World Indoor 2023

[gm]

( I want Femke to beat Sydney. I have the vision it will happen. )

Need to get your eyes checked

[Awsi Dooger]

It's been like that the last couple of indoor seasons though, this isn't a new approach. In Metz 21/22 & Vienna 21 Bol & Klaver have been in different heats of the 400m & 200m. The only race they clashed outside the NCs last year was Torun.

I do think Bol's participation in Boston has also had an impact, she has needed a bigger gap to her next meet (she stayed in the US for a couple of days after the race, then the travel back..) and they were not going to put Klaver's racing schedule on hold because of that. Similarly Kielbasinska was committed to run in Boston because she's a New Balance athlete, leading to her missing her home countries marquee event in Torun too. Hence Klaver running in Torun as usual and Bol & Kielbasinska not.

Not running the 400m in Metz may just be because Klaver ran in Torun & they want a good opportunity to attack the NR over 200m indoors. Note originally Euro bronze medalist Karlsson was supposed to be running, but has withdrawn, so they may have felt Klaver needed to be fresh in the 200m (the 400m is run first..). But if she were in the 400m in Metz, she would probably have been in a different heat anyway, as before.

However, note, virtually all the Meuwly training camp are running in Metz: Bol, Klaver, Kielbasinska, Sallberg, Bouma, Tkachuk, Lehikoinen..all doubling apart form Klaver...but then she is the only one that ran in Torun 2 days ago.

It is a new approach. Klaver and Bol had always faced each other at 400 indoors prior to national championships. This year it won't happen. It wasn't scheduled to happen even before Bol made the late decision to go to Boston.

Also it's not totally accurate that no one else in the camp doubled up from Torun to Metz. Tkachuk ran the 400 on Wednesday then followed it up with both 200 and 400 today.

Klaver and Tkachuk have been traveling together. They had the same indoor schedule until today. I agree that Klaver was held out of the 400 partially to allow her to focus on breaking 23 at 200. But whether Meuwly wants to admit it or not I think the majority variable was to maintain Klaver's confidence level as high as possible heading toward European Indoors. In 2021 Klaver lost to Bol twice in 4 days before traveling to Torun for European Indoors. Klaver was expected to medal but faded to 5th.

[Atticus]

Many of the best 400 women ever have never come close to threatening 50 indoors.

A. I have learned not to try and compare times from even 5 years ago. Faster tracks/shoes.
B. Klaver probably has better 200 speed that, but Bol will usually win cuz she's simply more competitive.
C. I am a huge fan of Bol's, but SML has already taken my top spot in these events.

[ATK]

Many of the best 400 women ever have never come close to threatening 50 indoors.

Not sure if you mean sub 51 or sub 50, but still its a bit unfair to a degree. How many indoor races have Koch, Perec, Naser, Freeman etc. run indoors?

[Trickstat]

Not sure if you mean sub 51 or sub 50, but still its a bit unfair to a degree. How many indoor races have Koch, Perec, Naser, Freeman etc. run indoors?

Koch's the only one of those 4 whom I can remember running one, and that was early in her career.

[Ernst Klaas]

Need to get your eyes checked

:-)))

[Awsi Dooger]

Until watching the clip I didn't realize Kielbasinka was in the same 200 heat as Bol. That's almost the equivalent of having Klaver in there. It would have been tighter if Kielbasinka hadn't run the 400 earlier. She was .15 slower at 200 today than in Torun in late January, soon after returning from South Africa.

This will probably cause a bit of awkwardness in the camp. Klaver and Kielbasinka are accustomed to trailing Bol at 400 but not at 200. The post race was not nearly the normal amount of smiles and huggy huggy between Bol and Kielbasinka. Bol conceded in the Citius Mag YouTube interview that there is a natural degree of rivalry in the camp.

[Awsi Dooger]

This Bol result isn't earning as much attention site to site as Boston since it's not a world record. But, as I expected, it scores higher on the IAAF points calculator. The 49.96 at 400 indoors is worth 1240 while the 1:05.63 at 500 checks in at 1234.

As I mentioned last week I thought Bol took it out too slowly in Boston. She should have been trying to go through 400 in 51.2 territory, not the actual 51.41 let alone the targeted 51.80.

The camp was too conservative and overly scared of the extra 100 meters. Plus they had no idea of knowing that Bol had improved this much since last fall. The 1:05.63 was a world record but kind of an underachieving world record, like Sydney with the extra step on hurdle 9 in Tokyo. Bol at 1:05.41 would have earned the same 1240 points as today.

[Jacksf]

Bol, like Warholm, is seemingly not only the best European at the 400m hurdles, but also the best European at the 400m flat.

[Revenant]

A little bird told me Bol might attack the 400 WR in Lievin.
Klaver will be in a separate heat, but she will have Kielbasinska and will attack the first 200m of the 400m much faster, poss 23.5 ( she did 23.9 in Metz)

[beebee]

Olympic and World Champion Mu and her coach surely know better than we do...after two busy years and two upcoming equally rough campaigns Mu(and teammate SML) are taking things carefully...I don't believe some winter meet in February is high on their lists.

[Awsi Dooger]

Cathelijn Peeters went under 53 for the first time indoors today, albeit barely at 52.92. It presents an interesting situation for Meuwly because the non-Papendal Peeters has been faster than his second tier relay group this winter, defined as anyone not named Bol or Klaver. Peeters doesn't have much speed or upside but she is tenacious and with stamina. The trust issue may play a role after the dropped baton in Eugene.

It will come down to next weekend at nationals. That second tier of Saalberg, De Witte, Bouma and Peeters figure to finish fairly tight to each other. Last year Peeters didn't feel she fully belonged and seemed embarrassed to sneak into the final in lane one, where she was compromised. If Saalberg and others want to relegate the outsider again they'll have to emphasize the heat at 52.5 level to stick Peeters in a poor lane again. Otherwise she's more dangerous this year in the final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0WiaMmf_F8

[Jacksf]

She could definitely improve her start. She stood straight up.

[DET59]

Olympic and World Champion Mu and her coach surely know better than we do...after two busy years and two upcoming equally rough campaigns Mu(and teammate SML) are taking things carefully...I don't believe some winter meet in February is high on their lists.

Also, the "pay" and prize money just isn't worth it for the indoor season. They are professionals after all.

[El Toro]

A little bird told me Bol might attack the 400 WR in Lievin.
Klaver will be in a separate heat, but she will have Kielbasinska and will attack the first 200m of the 400m much faster, poss 23.5 ( she did 23.9 in Metz)

Jarmila Kratochvílová did 49.59i WR/48.85 (-0.74) in 1982 and then 49.69i/47.99 PB (-1.70) in 1983 and Bol is just a few tenths slower indoors (so far). I wonder what Bol's outdoor differential will end up being, assuming she even does an all out 400 at her peak later this year.

Looking at the top of the indoor AT list, here are some same year SBs for indoor/outdoor, (outdoor change), year achieved.

Tatána Kocembová 49.76i/48.73 (-1.03) 1984
Sabine Busch 50.01i/49.24 (-0.77) 1984
Natalya Nazarova 49.68i/49.65 (-0.03) 2004
Femke Bol 50.30i/49.44 (-0.86) 2022