Backstraight Boys (& Girl) Athletics Chat

'Three is a magic number' - and so it often proves. Destiny's Child. Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Major outdoor champs this summer. Members of this podcast. Stages in the wonderful, bronze-clinching personal best achieved by this episode's guest in the Commonwealth triple jump final.

That's right: the one and only Naomi Metzger joined us for our Birmingham review - fresh from soaring onto the Alexander Stadium podiu...

It's our 100th episode. One *hundred* podcasts. Can you believe that? We certainly can't.

Jody and Bayo are sleep deprived after watching all of Eugene live, Claire is trying (and failing) to instil some sort of structure into our Oregon World Championships review, and all three of us are fuelled by M&S birthday cake. It's neither organised nor comprehensive, but it's certainly opinionated and enthusiastic (a sen...

Yo: it's the Oregon set. 
Backstraight Boys: live and direct.
Kath Merry mash up (she was with Wightman on the deck).
It's the Eugene World Champs - we're live and direct.

Just in case you missed it: here's our mid-Worlds review, with a lengthy and outstanding cameo from the ever-glorious Kath Merry - who dialled in from Oregon (and brought some much-needed knowledge and class to proceedings in the process).

Kath: thanks...

After a brief sabbatical (Claire was feeling a bit swamped), we're back - and all roads lead to Eugene. The Worlds are a week and a bit away, with Commonwealths and Euros looming large, and the British squad has been announced. It's big, it's teeming with talent, and it's getting us as extremely excited as we always are for anything involving supremely fit individuals running, throwing, and jumping.

Jody and Bayo wer...

Jody and Bayo went to Belgrade, and returned with: photos with everyone's favourite Italian high jumper, a fractured wrist, memories of a splendid birthday feat. the athleticos, and... Covid. A mixed bag, it's safe to say.

More broadly, the 2022 World Indoors were a varied championships themselves: Keely and Elliot were DNS, and Kat was DNF, but there were 3 world records, medallists from 31 different countries, and some out...

Keely doing Keely things, baby 'brig setting world records, Mondo soaring, and the Winter Olympics rocked by a doping scandal with a 15-year-old girl at its heart. 2022 hasn't exactly got off to a quiet start, has it?

Backstraight is back (alright!) - with a romp through recent indoor results, a discussion about the Kamila Valieva story and Sha'Carri's take on it, and plenty more besides.

It is GOOD to be back podding...

In so many ways, 2021 was a year to forget. It won't be one looked back upon with universal fondness, and there are lots of reasons to be pleased to leave it behind. But one of the reasons we love sport is the phenomenal escapism it offers, and the way its narratives can transcend arenas to leave indelible marks upon the world we live in. On the track, on the field, and out on the roads - 2021 was a year full of those moments. ...

World Athletics have named their end-of-season gong longlists. They've also named their shortlists, but we weren't organised enough to realise that, so we covered all ten athletes per field. Death, taxes, and us merrily getting things slightly wrong on this podcast... Anyway: great fun pitting Elaine against Yulimar, and debating Karsten versus Ryan. There was some *wonderful* running, throwing, and jumping this year, it tr...

Diamond League finals, Sha'Carri and #DeadLast, a shout out to the surprisingly excellent Continental Tour, *that* 100 metres in Nairobi, a change in attitudes towards DSD athletes, and plenty more besides - including, of course, quotes from both 'Grease' and 'The Hollow Men'.

It might be rambling, but at least we don't spend 90% of the pod talking about American steeplechasers who aren't even leading the...

Two World titles, two Olympic silvers, and a personal best of 7.11m. Fiona May achieved an awful lot in a stellar long jump career, but - despite having been born in Slough and becoming a Junior World Champion whilst competing for Great Britain - her greatest moments were for the Azzurri, after she switched citizenships in 1994, and never looked back. Her daughter, Larissa, is European Junior Champion, and already closing in on her...

'What's the plan for this one, Claire?'
'I'll do a quick intro, and then how about we just talk about the Olympics for an hour?'

And there you have it: a non-stop romp through just a sliver of a truly magical Games. From Karsten to Rojas, and back again via Tamber(in)i and some stellar British performances.

We laughed, gasped, and cried our way through the games, had a blast doing World Athletics' Inside Tr...

Athletics in Tokyo is just hours away, and - if we thought we were excited before Roger Black joined us to discuss it all - we had another thought coming. The three-time Olympic medallist has left us like kids at Christmas: he really was the perfect guest for this one.

Stacked middle distance fields, infinite and bonkers scheduling permutations, and those 400 metre hurdle races... Be still, our beating hearts.

We honestly cannot wait...

When British Athletics offer you accreditation for Olympic trials, you drop everything, and so Claire and Bayo headed up to Manchester for a blockbuster Sunday of runs, jumps, and throws.

They caught up with Adam, with Beth, with all three women's 800-metre medalists, with the ever-wonderful Elliot Giles, the prodigious Oliver Dustin, the gravity-defying duo of Jaz and Morgan, a delighted Tiff Porter (off to her THIRD Games), an...

US trials start today, so we hopped on Instagram Live with the reigning Olympic Champion, the goat, and the birthday boy, Christian 'friend of the pod' Taylor: the future president of World Athletics (/the world).

Here's - and, brace yourselves, it's entirely unedited - our preview of what should prove a humdinger of a championship. On paper, the US trials are simple: have the standard, finish top three, and go to To...

We're never short on opinions at Backstraight Towers, but this week includes some particularly impassioned discussions: why on Earth are World Athletics persevering with the ghastly 'top three' jump competition format? does the European Team Champs have any relevance or merit as a meet these days? and what have we all made of sprinting sensation, Sha'Carri Richardson?

We look back at Gateshead (wet and windy) and Doh...

We're back in the same room! We've got amazing new recording equipment! Katie Snowden's run 4:02! The women's 100 metres at Gateshead is going to be incredible! 'Sarah' actually exists! 

There's so much to be excited about this week, as the gang meet up - in the actual flesh - to look at recent standout performances by athletes all over the world, and preview the first Diamond League of the season. 

Bayo s...

The World Relays were a funny old meet, but - as per - we were just thrilled to have athletics to watch, and used it as an opportunity to *finally* welcome along Martyn 'relay' Rooney: one of the country's most adored, decorated, and long-limbed stars.

Why didn't British Athletics send a 4 x 100 squad? How much can be learned at events like this? What on earth is the point of a Mixed 2×2×400 m? All this and more on t...