The XXXI Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The XXXII Olympic Games (Athletics)

100 Metres

200 Metres

400 Metres

800 Metres

1500 Metres

5000 Metres

10,000 Metres

Marathon

3000 Metres Steeplechase

100 Metres Hurdles

110 Metres Hurdles

400 Metres Hurdles

High Jump

Pole Vault

Long Jump

Triple Jump

Shot Put

Discus Throw

Hammer Throw

Javelin Throw

Rafer Johnson and Yang Chuan-kwang in the decathlon 1500m at the 1960 Olympic Games

David Rudisha at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Hicham El Guerrouj takes his second Olympic gold in Athens

<p><br />Japan&rsquo;s Mao Ichiyama and Kenya&rsquo;s Hillary Kipkoech cruised to half marathon PBs on the grounds of Hokkaido University in Sapporo on Wednesday (5) at the official test event for the Tokyo Olympics road races.</p>
<p>The course is similar to the first half of the marathon route that will be used for this year&rsquo;s Olympic Games, and the race attracted a small elite field comprising some of Japan&rsquo;s leading marathon contenders along with a handful of international athletes who were keen to get a feel for the streets of Sapporo.</p>
<p>Ichiyama, who booked her spot on Japan&rsquo;s Olympic marathon team after winning in Nagoya at the end of 2020, fellow Olympic team member Ayuko Suzuki and team reserve Matsuda Mizuki set off at a swift pace alongside three male pace makers, passing through the first 5km in 16:10.</p>
<p>Their pace eased slightly approaching the half-way point, having reached 10km in 32:39, but they picked it up again at the start of the second half and covered the next five-kilometre section in 15:48.</p>
<p>Suzuki stuck with her compatriots until the final few kilometres and, unable to match their pace, started to drift behind. With about two kilometres to go, Ichiyama opened up a gap of about 25 metres on Mizuki and still looked extremely comfortable. The gap didn&rsquo;t grow significantly in the closing stages, but Ichiyama did just enough to keep her opponent at bay.</p>
<p>Ichiyama crossed the line in a PB of 1:08:28 with Mizuki following close behind in 1:08:32. Suzuki finished third in 1:08:53.</p>
<p>Honami Maeda, who won Japan&rsquo;s Marathon Grand Championship race in 2019 to secure her Olympic spot, ran solo for much of the race, in between the lead trio and the main chase pack. She was overtaken by Germany&rsquo;s Katharina Steinruck in the final kilometre as Steinruck finished fourth in 1:10:43, seven seconds ahead of Maeda.</p>
<p>Kipkoech, who clocked a world-leading 27:35 for 10km just 11 days prior, broke away from the rest of the men&rsquo;s field just before the half-way point. He passed through 5km in 14:35 as part of the lead pack but then opened up some distance a few kilometres later, reaching 10km in 28:59 with a four-second lead over fellow Kenyan Simon Kariuki.<br /><br /></p>
<div id="609278c5135c0c002028e783" class="dropMedia">
<div style="background-image: url('https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Small/500a3932-8671-4f34-8a09-f43c4802b039.jpg');">&nbsp;</div>
Hillary Kipkoech wins the Olympic test event in Sapporo</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>By the time Kipkoech reached 15km in 42:49, his lead over Kariuki had grown to 12 seconds, while the main chase pack was a further 44 seconds adrift.</p>
<p>Kipkoech went on to win in a personal best of 1:00:46 with Kariuki taking second place in 1:01:11. Shin Kimura was the top Japanese finisher, placing third in 1:01:46. Olympic team member Yuma Hattori, opting not to race flat-out and to use the event as a dress rehearsal, finished 24th in 1:02:59.</p>
<h3>Leading results</h3>
<p><strong>Women</strong><br /> 1 Mao Ichiyama (JPN) 1:08:28<br /> 2 Mizuki Matsuda (JPN) 1:08:32<br /> 3 Ayuko Suzuki (JPN) 1:08:53<br /> 4 Katharina Steinruck (GER) 1:10:43<br /> 5 Honami Maeda (JPN) 1:10:50<br /> 6 Reia Iwade (JPN) 1:10:59</p>
<p><strong>Men</strong><br /> 1 Hillary Kipkoech (KEN) 1:00:46<br /> 2 Simon Kariuki (KEN) 1:01:11<br /> 3 Shin Kimura (JPN) 1:01:46<br /> 4 Daisuke Uekado (JPN) 1:01:49<br /> 5 Shun Yuzawa (JPN) 1:01:51<br /> 6 Naoki Okamoto (JPN) 1:01:55</p>

Japan’s Mao Ichiyama and Kenya’s Hillary Kipkoech cruised to half marathon PBs on the grounds of Hokkaido University in Sapporo on Wednesday (5) at the official test event for the Tokyo Olympics road races.

Ichiyama and Kipkoech storm to half marathon PBs at Olympic test event in Sapporo

<p>In many ways, 1 May was like the start of a normal training day for several Ethiopian marathoners vying for spots on the Olympic team. They arrived early to the city of Sebeta, just south of Addis Ababa, where they often go to train for their fastest sessions. At 2,200m, Sebeta is a bit lower in elevation than Addis Ababa and many other training spots in Ethiopia, which are often well over 2,600m.</p>
<p>The conditions were mostly good, although the air was a bit more humid than normal because of rains signalling the start of <em>kremt</em> &ndash; the Ethiopian rainy season. And rather than a full marathon, they opted to hold the race at a distance of 35km.</p>
<p>But Sebeta is not Geneva, the sea level Swiss city where these trials were originally slated to happen. Because of Covid-19, travel concerns and general logistical issues, the Ethiopian Athletics Federation ultimately decided to hold the trials along a well paved road in this Oromo city, with likely Olympic champions being cheered on by local farmers and school children, instead of a select few European race organisers.</p>
<p>The women&rsquo;s race was a slow grind, led by a few male pacemakers, and included the likes of Tokyo Marathon champion Ruti Aga, 2015 world champion Mare Dibaba and Zeineba Yimer. As these three slowly dropped off the pack, the eventual qualifiers &ndash; Roza Dereje, Birhane Dibaba and Tigist Girma &ndash; pulled away, with Girma winning in 1:59:23. Dibaba followed in 1:59:45 and Derje in 2:00:16.</p>
<p>Girma was slightly lesser known by many spectators, despite winning the Ottawa Marathon and placing second in the Amsterdam Marathon in 2019. In 2020, her fifth place finish at the Tokyo Marathon and sixth at the Valencia Marathon were significant, but not necessarily memorable.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We knew Tigist was capable of what we saw today for a while. She&rsquo;s a hard worker, a disciplined athlete, and someone with a lot of power. We were waiting for this kind of performance,&rdquo; said her agent, Hussein Makke.</p>
<p>Growing up near to Shashamene, home of the Ethiopian Rastafari population, Girma was more interested in reading, watching movies and going to church than athletics. She still maintains those hobbies on the side, but as she got more seriously into athletics, she began to learn from training partners older and with more experience after joining Haji Adilo&rsquo;s training group.</p>
<p>Girma for a long time looked up to Amane Gobena &ndash; winner of several big marathons between 2007 and 2015 &ndash; who she had the opportunity to train with for a few years. More recently, she cites fellow Olympic qualifier and training partner Dereje for giving her confidence.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not afraid of running in front,&rdquo; said Girma, who pushed the second half of the race after the pacemakers dropped off. &ldquo;My coach, Haji Adilo, always trains us to listen to our heart and the environmental conditions to work as hard as possible. These 180km weeks paid off.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Adilo is the coach of four of the six Olympic qualifiers from the race. In addition to Girma and Dereje, he also coaches the men&rsquo;s winner and runner up &ndash; Shura Kitata and Lelisa Desisa.</p>
<h3>Kitata wins with sprint finish</h3>
<p>The men&rsquo;s race was first led by Getaneh Molla and when he dropped out Sisay Lemma took the lead, but Kinde Atanaw and Chalu Deso &ndash; an up-and-coming marathon star who will surely leave his mark on the marathon running scene in the coming years &ndash; stuck with the pace.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ultimately, it came down to Desisa and Kitata pushing the pace, with Kitata outsprinting his friend and training partner for the win.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The race was really good, and honestly was not that hard,&rdquo; said Kitata. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m surprised at how good I felt with the training I had, but I am not surprised I won.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Kitata and Desisa are not only training partners, but also grew up in large families near Ambo &ndash; a city west of Addis Ababa in the Oromia region. Kitata speaks limited Amharic, and thus gravitates to athletes who speak his native Afaan Oromo, and Desisa has been one of his greatest mentors.</p>
<p>In 2018, Desisa won the New York City Marathon in 2:05:59. Kitata, who he thanked for pushing him in training sessions, was carried along to a second place finish just two seconds back. A similar dynamic, but in reverse order, unfolded at Saturday&rsquo;s race with Kitata finishing in 1:46:15 and Desisa in 1:46:16. Lemma was just a few more seconds back and secured the final spot in 1:46:19.</p>
<p>Desisa has been a household name in international running for years, with a world title and several World Marathon Majors wins to his name. Others learned about him after his participation in the Breaking2 project. But until recently, few knew about Kitata.</p>
<p>In 2020, when all eyes were on Eliud Kipchoge at the start of the London Marathon, Kitata remained poised to make a statement. He bided his time and fought hard to pull away for the win, while Desisa loudly cheered him on in his Addis Ababa home. The previous year when he expected to make a big splash, he did not eat breakfast, which he attributes to his lack of performance. Last year, he fueled properly, which helped his win.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Now I don&rsquo;t skip breakfast,&rdquo; Kitata joked. &ldquo;I drank <em>besso</em> before this race,&rdquo; he said of the trials. Besso is a drink made up of barley flour, water, and often honey, enjoyed widely within the Ethiopian runner community.</p>
<p>Desisa, on the other hand, described his lead up to the Valencia Marathon as similar to &ldquo;coroconch&rdquo; &ndash; or the rough, rocky and uneven training surface Ethiopian athletes often run on. He attributes his lack of performance there to a &ldquo;grueling 72-hour journey where his nutrition, rest and recovery were all dramatically impacted.&rdquo; Since his disappointing finish there &ndash; a 35th place in 2:10:44, he has been training hard and staying in the national team hotel chasing redemption.</p>
<p>The Ethiopian Athletics Federation often houses athletes before Olympic Games and World Championships in order to simplify their lives (meals, cleaning and many basic needs are taken care of), stimulate camaraderie and build morale. Desisa, like the other qualifiers, have been in the hotel, but Kitata had been staying in his home. That may change now that the two, who clearly work well together, may be well positioned to bring home hardware for Ethiopia in Sapporo.</p>
<p>On 2 May, many of the competitors celebrated Easter &ndash; or <em>Fasika</em> &ndash; as the Ethiopian Orthodox Church follows a calendar different from the West. Within the country, it is one of the most important days, even for those not practicing, to spend time with families, eat delicious food and prepare for a new season in the Ethiopian year.</p>
<p>Three-time Olympic track champion Kenenisa Bekele, not present at the trials, may still well be kept on the marathon team, as the Ethiopian Athletics Federation reserves the right to change the rosters.</p>
<p><strong>Hannah Borenstein for World Athletics</strong></p>

