Send us a text We’ll level with you. We completely and utterly lost control of this one. Like Eilish McColgan in the British Championships 5000m this year, it set off like a train, and we never stood a chance. We invited Radzi Chinyanganya along to help us preview the 2019 World Championships, figuring that his professionalism would lend polish and structure to our usual ramblings. To our absolute delight, he completely failed in this respect; Radzi was such an effervescent fountain of knowledge...
Sep 24, 2019•2 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Send us a text The 2019 Diamond League has finished, British Athletics have named their team for the World Championships, and the gang's back together! Oh - hang on - Bayo's running late. Close, but no coconut. Regardless: what an exciting time of year, and how bloody amazing does it feel knowing we've a British women's 100m Diamond League Champion? With Doha just around the corner, it's time to ponder how revealing those Zurich and Brussels meets were, and cast an eye through the 74 athletes ch...
Sep 22, 2019•1 hr 27 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Send us a text Newly-crowned British 100m Champion, Ojie Edoburun said something very wise to us this weekend: ‘you can be a circuit guy, or you can be a championship guy.’ Now, in an ideal world, you’d be both, but that’s no easy feat, and it’s a rare old athlete who’d pick Diamond League consistency over the chance to etch their names into the history books, and clinch silverware when big performances matter the most. The British Champs aren’t the Worlds or Olympics, but they sure do run the r...
Aug 28, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Send us a text Claire's away 'doing rugby in France' (close enough, lads; she's been in both Portugal and West London, and is now - terrified - hitting 'publish' on an episode the boys promise needs only a cursory tidy up in edit...), leaving Jody and Bayo to look ahead to this weekend's British Championships. Last year, we all agreed that the trials were one of our favourite events of the season: brimming with fierce competition, high-quality contests, and the very best of British athletics. Be...
Aug 22, 2019•36 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Send us a text We've two guests this week, and they're on for very different reasons. Double European U23 Champion and enormous talent Jemma Reekie is back (we've had her on before. We adore her), to discuss her history-making exploits in Gavle. Rabah Yousif? Well, he's on because he... Oh - hang on. Scrap that. We mean Youcef Zatat. Or do we..? Basically, British Athletics had an administrative shocker in Bydgoszcz, naming the wrong athlete in their 4x400 squad, and catapulting the UK's #2 shot...
Aug 14, 2019•1 hr 21 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Send us a text We've recorded 50 episodes! How on earth has that come about? Thank you *so* much to those of you joining us on our error-strewn, star-sprinkled athletics' romp to date. We've loved every minute of it (especially when Jody made the pacemaker his Fantasy Diamond League captain...). Claire's been away covering the Netball World Cup, but these major international meets don't journalise themselves, so Jody and Bayo headed to the London Stadium to speak to the following at the Annivers...
Jul 24, 2019•56 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Send us a text 'Distance running isn't sexy. How on Earth are you meant to market it? Does anyone even want to watch races longer than 4 minutes these days? Definitely - DEFINITELY - let's not sell beer at distance running meets, have supporters pack out lane three, nor invite international medallists to thrash it out - screamed on by thousands of cowbell-toting fans - for European and national titles.' - Actual (read: completely fabricated) minutes from a recent Diamond League meeting... The fa...
Jul 16, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Send us a text Being a heptathlete (we imagine; we’re hardly speaking from experience here at Backstraight HQ…) requires not only explosiveness, endurance, technical finesse, and sublime co ordination, but nerves of absolute steel. The psychological challenges of the event have proven a stumbling block for many physically-gifted athletes, and to be able to reach into your bag of tricks and deliver a third round clearance, lifetime best, or gutsy 800 metres at the end of two gruelling days of com...
Jul 09, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Send us a text As gaffs go, we thought we'd be hard-pressed to beat missing the entire Stockholm round of the Fantasy Diamond League this season. Our rankings were decimated; our hearts broken. Our seasons, surely, can be written off just like this year's Nike Elite kit. But then Jody named an actual pacemaker as his team captain, and all bets were off. Oh, how we laughed (Jody aside...). Claire's captain? The resplendent Karsten Warholm, whose European record was the headline act of this week's...
Jun 15, 2019•43 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Send us a text Caster Semenya is a terrific talent. She is a fierce competitor. She is a dignified presence in a melting pot of opinions: an articulate and inspirational oasis in the face of a relentless tide of ignorance, knee-jerk reactions, and vitriol. We love the light-hearted on this pod, but put our usual flippancy to one side for a moment this week to discuss this historic legal case, and bemoan the lost art of sitting on the fence. It is okay to not have an answer to this conundrum; it ...
