS IS THE NEXT BIG THING IN SPRINTING”

But every year Malcom has been making excuses about why he’s not performing. Every year and it’s getting tiresome.

Injured you say?
The injury healed a long time ago, BEFORE the end of last season, and he finally started to run “ok” ish, by the end of the season.

What about the years he wasn’ injured?
What about 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 ?
None of those years saw any improvement at all.

I suppose he was having injury problems those years aswell? If so, he needs to re-address his training.

Or maybe he wasn’t injured in those OTHER years. If so, he needs to re-address his entire training phillosophy.

It gets so old, listening to under achieving, under performing athletes with their excuses every year, same old, same old.

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Now for some perspective.

Malcolm Lewis Francis and his “10 weaks off” as you guys put it.

Well, every sprinter takes x amount of time off.
Justin Gatlin would take 3 and a half months of from any training at even medium intensity and above. Didn’t hurt him.

MLF’s main injury was over about 6 months ago.

What about when Ben Johnson had 2 hamstring injuries in early spring of 1988 but recovered in time for the fastest sprint ever?

What about the fact that 60m doesn’t require the most extensive fitness and only requires specialised speed/power work.

10 weaks off? More like 3 weaks off, plus maybe 2 weaks off at a differant part of the year, and 5 weaks re-habilitation and light training. That was a while back. He SHOULD have recovered by now for a good 60m.

In fairness, 60m was never his strength anyway becuase he comes on strong in the second half of a 100m.

But he should go back to the training he did as a teenager, or very simmilar in terms of volume and frequency per weak.

There is a problem when a sprinter who weighs atleast 14 stones is not powering out of the blocks in a sprint. He seriously needs to adress this before it’s too late.
But he’s been trained a certain way, and like most ahletes he has been indoctrinated in to a “way” and a “system” and I don’t think he knows how to pull out of it. I’m sure he will keep overtraining when he’s healthy, and I doubt he’ll be running world class times ever, unless he goes back to the drawing board. That’s my opinion. I expect this opinion will not sit well wih most people, so be it.
It’s not that I’m looking for a heated debate, but I’m not suprised I may have envoked one.

He works hard on fitness when he’s healthy/not injured. But anearobic capacity, etc… really doesn’t mean much in the 60m.

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just curious, anyone know how mlf makes a living? does he work a second job?

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he’s a carded athelte.

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Give the guy a break, no sprinter wants to get his ass kicked. Nobody sets out to fail.

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He might be getting one… The reason MLF attracts so much derision is that he’s a world class self promotionalist. And when you can’t back it up…

BTW I hear on the grape vine Christian Malcom is in very fine form. His work in the gym with Linford is paying dividends. If my source is correct, and he stays injury free, I think he may break 20s this yr.

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hi david…so we can link to the linford christie training thread…how is he working??

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Christian Malcom ran 6.79 at the Brum Games while everyone else was at the Euro Trails. I guess it is a start.