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Posts from the ‘Sport’ Category

29
Jan

Vancouver bobsleigh track, out of corner 13, CRASH!

Today I’ve had the pleasure of a new experience, for me. What my collegues had already had, and not me: a crash with my bobsleigh, down the track.
It was on the second run of the day, when you are more confident, after having passed the first without (say) any problem. They know that corner 13 here is very tough, because it’s the fastest point of the track (145km/h) and 13 is very tight; no error is admitted there, and one error we made.
Being the brakeman, you don’t really understand well what is happening, until your helmet hits the wall and you can hear a bad noise.
We haven’t any big problem apart from:

  • Our Sled broken on the right-back part
  • My helmet broken
  • My shoulder’s skin burnt in a 5 centimeters area
  • Fabrizio’s rib… he doesn’t know what…

The most important thing, they say, is not to think about it and go down as soon as possible, to leave phantoms out of your head :-)

4
Jan

Bobsled individual push tests: 7.47, that’s good

Very intersting day, yesterday; for the first time I could challenge myself in bobsled individual tests.
Being a guy who comes from Decathlon and is used to be all by himself during a two-days-race, I was a little bit sick of not having any individual measurement of my performances.
Yesterday the men bobsled Italian team was in Cesana Pariol and we did a 2-pushes test with a 130kgs sled down the indoor track.
I had a very positive feedback, improving my last (that was October) best by 24 cents of a second; I set 7.47 and my best was 7.71. That is good news because I feel I am on the right track to gain, one day, a place on Italy-1.
Today we are traveling to Koenigssee for the next World Cup race (Jan 10th-11th)

6
Dec

If nobody brakes your bob…

One of the most asked questions, since when I started practicing bob is: “.. and what does it happen if nobody brakes your bob after the finish line? Are you gonna stop somewhere? Would it be very dangerous?”

Ehi, today I have an answer…. at least for what concerns the Winterberg track. :-)
No, in Winterberg it is NOT SO DANGEROUS, because you have enough track, after the finish line to be able to stop just going uphill, but please beleive me, it would be much better to brake at least when you are still because it would not be funny to go backward at 100 km/h…

Just to recap in a few words, today we had the second training session before the 4 men bob Europe Cup.
In the first run, pushing the bob, three (yes, all the three brakemen) newbies (me included, in a sense) and the youngest one at the brakes, I was the 3rd, just in front of him.
Before starting, we asked him if everything was ok with the brakes and it seemed to be (really) OK… but it wasn’t. Just a couple of meters after the finish line I got up a little bit outside the bob, just to make his life easier while braking; unfortunately he couldn’t find the handles, went through the parking area, and shouted: “Where are the handles?”… too late.

The worst thing would have been to go back downhill, pass again the finish line in the opposite direction and go up 3 or 4 corners backward :-) .
Finally, when we were still,  I was able to turn by myself and pull the brake, so we stopped up there, waiting for some men of the track who helped us sliding back to the parking area.

Uhfff… it would have been more dangerous in some other tracks; for the next time I’ll remember to really check if everything is ok and eventually to pull that handle a little bit in advance!

18
Oct

And now I am an Italian Bob Team member!

Today I was in Cesana Pariol, the Torino 2006 Olympic Bobsleigh, Skeleton and Luge track, to perform my first ever Bob experience.

In a few words: imagine yourself sliding on an ice half pipe, going in corners at a more than 130km per hour speed, in a more than 90 degrees slope, for 19 corners in 1400 meters, completed in 57 seconds.

After making this imagination effort, please believe me, change your expectations!

The real thing is: you are in a really small iron box, holding yourself tight to stand up to knocks and direction changings, watching your feet and your pilot’s back, trying to remember where is the last corner… because you must brake after it..

OK. It is something more exciting than that… I just wanted to give an extreme view of my experience… that was really great.

I am sure I will come back here with new details, because I am quickly discovering that Bob is not just running and going fast but it is hard work as well.

3
Oct

Eptathletes hand in hand

I found this nice picture on Flickr :-)

Eptathletes after Osaka Eptathlon 2nd day.

Let’s guess who they are! Read the following names in order of appearence from right to left (fotofinish rules :) )))

Vasilikí Delinikóla, Linda Züblin, Yvonne Wisse, Aryiró Stratáki, Jessica Samuelsson, Olga Kurban, Ida Marcussen, Karolina Tyminska (I suppose… :-) ) preceding for some centemeters Sonja Kesselschläger, Irina Naumenko and Nataliya Dobrynska.