In many ways, 1 May was like the start of a normal training day for several Ethiopian marathoners vying for spots on the Olympic team. 

Ethiopian marathon team’s road to Tokyo begins with success in Sebeta

<p>World marathon fourth-placer Callum Hawkins and recent trials winners Chris Thompson and Stephanie Davis are among the first seven members of the athletics squad selected to&nbsp;represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.</p>
<p>Hawkins, who just missed a medal at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha and the 2017 edition of the event in London, had gained pre-selection in December 2019. Ninth at the Rio Olympics in 2016, he demonstrated current form and fitness having acted as a pacemaker at the M&uuml;ller British Athletics Marathon and 20km Walk Trial at Kew Gardens last week.</p>
<p>There Thompson secured his selection as he won the men&rsquo;s marathon in a PB and Olympic qualifying time of 2:10:52, just a few days after becoming a father, while Davis had achieved the qualifying standard with 2:27:40 in Valencia in 2019 and improved that PB to 2:27:16 to win at Kew Gardens.</p>
<p>Ben Connor finished behind Thompson at the trials and gains his Olympic place having set the qualifying standard in 2020 with 2:11:20 in London.</p>
<p>"It&rsquo;s official. My selection for the Olympics has been announced," said Thompson. "Becoming a two-time Olympian and a dad in the space of a week took every ounce of who I am and I couldn&rsquo;t have rode a finer line."</p>
<p>Jess Piasecki and Steph Twell will join Davis in the women&rsquo;s marathon. They did not race at the trials but had impressed with their respective times of 2:25:28 in Florence and 2:26:40 in Frankfurt in 2019. Tokyo will be Twell&rsquo;s third Olympic Games after she made her debut over 1500m in 2008 just a few days after her 19th birthday.</p>
<p>"Dreams really do come true," said Piasecki, who became the third-fastest female in British marathon history with her run in Florence. "Absolutely over the moon to have made it here. Bring on Tokyo."</p>
<p>The&nbsp;2012 European under-23 cross-country champion had been well on target for a Rio Olympic qualifying time when racing in Florence on her debut in 2015 but was forced to drop out at 32km&nbsp;after tearing her plantar fascia.</p>
<p>Kew Gardens also played host to the British Athletics 20km race walk trials which saw 2016 Olympic sixth-placer Tom Bosworth finish second to secure his qualification for Tokyo, having already achieved the qualifying standard at the European Race Walking Cup in 2019 when he posted a time of 1:20:53.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It is a great privilege to be able to welcome the first seven members of the athletics squad for Tokyo into Team GB,&rdquo; said Mark England, Team GB&rsquo;s Chef de Mission for Tokyo 2020.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It was clear from watching the coverage of the qualifying event last week, and seeing the emotion felt by each athlete as they crossed the finish line, just how much this selection means to them. The hard work and dedication that goes into securing Olympic qualification is admirable, especially in a year that has come with so many challenges.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to congratulate everyone on their fantastic achievements, and we look forward to welcoming them to Tokyo this summer.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>World Athletics</strong></p>
<h3>First selected British team members for Tokyo</h3>
<p><strong>WOMEN<br /></strong><strong>Marathon:</strong> Stephanie Davis, Jess Piasecki, Steph Twell</p>
<p><strong>MEN</strong><br /><strong>Marathon:</strong> Ben Connor, Callum Hawkins, Chris Thompson<br /><strong>20km race walk:</strong> Tom Bosworth</p>

World marathon fourth-placer Callum Hawkins and recent trials winners Chris Thompson and Stephanie Davis are among the first seven members of the athletics squad selected to represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Britain names first seven team members for Tokyo

