[Devongone]

EUGENE.

OREGON.

Centre of American Athletics. And quite a bit of dodgy stuff too. Watched a lot of the NCAA Championships from there. Brilliant, the depth of talent in American college athletics is difficult to believe. It's a way higher standard than our national championships.

Anyway the World Championships is starting TODAY.

We are trying to take no notice as we have very little chance of a Gold and few podium contenders. We're hoping the Commonwealth Games will show us in a better light.

We might medal in both Men's and Women's 800 metres. We might go close-ish in both 1500s too. In general our women are contenders to reach finals, our men travel hopefully.

I want to see the talent of other nations and if one of our athletes can get in the mix then great.

Major tip - if your son or daughter is showing a high level of sporting talent at any of the sports that feature over there, try for a scholarship at an American University.

[Lord Snooty]

Strange innit. They have all these facilities and top class athletes, but as a spectator sport in the USA, athletics is way down the popularity scale.

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Looking forward to watching as much of the championship as possible, but most of the finals will be after midnight our time.

[Devongone]

We did win a GOLD and not only didn't I see that coming, but also I wouldn't even have chosen the right Scottish athlete.

But I did expect it to be a disappointing night for Norway. I couldn't see how Warholm could match dos Santos after missing a month of training. And young Jakob didn't look quite himself in the semi final. He doesn't normally like people coming past him even in qualifying.

Sadly I think Dina Asher-Smith is looking at a another fourth place in the 200m. I think Sherricka Jackson to win, Fraser-Pryce for silver and Seyni will finish like a train. and pip Dina for the bronze. But we could medal in both 800 metres ...........

One of the problems in the USA public's eye with track and field is surely that they have a massive amount of high-level competition through the Collegiate system that lasts for months. They seem very insular and don't seem particularly interested in overseas stars unless they are at college over there, but equally track and field stars over there don't have much of a public face. They can walk down the street in a way Mo Farah never could over here. Perhaps they take it all for granted and are blase about their continuing success. Certainly it means that earning opportunities are limited to glamour events, so Fred Kerley ditched the 400m of the !00m because that's where the money is ..........

Over here Athletic seems to be dying. Look in the papers and the results will appear in tiny print in an obscure column in the sports section and the coverage will be limited to personality portraits of our more photogenic competitors. How many sports fans over here could tell you much about Zharnel Hughes or Gemma Reekie, and when it came to overseas "stars" Athing Mu and the entire Borlee family would be vaguely familiar names at best?

Sad for the purest of sports, tainted by the dirtiest of reputations, from financial impropriety at the top, through drug-abuse to achieve success, and physical abuse and mental abuse from coaches around the bottom rungs ........ Is it maybe that people just noticed the golden egg turned out to be addled?

[Lord Snooty]

Indeed. The coverage for this on the BBC seems to have been relegated to BBC3 now, with the Women's football taking priority. Which is not a problem, just shows how athletics has dropped down the scale. Even the prestigious Diamond League events are usually on the red button or iplayer mainly.