AW editor explains the shift from Athletics Weekly to ‘AW’ this month

Most readers call this magazine ‘AW’. It is an affectionate little acronym that has been used for decades and for some reason I particularly like it when some people go as far as to refer to it as ‘The AW’.

So it seems to make sense for us to scrap the slightly long-winded ‘Athletics Weekly’ and instead, from June 20, start formally using the name that everyone has used for years anyway.

Acronyms and initialisms are hardly uncommon. My brother, for example, works at GQ – a magazine formerly known as Gentleman’s Quarterly.

Athletics is especially full of such brevities. From PB (or PR if you’re American) to DNS, DNF and DQ, to SP, JT and TJ, to WR and the IAAF, the list is endless. Even the shoe company, ASICS, stands for the Latin anima sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body).

The first time ‘KJT’ graced our cover, she was known as Katarina Thompson. Similarly, Mark Lewis-Francis became known as ‘MLF’ during his career. Harry Aikines-Aryeetey is usually just called Harry ‘AA’.

Not many readers realise this magazine started off as a monthly publication in 1945 called ‘Athletics’. Yet such was the appetite for athletics info, it turned weekly in 1950 and soon after, on September 30 that year, the ‘AW’ nickname was born when John Partlett, the European and Empire Games 800m champion, featured in the inaugural ‘AW Questionnaire’ – an interview column that ran for many years.

Today AW is far more than a weekly magazine. Through our website, social media channels and print magazine, we are a 24/7 source of news, results, reports, features, opinion, statistics, photos and videos.

Some wonder how we survive in the internet era. The answer is we have become part of the internet era. From our busy and trusted Twitter feed and website through to growing Instagram and YouTube channels, ‘AW’ is the No.1 go-to place if you want a quick athletics fix online.

Then, if your appetite isn’t sated and you still want more, the print magazine (or digital equivalent, which was launched 12 years ago) is the complete package with comprehensive, independent and unrivalled coverage of the No.1 Olympic sport.

British number one Johanna Konta has pulled out of the Nottingham Open, with the main draw due to start on Monday.

The 28-year-old announced her decision on social media, a day after she was defeated in her first ever French Open semi-final, by Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova.

"It's one of my favourite events and the courts are wonderful," said Konta.

"I certainly look forward to seeing all the fantastic fans back there again next year."

Konta has appeared in the past two Nottingham Open finals, and last year was defeated by new French Open champion Ashleigh Barty.

The competition is one of the first events of the grass-court season, which culminates with Wimbledon, a tournament that begins on 1 July this year.

SPEED SPORT’s Jacob Seelman chats with Jason McDougal, who recaps his Indiana Midget Week to date and tells us why he thinks he is building momentum.

MONTREAL – Sebastian Vettel put an end to the qualifying domination of Mercedes by earning his first pole of the season Saturday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Ferrari pilot earned his first pole of the season with his fast lap of 1:10.240 during Q3, which put him .206 of a second over defending race winner and reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes.

Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc qualified third and was followed by an impressive run by the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo in fourth. Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly qualified fifth.

There were a pair of incidents during qualifying, the biggest of which saw Kevin Magnussen crash his Haas after contact with the Wall of Champions. Despite the crash, his fastest lap during Q2 earned Magnussen the 10th starting spot on Sunday.

The resulting red flag period to collect Magnussen’s car cost Max Verstappen a shot at a fast lap and prevented him from advancing to Q3.

The other incident saw Valtteri Bottas spin his Mercedes early in Q3, though he managed not to hit anything. He recovered to qualify sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Magnussen.

BROOKLYN, Mich. – Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick continued his strong season with a victory Saturday afternoon in the LTi Printing 250 at Michigan Int’l Speedway.

Reddick and his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team utilized a fuel mileage gamble to earn their third victory of the season.

The California native was called down pit road for his final pit stop for fuel during the final caution period of the day, which came with 49 laps left after Chase Briscoe spun during a restart.

Christopher Bell and Cole Custer stayed on track during the caution period and the restarted on the front row while Reddick restarted in 10th.

The green flag waved for the final time with 44 laps left and Bell held the lead over Custer. Behind them Reddick was quickly moving his way back up through the field, taking over third with 40 laps left.