May 17, 2019•53 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Send us a text 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times' wrote Charles Dickens, but this canonical line could well have been penned by Georgia Nicholson, Lady Bird, or any other coming-of-age protagonist. Adolescence is tough enough without international selection, age group championships, and the expectation of massively-invested athletics' fans to contend with. Being a prodigious youngster is no easy feat: just look at Jodie Williams, who had to compete with the moniker of 'Moneyle...
Apr 15, 2019•1 hr 25 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Send us a text More people would watch athletics if there were less of it. More athletes would jump higher, run faster, and throw further if they were under greater pressure (the threat of not fulfilling a lifelong ambition by competing at an Olympics) to do so. More interest could be generated and clarity secured if a global ranking system were put into place. More fans would be able to enjoy field events if they took place outside of stadia. That's right; it's all change on Planet Track & ...
Mar 25, 2019•52 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Send us a text All sort's been going on at Backstraight HQ the last few days: Bayo's been kicking himself, out in Rio for the Carnival, getting his time zones muddled up and missing the Glaswegian athletics action he's so desperate to live stream; Jody's been catching up with Nicola Sanders, she of indoor 400m royalty, and utterly bonkers splits; Claire's been having a quarter-life crisis, having spent 15 minutes with some of Team GB's brightest young talents, and realising - after hearing Amber...
Mar 04, 2019•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Send us a text We had coffee with Holly. We caught up with Guy. We enjoyed a cracking pub lunch (although appreciate that's not entirely relevant here). We screamed Tim onto a gnarly, silver-clinching 1000m personal best. We relished Shelayna's tactical nous. We marvelled at Jamie's classy, canny run. We chuckled at Maria's poker-faced demolition of a high-quality field. We witnessed yet another tactical masterclass from Marcin. We picked our jaws up off the floor after Eilidh's scorching anchor...
Mar 04, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Send us a text Anyone got Samuel Tefera's number? Would someone please let him know he broke a world record in Birmingham on Saturday? He seemed to have absolutely no idea, as he stopped the clock at a handy 3:31.04... Come to think of it, there have been plenty of pinch-yourself marks, times, and series at this year's indoor meets already: Melissa Courtney's run in Karlsruhe; Holly Bradshaw's two-outings, two-4.80s, and two-wins campaign to date; Laura Muir casually setting two national records...
Feb 17, 2019•48 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Send us a text We feel like we're putting away our track and field Russian dolls* here at Backstraight HQ, because the names just keep on getting bigger. The indoor season is just around the corner, at which point we'll be back in studio, bringing you all our usual mispronunciations, irreverence, and analysis, but we've one final interview special for you, and - boy, oh boy - is it a humdinger of a guest. Paula Radcliffe is a three-time London Marathon winner, has a trio of New York titles, won ...
Jan 29, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Send us a text Just like a lot of Christine Ohoruogo's races (there was just never a dull moment watching her run, was there?), this episode comes in two parts. That's right; we're providing you with almost 90 minutes of her amazing insights and recollections, you lucky ducks. If you enjoyed the first instalment: welcome back. If not: go and listen to it right now. It's just below this one on the Backstraight feed. This one will still be here once you're up to speed, we promise. Caught up? Good....
Jan 20, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Send us a text Watching Christine Ohoruogo race was exhausting. The gun would go. She'd be in the mix. You'd not panic - knowing that her finish was her greatest strength. Another hundred metres would pass. She'd look off the pace. The butterflies would begin. You'd quell them. 'It's fine. Chrissy finishes like a train.' The athletes would exit the bend. Ohoruogo not even amongst the medals. The butterflies set loose. You'd leap from your seat. 'She's left it too late. Even Christine can't pull ...
Jan 15, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Send us a text 2018 was a doozy. A vintage year. Mondo, Dina, Eliud, Kevin, Laura, Abderrahman, Nafi, Niamh: we could list athletes until 2020 rolls around, but we've just received our accreditation for European Indoors in March, and are rather excited to crack on with covering that for you instead. It was a year in which 6.69 didn't even get you on the women's long jump podium at the British Championships; in which we saw KJT beam - yes, beam! - after a shot put in a major heptathlon; in which ...
Jan 07, 2019•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Send us a text 'He's got a sprinting library. In his house,' Asha Philip asserts from the physio table, as she receives treatment at the end of a long day's training. 'A bag of books,' adds Seye Ogunlewe, sat alongside. You'll have to listen to this episode to find out whether or not Steve Fudge actually owns a collection of speedy tomes, but - either way - his knowledge of the sport is certainly encyclopaedic. His meticulous mechanical coaching is matched only by his intuitive management of eac...