It would be nice to have them all! OK, I’ll search some other photo ;-)

Post Update…

As promised, I found another one ;-)

Same order: Marie Collonvillé, Simone Oberer, Aiga Grabuste, Linda Züblin, Carolina Klüft, Jessica Ennis, Sylvie Dufour, Lyudmila Blonska and Kelly Sotherton

23
Aug

Osaka 2007 Eptathlon official Start List

Order Bib Athlete Country
1 698 Yvonne Wisse NED
2 721 Ida Marcussen NOR
3 363 Gretchen Quintana CUB
4 892 Jessica Samuelsson SWE
5 427 Salla Rinne FIN
6 518 Margaret Simpson GHA
7 871 Sylvie Dufour SUI
8 530 Aryiró Stratáki GRE
9 405 Kaie Kand EST
10 796 Anna Bogdanova RUS
11 734 Kamila Chudzik POL
12 696 Jolanda Keizer NED
13 620 Yuki Nakata JPN
14 757 Karolina Tyminska POL
15 507 Lilli Schwarzkopf GER
16 874 Linda Züblin SUI
17 975 Virginia Johnson USA
18 652 Aiga Grabuste LAT
19 821 Olga Kurban RUS
1 912 Lyudmila Blonska UKR
2 888 Carolina Klüft SWE
3 802 Tatyana Chernova RUS
4 660 Austra Skujyte LTU
5 497 Sonja Kesselschläger GER
6 433 Marie Collonvillé FRA
7 962 Hyleas Fountain USA
8 482 Kelly Sotherton GBR
9 987 Diana Pickler USA
10 519 Vasilikí Delinikóla GRE
11 914 Nataliya Dobrynska UKR
12 631 Irina Naumenko KAZ
13 922 Hanna Melnychenko UKR
14 506 Jennifer Oeser GER
15 872 Simone Oberer SUI
16 227 Kylie Wheeler AUS
17 452 Antoinette Nana Djimou FRA
18 697 Karin Ruckstuhl NED
19 281 Lucimara da Silva BRA
20 466 Jessica Ennis GBR
23
Aug

What about Jet Lag for athletics competitions?

I was interested in Jet Lag symptoms and remedies, thinking about Osaka World Athletics Champioships, and I found this interesting article by Thomas Reilly, speaking about symptoms, circadian desynchronization and reduction of jet lag. Here the most interesting extracts of the article:

  • First of all: it takes 24 hours for each time zone you are passing, in order to completely recover your biorhythms.
  • 2-3 days after the desembarkation are worse then the immediate day after, then gradually, it will go better and better. Even in these difficult days, there is a better day period to train, (usually from Europe to East is during the morning).
  • Eastward travels are much worse than Westward ones! (Osaka case :-) )
  • Don’t try to get used to the new time when you are still at home (wake up in the night and go to bed at strange times)
  • Sleeping time is not the only thing you have to pay attention to; light time and social time factors are also important.

Read all this article

21
Aug

And the Eptathlon ones!

After the Decathlon ones, today it is time for Osaka World Athletics Championships Eptathlon Previsional Entry Lists.

