Welcome to the cheeky armchair expert daily recap for Thursday, the 8th of August. We're going to talk through some of the key events from last night. Well, specifically the women's 1500 meters semis, we're also going to recap some of the field events that Anna witnessed the day before. And then we'll make some predictions for the events kicking off tomorrow. Hello, Anna. Huh?
Hello, Phoebe. Nice to be here.
Great to have you. What were you up to when the women's 1500 metre semis were happening? I
got a, uh, part of her family's French. So they live sort of like 25 minutes outside of Paris city. So we went out there for a traditional French dinner, at their house, which was so, so nice. And we were all crowded around the TV watching. and I was, I mean their like commentary was in French. So I was sort of giving an English version of the commentary just because I, I don't know if it's a positive or a negative.
But I know too much about a lot of the people in the semis because I have a girl crush on all of them. Laughter. for the semi finals, so there's two semi finals and the first six in each heat advance to the final. So there's nothing to do with times, it's purely top six in your semi and you're through to the final. so yeah, semi final was, it was pretty stacked. I think, yeah, this was definitely, the semi with more depth and was going to be way harder to qualify.
Um, Not sorry, I shouldn't say way harder, was going to be, probably a little, yeah, really hard to qualify. so George Griffith from Australia was in that. She, as we spoke the other day, looked really good in the heats. and she was also there with Faith Kikip Yagon from Kenya, the world record holder. and it was just completely stacked. I'll run through the, like, sort of big names.
So there was George Bell, the British national champ, Ellie St. Pierre, who was is sort of like one of the leading U. S. runners. Laura Muir, who got a medal in Tokyo. and then there was also, like, young gung, Myra Amston from New Zealand, who, is over in college in America, and has just won the NCAAs, which is, like, the, like, huge college, um, event in America. And then also, yeah, a few really strong Spanish girls. I mean, the whole field was
Literally everyone
they were all really good. Yeah. so Georgia ran really, she ran really well. Like she could not have done any more. She was in a great position, like not leading, but sort of in the top four, five, like, the majority of the race. Um, and was on the inside just, yeah, it looked really good. I feel like she went probably like a little bit early.
She obviously just like wanted to really, like kind of Yeah, yeah, so she was sort of like running in second for a while and then, a group of sort of five or six went past her, probably with 350 meters to go, but then she stuck like right on them and was in sixth place, but then in the last sort of 50 meters, just really hit a wall, and a few people A few people went in front of her, so she ended up in ninth place, but like a valiant effort.
I thought Georgia did everything she could do and more. Honestly, I thought she was right in the mixer. And then, yeah, you could see she just hit that wall with like 80 meters to go. And it must have been so hard, like watching the athletes come around her. But she should be finishing feeling so proud because she's had an amazing couple of races. She's, she's performed really well.
Yeah. Yeah. so then in semi final two, we had our gal Jess Hull. So on paper, I feel like, this heat was a little less stacked, but it also, it actually ended up being way faster than the first heat. Yeah. So if you actually, if you look at the results, so there were 13 in the race, obviously only six qualify, but from 5th to 12th. They like all got PBs and national records. Which is just insane. Yeah, so they're all running so, so fast. so, Jessal just looked so good the whole time.
She, the two Ethiopians, so, Segai, who's one of their favourites, Along with, well, Teji. They were sort of running side by side and then Jessile was just like placed right behind them, just following them, like out of, not, not sort of mid pack, where a lot of the trouble sometimes happens if there is trouble. So she ran a really clean race. looked super strong. Yeah. Ended in second place in three 55. So it's crazy to think that like so many of these girls were getting PBS, a national record.
And she's still sort of five seconds off her, PB. And I am not sure if you've watched her post race interview, um,
No, I
on channel nine, but she, uh, God, she, she is like giving me. Nina Kennedy, who we're about to speak about, but like in her interviews, like after the Diamond Leagues and whatnot, you could just tell how focused she was. And like, set on the Olympics, and she won quite a few diamond leagues, and she was obviously, when they interviewed her after, she was obviously content with winning, but she was like, very adamant, that that wasn't her main aim.
And like, Jess, just, she was just, in her interview, she was so focused, she was sort of saying, I ran strong, I ran clean. All you want to do is get through feeling good and feeling good. They were kind of asking her if she feels like she's got pressure on her shoulders, and she was like, I don't have pressure at all. Like, I have an opportunity. Like, I am like in the best spot that I can be.
wow. That
it was just like, it was
wait to watch that. yeah, I, you know, I know you're saying like 3. 55, five seconds off her PB, but I was also thinking like not that long ago that would have been an Australian record and she looks like she was
And her PB.