Dec 18, 2018•2 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Send us a text As we hit 'publish' on this episode, 1,810,242 runners have - over the last 14 years - given up their Saturday morning lie-ins to cover an astonishing 120 million kilometres of parks worldwide. It is in no way hyperbolic (and, trust us, we know all about hyperbole on this show) to describe parkrun as a global phenomenon, and we had a myriad of questions about the mass participation sensation: is it good for athletics? is it really more of a 'run' than a 'race'? what's it like to v...
Nov 02, 2018•55 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Send us a text DISCLAIMER: This is not the episode for the pedantic. This is not the Diamond League review for those with photographic memories. Steer away, those of you with encyclopaedic athletics' knowledge looking for a factually-accurate review of the Continental Cup. This is a look back at some spectacular results, some thrilling contests, and some extraordinarily confusing scoring systems at the end of what's been a doozy of a season, but the only world record in danger of falling during ...
Sep 20, 2018•48 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Send us a text Before Jessica Ennis-Hill in Beijing, there was Liz McColgan in Tokyo - winning global 10,000m gold less than a year after giving birth to Eilish. In just two years’ time, the McColgans will be back in Japan, and hoping to reach another international podium, for - despite her parents’ best efforts not to push her into the sport - Eilish has followed in her mother’s footsteps, and is now a formidable athlete in her own right. 4:01, 8:31, 14:48: these days, she is rubbing shoulders ...
Sep 16, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Send us a text Imagine being a teenager and becoming a double European Champion in 24 hours. Contemplate how it would feel to vault 6.05 just a year after being legally able to buy glue in the UK. For a second, ponder reaching a continental final in your Senior GB debut. Berlin was brilliant, but it didn't half leave us pondering our comparatively useless adolescents. Jakob, Mondo, Imani, Naomi, Laviai: the future of the sport is bright. Smile at Beth Dobbin's incredulity at her own, mesmerising...
Aug 19, 2018•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Send us a text 102 athletes have been named in the British team, at least 80 of whom seem to have been selected for relays, but - despite 'the world and his wife' having received the nod (B. Furlong, 2018) - there were still some raised eyebrows and furious tweets. We pick over some of these, along with the events we're most looking forward to watching, the youngsters we think could prove Berlin bolters, and generally get hugely excited for the latest major championship this year (like Ingebrigs...
Aug 04, 2018•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Send us a text For the first time in thirty episodes, all three of us were at the same meet, with nothing to do but soak up the atmosphere, interview some international stars, and discuss the world of athletics. And, if we do say so ourselves, we've delivered. Morgan Lake, KJT, Laura Muir, Sifan Hassan, Guy Learmonth, Sandra Perkovic, Maria Lasitskene (feat. interpreter), Adam Gemili, and - of course - the man who has catapulted himself into the hearts of British athletics fans, and onto more po...
Jul 22, 2018•52 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Send us a text The British Championships were outrageously good. Seriously - they were absolutely brilliant, and we're pleased as punch that our UK Sprint Queens reigned supreme by delivering the race of the weekend. Shout out to bronze medallist Jodie Williams for a magical bend, Bianca Williams for floating (elegant as ever) to a silver, and Beth Dobbin for proving everyone that - not only is she a 200/400 star in the making - media training is vastly overrated. Why not burst into tears on nat...
Jul 15, 2018•17 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Send us a text Dina Asher-Smith believed she was in mortal peril during her first ever race: a cross country meet at primary school, entered in exchange for the promise of an ice cream. Thank goodness her sweet tooth was stronger than her reluctance to take part; the thought of a Dina-less athletics doesn't bear thinking about. Listing her achievements here seems silly for three reasons: A) she's the darling of British sprinting, so we all know them already B) there are loads of them, and there'...
Jun 27, 2018•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Send us a text The ladies featured here might be super speedy - they're all bona fide sprint sensations - but this episode certainly isn't. It's an epic, 90-minute romp through some of the biggest names in British sprinting: Jodie Wiliams (06:51), Shannon Hylton (25:26), Beth Dobbin (33:04), Paula Dunn (51:00), Abi Oyepitan (61:02), and Dina Asher-Smith (78:14). Tell us about it; we've no idea how we managed to persuade such sprint queens onto our little pod, either... Eight UK athletes currentl...
Jun 25, 2018•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Send us a text Hello there, beloved listener, and welcome to our twenty-sixth episode. Since we last caught up, Shaunae's gone sub-50 in baggy shorts, Claire's favourite Linden Hall's broken the Australian 1500m record, and Bayo's completed a half marathon (beer-fuelled, much to Jo Pavey and Seb Coe's disappointment).... Please enjoy, please subscribe and please let us know what you think on all our socials. Thanks for listening and follow us on Social Media at Twitter - (@BackstraightB) Insta -...
May 29, 2018•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 26
