By Len Johnson (reporting from Doha) - Runner's Tribe
A good journo mate used to describe a story so obvious that even a mug like me couldn’t miss it as “a walk-up start.” Heaven knows where the expression came from, but its implication is that this is the main story,...
All the talk had been Shaunae Miller-Uibo. Couldn’t do the 200 due to the timetable. Would have won. Ran two lovely, languid races in her heat and semi-final of the 400 leaving us to wonder how fast she might go if pushed in the final.
A column by Len Johnson (reporting from Doha) - Runner's Tribe
There is no rest day in the world championships program. Hasn’t been for a while now.
For long periods, however, day six seemed intent on being as restful as possible. Oh, there were sparks – a couple of quite physical...
By Len Johnson (reporting from Doha) - Runner's Tribe
For eight of her nine throws in Doha, Kelsey-Lee Barber was struggling. All the throwers were. No-one was finding it easy to produce good throws in the heavy atmosphere inside Khalifa International Stadium.
“Trust the feel, trust the rhythm,” coach and husband...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
There were five gold medals awarded on the fourth day of the world championships and each of them was special in its own way.
There was the emotion of Daniel Stahl’s gold medal in the discus after several years of world-leading throws coupled...
A column by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Sometimes our sport seems to flirt with danger, recklessly loading the gun, pointing it floorwards, then professing surprise that it has shot itself in the sport.
It seemed that day three of the world championships might be such a time. Just three real...
Hassan closes with deadly speed
After Herb Elliott had destroyed Ron Delany and the rest of the field to smash the world mile record in Dublin in 1958, a priest asked Delany how would you beat the great Australian.
“I don’t know, father,” replied Delany. “Maybe tie his legs together.”
Sifan Hassan...
Many tried. Only a handful succeeded.
Context is everything. One day you’re writing that one good thing about the first day is that you get to see every competitor in the day’s heats and qualifying rounds, even if they’re not yet going head-to-head; the next, you’re hit by the painful...
Written by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
I don’t know what size shoes Sally Pearson wears but, metaphorically at least, they are big shoes to fill.
Those of us who followed the Australian campaign towards the Sydney 2000 home Olympics had a running joke (in the interests of field & track,...
Written by Len Johnson - Runner's Tribe
Usually, we go to a world championships knowing what to expect. We may not get all, much or any of what we expected, but we go with a clear vision.
Doha 2019 is not like that. It doesn’t fit the norm. We don’t even...