<p>Career paths for the vast majority of athletes rarely take a constantly upward trajectory. Injury, loss of form and a multitude of other factors contribute to setbacks, often frequently so.</p>
<p>Yet one athlete who so far appears to have bucked this trend is emerging 800m star Bryce Hoppel, who has seemingly made serene progress in his journey to the top.</p>
<p>Since switching from the soccer field to the track at the age of 16, the American has improved his 800m PB each and every year of his career.</p>
<p>Medals have been snared with regularity at high school and college level and since turning pro in 2019 he has made a rapid impact, highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the World Athletics Championships in Doha and a US indoor 1000m record in February.</p>
<p>To the outsider it would appear a near perfect ride and it has been a journey with precious few regrets for the affable Hoppel, who exudes a positivity and passion for his sport few can outwardly match.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Throughout my entire career everything has happened so quickly,&rdquo; explains Hoppel.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t seem long ago since I was just a kid at high school. But since then, my career has just taken off. It has been incredible.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>The early days</h3>
<p>Born and raised in Midland, Texas, Hoppel enjoyed what he describes as a &ldquo;classic small town American childhood.&rdquo; Sport was a prominent part of his everyday life. His father worked, and still does, as general manager of the Minor League baseball team the Midland RockHounds, while his two elder sisters also come from a strong sporting stock led by Kelsey, a former NCAA Div II championship basketball champion with Lubbock Christian University.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I took inspiration from watching my two older sisters accomplishing things and I grew up always chasing that,&rdquo; adds Hoppel.</p>
<p>His first sporting love was soccer and it was while doing cross-country workouts for soccer training that he first realised he possessed an ability to run.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Encouraged to try out for the track team, he took the plunge in his sophomore year at Midland High School and under the coaching of Hilberto Ochoa and Tony De La Rosa he quickly formed a passion for the sport.</p>
<p>Featuring in a successful high school cross-country team that reached the regional championships, the sport and the camaraderie he forged with teammates opened up a whole new world for Hoppel.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I made a great set of friends on the team and through them and my coaches, I started to love and appreciate the sport more and more,&rdquo; he says.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Coach De La Rosa got me interested in watching the pros run and I vividly remember watching the like of Clayton Murphy, Matt Centrowitz and Mo Farah compete at the 2016 Rio Olympics. To think today that I&rsquo;m racing against Clayton is pretty crazy.&rdquo;</p>
<p>During his debut season he competed over 1500m at the 2014 Junior Olympics but after his coach identified impressive speed in the fledgling runner, he wisely steered Hoppel into the 800m.</p>
<p>It proved an inspired switch and the following year he claimed the 2015 Junior Olympics 800m title in a lifetime best of 1:52.97 and in his senior year in high school he enjoyed an unbeaten season &ndash; climaxed by a PB and first sub-1:50 clocking of 1:49.58 in Waco.</p>
<p>Small in stature but fleet of foot, in 2016 he took up the offer of a scholarship at the University of Kansas &ndash; the alma mater of the American middle-distance great and former world mile record-holder Jim Ryun.</p>
<p>While Hoppel was aware of the Ryun connection, another big factor in committing to KU was that he came under the coaching guidance of Mike Whittlesey and the mentoring of head coach Stanley Redwine, a former US 800m representative and 1:44.87 athlete.</p>
<p>Describing Whittlesey as a coaching &ldquo;mastermind&rdquo;, there is little doubting the positive impact &lsquo;coach Whit&rsquo; has played on Hoppel&rsquo;s career.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I owe so much of my success to coach Whit,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s always been there for me, like a calming presence. He knows me well enough to know what to say and how to get me in the right mindset for a race. I have total trust in him. He is so knowledgeable; I never have to second-guess him. This is why I call him a mastermind.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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<p><br />Starting his freshman year at &ldquo;the bottom of the totem pole&rdquo;, Hoppel adopted a typically positive approach. Thriving in his status as a college rookie with no expectation, he treated the year as a learning experience and managed to whittle down his PB to 1:48.52.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Just missing out on NCAA qualification by an agonising 0.06 and hungry for more his career took a giant leap forward in his sophomore year. Setting six 800m PBs during 2018 (three indoor and three outdoor) he placed eighth in the NCAA indoor 800m final and lopped almost three seconds from his outdoor best, recording 1:45.67 to place fourth in the NCAA outdoor final behind Isaiah Harris.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was at a loss to explain everything (that happened in 2018) because it happened so quickly,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;I would achieve one goal and then I&rsquo;d be suddenly pushed on to the next one. But a big factor in my success was the self-realisation at each stage of my career development that I belonged at that level and that I could compete against the best. That is something I&rsquo;ve taken with me throughout my career.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>Full focus</h3>
<p>If 2018 was seen as significant progression, the following year was &ldquo;like an explosion&rdquo;, according to the American middle-distance star.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He earned NCAA indoor and outdoor titles, qualified for the US World Championships team for Doha, turned pro and then placed fourth at the Pan American Championships before concluding a dizzying 10 month-long campaign by finishing one spot outside the medal podium at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Taking on the year with a typically positive mindset, in March he secured gold at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, in a PB of 1:46.46 and quickly the realisation dawned on Hoppel of what he could potentially achieve in the sport.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;2019 was the year I started to put my full focus and energy into being the best athlete I could be,&rdquo; he explains.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I suddenly became conscious of eating the correct foods. Will skipping a workout because I need a rest be a good thing, or will it set me back? My expectation was to do my best for all those around me who supported my dreams.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>By the time he claimed the NCAA outdoor victory in 1:44.41 he had been unbeaten during the college season across 18 races (including heats and finals) and with his confidence rising he moved on to the US Championships in Des Moines hopeful of securing a top three spot to make the World Championships team.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That he duly delivered by placing third should have been no great surprise to those monitoring his progression. However, the direction of his career was to take an unexpected twist the next day following a meeting with Whittlesey and Redwine.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;My coaches had made me the athlete I was and I wanted to give everything back to them in my fourth and final year at KU. But they sat me down and said: &lsquo;Bryce, as much as we&rsquo;d like to have you here at KU, it is time for you to go and chase your dreams in the professional world.&rsquo; It was cool that my coaches at college were a big part in my move to becoming a professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60645ec509484acc87947cfd.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /><br /><em>Bryce Hoppel en route to his 1000m win at the 2021 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix&nbsp;(&copy; Victah Sailer)</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Competing in his first overseas competition, he was a little disappointed to finish fourth at the Pan American Games in Lima in 1:47.48.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>But learning from the experience, he moved on to the World Championships keen to garner more knowledge and excelled to place fourth in a PB of 1:44.25 with his trademark blistering kick finish seeing him rapidly close on bronze medallist Ferguson Cheruiyot in the final.</p>
<p>&ldquo;That world final was obviously a little scary but it was honestly so much fun,&rdquo; Hoppel explains. &ldquo;I was completely happy with how it went, although always with hindsight you wonder &lsquo;could I have gone (started his sprint for home) a little earlier?&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Possessing good natural speed and a ferocious kick finish are huge weapons in Hoppel&rsquo;s arsenal and while endurance does not come as naturally to the American, he has worked hard on improving in this area which he believes has contributed to further success.</p>
<p>After winning the US indoor 800m title in Albuquerque in February last year, he was then fortunate that his training hardly &ldquo;skipped a beat&rdquo; during lockdown as he used the gym of his father&rsquo;s baseball team and his contacts allowed him regular track access in Midland Texas.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Believing the postponed Tokyo Olympics might give him the benefit of an extra year of preparation, he was nonetheless determined in 2020 to experience the European circuit for the first time and was delighted to set a PB of 1:43.23 in Monaco, finishing just 0.08 behind world champion Donavan Brazier.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was super happy with it because I was coming from a place where I didn&rsquo;t know what shape I was in,&rdquo; he explains of competing in his first race for six months. &ldquo;This was a turning point, as it proved to me that I didn&rsquo;t need to have races as a benchmark to warm up to run fast.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Continuing to study Business Finance at KU, Hoppel has re-emerged in 2021 stronger than ever. In a brief but successful indoor campaign he claimed a blistering victory in 1:44.27 in Fayetteville &ndash; to move to No.2 on the US all-time and seventh on the all-time indoors lists &ndash; before lowering the US 1000m record to 2:16.27 in New York.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We accomplished what we wanted to,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;The purpose of going to New York was to approach the race with the right mindset to chase the record, which is what we managed to achieve. Indoors I set a new bar and I want to continue to chase records and become a great runner.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>His main focus now is the Olympic Trials and he would also love to experience a full Wanda Diamond League season, should Covid allow.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>It has been a rapid rise to the top but one which Hoppel has thoroughly enjoyed and embraced every step of the way.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;I found a family through the sport at high school and that continued at KU,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;Track is such a diverse sport and so inclusive and it has brought so many great people into my life.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Steve Landells for World Athletics</strong></p>

Career paths for the vast majority of athletes rarely take a constantly upward trajectory. Injury, loss of form and a multitude of other factors contribute to setbacks, often frequently so.

