Nicola Sanders in the 800? [split]

[Jon]

WOMENS 800M
Sanders, Nicola

I presume this isn't a typo! Very interesting to see how she fares.

[Kai88]

Ooooh very interesting indeed. Quite a few people have mentioned how she looks suited to running as very good 800m and ive got to agree. As its her first serious outing i am not expecting too much but she could run very fast at this distance given time.

Just glad that she is not injured at this time of the season

Although shame that Martyn Rooney won't be competing for a couple of weeks.

[nevetsllim]

Re: Dwain Chambers in 100/200 at Mt. SAC

WOMENS 800M
Sanders, Nicola

I presume this isn't a typo! Very interesting to see how she fares.

If she was American, I'm sure T&FN forums would have crashed by now!

[Jon]

Re: Dwain Chambers in 100/200 at Mt. SAC

WOMENS 800M
Sanders, Nicola

I presume this isn't a typo! Very interesting to see how she fares.

If she was American, I'm sure T&FN forums would have crashed by now!

Only if it was Wariner who was trying out an 800m...

[lalala]

Is this an attempt at a serious move by Sanders or just some training practice ?

I still think she has so much more unexplored potential at the 400...whisper it, but I think in reality, uninjured, she could be better than Ohuruogo...

[eldrick]

it can only be an experiment

even if she excelled, there's a school-gal running 1'54-flat out there, so no real point

she can be helluva lot better than ohugo ( she has far better speed as evidenced by her blistering 1st lap in that 50.02i ), but i get this gut feeling nicola will only have 1 healthy season in her career, so she might as well take it easy for a few years & make sure that season is '12 !

[Jon]

Quite a few people seem to think that Sanders has more potential than Ohuruogu, but I really don't think so. Sanders has been involved in the sport for more than 10 years and is older, whereas Ohuruogu is younger, has achieved more already and has only been training seriously since 2003/2004. Ever since Sanders broke through to world-class level in 2005, she has always looked very well conditioned. She also trains smartly and races well too - all of which indicates that there isn't really much more room for improvement. A lot of people seem to think that if Sanders had paced her run in Osaka differently, then she would have beaten Ohuruogu and broken the British record. She has had many chances since then to run a 'better paced/perfect' race, but she hasn't really come close - so maybe the way Sanders paced her run in Osaka just happened to be the kind of pace that suits her best?!

Ohuruogu, on the other hand, is known for pulling a great run out of the bag when it matters most, and I get the feeling that if she was in good form and had to run 48.9/49.0 to win a major title, then she could somehow manage it. And remember, she ran 50.5 just a few months after her 20th birthday and won the CWG title at age 21... she has bags of natural talent and is nowhere near done yet!

True, Sanders went through her halfway in 23.3 when she ran 50.02i, but Ohuruogu is no slouch either with PBs of 11.35/22.94/-0.5. I can't see Sanders being too much quicker if she were to step down in distance for a couple of races.

[eldrick]

48.9/49.0 "just-enoughing" is too much to assume for ohugo

look at peking

she had to assume sanya was in close/at best shape of her life coming into the stretch ( that means her expectation for sanya was at worst 49.0 ) & had a ?4 or 5m lead ( i'll watch it again )

it really is not possible to give an expected 49.0 gal a 5m lead in the stretch & believe you can claw it back, especially if you only just-enoughed a 49.6 in the end :

sanya, if she'd run to expectation wouda gone 49.0 & ohugu went 49.6, so you asking for her to have clawed back :

5m + difference between 49.6 & 49.0 ( which is about another 5m ) = ~ 10m in the stretch

you are asking her to run close to 12-flat in the stretch, which even koch didn't do in her 47.6

[EPelle]

Richards, at 49,89 SB entering the Olympic final, was in the best shape of her life? She'd only broken 50,00 twice before running 49,90 in her semi-final. Her eventual 49,74 SB (Zürich, victory) 10 days later doesn't suggest her form was one indicative being the best of her life. Why would Ohuruogu believe Richards was in the best shape (or close to being in it) of her life entering the stretch? That 22,49 was far off the 22,17 she recorded in the 48,70 season, which has been the best of her life thus far.

The expectation on Richards to run a 49,0 at worst was an unreasonable one, especially considering her condition the previous year.

[eldrick]

because, most experienced fans were expecting a significant improvement from trials to peking

no one said they were expecting 48.7 from here, but 0.3s off her pb in peking for 49.0 was entirely possible & expected by most

[Daisy]

most experienced fans were expecting a significant improvement from trials to peking

From trial to peaking? Certainly I'd have expected an improvement. On the other hand she does not have a good track record in championships.

[Rineanna]

most experienced fans were expecting a significant improvement from trials to peking

From trial to peaking? Certainly I'd have expected an improvement. On the other hand she does not have a good track record in championships.

I think he means Peking as in Beijing.

[eldrick]

i order peking duck...

[EPelle]

because, most experienced fans were expecting a significant improvement from trials to peking

no one said they were expecting 48.7 from here, but 0.3s off her pb in peking for 49.0 was entirely possible & expected by most

Richards, in the IAAF chat transcript ahead of Beijing, said that she thought it would take 49,5 to win gold in Beijing -- in what would amount to being the slowest winning time since Montreal. Again, "experienced fans" held too high expectations if they based anything off her actual seasonal runs and championship record.

[Kai88]

Quite a few people seem to think that Sanders has more potential than Ohuruogu, but I really don't think so. Sanders has been involved in the sport for more than 10 years and is older, whereas Ohuruogu is younger, has achieved more already and has only been training seriously since 2003/2004. Ever since Sanders broke through to world-class level in 2005, she has always looked very well conditioned. She also trains smartly and races well too - all of which indicates that there isn't really much more room for improvement. A lot of people seem to think that if Sanders had paced her run in Osaka differently, then she would have beaten Ohuruogu and broken the British record. She has had many chances since then to run a 'better paced/perfect' race, but she hasn't really come close - so maybe the way Sanders paced her run in Osaka just happened to be the kind of pace that suits her best?!

Ohuruogu, on the other hand, is known for pulling a great run out of the bag when it matters most, and I get the feeling that if she was in good form and had to run 48.9/49.0 to win a major title, then she could somehow manage it. And remember, she ran 50.5 just a few months after her 20th birthday and won the CWG title at age 21... she has bags of natural talent and is nowhere near done yet!

True, Sanders went through her halfway in 23.3 when she ran 50.02i, but Ohuruogu is no slouch either with PBs of 11.35/22.94/-0.5. I can't see Sanders being too much quicker if she were to step down in distance for a couple of races.

We haven't seen Sanders real potential over 200m yet though, as i don't think there is a recorded result from her in quite a few years. Even judging from that split in the Euro Indoors it is safe to assume that she can go sub 23 outdoors in the summer very easily.
I personally thought that Ohurugou would go alot quicker than 22.94 outdoors but in reflection i don't think she has that much more to give, certainly no where near the times Sanya R runs over 200m. Unsubstantiated i know, but i feel Sanders could definately run 22.3 - 22.4.

That race in Osaka is the best we have seen Sanders thus far unfortunately due to injuries last year in which she was by no means the athlete she was in 2007. So far we have not seen an injury free season, something which Miss O on the other hand seems to have done very well at - not getting injured.

I would agree 100% that TBO has fantastic natural ability, but Sanders did win junior medals as well, and injuries again, i believe restricted her from winning more.

The way she runs, fluidity, style etc just gives me a feeling that she has the better potential to run a faster time over 400m that TBO. That of course is just my gut feeling and i have no evidence to support it lol.
I do however think that injuries will continue to be a hinderance as they seem to throughout her career.