Klüft Injured Again, Likely Will Miss World Champs, Season

[EPelle]

http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/f ... 5479020.ab

Injured hamstring at GP meet in Karlskrona tonight... more to come.

================
Results:
http://88.131.109.176/folksam/karlskrona/resultat.php

Selected highlights:

M-200m: Ricardo Williams 21,09 (+0,5)
M-100m: (2) Williams 10,71 (-1,8)
M-110h: (2) Gianni Frankis 13,77 PB (+0,1)
M-PV: Alhaji Jeng 5.50m
W-LJ: Olga Kucherenko 6.72m

[EPelle]

Any guesses on how much she is enjoying the sport about now following a dissapointing Olympic campaign and the setbacks this season?

[mojo]

Any guesses on how much she is enjoying the sport about now following a dissapointing Olympic campaign and the setbacks this season?

Not a hell of a lot.

So disappointed she won't be in the Worlds. So many of fav Swede athletes are injured or retired...it's :cry:

[bhall]

Not at all. And that is a complete shame. She was a joy to watch compete. While I respect her decision to move away from the Hept, I understand it less and less as time goes on.

[mike renfro]

Yeah, the hep can be a grind, but she was damn good at it. My theory was she felt JJ's WR record was out of reach, she had the ER, and improving on that was not a real thrill. Trying to become a medalist in an individual event would be a challenge, and perhaps good things could happen. I always thought that with here athletic ability, the PV might be a fertile event. Isy might seem uncatchable, but, Karo is still young, and could learn.

[EPelle]

Klüft is actually quoted here in SE on 2007-march-3 as stating the vault would be a cool event - one she could attempt to compete without expectations placed on her. I know she has toyed around with it in practices. Miro Zalar, who works as an expert for Radiosporten, believes Klüft has the raw tools needed for the vault.

[Daisy]

Klüft is actually quoted here in SE on 2007-march-3 as stating the vault would be a cool event

Another advantage would be she could put a score up a decent score for the decathlon. That might be interesting.

What are the chances the heptathlon will become a decathlon soon?

[croflash]

Klüft is actually quoted here in SE on 2007-march-3 as stating the vault would be a cool event - one she could attempt to compete without expectations placed on her. I know she has toyed around with it in practices. Miro Zalar, who works as an expert for Radiosporten, believes Klüft has the raw tools needed for the vault.

Wouldn't that pretty much end her "professional" career though ? It seems like she loves the sport track and field in general, at the same time she left the heptathlon because she couldn't find enough motivation anymore.

[EPelle]

Recall, however, that she went to the LJ/TJ at this point, and let go of any notion of vaulting (despite her husband being a vaulter).

[duckedup]

damn that sucks. between her and kallur are two very very talented athletes that are injured at the wrong time a lot it seems.

[110hedgeNYC]

that's awful news. I really feel for Kluft. It seems she was struggling, but gradually working her way towards regaining her form/full health for the LJ this year.

this is a shame. She's one of my favorite athletes.

Hope she heals fast and that she comes back all the way.

She is amazingly talented. Still believe that, if 100% healthy for a full year of training, she's a top 5 finisher for Worlds or Olympics in the LJ and/or the TJ.

Would also be interesting to see what she could do in the 400 meter hurdles.

She has got to be one of the greatest female athletes, all-time, all sports.

[Stephen]

A disastrous 2008 and now this. I wonder if we'll ever see Kluft on the rostrum again? If she sticks with the LJ/TJ then perhpas not.

For me, the sad thing is that Kluft's departure from the heptathlon coincided with an overall improvement in the event. it would have been great to see her face Fountain, Dobrynska, Ennis etc.

[Powell]

For me, the sad thing is that Kluft's departure from the heptathlon coincided with an overall improvement in the event. it would have been great to see her face Fountain, Dobrynska, Ennis etc.

Maybe the other women were actually encouraged by Kluft's disappearance? They felt for the first time they had a chance to win a major title.

[Stephen]

Maybe the other women were actually encouraged by Kluft's disappearance? They felt for the first time they had a chance to win a major title.

Absolutely, I'm sure this did contribute for some. However, I believe Ennis & Chernova would have come through anyway as they're both young. For older athletes like Dobrynska and Fountain though, Kluft's departure from the event most definately helped.

[imaginative]

For me, the sad thing is that Kluft's departure from the heptathlon coincided with an overall improvement in the event. it would have been great to see her face Fountain, Dobrynska, Ennis etc.

Quite true; in particular since the lack of competition on a few occasions may
affected Klüft negatively. Still, that more than one or two athletes have truly
strong series in the same competition is very rare. Seeing that there were many
who considered Klüft lucky that Barber and Lewis were out of shape in the
beginning of her career, a look at a few non-winning results of all times
(from Pela's) is interesting:

17 6897 Sabine John GDR 16.10.57 2 Seoul 24.09.1988
24 6858 Anke Behmer GER 05.06.61 3 Seoul 24.09.1988
26 6845 Irina Belova RUS 27.03.68 2 Barcelona 02.08.1992
31 6832 Lyudmila Blonska UKR 09.11.77 2 Osaka 26.08.2007
33 6824 Eunice Barber FRA 17.11.74 2 Helsinki 07.08.2005
39 6797 Sabine Braun GER 29.06.65 2 Stuttgart 17.08.1993
40 6789 Ramona Neubert GDR 26.07.58 2 Potsdam 21.07.1984
45 6775 Anke Behmer GER 05.06.61 3 Potsdam 21.07.1984
51 6755 Eunice Barber FRA 17.11.74 2 Saint-Denis 24.08.2003

Of the top-nine results and top-seven competitions, no less than three
were behind Klüft. (Unless I have over-looked a result.) The rest should
be four/three behind JJK and two/one behind John (warning: unchecked claim).

Conclusions: 1. We have actually been quite lucky in terms of good second
placers in the Klüft era. 2. Lewis was quite lucky that Klüft was not around
in 2000. 3. Barber was correspondingly unlucky in 2003/2005.