The World Championships in track and field recently finished, with some amazing performances and storylines. On this week’s GAINcast Vern and Martin break down some of the action, including the planning challenges of multiple championships in one season, hurdling technique, the role of speed in the jumping events, and much more.
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In 2016 Tuomas Seppänen was on the verge of a breakthrough when everything went wrong. It took him years to build but now, at age 36, he is throwing better than ever. On this week’s podcast he joins us to discuss his long road back to the top, including overcoming vertigo, rehabilitating injury, adjusting his training, dealing with the pandemic, balancing work, and much more.
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The World Championships are going on at the moment, and Ryan Whiting has experienced them many times as both an athlete and a coach. On this week’s podcast he walks us through what makes the world championships different from other meets and what makes it so hard to peak on the biggest stage. In addition, he looks back at the lessons he learned from his own coaches, and how he has molded that into his own coaching philosophy.
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Today is the day: the World Championships begin this morning in Oregon and the hammer throw will be the first event under way. As a throwing fan, this is the pinnacle of the sport and there is a lot to look forward to. Below are 5 major stories we’ll be keeping an eye on as the next 10 days of competition unfold.
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For the first time ever, the World Championships will take place in the United States, bringing the world’s best throwers to battle it out in Oregon. The action kicks off next week, but this week we already sit down with Shaun Pickering to break down each event with the top storylines, predictions, and more.
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This week on the podcast we’re going all in on the shot put. The World Indoor Championships took place over the weekend and we break down the results, compare different starting techniques for the rotational shot put, discuss recent trends in the event, how to make competitions more fun for athletes and fans.
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The most amazing performance at the recent World Athletics Championships didn’t take place on the track, it took place on the field. On his final attempt, shot putter Joe Kovacs summoned the best effort the world has seen in nearly 30 years. Not only was his performance historic, but the whole competition was as he edged out both of his top rivals by just one centimeter. Kovacs joins us on this week’s podcast to talk about the competition, the ups and downs he’s faced in the years leading up to his breakthrough, and the evolution of rotational shot put technique. Read more
Don Babbitt is one of the world’s best throwing coaches, having produced champions across every event and both genders. In addition to his role at the University of Georgia, he has been working with the IAAF on their recent biomechanical analysis of the 2017 World Championships. By adding a coach’s perspective, he can help identify key points to take away from the project in all throwing events. On this week’s episode we break down the report what its findings mean for coaches. Read more
Recently the Junior World Track & Field Championships were televised. I watched with great interest. It was interesting to see the wider variation in body types than what you see at the senior level. I couldn’t help but think as I was watching how many of these athletes would go on and be a factor at the senior level. By being a factor, I look at it several ways: Read more
Alyssa Wilson made history on Saturday with the highest ever finish by an American woman the the IAAF World Junior Championships. The UCLA freshman opened the competition strong and moved into second place on her second attempt. She improved in round three to 64.45 meters (211’5″) to secure her position and eventually capture silver. Wilson entered the competition as the world leader, but it was also her third final after a long week of competition in a rare attempt to win medals across all three heavy throws events. Unfortunately she fouled out of the shot put final, and placed just 10th in the discus. But her luck was much better in the hammer. Read more