How Hoppel is embracing his rapid rise

<p>Ollie Hoare went to the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on New York&rsquo;s Staten Island on 13 February to run the 1500m with one thing in mind.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;d had a good training camp in Scottsdale (Arizona) and the goal was to run an Olympic qualifier and make a statement,&rdquo; Hoare relates.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We certainly did that,&rdquo; the 24-year-old from Sydney&rsquo;s southern suburbs adds, this time with considerable understatement. Three minutes 32.35 seconds after the sound of the starter&rsquo;s gun, Hoare had improved his outright personal best by more than two seconds, leaving 3:29.47-man Jake Wightman a similar margin behind and smashing Stewart McSweyn&rsquo;s Australian and Oceania records by almost three seconds.</p>
<p>&ldquo;As a season opener, it was kind of crazy,&rdquo; Hoare observes.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It certainly was, Ollie,&rdquo; Stan Laurel might have put it. Quite the dramatic impact. But if Hoare wants to binge athletics drama, he need not even venture out of his Australian family home. His father, Greg, is an old running mate of Andrew Lloyd&rsquo;s who pulled off one of the most dramatic wins in Australian Commonwealth Games history in Auckland in 1990, running down Olympic champion John Ngugi in the final straight of the 5000m.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Andrew and Dad are great mates,&rdquo; Hoare says. &ldquo;Once Dad found the footage of that race on the net, he would play it over and over.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen that race about a million times,&rdquo; Hoare adds with a laugh.<br /><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6062fff7c04c78daa2b9aac0.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="1254" /><br /><em>Oliver Hoare in action at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (&copy; Victah Sailer)</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hoare&rsquo;s 1500m was the star turn of a stellar couple of nights in the (short) history of Australian indoor athletics. More recently, he ran 13:22.16 for 5000m, improving his personal best by more than six seconds. He had been on course to finish inside the Olympic qualifying standard of 13:13.50 but he fell off the pace in the final 700 metres.</p>
<p>Another Australian to race well at Ocean Breeze was Morgan McDonald who ran 8:14.92 in the two miles to smash the venerable national record previously held by Clarke-era steeplechaser Kerry O&rsquo;Brien.</p>
<p>Ocean breezes didn&rsquo;t reach as far as Fayetteville, Arkansas, where that same night another rising Australian talent, Charlie Hunter, won the 800m in 1:45.59, slashing more than a second-and-a-half off a more recent national record &ndash; Joseph Deng&rsquo;s 1:47.27, set in 2019. This was also an Oceania record.</p>
<p>The previous evening, Hunter had finished third in a mile dominated by his teammates from the University of Oregon, in an Australian record of 3:53.49 which had, in its turn, improved by a full second the record Hunter had set a fortnight earlier. (A few weeks later he won the NCAA indoor 800m title in 1:45.90.)</p>
<p>Admittedly, some of Australia&rsquo;s indoor records were long overdue for improvement. Trouble is, there&rsquo;s not usually much opportunity. Many Australian records, especially in the middle-distances, date back to the 1960-70 era when Ron Clarke, Ralph Doubell and Kerry O&rsquo;Brien travelled regularly to the thriving US indoor circuit (which coincided with the Australian summer, so they were all in top form), while others like Kerry Pearce, who set a world record for two miles, were based at US colleges.</p>
<p>Mind you, Covid-19 and the quarantine requirements mandated by most countries &ndash; including Australia and New Zealand &ndash; are likely to impose their own complications on travel, and Olympic selection, for US-based Australian athletes.</p>
<p>Hoare, for example, was in Australia late last year, combining a visit home with the requirement to depart the US and re-apply for a new visa. He endured two weeks&rsquo; hotel isolation in quarantine then, and is not prepared to do so for the national championships. Hunter, who hails from Gosford, was considering coming back, but it is understood Hoare, Hunter and McDonald have been granted exemption from the championships.</p>
<p>It will make Olympic selection more difficult. The national championships in Sydney next month are the official trials event, but only one place is guaranteed to be solely dependent on performance then. Any athlete who wins their event (or is first Australian) and has the automatic qualifying standard will be selected.</p>
<p>The rest are discretionary, though if recent practice is followed, all who can be selected will be selected, largely following finishing order in the trials. That&rsquo;s simple in most events where there will be fewer than three athletes with the qualifying standard. It&rsquo;s fiendishly complex where there is more than three, and further complicated if some do not or cannot run the championships, even if requests for exemption are granted.<br /><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6062fead566a3f309e539d11.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="633" /><br /><em>Oliver Hoare and Matthew Ramsden in action at the 2016 Australian U20 Championships (&copy; Getty Images)</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Take the men&rsquo;s 1500m: McSweyn, Hoare and Matt Ramsden already have the standard. Some, or all, of Jye Edwards, Ryan Gregson, Luke Mathews, Hunter and Jordan Williamsz are likely to get it. Olympic years inevitably bring dark horses. It looms as a selection nightmare.</p>
<p>Getting all the contenders into one race, in one place, at one time aside, there is also generational change in the air. There are links between three of the younger guns. Ramsden and Hoare met in the de Castella U20 3000m at the Zatopek meeting in 2015. Hoare had a 15-metre lead with 300 metres to go before Ramsden ran him down to win.</p>
<p>Ramsden ran well at the World Championships in Doha, reaching the 1500m semifinal and narrowly missing out on the final.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Matt is a fantastic racer,&rdquo; says Hoare. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been great for Australian athletics.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Hoare also shares a bond with McDonald, who preceded him at the University of Wisconsin. &ldquo;I have known Morgan since I was a 10-year-old, running at the national cross country championships in Perth in 2007-8,&rdquo; he told Athletics New South Wales last year.<br /><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6062ff66ee103e6439d56671.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="651" /><br /><em>Oliver Hoare wins the 1500m in an Oceanian indoor record of 3:32.35 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (&copy; Getty Images)</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Morgan has been a mentor and a good mate.&rdquo; As they are likely to be contesting different events, that friendship may not be stress-tested in the race to Tokyo.</p>
<p>McDonald, Hunter and Ramsden were U20 teammates at the World Cross Country Championships in Guiyang in 2015. It wasn&rsquo;t a memorable result &ndash; McDonald 40th of 118, Hunter 106th and Ramsden DNF &ndash; but Hunter says it was &ldquo;special to represent Australia for the first time. It shaped me in exposing me to high-level athletes&rdquo;.</p>
<p>For Hoare, Hunter and all the other contenders, the battle for a place in Australia&rsquo;s Tokyo team could be every bit as character-building.</p>
<p><strong>Len Johnson for World Athletics</strong></p>

Ollie Hoare went to the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on New York’s Staten Island on 13 February to run the 1500m with one thing in mind.

Statement made with record run, Hoare hopeful of Olympic selection

<p>Chris Thompson and Stephanie Davis secured their marathon spots for the Tokyo Olympic Games at the M&uuml;ller British Athletics Marathon and 20km Race Walk Trial at London's Kew Gardens on Friday (26).</p>
<p>Thompson clocked 2:10.50, a career best at 39, to win the men's race while Davis clocked 2:27:16 to prevail in the women's, bettering her previous best by 24 seconds.</p>
<p>Thompson ran a well judged race, staying off the mid-race pace and at one point languishing 35 seconds behind the lead group of Dewi Griffiths, Ben Connor and Mo Aadan who were being led by the pacing duo of Callum Hawkins and Jake Smith.</p>
<p>Yet it was after the departure of the pacers, between 30 and 35km, when the evenly judged run by Thompson began to reap dividends. Reunited with the leading group at 35km, he then pushed on to establish a gap on Connor and Aadan.</p>
<p>Thompson looked almost incredulous to be finding himself with a significant lead as he circled Kew Gardens, running well inside his previous marathon best and more importantly, inside the qualifying time for Tokyo.</p>
<p>Thompson, who became a father earlier this week, said: &ldquo;This week has just knocked me for six. I have been trying to hold it together and I have just never felt so much emotion in all my life and I have always controlled it.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I just said don&rsquo;t cramp on that last lap, because everything fell into place in the last couple of laps.</p>
<p>"I kept saying to myself, 'stay on course for the time and see what happens'. I was in dreamland, the last to laps I was like &lsquo;I am going&rsquo;, nothing is stopping me now."</p>
<p>Connor finished second in 2:12:06 to secure the second automatic team slot, having previously achieved the qualifying time. Aadan was third in 2:12:20 in his marathon debut.</p>
<p>"I am delighted," Connor said. "Obviously I would have liked the win but delighted to have secured the spot. Job done, rest and recover now, get to do it all again in five months."</p>
<p>In the women&rsquo;s race Davis put on a strong performance to dominate after starting to split away from the field having passed halfway in 1:14:06. She pushed on with the pacing team to record a negative second half split of 1:13:10 to cross the line two minutes and 14 seconds inside the the Tokyo qualifying mark.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Anything can happen in the marathon, you can&rsquo;t just know that this is going to be your day,&rdquo; Davis said. &ldquo;It was an amazing event today, flat course, the corners were fine, and I am really happy to take the win and secure that spot and a small PB.&rdquo;</p>
<h3>Walks victories for Wilkinson and Lewis</h3>
<p>Callum Wilkinson stormed to an overwhelming victory in the men&rsquo;s 20km race walk trial in 1:22:47, shy of the 1:21:00 Olympic qualifier.</p>
<p>While his Tokyo appearance remains dependent on a future qualifying performance, Tom Bosworth, who already had a qualifier in the bag, secured his spot with a 1:26:24 runner-up finish.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Today&rsquo;s race was not really a race for me, it was really really tough," Bosworth said. "I have suffered with an injury over the last month, but you know, I have qualified for my second Olympic Games, I&rsquo;m on the plane."</p>
<p>Heather Lewis won the women's race in 1:34:49, short of the 1:31:00 qualifying standard.</p>
<p><strong>British Athletics for World Athletics</strong></p>

