Day 2 of the Olympics-morning session...
6:00 pm--Welcome to day 2 of the Beijing Olympic track & field competition. With only two state of Washington affiliated athletes competing Saturday--former WSU discus thrower Ian Waltz, and former University of Washington discus thrower Mart Israel, the Saturday morning session will be a little slower than action yesterday.
Both Waltz and Israel are throwing in group B, which gets underway a little after 9 pm in Seattle (noon Saturday in Beijing). Action in the Saturday morning session includes first round heats in the women's 100 & 400, qualifying in the women's pole vault & shot put, and the men's steeplechase. There is one final in the morning session, and that's in the men's 20-kilometer run.
Day 2 of the women's heptathlon is also on the docket. With Diana Pickler out of the competition with a strained left hamstring, we won't follow it as closely as we would've. Nonetheless, we'll give you a taste of the track & field action at the "Bird's Nest".
Looking ahead to Saturday night finals, the one everyone is anticipating is the men's 100 meters, which goes off at 10:30 pm, local time (7:30 am in Seattle). If you're in the Seattle area, watch it on CBC (Comcast channel 99).
6:45 pm--In Parker Morse's blog on the iaaf.org site, he reports that steeplechaser Anthony Famiglietti, aka "Fam" finished third in his heat of the steeple in a time of 8:17.34. Fam, who is one of the more colorful American distance runners on the circuit, led for most of the race, leading by as much as 50 meters.
Shot putter Jillian Camerena has just met the automatic qualifying standard for tonight's finals, throwing 18.51 m (60-8 3/4). 18.45m (60-6 1/2) is the auto qualifier to advance.
7:45 pm--In the women's heptathlon long jump, Hyleas Fountain is potentially in trouble...she has two fouls so far.
8:10 pm--Fountain bailed herself out, jumping 6.38m (20-11 1/4), worth 969 points. Dobrynska 5045, Fountain 5029, Blonska 4913 is your top 3. Fountain's not a good javelin thrower, and is suspect in the 800. Could get interesting.
8:45 pm--Group A of the men's discus is now over, so we should see Ian & Mart beginning warmups shortly. I believe they get 30 minutes to warmup. Ian throws tenth in the order, and Mart 13th; the time schedule posted on the beijing2008.cn site says it will start at 12:05 pm; then again, they may have gotten extra time to throw at the practice track. But, the circle at the practice track is usually different than the one inside the stadium.
Eighteen athletes are scheduled to throw in Group B. 64.50 is the auto qualifier (211-7). Only three out of group A have thrown that far; 60.24 is the 12th farthest throw so far (197-8). A better indicator is the sixth place mark, which is 63.10 (207-0).
9:10 pm--Getting things underway with the women's 400m heats. Group B is now throwing in the discus. In the pole vault, the bar is now at 4.50m (14-9). Yelena Isinbayeva and Jenn Stuczynski have not come in yet; Jenn should go in at this height.
9:18 pm--Ian Waltz throws 60.02m (196-11) on his first attempt. Meanwhile in the pole vault, Stuczynski just cleared 4.50m.
Meanwhile, Mart Israel just threw 61.98m (203-4). Isinbayeva's warming up now in the vault.
9:35 pm--Women's pole vault is now over...in the discus, foul for Waltz; 59.78 (196-1) for Israel. Isinbayeva cleared 4.60m (15-1). Everyone who made 4.50 is into the finals.
9:44 pm--Sanya Richards just won her heat of the womens 400 in 50.54. Mart Israel's fellow countryman and training partner Gerd Kanter, the reigning world champion is now an automatic qualifier, throwing 64.66 (212-2).
10:00 pm--Ian Waltz just fouled a few minutes ago; he won't advance to the finals. Meanwhile, Mart Israel threw 61.63 (202-2)...Israel misses the finals by two places...62.48 is the last qualifier (205-0).
