London Grand Prix: Preview of Saturday's distance action

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of our preview of this weekend’s Crystal Palace action.

As well as plenty of sprint action, including the possibility of a final leg relay face off between Gay and Bolt, we have the women’s 1500m, the Emsley Carr Mile and the women’s 5,000m featuring world record holder and Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba.

Women’s 1500m (15:31)

This should be a good race - on paper almost anyone in the field could win it. Both Britain and the USA seem to have new crop of good female middle distance runners at the moment and they’re well represented tonight. Anna Willard of the USA, former steeplechaser, is one of the fastest on paper and showed great form in winning the Paris Golden League 800m in 1:58.80. My money’s on her for the win. Her compatriot Shannon Rowbury is second fastest so far this year but, if Olympic 4th placer Lisa Dobriskey is close to her best, she should have the beatings of Rowbury.

Hannah England, Steph Twell, Charlene Thomas and Katrina Wootton are all running. Twell and England in particular will be looking to get in amongst it.

Women’s 5,000m (16:08)

Right, pay attention to this one because Dibaba is a distance running great. Your grandchildren might ask you if you ever saw her run. How you would feel if you asked your grandfather if he’s seen Zatopek run and he said he had been mowing his lawn?

Dibaba was Olympic champion at 5,000 and 10,000 last year (the first person to do the distance double since Miruts Yifter in 1980). Both races were won with a kick that would make The Shifter proud. She also set a world record for 5,000m of 14:11 in Oslo last year. 14:11! Only 27 men in the whole of Britain beat that time last year.

For those trying to find a tactic to beat her, good luck. Luckily, the rest of us can just enjoy it.

On the plus side for the rest of the field, her form is a bit uncertain as, because of injuries, she has only raced once since Beijing and was beaten. But she ran a solid 14:40 in that race and has presumably improved since May. The other Ethiopians, her older sister Ejagayehu Dibaba, and Bellaynesh Fikadu are the only others in the field to have broken 15 minutes this year.

Men’s Mile (17:06)

Economic crises, England on top in the Ashes, Tom Watson back at the top of world golf, the untimely death of a troubled pop icon. A few more strikes, and a British middle distance renaissance, and 2009 will be indistinguishable from the late 1970s. BBC coverage is normally best watched with the sound turned off so maybe stick the Sex Pistols on for this one.

In fairness, the middle distance renaissance looks more likely to come from the women than the men, but Tom Lancashire has made strides over the last two years, recently running 3:34 for 1500m in Berlin, and he’ll no doubt be keen to impress a home crowd. Andy Baddeley isn’t running and has been racing myteriously rarely. But when Baddeley returns to his best they could become bitter rivals, lighting up tracks the world over in a battle for global supremacy that brings athletics gloriously back onto mainstream telly…

Maybe don’t get too excited as, against former 1500m and 5,000m world champion Bernard Lagat, victory for Lancashire looks a tall order. Lagat gave Bekele a good run for his money over 3,000m last week so is definitely in good shape. With drug cheat world champion Ramzi out of the picture, this year could be a more open World Championships and so tonight could be a good night for Lagat to stake a big medal claim.

London Grand Prix: preview of Friday's distance races

Read our preview of Saturday’s action here.

There is a feast of athletics on Friday but two 800s and the men’s 5,000 is the sum total of the distance action. It’s all nicely bunched together between 7:15 and 8pm though. Since it’s a Friday, you could push the boat out and responsibly enjoy an alcoholic beverage while you’re watching.  And if you’ve got any sense you’ll have taped the Tour de France highlights to watch after that. For the armchair endurance sports fan, this is as good as it gets.

Women’s 800m

The Women’s 800 is probably Britain’s best track event in terms of depth and the Brits are well represented in this race with Jenny Meadows, Jemma Simpson and Marilyn Okoro all running. Okoro likes to front run so expect her to get the heat on early.

The qualifying standard for the World Championships is 2:00. I think all three Brits have done this recently enough to be sure of making the trip. Maggie Vessey of the USA has a Golden League win to her credit this year but hasn’t run the qualifying time. Infuriatingly, she missed out by 4/100 of a second last night in Ghent. She likes to leave things late so expect a fast finish from her.  I predict she’ll look really happy if she breaks 2:00.

The fastest in the field this year is Yuliya Krevsun but the race looks open. I predict a win for Simpson.

Men’s 800m

Gary Reed of Canada is clear favourite for this one. He won silver in the 2007 World Championships and was 4th in Beijing.  He’s the only one in the field to have broken 1:44 which he managed again last month in Athens. There’s a good profile of his rise from a poverty stricken childhood here.

Michael Rimmer is Britain’s best hope. He hasn’t quite shown the form he had last year, when he ran 1:44 before getting to the semi-finals in Beijing, but it was this time last year that he came good. He’ll want to match his second place last year.

Men’s 5,000m

21 runners have run faster this year than Mo Farah’s PB of 13:07. None of them are in this race. Are the organisers trying to set up a home win? Or is just because the race clashes with the Kenyan trials this weekend?

After Olympic disappointment last year, Farah had a great indoor season but was probably hoping for better than 11th in 13:12 in Oslo earlier this month. At 26, the next few years will probably be his best, and it wouldn’t take a huge improvement to get close to major medals.

This won’t be an easy win for though as there are a lot of runners in the field right at his level.  On paper, you would expect Farah to be well beaten by Shaheen Saif Saaeed (steeplechase world record holder and 12:48 5ker) but his form is hard to predict. He’s only raced twice this year and followed up a 7:32 3k in May with a 13:22 5,000m in Toronto in June.

The Kenyans Mike Kigen, Sammy Mutahi, and Bernard Kiplagat will be tough to crack too but if they were in really great shape would they be here instead of at their trials?  Alastair Cragg of Ireland and Ahmad Hassan Abdullah of Qatar are also dangerous. 

So it’s a tough field, but I’m feeling optimistic and so am going to predict a win for Farah.  Can he break 13 minutes?  The race seems to being billed as an attack on Moorcroft’s UK record of 13:00.40.

If the race isn’t paced then watch out for the Australian Shawn Forrest. Recently second in the American Collegiate Championships, he likes to mix it up at the front and keep the race fast. But I’m assuming it’ll be paced for 13 minutes and there’s only so much mixing it up he’s likely to manage if they’re running 62s.

There’s more to look forward to on Saturday, including Tirunesh Dibaba in the 5,000m.  Full preview here.