Chris Thompson and Stephanie Davis secured their marathon spots for the Tokyo Olympic Games at the Müller British Athletics Marathon and 20km Race Walk Trial at London's Kew Gardens on Friday (26).

Thompson and Davis cruise to victory at British Olympic marathon trials

<p>The clay pigeon shooting ground perched on the terraces of the Monte-Carlo Casino Gardens were in 1921 the stage for the first international athletics tournament for women.</p>
<p>From 24-31 March 1921, women from five nations &ndash; France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom &ndash; gathered in Monaco to compete in the first Women&rsquo;s Olympiad.</p>
<p>Clay pigeon shooting was a highly popular Aristocratic pastime at the start of the 20th&nbsp;century. When fortunes were not being won or lost on the private tables of the nearby Monte-Carlo Casino, wealthy guests staying at the adjacent Hotel de Paris kept their eye in with some shooting out to sea over the azure blue Mediterranean.</p>
<p>Today the shooting ground is gone, replaced by luxury apartments. All that marks the site of the first Women&rsquo;s Olympiad is a marble plaque. It was unveiled on 23 November 2008 by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, the Honorary President of The International Athletics Foundation.<br /><br /></p>
<p><img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/605b2bd0dc66caf8f75c4898.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="713" /></p>
<p><br />The Monte-Carlo Women&rsquo;s Olympiad pre-dated women&rsquo;s participation in the athletics programme of the Olympic Games which did not begin until the 1928 Amsterdam Games. Women&rsquo;s participation at the Olympics in tennis and golf began in 1900. Other sporting pursuits like swimming and archery soon followed but the Olympic Games' No.1 sport remained a male preserve.</p>
<h3>Milliat&rsquo;s motivation</h3>
<p>The Monte-Carlo competition was the initiative of Alice Milliat, a pioneer in the women&rsquo;s sports movement. Milliat (born 5 May 1884 in Nantes; died 19 May 1957 in Paris), was a multi-talented sportswoman, a good rower and swimmer, who also played hockey. A pioneer for women&rsquo;s rights to participate in sport, Milliat founded the International Women's Sports Federation (FSFI) in 1921.</p>
<p>Milliat&rsquo;s principal motivation and the key objective of the FSFI was women&rsquo;s participation in athletics at the Olympic Games. After numerous rebuffs from the International Olympic Committee, she began to organise international competitions for women. The first of these was the Women&rsquo;s Olympiad in Monte-Carlo. It was organised with the assistance of Camille Blanc, the flamboyant mayor of the neighbouring town of Beausoleil. Blanc was President of the Soci&eacute;t&eacute; des Bains de Mer de Monaco and the director of the International Sporting Club de Monaco.</p>
<p>The following year in Paris, Milliat organised a follow-up competition in April 1922&nbsp;called at that&nbsp;time the Women's Olympic Games&nbsp;(later renamed World Games).&nbsp;More than 300 women from seven countries participated.&nbsp;Four other editions were organised between 1926 and 1934.&nbsp;</p>
<p>What is less well known is that the &lsquo;Monte-Carlo Games&rsquo; were staged again in 1922 and 1923.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Rare artefacts from all three editions are included in the World Athletics Heritage Collection, including the medal from the first Women&rsquo;s Olympiad which is on display in the &lsquo;Origins&rsquo; tunnel in the recently launched 3D virtual Museum of World Athletics (MOWA):&nbsp;<a href="http://www.worldathletics.org/mowa" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>worldathletics.org/mowa</strong></a></p>
<p><img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/605b2b76dc66caf8f75c4895.jpg" alt="" width="950" height="950" /></p>
<h3>Olympic participation</h3>
<p>In 1928, Milliat finally won her long fight when women&rsquo;s athletics entered the Olympic programme. Just five events were included and, following the running of the 800m which was won by Germany&rsquo;s Lina Radke, the apparent distress of the competitors gave the IOC the excuse to immediately remove the event from the Games. The women&rsquo;s 800m was not to reappear on the programme until 1960!<br /><br />Commemorating Milliat&rsquo;s enormous contribution to the development of women&rsquo;s sport on the 8 March 2021 a statue of her was unveiled at the House of Sport in Paris. Her remarkable legacy lives on via the work of the foundation which bears her name:&nbsp;<strong><a href="https://www.fondationalicemilliat.com/alice-milliat?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fondationalicemilliat.com</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/605b2fe0063f48517fbd8f9a.jpg" width="300" height="380" align="right" />In 1934, the FSFI began to fall apart as an organisation. Two years later the then International Amateur Athletics Association, nowadays World Athletics, officially took over management of international women&rsquo;s athletics including the ratification of world records. As part of that process the IAAF endorsed FSFI&rsquo;s official world record progression list.</p>
<h3>Lines the star of 1921</h3>
<p>The 1921 Monte-Carlo Women&rsquo;s Olympiad, whose centenary we celebrate today, included 10 athletics events and there were also exhibition events in other sports including gymnastics and basketball.</p>
<p>The undisputed star of the Olympiad was Briton Mary Lines (1893-1978). In the three individual track events &ndash; the 60m, 250m and 800m &ndash; Lines took gold in the two shorter distances and silver in the 800m. Her dominance did not end there, with first place in the long jump and assisting the British quartet to win both the 4x75m and 4x175m relays, too!</p>
<p>Today few residents of Monaco let alone visiting tourists know the story of the first Women&rsquo;s Olympiad. It was somewhat appropriate given the site&rsquo;s ancient use that, when photographing the commemorative plaque, there were bird droppings on its face. From pigeons to Olympic participation, women&rsquo;s athletics has come a long way since 1921.</p>
<p><strong>Chris Turner</strong><br /><strong>Curator of MOWA #WhereChampionsLive</strong></p>

The clay pigeon shooting ground perched on the terraces of the Monte-Carlo Casino Gardens were in 1921 the stage for the first international athletics tournament for women.