Yeah. And her PB and she looked so comfortable. So in control, so strong. I am so excited for Saturday night to watch her.
I know.
I think she is, yeah, she couldn't be in better form.
Yeah, agree. So, yeah, she ended up finishing second. Nikki Hiltz, who's their American US champ, finished in third. So, she's through Sege, who, is also one of the favourites, who we spoke about earlier. She's also through, and also, a French woman, Agathe Gualamot. Is through. She finished in sixth place and a national record. So the crowd is going to be insane on Saturday night. So, which is like, so yeah, really excited that she's, she got in as well.
And tell us about, Nina Kennedy
Yeah, no, it was so cool. I mean, we were watching on the TV and it was sort of weird because you knew that she, the way that she found out that she'd won was that the American didn't jump over. So I was like, kind of odd, you know, a lot of the time it's like they clear the bar and then they know they've won.
Yeah.
but the American didn't jump over so Nina didn't have to do any more jumps and like she, she won which was, yeah, it was, it was so cool. She was just so excited. I think the thing that I like most is, Matt Denny who had just won like our first ever medal in the discus for, in the men's, he won a bronze and was obviously doing a victory lap and then kind of had like almost finished the lap.
like, five minutes or so after like Nina had found out that she won and so she was obviously like over the moon and then it was filmed like their like first interaction and just like their embrace was just so, wholesome it was so cool
I've watched the replay a few times now of Nina, like she's standing with her coach and so on, when she obviously sees the American woman not make it, and she just starts screaming. And I
yeah, I'm like squealing.
Yeah, because it's just like that intense, Emotion relief, et cetera, is so apparent and you can't not get swept up in
Yeah, no, it was so cool. yeah, I think she should change her name to just Queen Nina.
Queen Nina. Yeah, I love it. and now the main, big event tomorrow is the 10, 000 meter final, uh, women's 10, 000 meter final. Lots of big names in there. We've obviously got Tibet who won the 5, 000 meter and is, the world record holder for the 10, 000 meter. Uh, we've got Safan Hasan, we've got, Lauren Ryan from the Australians. We've got Sege. Sege is running a lot of events. So Sege will do that and then the 1500m final the next night. And she's done the 5k as well.
Yeah,
that is a Sophane level effort there.
Yeah. Well, not quite. because Safan is also in the race and she's then doing the marathon 36 hours later.
what are your predictions?
I, I mean, if I'm being completely honest, I feel like I'm not completely over the 10ks. Like I'm not as heavily invested in it as I am like the 15s and the five, but I, I just, I think Tibet looked so good in the 5k the other day. I just don't see how she can get beaten.
Yep, I agree. I think
Particularly because the 10k is her, event. Like, she's the world record holder.
how do you think Sophane will go? Do you think she's going to medal again?
Yes. Yeah. I think she'll medal, but I think it will be silver or bronze.
Silver or bronze? I did read an interview with her after the 5000m and she, she sounded like very distressed and she was like, I don't know why I'm doing this. I feel terrible.
it was odd. It was really odd, wasn't it?
Yeah, I know. It was actually like all the comments were kind of joking, but I was like in the article, but I'm like, oh, that actually sounded, sounds a little bit concerning. I hope someone
Yeah, it sounded a bit distressing. Like she was saying that like she wants to get her brain checked. She feels like something's wrong with her. Why is she doing all these events? And it's sort of, you kind of laugh, but I don't know if she's actually being serious, then that's like, not,
I know.
that's not good.
What do you, how do you think Lauren will go?
I think Lauren, I feel like she was in such great form at the start of the year to qualify for this event. And I feel like she struggled a bit in previous races and looked like she struggled a bit in the five K. So, So, um, I, I would love to, for her to get close to her PB, but I'm not sure how, how competitive Lauren will be. I mean, the fact that she's made the 10Ks is like an incredible feat in itself.
Yeah, agreed. But, um, she'll
but very happy to be proven wrong.
exactly. exactly. Alright, thank you so much for joining us for another Daily Recap, we can't wait to be back in your ears tomorrow.
Woo! Bye! Another one to watch is our American college gal, Parker Valby.
have to mention Mark about me.
Um, I mean we cut that out, no one wants to hear about Parker Valby.