No Americans will advance to the finals of the discus...wow...looks like the US men's throwers are not having a good meet, with the exception of Christian Cantwell. Don't think anyone projected this.
We'll be back at 4 am to pick up the evening session. See you then!
Both Waltz and Israel are throwing in group B, which gets underway a little after 9 pm in Seattle (noon Saturday in Beijing). Action in the Saturday morning session includes first round heats in the women's 100 & 400, qualifying in the women's pole vault & shot put, and the men's steeplechase. There is one final in the morning session, and that's in the men's 20-kilometer run.
Day 2 of the women's heptathlon is also on the docket. With Diana Pickler out of the competition with a strained left hamstring, we won't follow it as closely as we would've. Nonetheless, we'll give you a taste of the track & field action at the "Bird's Nest".
Looking ahead to Saturday night finals, the one everyone is anticipating is the men's 100 meters, which goes off at 10:30 pm, local time (7:30 am in Seattle). If you're in the Seattle area, watch it on CBC (Comcast channel 99).
6:45 pm--In Parker Morse's blog on the iaaf.org site, he reports that steeplechaser Anthony Famiglietti, aka "Fam" finished third in his heat of the steeple in a time of 8:17.34. Fam, who is one of the more colorful American distance runners on the circuit, led for most of the race, leading by as much as 50 meters.
Shot putter Jillian Camerena has just met the automatic qualifying standard for tonight's finals, throwing 18.51 m (60-8 3/4). 18.45m (60-6 1/2) is the auto qualifier to advance.
7:45 pm--In the women's heptathlon long jump, Hyleas Fountain is potentially in trouble...she has two fouls so far.
8:10 pm--Fountain bailed herself out, jumping 6.38m (20-11 1/4), worth 969 points. Dobrynska 5045, Fountain 5029, Blonska 4913 is your top 3. Fountain's not a good javelin thrower, and is suspect in the 800. Could get interesting.
8:45 pm--Group A of the men's discus is now over, so we should see Ian & Mart beginning warmups shortly. I believe they get 30 minutes to warmup. Ian throws tenth in the order, and Mart 13th; the time schedule posted on the beijing2008.cn site says it will start at 12:05 pm; then again, they may have gotten extra time to throw at the practice track. But, the circle at the practice track is usually different than the one inside the stadium.
Eighteen athletes are scheduled to throw in Group B. 64.50 is the auto qualifier (211-7). Only three out of group A have thrown that far; 60.24 is the 12th farthest throw so far (197-8). A better indicator is the sixth place mark, which is 63.10 (207-0).
9:10 pm--Getting things underway with the women's 400m heats. Group B is now throwing in the discus. In the pole vault, the bar is now at 4.50m (14-9). Yelena Isinbayeva and Jenn Stuczynski have not come in yet; Jenn should go in at this height.
9:18 pm--Ian Waltz throws 60.02m (196-11) on his first attempt. Meanwhile in the pole vault, Stuczynski just cleared 4.50m.
Meanwhile, Mart Israel just threw 61.98m (203-4). Isinbayeva's warming up now in the vault.
9:35 pm--Women's pole vault is now over...in the discus, foul for Waltz; 59.78 (196-1) for Israel. Isinbayeva cleared 4.60m (15-1). Everyone who made 4.50 is into the finals.
9:44 pm--Sanya Richards just won her heat of the womens 400 in 50.54. Mart Israel's fellow countryman and training partner Gerd Kanter, the reigning world champion is now an automatic qualifier, throwing 64.66 (212-2).
10:00 pm--Ian Waltz just fouled a few minutes ago; he won't advance to the finals. Meanwhile, Mart Israel threw 61.63 (202-2)...Israel misses the finals by two places...62.48 is the last qualifier (205-0).
No Americans will advance to the finals of the discus...wow...looks like the US men's throwers are not having a good meet, with the exception of Christian Cantwell. Don't think anyone projected this.
We'll be back at 4 am to pick up the evening session. See you then!
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