From pigeons to Olympic participation – Centenary of the first Women's Olympiad

<p>In a special episode of the World Athletics podcast, guest host Joanna Hayes is joined by fellow hurdles greats Gail Devers, Sally Pearson and Derval O'Rourke as they discuss the impact of athletics, memorable Olympic Games moments and more.</p>
<p>&ldquo;This is a sport that opened doors for us,&rdquo; says Devers, who won two Olympic 100m titles for the USA as well as numerous world gold medals in the hurdles, sprints and relay. &ldquo;When somebody opens a door for you, you&rsquo;re supposed to put your foot in it to bring somebody else along with you and World Athletics has allowed for us to do that from every level.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Like being in Doha and, you know, putting on little clinics for the kids. Starting them off, I was so excited about the little hurdles that they had out there. I was like: &lsquo;Oh no, these are cute. I need these back in the States&rsquo;. But it&rsquo;s giving back, it truly is. They allow for us to give back.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Track and field is probably the cheapest sport to be in and to be involved in but what you learn from being involved in track and field is what&rsquo;s going to take you to any arena in life. It&rsquo;s that &lsquo;never give up&rsquo; attitude.&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b83WG6lQ2UA" width="100%" height="400" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><br />It&rsquo;s that attitude which O'Rourke hopes is instilled in her own daughter, too.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s really interesting being a mum to a girl because I feel so strongly about women having their place in the world. Being heard, being seen,&rdquo; explains Ireland&rsquo;s 2006 world indoor 60m hurdles champion. &ldquo;I am always saying to her: &lsquo;If you have something to say, stand up and say it. Let your voice be heard.&rsquo;&nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny because she has no idea about me really as an athlete. People say to her randomly in Ireland: &lsquo;Oh, your mummy was fast&rsquo;. She&rsquo;ll just look at them really seriously and she&rsquo;ll say: &lsquo;I&rsquo;m faster&rsquo;. But she really believes it and I just run with it. I&rsquo;m like: &lsquo;Okay, you&rsquo;ve got me&rsquo;.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I feel like track and field, for me, gave me this area that just opened up the world to me as a woman. It just gave me all these opportunities. I feel like for her, it&rsquo;s really important to me that sports is of some part of her life in whatever way, shape or form to make her feel good about herself.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Having self-belief was also a big part of Pearson&rsquo;s Olympic journey.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The first part of my 2008 silver medal was even before I got to the Olympics,&rdquo; says Australia's two-time world and 2012 Olympic 100m hurdles champion.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I remember emailing my auntie who lives in England, because obviously we all need somewhere to stay when we go to Europe to do the circuit. She said to me: &lsquo;You can only stay here if you win an Olympic medal&rsquo;. I was like: &lsquo;Oh, okay&rsquo;.</p>
<p>"Obviously [she was] being sarcastic. But as soon as she said that it was like, &lsquo;huh&hellip;&rsquo;. Something just lit a fire in me and I was like &lsquo;okay, I&rsquo;m gonna do that&rsquo;. And it was almost like what Derval was saying about her World Indoors. It was like it was guaranteed in my head: &lsquo;I am going to do that, I know I can do that&rsquo;.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Download the full podcast for free via <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/iaaf-inside-athletics-podcast/id1340268954?mt=2&amp;ls=1&amp;ign-mpt=uo%3D4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">iTunes</a></strong></span>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7vIXY6UZTkopeqoMsV4aQN" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Spotify</strong></span></a>.</p>
<p>All past episodes, including links to the podcast on a range of streaming platforms, can be found on&nbsp;<a href="https://audioboom.com/channels/4942781" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Audioboom</strong></span></a>.</p>

World Athletics podcast – celebrating women in athletics

In a special episode of the World Athletics podcast, guest host Joanna Hayes is joined by fellow hurdles greats Gail Devers, Sally Pearson and Derval O'Rourke.

<p><br />World bronze medallist Gudaf Tsegay produced an impressive 4:02.4 1500m performance to highlight a pre-Olympic trials meeting in Addis Ababa on Saturday (16).</p>
<p>Tsegay's run, the fastest ever produced in Ethiopia, was particularly impressive given Addis Ababa's 2355m above sea level setting, which makes it the fourth highest capital city in the world. Only Kenyans Faith Kipyegon (4:01.85) and Mercy Cherono (4:02.21), both in Nairobi, have run faster at high altitude.</p>
<p>There were a slew of strong performances at the meeting, organised by the federation as a test of fitness for most of the country's leading candidates for a spot on the Tokyo-bound Olympic team. About a dozen athletes were invited to compete in each event, with the goal being to narrow the selection pool to six per event prior to the next test or selection meeting.</p>
<p>Gudaf won her event by more than four seconds over Lemlem Hailu, who clocked 4:06:7.</p>
<p>Other winners included Diribe Welteji, the world U20 800m champion, who won her event in 2:00.5, one second clear of Hirut Meshesha.</p>
<p>On the men's side, world 5000m silver medallist Selemon Barega prevailed in the 10,000m, clocking an Ethiopian all-comers' record of 27:58.5 to beat Andamlak Belihu, the fifth-place finisher over the distance at the 2019 World Championships.</p>
<p>In the women's race, world half marathon bronze medallist Yalemzerf Yehualaw's dominated, clocking 32:03.0 to beat Tsehay Gemechu by nearly 34 seconds.</p>
<p>Unheralded 21-year-old Nibret Melak won the 5000m in 13:42.7 over Yasin Haji (13:43.5) in a race where two-time world 5000m champion Muktar Edris could do no better than a distant fourth, clocking 14:02.8.</p>
<p>Teddese Lemi won the 1500m in 3:40.9 over Kebede Endale (3:41.4).&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Bob Ramsak (with valuable assistance from Bizuayehu Wagaw) for World Athletics</strong></p>
<h3>Leading results</h3>
<p><strong>MEN</strong></p>
<p>800m<br />1 Adisu Girma 1:47.6<br />2 Daniel Wolde 1:48.2<br />3 Tolossa Bodena 1:48.5<br />4 Umer Amano 1:49.2<br />5 Turi Murkena 1:49.4</p>
<p>1500m<br />1Teddese Lemi 3:40.9<br />2 Kebede Endale 3:41.4<br />3 Samuel Abate 3:41.6<br />4 Melkeneh Azeze 3:43.4</p>
<p>5000m<br />1 Nibret Melak 13:42.7<br />2 Yasin Haji 13:43.5<br />3 Getachew Mersha 13:46.6<br />4 Muktar Edris 14:02.8</p>
<p>10,000m<br />1 Selemon Barega 27:58.5<br />2 Andamlak Belihu 28:05.1<br />3 Guye Adola 28:23.4<br />4 Milkesa Mengesha 28:41.5</p>
<p>3000m steeplechase<br />1 Tadesse Takele 8:35.9<br />2 Getnet Wale 8:42.3<br />3 Chala Beyo 8:46.4<br />4 Abrham Sime 8:49.6</p>
<p><strong><br />WOMEN</strong></p>
<p>800m<br />1 Diribe Welteji 2:00.5<br />2 Hirut Meshesha 2:01.5<br />3 Mahlet Mulugeta 2:03.5<br />4 Netsanet Desta 2:04.0</p>
<p>1500m<br />1 Gudaf Tsegay 4:02.4<br />2 Lemlem Hailu 4:06.7<br />3 Kidist Ketema 4:11.7<br />4 Tadu Teshome 4:23.3</p>
<p>5000m<br />1 Fantu Worku 15:27.4<br />2 Ejigayehu Taye 15:37.7<br />3 Meskerem Mamo 15:53.3<br />4 Yetayish Mekonnen 16:06.3</p>
<p>10,000m<br />1 Yalemzerf Yehualaw 32:03.0<br />2 Tsehay Gemechu 32:37.0<br />3 Senbere Teferi 32:50.9<br />4 Medhin Gebreselassie 33:22.2</p>
<p>3000m steeplechase<br />1 Agere Belachew 10:06.5<br />2 Birtukan Adamu 10:09.1<br />3 Weynshet Ansa 10:14.1<br />4 Simbo Alemayehu 10:17.9</p>

World bronze medallist Gudaf Tsegay produced an impressive 4:02.4 1500m performance to highlight a pre-Olympic trials meeting in Addis Ababa on Saturday (16).

