Ulrike Leyckes nee Urbansky has announced her retirement, due to pregnancy. She missed last season due to an achilles injury but had intended to compete at the worlds, however she is now expecting a child in November.
She made the semifinals of the 2000 and 2004 Olympics over 400mh. She was the 1996 U20 world champ at 400mh & 1999 U23 Euro champ (behind Danvers) She was 6th at the Euros in 98, winning gold in the 4x4 at the World Cup later that year.
PBs: 400mh - 54.57, 400m - 52.35, 800m - 2:02.96
http://www.ulrikeurbansky.de/
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The retirement thread
Romour is that they had a crazy tailwind in the curve (+6.0ish) and then only around the allowable on the homestraight... But you still have to have the shape to turn the legs that fast, impressive in my book!
problem with that rumour is that obi ran 19.84 in that race & that looks perfectly reasonable for him, especially in light of recent years where plainly inferior guys like 3j & ndure both also going 19.8
from wiki
150 m: 15.16 'NR' -1.9 Wind 29MAY99 that's got to be worth close to 15-flat with no wind & nearer 14.90 with good wind anyone who can run 15-flat basic for 150 is well capable of <20 in a 200 race, that split is going to be slower, due to pacing oneself for longer distance & 50m more curve to go, but last 100m of a good 200 is at least 9.6/9.7 & you can 1/2 that for "missing" last 50m to add onto your now slower 150m - 4.80 - 4.85s there used to be a an alltime 150m list floating around the web, but seems to have disappeared - can anyone find it ?
But he only ran 20.11 in the final, with +1.2 wind. Incidentally, all guys who qualified from that semi slowed down similarly in the final (Obikwelu 0.27, Urbas 0.32, Little 0.27, with FF DNSing). I'm not sure what the 'perfectly reasonable' opinion is based on, given that Obikwelu's PB before Sevilla was 20.15, his best of the season after the WCh was an altitude-aided 20.06, and, as long and successful as his career was, he never again managed to break 20 seconds.
we have examples of guys not matching their semi times in the final - marsh's 19.73 & 20.01 is the classic example
frankie's 1/4f & semi offers validation for that semi he ran 20.10 in that semi for 4th, but had won 1/4-f in 20.11 - he presumably ran what he thought was required to get into top-2 in semi & musta been shocked to find the 20.10 which usually shouda sufficed coud only get him 4th ! obi did have a mixed career after '99 - some injuries i believe & rows with nigerian fed, which led him to become portuguese he also shifted his emphasise more to 100m & running 9.86er in '04 is more than enough proof that he had the talent to back up that 19.84 from earlier
eldrick mentioned the world 150m list, the UK list gives some interesting info...
UK all time list for men 150 METRES 14.97 0.9 Linford Christie ¶ (ENG) 2.04.60 1 Sheffield 4 Sep 1994 14.99 1.7 Ian Mackie (SCO) 27.02.75 1 Cardiff (L) 31 May 1997 15.15 0.9 John Regis (ENG) 13.10.66 2 Sheffield 4 Sep 1994 15.24 0.3 Darren Braithwaite (ENG) 20.01.69 3 London (CP) 11 Aug 1996 15.31 1.7 Doug Turner (WAL) 2.12.66 3 Cardiff (L) 31 May 1997 15.44 0.3 Darren Campbell (ENG) 12.09.73 6 London (CP) 11 Aug 1996 15.50 -1.0 Marcus Adam (ENG) 28.02.68 2 Edinburgh 7 Jul 1989 15.50 1.0 Owusu Dako (ENG) 23.05.73 2 Cardiff (L) 25 May 1996 15.53 -0.5 Lenny Paul (ENG) 25.05.58 1 London (Ha) 14 Jul 1991 15.66 0.9 Terry Williams (ENG) 15.11.68 7 Sheffield 4 Sep 1994 Interesting to note that Christie and Mackie possibly under-acheived at 200m compared to their 150m times while most others had better 200m times compared to their 150m performances.