Osaka Eptathlon Previsional Entry List

Country BIB Name Birth Qualif. Result
AUS 227 Kylie WHEELER 1980 6298
BRA 281 Lucimara DA SILVA 1985 5897
CUB 363 Gretchen QUINTANA 1984 6076
EST 405 Kaie KAND 1984 5860
FIN 427 Salla RINNE 1980 5894
FRA 430 Eunice BARBER 1974 6675
FRA 433 Marie COLLONVILLÉ 1973 6181
FRA 452 Antoinette NANA DJIMOU 1985 5982
GBR 466 Jessica ENNIS 1986 6399
GBR 482 Kelly SOTHERTON 1976 6396
GER 497 Sonja KESSELSCHLAGER 1978 6184
GER 502 Julia MACHTIG 1986 6162
GER 506 Jennifer OESER 1983 6376
GER 507 Lilli SCHWARZKOPF 1983 6420
GHA 518 Margaret SIMPSON 1981 6278
GRE 519 Vasilikí DELINIKÓLA 1981 5870
GRE 530 Aryiró STRATÁKI 1975 6235
JPN 620 Yuki NAKATA 1977 5919
KAZ 631 Irina NAUMENKO 1980 5919
LAT 652 Aiga GRABUSTE 1988 5920
LTU 660 Austra SKUJYTE 1979 6337
NED 695 Laurien HOOS 1983 6061
NED 696 Jolanda KEIZER 1985 6219
NED 697 Karin RUCKSTUHL 1980 6423
NED 698 Yvonne WISSE 1982 6086
NOR 721 Ida MARCUSSEN 1987 6020
POL 734 Kamila CHUDZIK 1986 6097
POL 757 Karolina TYMINSKA 1984 6402
RUS 796 Anna BOGDANOVA 1984 6289
RUS 802 Tatyana CHERNOVA 1988 6227
RUS 821 Olga KURBAN 1987 6185
SUI 871 Sylvie DUFOUR 1979 6112
SUI 872 Simone OBERER 1980 6047
SUI 874 Linda ZÜBLIN 1986 5980
SWE 888 Carolina KLÜFT 1983 6740
SWE 892 Jessica SAMUELSSON 1985 5967
UKR 912 Lyudmila BLONSKA 1977 6733
UKR 914 Nataliya DOBRYNSKA 1982 6356
UKR 922 Hanna MELNYCHENKO 1983 6153
USA 946 Fiona ASIGBEE 1981 6030
USA 962 Hyleas FOUNTAIN 1981 6148
USA 975 Virginia JOHNSON 1979 6183
USA 987 Diana PICKLER 1983 6205

20
Aug

Osaka previsional entry lists! (Decathlon)

Yes! We finally can read some previsional entry lists for the next Osaka Athletics World Championships.

This is the Decathlon List, obviously there are some more athletes. I took the list published By IAAF .

(See also the Eptathlon previsional entry lists)

Osaka Decathlon Previsional Entry List

Country BIB Name Birth Qualif. result
BEL 362 François GOURMET 1982 7955
BEL 364 Hans VAN ALPHEN 1982 8047
BLR 371 Andrei KRAUCHANKA 1986 8617
BLR 374 Aliaksandr PARKHOMENKA 1981 8136
BRA 391 Carlos Eduardo CHININ 1985 7977
CHN 443 Haifeng QI 1983 7940
CUB 460 Yordani GARCÍA 1988 8113
CUB 463 Alberto JUANTORENA 1977 8042
CZE 471 Roman ŠEBRL 1974 8697
CZE 475 Tomáš DVORÁK 1972 8020
CZE 478 Josef KARAS 1978 7922
ESP 508 Agustín FÉLIX 1979 7845
EST 528 Andres RAJA 1982 7834
FRA 557 Romain BARRS 1980 8298
GER 612 Arthur ABELE 1986 8269
GER 614 Pascal BEHRENBRUCH 1985 8239
GER 638 Norman MULLER 1985 8255
GER 639 André NIKLAUS 1981 8340
HUN 673 Attila ZSIVÓCZKY 1977 8390
JAM 724 Maurice SMITH 1980 8349
JPN 757 Hiromasa TANAKA 1981 7803
KAZ 762 Dmitriy KARPOV 1981 8553
KOR 783 Kun-Woo KIM 1980 7824
NED 849 Eugene MARTINEAU 1980 8035
NOR 873 Hans Olav ULDAL 1982 7963
RUS 953 Aleksey DROZDOV 1983 8373
RUS 964 Aleksandr POGORELOV 1980 8247
RUS 980 Aleksey SYSOYEV 1985 8267
SWE 1036 Nicklas WIBERG 1985 7883
TUN 1056 Hamdi DHOUIBI 1982 7838
USA 1085 Robert Jacob ARNOLD 1984 8215
USA 1092 Bryan CLAY 1980 8677
USA 1103 Ryan HARLAN 1981 8022
USA 1125 Tom PAPPAS 1976 8352
USA 1144 Paul TEREK 1979 8134

18
Aug

Waiting for Osaka

In these days I’m looking for some news about athletes taking part to Osaka World Champioships. It looks like on the official website they are a little bit late.. you can not find some events preview or some athletes list… ok, we will wait! :-)

In the meanwhile, I’m preparing my next competitions, the last two decathlon of my strange season. I’m waiting for some answer from an important Decathlon Meeting… guess wich one ;-) .. if I will not be there, I’ll take part to the Italian Decathlon Club Champioships, trying to improve my SB… or PB, sure!

Then, on the 27th of September, me and some other Italian Decathletes, will perform a 100 minutes decathlon. I’m looking forward to do that! Last time (2004) I did it I set 6975, so it could be a good chanche to improve that result. I’ll write some posts about that :-)