Tsegay clocks 4:02.4 in Addis Ababa

<p><br />Hitomi Niiya and Akira Aizawa smashed the Japanese national 10,000m records at the National distance running championships in Osaka on Friday (4).</p>
<p>Niiya, a finalist over the distance at last year's World Championships, lapped almost the entire field en route to a 30:20.44 run, knocking more than 28 seconds from the previous record of 30:48.89 set by Yoko Shibui in 2002.</p>
<p>"Although I'm usually not satisfied after a race, I'm honestly happy today," said Niiya, whose previous best of 30:56.70 was set at the 2013 World Championships where she finished fifth.</p>
<p>Niiya, 32, has illustrated strong form from the start of the year. She won the Houston Half Marathon in January in 1:06:36, another national record. Her performance in Osaka was the second fastest of 2020.</p>
<p>Mao Ichiyama was a distant second in 31:11.56 with Sayaka Sato third in 31:30.19, personal bests for both.</p>
<p>The men's race was much more competitive but nonetheless a clear victory for Aizawa, whose 27:18.75 lopped nearly 11 seconds from the previous record of 27:29.69 set by Kota Murayama in 2015.</p>
<p>"My goal was to break the Japanese record and the Olympic standard, but I was able to run better than I expected," said Aizawa, who set his previous career best of 27:55.76 in Miyazaki on 17 October.</p>
<p>Behind him, Tatsuhiko Ito and Kazuki Tamura also dipped under the previous record, clocking 27:25.73 and 27:28.92, respectively.</p>
<p>The day's races marked the second phase of the postponed national athletics championships. The first, which included the sprints, middle distance events, jumps and throws, was held in Niigata in October. Anyone winning their event within the Olympic qualifying standard earned a guaranteed spot on the team for next summer's Olympic Games.</p>
<p>The programme also included 5000m and 3000m steeplechase contests.</p>
<p>Yuto Bando won the men's 5000m in 13:18.49, more than six seconds clear of Hiroki Matsueda (13:24.78). Nozomi Tanaka, the national record holder at 1500m and 3000m, won the women's title in 15:05.65 ahead of Ririka Hironaka (15:07.11).</p>
<p>The steeplechase titles went to Kosei Yamaguchi (8:24.19) and Yukari Ishizawa (9:48.76).</p>
<p><strong>Bob Ramsak for World Athletics</strong></p>

Hitomi Niiya and Akira Aizawa smashed the Japanese national 10,000m records at the National distance running championships in Osaka on Friday (4).

Niiya and Aizawa smash Japanese 10,000m records in Osaka

<p><br />For many elite athletes, pain is a constant companion. Whether it&rsquo;s on the track, in the gym or on the treatment table, their capacity to endure is typically off the charts.</p>
<p>Yet there&rsquo;s a good kind of pain and a bad kind of pain, and over the past 18 months Cynthia Bolingo has endured all too much of the latter. First, the Belgian sprinter saw her 2019 season wiped out by a chronic issue with her Achilles tendon.</p>
<p>But as hard as it was it was nothing compared to 2020, when Bolingo lost her beloved father, Mutien, to Covid-19.</p>
<p>&ldquo;My dad was very sensitive, caring, and a very helpful person,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I was so sad. It was the hardest period of my life.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Her father knew little about athletics, but that never stopped him being one of Bolingo&rsquo;s biggest fans. In her early years she would often question her ability, thinking she was too short or too muscular to be a world-class athlete.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He said: &lsquo;No, you are a beautiful woman and you are so strong in your sport,&rsquo;&rdquo; recalls Bolingo. &ldquo;He took a big interest and always tried to give me advice.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Last year she had her big breakthrough, rewriting the Belgian indoor 400m record three times at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow. In the final she clocked 51.62 to win silver, just one hundredth of a second behind Switzerland&rsquo;s Lea Sprunger.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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Cynthia Bolingo after her runner-up finish at the 2019 European Indoor Championships</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Back home, her father was overcome with pride.</p>
<p>&ldquo;After my medal he said: &lsquo;I told you you would become a big star of athletics!&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>At the beginning of May this year, Mutien became ill and soon found himself in hospital, having tested positive for Covid-19. His condition continued to deteriorate in the days that followed and Bolingo soon received a phone call informing her he didn&rsquo;t have long left.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The hospital said you can come to see him and I said okay, but it was so complicated,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;When I was there (I realised): this is the last time I&rsquo;ll see my dad alive.&rdquo;</p>
<p>His passing hit Bolingo hard, and for a long time athletics was the last thing she wanted to do.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I took almost one or two months with nothing &ndash; no sport, only my family,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;It was a tragic event for me and my family and it was difficult not to give up. But I was lucky. I was surrounded by my closest friends, my family, and I was not alone. But every single morning I said to God: &lsquo;Why my dad?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>In time, she found her way back to normality: training, socialising with friends, all the little ways one can move forward after a tragic loss.</p>
<p>By early August, it had been 18 months since her last race, but Bolingo felt ready to get back in the blocks. The majority of that time out had been due to injury.</p>
<p>A few weeks after winning her European medal in Glasgow, Bolingo felt a pain in her Achilles, but it was so slight at the time that she felt safe in continuing to train. A bad idea, in hindsight.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Month after month it wouldn&rsquo;t get better and so I called a doctor. It was a big inflammation and the doctor said: &lsquo;If you continue training, it&rsquo;ll be very hard to come back.&rsquo; I took a decision to stop my season.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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Cynthia Bolingo (r) with the Belgian 4x400m relay squad at the 2018 European Championships</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Bolingo had been hoping to compete both as an individual and in the 4x400m at the World Championships in Doha, but in August last year she had to finally pull the plug.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was so happy after Glasgow, it felt like my career was beginning. I thought: I&rsquo;ll make the final at the World Championships, and why not top five or top six with my relay team? But after a few months I went down and down and down, then I was at home watching it on TV. I was full of frustration.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Her coach, Carole Bam, spoke to her on the phone every day and tried to keep her spirits high.</p>
<p>&ldquo;When we talked it was always: &lsquo;Okay, it&rsquo;s not good, but if you are positive everything will be alright.&rsquo; One day you are very good, another day you&rsquo;re injured &ndash; it&rsquo;s sport.&rdquo;</p>
<p>After a six-month rehab, Bolingo started back training last October. &ldquo;It was so good to be running without pain,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;It had been so long.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The Tokyo Olympics and European Championships in Paris were the focus of her attention all winter, but when they were both wiped off the calendar Bolingo found it hard to keep up the same intensity.</p>
<p>&ldquo;After that I said: &lsquo;Why am I training? The big championship is gone.&rsquo; But then I (said): &lsquo;I&rsquo;m an athlete and I have no choice but to train. If I don&rsquo;t, what else will I do?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
<p>She continued doing what she could as Belgium went into lockdown, and after a break from training following the death of her father, Bolingo returned early in the summer and began to build up slowly, hoping for some races later in the year.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was so tired in my body and mind,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s important to not give up.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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Cynthia Bolingo at the 2016 Olympic Games</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>She started off with a series of 100m and 200m races in August before targeting a 300m in Huizingen. There she smashed the Belgian record of 37.47, which had been held by Sandra Stals since 1999, Bolingo clocking 37.18. A week later she went even quicker, running 36.54 in Heusden.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was so happy,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;It was a small victory for me. It was only 300m but it was so good to run a good time for this season. If I am able to run 36 in 300m, I hope this time helps me run a good 400m next year.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Her goals on the track for 2021 are straightforward.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I want to get back to my previous level,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;d like to be healthy. If you don&rsquo;t have health, you can&rsquo;t do anything.&rdquo;</p>
<p>As hard as they&rsquo;ve been, the past 18 months have taught her to take a far more holistic approach, not just in sport but in her approach to life.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We always say: &lsquo;Tomorrow, in two years, in 10 years, I&rsquo;ll be with my family, my children,&rsquo;&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;But after the death of my dad and the long injury, now I&rsquo;d like to be able to live in the moment. It&rsquo;s the big lesson of my life: to live in this moment.&rdquo;</p>
<p><strong>Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics</strong>&nbsp;</p>

For many elite athletes, pain is a constant companion. Whether it’s on the track, in the gym or on the treatment table, their capacity to endure is typically off the charts. Yet there’s a good kind of pain and a bad kind of pain, and over the past 18 months Cynthia Bolingo has endured all too much of the latter. 