Getting back on topic, Aussie hepthalete Kyle Wheeler has retired:
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news ... -bdwt.html Won six national titles, 10th in Bejing, #3 Aussie all-time at 6369, two Commonwealth silvers in her main event, plus a gold in 4x4 in 2002 (but only ran the heat)... Startted out as a 400m hurdler, (went to 1998 WJ in event).
Ottey been retired for years with respect to peforming at a high level, what's the point?
She did, but really it's over for Merlene and has been for awhile.
Grace Upshaw has seemingly moved on as of last week.
http://mysocalledfabulouslife.blogspot. ... racie.html Classy competitor. Kudos to her.
Former Commonwealth 400m champion Michael Blackwood retired a few days before the start of the WCh.
http://www.european-athletics.org/index ... 2&Itemid=2
Kjersti Platzer has retired. She was actually on the same team as Kristiansen at the 1986 European Championships!
Well, according to the article on the front page he is contemplating retirement and it seems like he is leaning towards it, but hasn't made a final decision. I'm wondering whether the the exclusion of the Hammer Throw in the Diamond League has played a (minor) role in that process too.
Someone on another forum (who is Slovenian) said it could have something to do with his quest to get the country to finance top athletes after they retire from sports...
I very much doubt that. Very few, if any, of those meets had hammer throws anyway. He did not compete in any meet this year that will be part of the Diamond League next year. I read another article that said his decision was due to "personal reasons."
That was last year when a lot of other events got the same treatment. Come 2010 the HT is basically going to be the only event that will be left out, giving less financial incentive. The WAF is also gone which was a possibility to get huge earnings compared to standard meetings Hammer Throwers were invited to. As I said, I don't know if that was part of the reason why he is contemplating retirement, but I would imagine that financial aspects are also being considered.
Another miler calls it quits:
I, Christopher Lukezic, am officially retired. Peace out! A couple oof LetsRun threads with too much of the LR junk. [There seems to be a bit of confusion: There is this later post by him (poster has a e-mail link, although not a certainty] Christopher Lukezic RE: I, Christopher Lukezic, am officially retired. Peace out! 11/11/2009 12:57PM - in reply to Bareut Doll Reply | Return to Index | Report Post It was meant as a joke dude! You'd be surprised how many professional runners post on here in anonymity. Ahh. I'll miss this site. Last edited by 26mi235 on Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Has he represented the U.S. on any Teams? I cannot recall. Though, ran respectable times a few years back
According to a story on the T&FN homepage, Schwartz has switched nationality to Israel and aims to compete in 2012. Does anyone know if she has married an Israeli athlete? On the subject of retired athletes, Rakia Al-Gasara has hung up her spikes at the age of 27 with some health concerns. "Her decision came after many months of medical tests," according to EME news (link on homepage).
If Jillian Schwartz's mother and grandmother are Jewish, she can get Isreali citizenship, regardless of who her husband is.
She competed in the Maccabbee (spelling?) Games, so it seems likely that she is Jewish
You don't actually have to be Jewish to compete in the Maccabiah games. It used to be that way, but then the rules changed as international participation waned. Additionally, as long as she can prove her mother was Jewish she can easily obtain Israeli citizenship.
Jillian is Jewish and not married. Israel is actively recruiting athletes with Jewish heritage to compete for them. There are others pending.
It appears that she was married last weekend. http://in-the-arena-mike.blogspot.com/2 ... ltius.html
Can you point me to source that says that? I was not aware of that change and everything I can find on the web suggests that, apart from non-Jewish Israelis, the event is still open only to Jewish athletes.
can't point to a source other then first hand experience. Having competed several times in the Maccabiah games and been very friendly with several of the T&F athletes, I can assure you that starting in 2001 they opened the competition up to non-Jewish, Non-Israeli athletes by invitation. 2001 woman's 100 meter champion was from Turkey.
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