Once in third Reddick quickly gapped the cars behind him. Once he had a few seconds on his closest pursuers, he began to slow his lap times down in order to save fuel and guarantee he could make it to the finish if the caution flag didn’t wave again.

At the front of the field Custer dispatched Bell to take the lead with 31 laps remaining, but both drivers were still going to have to pit again for fuel. With no caution to aid them, Bell hit the pits with 11 laps left and Custer followed a lap later.

That gave the lead to Reddick, who continued to save fuel and easily crossed the finish line a little more than a second ahead of Noah Gragson to earn his third victory of the season and sixth of his career.

“I just didn’t want to burn a lot of fuel there,” Reddick admitted. “Our KCMG Chevrolet was really good, I just made some mistakes on pit road and we didn’t get the track position until the end there when Randall (Burnett, crew chief) made the call that he did.

“A great team effort. I didn’t do the thing I needed to do out on the race track, but man it was a great car and we just put ourselves in position to win.”

Gragson’s runner-up result was his best finish of the season in the JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet.

Michael Annett finished third, his best finish since winning the season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway in February. Paul Menard finished fourth after starting from the pole and leading a race-high 47 laps. Justin Allgaier completed the top-five.

Custer and Bell, both of whom pitted late in the race from the top-two positions, finished 12th and 13th respectively.

For complete results, advance to the next page.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – North Carolina teenager Ethan Mitchell put together a career night during Friday’s Indiana Midget Week stop at Bloomington Speedway.

The 17-year-old earned his first Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Time Award during qualifying at the high-banked, quarter-mile clay oval, then backed up that speed with a fifth-place finish during the feature after transferring his way into the field through the B-main.

For a driver who “barely has 20 starts in a midget” under his belt, it was a confidence-building breakthrough during one of the toughest and most grueling weeks in midget car racing.

“I’m kind of speechless over this one, to be honest with you,” Mitchell told SPEED SPORT. “To come out here and get a top five, it’s unreal. These guys are the best in the country and we’re just a small little family team trying to get our feet underneath us with this midget deal. To actually get a result that shows how much effort we’ve been putting in is phenomenal.

“We came here last year and made two laps before the race got rained out, so really, I’d never seen this place besides a glimpse until tonight,” Mitchell continued. “This place was basically brand-new for us, but I feel like we took to it pretty quickly. Things happen fast here, and that’s something that I grew up with racing outlaw karts at Millbridge (Speedway), so I feel like we were able to figure things out quick.”

Mitchell’s team was aided by a veteran member of the USAC pit area, who started his week fielding an entry for Brady Bacon but was able to offer additional support after Bacon moved back over to FMR Racing for the second half of the six-night stretch.

“The Four Piston guys helped us, and it was also a huge boost to have (No. 1st car owner) Daryl Saucier helping us with our program and the setup, since he wasn’t working on his car for the rest of the week,” Mitchell noted. “That was something huge for us all night long, was that Daryl was able to help us stay chasing the track and stay on top of what we needed all the way through the feature.

“I won’t lie, we were so excited after setting quick time that we didn’t change things for the heat race … which set us back a little bit, but we came back and had a good car on the bottom for the semi and transferred into a good spot for the feature,” he added. “Starting seventh helped us out a ton there.”

For Mitchell, whose car houses one of the few Honda motors in national midget racing, Indiana Midget Week began on choppy seas but has steadily progressed forward ever since the first night at Montpelier Motor Speedway.

“We started this week pretty rough, blowing up our first engine at Montpelier, but we got it changed in time for Gas City and found a rhythm that we’ve tuned on the last few nights,” he said. “We came from 17th to seventh in the semi Wednesday night and just missed the main, but tonight I feel like we finally honed in on everything and were better than ever. I’m glad it finally showed to everyone else watching.”

As he maneuvered his way through Friday night’s main event, Mitchell made sure to take a brief moment to soak in the magnitude of his strong run, knowing how tough it is to have those good days.

“It was crazy, sitting there under one of the red flags, and realizing that I’m passing cars and sitting fourth in a USAC midget feature,” Mitchell grinned. “I knew I was good on the bottom. Racing with those guys – Sunshine and Boat and Seavey – is just so much fun. It’s a lot more fun sitting up front than it is slogging around in the back and just trying to get through the night.

“My confidence is higher than it’s ever been now, and I’m looking forward to the last two nights.”