O'Sullivan and Fay line up for Ireland at Euro Athletics Team Champs meet Saturday...

MARIBOR, Slovenia--Washington alums Sophie O'Sullivan (Paul Merca photo) and Brian Fay are set to run Saturday in the first of two days of competition at the European Athletics Team Championships--2nd Division at the Atletski Stadion Poljane.

As reported earlier, O'Sullivan, the NCAA champion at 1500 meters for the University of Washington two weeks ago, will line up in the 800 meters at 8:15 am Pacific time (5:15 pm local time), while Fay will go in the 5000 meters at 9:35 am Pacific time (6:35 pm local time).

In each of the men's and women's individual events, each country enters one athlete, with team scoring based on the placings in their events.

Countries competing in the European Athletics Team Championships-2nd Division include Denmark, Slovenia, Belgium, Ireland, Slovakia, Israel, Bulgaria, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Croatia, Austria, Cyprus, and Türkiye.

The top three teams will earn promotion into the First Division which includes many of the powerhouse European teams, including Great Britain, Germany and Italy.

European Athletics will offer live streaming of the meet at this link.

The time schedule for the meet is available here, while the entry list is available here.

DID FAITH KIPYEGON REALLY RUN 4:06.42?

Both Track & Field News and LetsRun.com are questioning whether or not Kenya's Faith Kipyegon (photo courtesy Nike) actually ran 4:06.42 in Thursday's "Breaking 4" event in Paris.

Both are citing photos of the finish line infield clock which read 4:06.91, and their own efforts of hand timing the race using the video as not adding up to 4:06.42, even using standard conversions from hand timing to electronic timing.

Track & Field News says, "Experienced hand timers, timing as best they could off the video stream with the gun not in the camera shot to catch the smoke, came up with figures closer to 4:07.0. Video analysis suggests a finish time around 4:06.9. That matches well with the infield clock’s 4:06.91; likely not a coincidence."

In a (currently) eight-page thread on LetsRun, publisher Robert Johnson wrote an email to Nike essentially questioning whether or not the clock started when the gun went off, or whether a chip that Kipyegon wore on either her speed suit or shoe triggered the timing device.

Johnson wrote in an email to Nike, "However, you guys are saying her time is 4:06.42. The only way that seems to be possible is if that is what you are referring to as a "chip time". Is Nike claiming her official photofinish time- her gun time- as recorded using normal elite track timing methods is 4:06:42? Or are you saying her chip time - the time from when she crossed the start line to finish line is 4:06:42? If so, will you admit her gun time was 4:06.91?"

The link to Track & Field News' article is here, while the thread to the LetsRun message board discussing this matter begins here.

Food for thought.

EAGER FOURTH IN DAY 1 OF IRON WOOD CLASSIC HAMMER...

In Rathburn, Idaho, Washington State alum Brock Eager finished fourth in the men's hammer at day one of the Iron Wood Classic throws meet at the Iron Wood facility just east of Spokane on Thursday.

Eager threw a best of 234-4 (71.44m), as Justin Stafford, who finished third at the US Olympic Trials but didn't have the standard to go to the Olympics, won with a best of 242-4 (73.88m).

Eager will compete in Saturday's second day of the Iron Wood Classic.

Also competing in Saturday's second day are Washington State's Nana Gyedu and Laura Lindquist in the shot put and javelin; former Eastern Washington standout Ryan Rieckmann, Washington alum Chandler Ault, and Walla Walla native Dash Sirmon in the men's javelin.

Day 2 of the Iron Wood Classic features perhaps one of the best fields for a throws meet in the United States, including world champions Laulauga Tausaga (discus), Chase Jackson (shot), Deanna Price (hammer), along with a number of NCAA and USA national champions.

The link to live results to day 2 of the Iron Wood Classic, along with a meet schedule is available here.

Action at day 2 of the Iron Wood Classic begins at 11 am with the women's shot put and men's hammer. 

NOTE: European Athletics, Nike, Track & Field News, LetsRun.com, and the Iron Wood Throws Center contributed to this report.

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