European Championships Munich 2022

It gets even better, the basis for the French protest is a video taken on the French coach's phone. How on earth can that override the official technology.

Daryll Neita is getting a reputation as a choker. Judging from the post race-interviews and the frosty looks, it seems Neita and Asher-Smith don't get on. Must be hard for Neita though, being in the shadow of DAS, who gets injured, the big opportunity arises and you fail to capitalise. Her performance in the final today does pose questions about her big race temperament. Then there's Reece Prescod, one fast time a season then mediocrity sets in. Apart from a berth on the relay leg, he appears to be a busted flush.

They're really hyping Matthew Hudson-Smith now for the Men's 400 m. It's his to lose etc. However, the actual Final does not always go to plan as in the Commonwealth Games. Thankfully, he is being mentored by Christine Ohuruogu, who has seen it, done it, and bought the T-shirt. He's still our best hope of Men's Individual Gold though.

 

Here it is, I would say, that you cannot tell conclusively that the technology got it wrong, so you should go with the original decision that it was a valid jump. I would appeal the fark out of the French protest.

 

Appeal rejected. Fincham-Dukes finishes fifth.
https://twitter.com/BritAthletics/status/1559666401660518406

 

After seeing that incredible Javelin throw in The Decathlon reminds me of the Steve Ovett quote: "The decathlon is nine Micky Mouse events and the javelin".

 

Looks like yesterday evening's posts have gone up The Swanny.

 

Well Done Joe Fraser, European Men's All-Around Champion. Superb.

 

P1ss1ng down in Munich has delayed this evening's running around. I expect the French to make a formal protest and all their athletes to be given medals to keep them quiet.

 

Fark me, where's Charlie Dobson been hiding. Fantastic run in the Men's 200 m semi-finals.

He's the red head charging to the line.

 

SSL certificate issues so there is a migration going on and it seems that posts from yesterday haven't been synced and restored yet.

Jaz Sawyer with last gasp bronze in the long jump too.

A very entertaining evening.

 

God forbid if it had been a French athlete.

Daryll Neita has withdrawn from the 200 M and the Relay. Is this a fit of pique, toys out of the pram moment?

 

Regarding my current favourite subject, the Men's Long Jump no foul/foul protest, there is a precedent. From the Athletics Weekly:

"The Fincham-Dukes situation is reminiscent of the hammer final from 2019. Halasz produced an 78m throw in the first round which should have been given as a foul but wasn’t. The Poles put in an appeal and Nowicki was upgraded to bronze, in that case Halasz was allowed to keep a bronze as he went through the rest of the contest thinking he was a medal contender and didn’t need to improve. No such luck for JFD. It’s the second time in two weeks that athletes have been allowed to celebrate and partake in victory laps only to be told their performances weren’t valid."

So there should have been a Gold, 2 Silvers, and a Bronze awarded for the event. That would've been a fair outcome with everyone happy.

 

The nailed-on favourite delivers. Well done Laura Muir.

 

Well done the studio Harpies, Grabby and Brain-freeze Deneeze, hanging the Gold medal round DAS neck before the race as if all she had to do was just turn up to win in a procession.

I'm starting to get the strong impression that our sprint girls are getting a bit too big for their boots. That's twice now they've hot-footed it straight to the BBC cliche-booth without at least, graciously, standing with the other medal winners for photos and congrats, hard-lines etc. Yes, you're disappointed, but surely it's not too much to ask to acknowledge what happened with the rest of the competitors for a few minutes.

Well done the 100 M lads, that was almost a clean sweep. Also, excellent result for Lawrence Okoye in the Men's Discus. Coming 3rd in a World Class field.

 

The diving has been exceptionally good with Fred's daughter having a great Champs. Having the delightful and charming Tonia Couch in the studio to hand-hold and explain is also a massive plus in my book.

This and the Men's Gymnastics have been a great distraction from this afternoon's sh1tty football.

 

The mens 4 x 400 m team were brilliant. Each leg of the relay ran to the limit. A time of under 3 mins in wet conditions was superb. They held off the current World Bronze medallists, Belgium, and were nearly 2 seconds faster than the Commonwealth Games winners ran in almost perfect sprinting conditions. The qualification period for next years World Championships started at the end of July, so any times gained here will be eligible, so it seems highly likely that there will be a men's 4 x 400 m relay team at those championships,

 

Well done the Men's 4 x 100 m relay team, a new quartet including 2 youngsters breaks the championship record. Superb. The Women's 4 x 100 m relay team let the side down with such a basic error on the first changeover. This is the sort of crap you get from the arrogant, overconfident US sprint relay teams. The whole entitled attitude of the women's 100 and 200 m track sprinters that has recently surfaced is a disgrace and took the gloss off a great evening of Athletics.

 

The Indicator of a Good Championships is the tinge of sadness you feel when they finish and this has been a very enjoyable European Champs. The big positives were the recovery after Tokyo of the Rowing, the amazing strength of British Gymnastics, particularly the men, the rediscovery of the Men's Athletic Mojo, from the sprinters who had a clean sweep of victories in all their track events, to Lawrence Okoye and the hugely unlucky Long Jumper, Jacob Fincham-Dukes in the field events. Well done Gents.

The big disappointments were the track cycling and that awful track, the Triathlon "developmant" squad bar the excellent Non Stafford, and worst of all, the female British sprinters who failed to win any of the sprinting events. Their disappointing performances were matched only by their disappointing entitlement excuses, such as cramps, menstrual cycles, the wrong alignment of the planets, with all the accompanying hissy fits and running straight to the cliche-booths rather than respectfully acting as gracious losers with their fellow finalists. Some stern words from the hierarchy need to be administered.