World Juniors: Is Hinriksdóttir's Form A Problem In w800?

[cladthin]

Henriksdottir needs a lot of technical work.

[Powell]

Henriksdottir needs a lot of technical work.

So what happened to her? She only made the final as a fastest loser, and a long way behind the top 3 :-/

[cladthin]

She tried to stay in contention but fell slightly off of the pace around 600-650m I believe and then just kept pressing on to make it in on time. Her posture (too much forward lean, bending at the waist) and very low arm carriage could really use some work.

[Powell]

Her posture (too much forward lean, bending at the waist) and very low arm carriage could really use some work.

That may be, but she's done very well in the last couple of years running this way.

[cladthin]

No doubt that she has but to move onto the next level is going to probably require something different-an improvement in these areas. The best people don't often run like that.

[Powell]

That's what people told Michael Johnson, too

[aaronk]

No doubt that she has but to move onto the next level is going to probably require something different-an improvement in these areas. The best people don't often run like that.

Ever hear of Priscah Jeptoo (knees clashing, looks like she'll trip herself with every step) or Paula Radcliffe (head rolling all over the place, looks like she'll need intensive neck massage for next 20 years)??

[cladthin]

I never had a problem with Johnson's form even during his early college years when he was not the Olympic, world or ncaa champion. The upright posture is a great tool to have to have the only thing sort of odd, to me about MJ's running was the compact arm stroke and resultant shorter strides. If you think technique does not matter then I don't know quite what to say to that but it absolutely does. Is every great athlete the supreme stylist? Of course not but the best typically look better than those who are not and that's part of the reason they are great.

[cladthin]

Ever hear of Priscah Jeptoo (knees clashing, looks like she'll trip herself with every step) or Paula Radcliffe (head rolling all over the place, looks like she'll need intensive neck massage for next 20 years)??

For every technical oddity you offer up as a good reason for not caring about form it's just as easy to provide many more who were the best or at least one of the best and great technicians as well. The long distance athletes tend to have more of a deviation from technique than the norm but the further you go down in distance the fewer technical outliers there are.

[bruce3404]

For every technical oddity you offer up as a good reason for not caring about form it's just as easy to provide many more who were the best or at least one of the best and great technicians as well. The long distance athletes tend to have more of a deviation from technique than the norm but the further you go down in distance the fewer technical outliers there are.

Backing up your comment, Cladthin, quite a few people at the race were commenting on how bad her form was. We all just wrote it off to the fact that there's probably not much of a track and field culture in Iceland and with some good collegiate coaching she can do nothing but improve. Although the athletes competing this week are among the best in the world in their age groups, nearly every one has some work to do on their form and some have a lot of work. At best, you could say that 20% of the athletes have really good form, 20% really bad and the rest falling somewhere in between. Even HS phenom Arianna Washington is working with her new coaches here at Oregon (she's enrolled in Summer school) and finding a lot of areas for technical improvement (her words).

[Tuariki]

For every technical oddity you offer up as a good reason for not caring about form it's just as easy to provide many more who were the best or at least one of the best and great technicians as well. The long distance athletes tend to have more of a deviation from technique than the norm but the further you go down in distance the fewer technical outliers there are.

Technical oddities or not, Hinriksdóttir would appear to have her work cut out to get on the podium. As she was in heat 1 she had no guarantee her 4th place would have been fast enough to get her through to the final.

[cladthin]

Technical oddities or not, Hinriksdóttir would appear to have her work cut out to get on the podium. As she was in heat 1 she had no guarantee her 4th place would have been fast enough to get her through to the final.

For sure, she will not have an easy path getting a medal.

[gh]

World Juniors: Is Hinriksdóttir's Form A Problem In w800?

Another subject that deserved its own thread.

[AS]

A total of 20 different countries have won medals in this event over the 14 champs thus far. New possibilities in the final this time are CUB and ISL. Given Diago's form that looks likely.

Winningist?
KEN 3G (including the very first), 4S, 2B
ROU 3G, 3S, 3B (no starters this year)

No other country has more than 3 medals

The two Aussie Georgias will hopefully take the name of our only past medallist as a positive omen (Georgie Clarke, silver in 2000)

[Powell]

No doubt that she has but to move onto the next level is going to probably require something different-an improvement in these areas.

But it's only the WJC. She didn't need to move onto the next level to finish in the top 3 in her semi; her form from last year, when she ran 2:00.49 looking just as bad on the track, would have been enough to make the final and at least make the podium (and quite possibly win). So you can't say her running technique was the reason why she had such problems making the final in Eugene.