Saturday, August 6, 2005

In the Olympic Stadium The Men's 20km starts in 20 minutes, and the screen is playing highlights of previous champs. including Maurizio Damilano throwing kisses to the Rome crowd in 1987. Women's high jump qulaification the only thing happing - things will get busy soon but it looks like I'll be able to ge to and from the road lap quicker than in Paris. No free wireless unlika as advertised - Paying o10 for probably just this post! 6:21:10 PM     comment []

The race walk course Four hours prior to the 20km walk, the roads are still open to traffic and trams. The course looks smooth and fast but with some elevations to it. Weather is hazy sunshine - warm in low to mid 20s Celsius. 4:52:47 PM     comment []

World Championships predictions Athletics Weekly have greatly improved their website for the World championships - their predictions for the men's walks are: 20km Walk 1. Fernandez 2. Zhu 3. Perez Which did come from me a week ago, now I'd put Brugnetti in there for Zhu - but it's just a guessing game. The Track & field News prediction is: 20K WALK 1. Francisco Fernández (Spain) 2. Nathan Deakes (Australia) 3. Hongjun Zhu (China) 4. Ilya Markov (Russia) 5. Zhide Cui (China) 6. Ivano Brugnetti (Italy) 7. Juan Manuel Molina (Spain) 8. Rolando Saquipay (Ecuador) 9. Vladimir Stankin (Russia) 10. Noé Hernández (Mexico) Deakes isn't set to start, and Peréz is an omission... Let's see! 4:15:06 PM     comment []

New 'blog' by Championship sponsor Epsom Yay! Another blogger here apart from me.... Epsom have started up a Blogger site to promote their sponsorship here at Helsinki. It's just started so I suppose it should be given time. So far it has given me to expect rain - I'll pack my coat before heading for the number 8 tram but it's hot and sunny outside! To describe the site as a blog is about as accurate really - where's the rss feed? Who is writing? Who to e-mail? With no attempt at community building - what's the point of a corporate site pretending to blog? Early days though - so welcome Epsom to the Blogosphere (yeah I know that's a horrible word...) 12:02:16 PM     comment []

High hopes for Heffernan in Helsinki walk Irish Examiner - By Brendan Mooney - FEW athletes in Helsinki have made more sacrifices than Robert Heffernan and the 27-year-old Togher man will be hoping to reap the rewards in the 20k walk today (4.40pm Irish time). The training season started brightly as he opened his campaign with a third place behind his sometime training partner, Francisco Javier Fernandez from Spain, in a 10k in Almeria, and then finished ninth at the Grand Prix in Tijuana in March. But then he succumbed to a hip problem which required a hefty bout of physiotherapy before departing to Poland for a spell under his coach, the legendary Robert Korzeniowski. 10:07:25 AM     comment []

World Championships - The Race Walking course helsinki2005.fi - The Race Walking course, in keeping with the international rules, is planned in the streets close to the Olympic Stadium. The course was created by Valentin Kononen, Director of Race Walking and the 1995 World Champion of the 50km Race Walk. 20km Men Start list 9:10:32 AM     comment []

© Copyright 2005 Tim Watt. Last update: 28/9/05; 02:19:46.