After a brutally painful year, Bolingo learning to live in the moment

<p>There&rsquo;s a rare bond that exists between training partners, a connection forged through mutual understanding. They&rsquo;ve seen each other at their best, been there for each other at their worst, and surmounted every speed bump together on the path to peak performance.</p>
<p>But for Peter Bol and Joseph Deng, the connection runs even deeper.</p>
<p>The Australians share the same South Sudanese heritage, with their families fleeing the Second Sudanese Civil War in the late 1990s. Both arrived in Australia as children &ndash; Deng was six, Bol was 10 &ndash; and both settled with their respective relatives in Toowoomba, Queensland.</p>
<p>They&rsquo;ve known each other for 13 years, and these days the similarities are striking. Both can run 1:44 for 800m. By and large, they follow the same racing schedule. For most of the year they live together in Melbourne, then relocate to the northern hemisphere in the European summer, sharing planes, trains and automobiles as they traverse the circuit to different races. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Under the guidance of coach Justin Rinaldi, they do exactly the same training and when they are asked about their hopes for the Olympics, they aren&rsquo;t afraid to admit they share the same goal.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Making the final,&rdquo; says Deng. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re in that final, there are only eight people and three medals for the taking, so you&rsquo;ve got a big chance.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bol breaks it down further. &ldquo;It&rsquo;d be nice to run 1:43. That&rsquo;s what we need to be doing if we&rsquo;re going to make a final and win a medal.&rdquo;</p>
<p>They took different paths to this same point. Deng was born in a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya and arrived in Australia at the age of six with his mother, Rebecca, and his sister, Margaret. &ldquo;It was pretty hard at the start, having to learn English,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Through school I made some friends playing sports and it worked out quite well in the end.&rdquo;<br /><br /></p>
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Australian middle-distance runner Peter Bol</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Bol was born in Sudan and his family fled the civil war and settled in Egypt when he was six. &ldquo;It was different in Egypt, a different culture, different people, but the same language which was easy to adjust to.&rdquo;</p>
<p>When he was 10 his family moved to Australia alongside his parents and four brothers, first settling in Toowoomba before later moving cross country to Perth. He played soccer and basketball in his teens before starting athletics shortly before graduating high school.</p>
<p>Deng first took up running in 2007, using it as a way to get fit for soccer. At the age of 15 he started to take it more seriously after getting a scholarship to Ipswich Grammar School in Queensland. &ldquo;I never really had a coach until I went to that high school,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I used to wing it.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He graduated in 2016 and moved to Melbourne in 2017 to train under Rinaldi, a 1:47 800m athlete who coached Alex Rowe to a share of the Australian record, 1:44.40, in 2014. Bol had moved back across the country in 2015 to train under Rinaldi.</p>
<p>&ldquo;He brings a lot of knowledge and he&rsquo;s passionate about it,&rdquo; says Bol. &ldquo;He loves it, which kind of helps.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Bol, who is now 26, lowered his PB to 1:45.41 in 2016 and made his first Olympic team, bowing out in the 800m heats in Rio de Janeiro. Deng, now 22, improved his 800m best to 1:46.51 in 2017.<br /><br /></p>
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Joseph Deng wins the 800m at the World Indoor Tour meeting in Birmingham</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In 2018 both knew the Australian record was there for the taking when Bol led Deng in a 1-2 at the Stockholm Diamond League, 1:44.56 to 1:44.61.</p>
<p>The original record of 1:44.40 had been set by Ralph Doubell when winning 800m gold at the Mexico Olympics in 1968 before being equalled 46 years later by Rowe. In July 2018 in Monaco, Bol and Deng sensed their chance, and Rinaldi made a late decision to fly in from Australia to witness the feat.</p>
<p>It was Deng who fired best on the night, clocking 1:44.21 to finish seventh. &ldquo;Going into the race we kind of knew one of us was going to break it,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It was an amazing feeling.&rdquo;</p>
<p>They have yet to go quicker since, but a few untimely injuries and this year&rsquo;s pandemic are the chief reasons for that. They both took the widespread cancellations in their strides.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I thought, it is what it is,&rdquo; says Bol. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like we didn&rsquo;t make the (Olympic) team, it just wasn&rsquo;t happening.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Their usual European base is Leuven in Belgium, but after spending some time in Tubingen, Germany earlier this year they decided to return there between races. Bol began 2020 in positive fashion with two 1:45 runs in Australia in February, and in his first race for six months he ran 1:44.96 in Monaco in August. Deng also ran 1:45 twice earlier in the year but his late track season was hampered by a strain in his quad.<br /><br /></p>
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<p><br />&ldquo;The season hasn&rsquo;t gone that great but it&rsquo;s still way better than last season,&rdquo; says Deng. &ldquo;Last season was a shocker: I was running 1:48 and had low iron, achilles problems, so I had to get all that sorted.&rdquo;</p>
<p>They wrapped up their European season in Zagreb, with Bol and Deng finishing down the field in 1:45.94 and 1:46.11 respectively. Their movements over the coming months will likely depend on the severity of restrictions in Australia and where they can best prepare for 2021.</p>
<p>Their training programmes are exactly the same. On a Monday they&rsquo;ll do a 20-minute run alternating hard and easy pace in the morning and 10x100m in the evening. Tuesday is hill reps; Wednesday is a 30-minute run; Thursday is more hills; Friday is a rest day, while Saturdays is some form of long interval session like mile reps. If they hit 50 kilometres of volume by Saturday, they take Sunday off.</p>
<p>When they&rsquo;re not training, you can usually find them sipping coffee at local cafes or else taking their competitive nature out on the PlayStation with marathon sessions of FIFA.</p>
<p>Having been born and raised across different cultures, it&rsquo;s only natural that they feel a mix of nationalities and both feel their identity is a blend of the two.<br /><br /></p>
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B_zV_vanuog/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Joseph Deng (@josephdeng01)</a> on <time style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px;" datetime="2020-05-05T10:07:33+00:00">May 5, 2020 at 3:07am PDT</time></p>
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<p><br />&ldquo;You&rsquo;re always going to be Sudanese but we live in Australia now, that&rsquo;s what we call home so you&rsquo;re also Australian,&rdquo; says Deng.</p>
<p>&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what we represent,&rdquo; adds Bol. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re definitely South Sudanese as well. It&rsquo;s a part of our culture, and our family&rsquo;s. We can blend in both cultures so it&rsquo;s a perfect place to be.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Every country, of course, has its share of xenophobia and Australia is no different, but the pair believe their sporting exploits have helped them avoid the worst of it. &nbsp;</p>
<p>&ldquo;For us it&rsquo;s always going to be different because of where we are and what we&rsquo;ve done, but through other people&rsquo;s experiences you can see it&rsquo;s kind of different,&rdquo; says Bol. &ldquo;It is hard for other people, not just Sudanese but refugees in general and the indigenous people in Australia.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Perhaps the perfect antidote to any ill-feeling towards immigrants is the pride with which Deng and Bol represent Australia, and as they head into the off-season and look towards 2021, the dream of them lining up in the green and gold in Tokyo is what sustains them.</p>
<p>Competing not so much against, but alongside, each other. Two great friends, brothers in arms, out there on the sport&rsquo;s biggest stage.</p>
<p><strong>Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics</strong></p>

There’s a rare bond that exists between training partners, a connection forged through mutual understanding.

Local Time	Sex	Event	Round
09:00	M	3000 Metres Steeplechase	Heats
09:15	M	High Jump	Qualification
09:45	M	Discus Throw	Group A	Startlist	Result	Summary
09:55	W	800 Metres	Heats
10:55	M	400 Metres Hurdles	Heats
11:20	M	Discus Throw	Group B	Startlist	Result	Summary
11:40	W	100 Metres	Heats

Local Time	Sex	Event	Round
19:00	W	5000 Metres	Heats
19:05	W	Triple Jump	Qualification
19:25	W	Shot Put	Qualification
20:00	X	4x400 Metres Relay	Heats
20:30	M	10,000 Metres	Final

Date	Meeting	Venue	Country
02 AUG 2024 - 11 AUG 2024	The XXXIII Olympic Games (Athletics)	Stade de France, Paris-St-Denis		-	News
30 JUL 2021 - 08 AUG 2021	The XXXII Olympic Games (Athletics)	Olympic Stadium, Tokyo		-	News
05 AUG 2016 - 21 AUG 2016	The XXXI Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro (Estádio Olímpico)		Results	News
27 JUL 2012 - 12 AUG 2012	The XXX Olympic Games	London (Olympic Stadium)		Results	News
08 AUG 2008 - 24 AUG 2008	The XXIX Olympic Games	Beijing (National Stadium)		Results	News
20 AUG 2004 - 29 AUG 2004	28th Olympic Games	Athína (Olympic Stadium)		Results	News
22 SEP 2000 - 01 OCT 2000	27th Olympic Games	Sydney (Olympic Stadium)		Results	News

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