I Dig Sports
Charlie Grice on his magical metric mile in Monaco
Beating Steve Ovett’s 1500m time in Monaco was a performance a decade in the making, Charlie Grice tells AW
Ten years ago Charlie Grice appeared in AW’s ‘rising stars’ magazine column as a promising 15-year-old middle-distance runner and spoke about his ambition to one day emulate the achievements of fellow Brighton Phoenix clubmate Steve Ovett. At the time Grice’s 1500m PB was 3:58.35 and a few months earlier he placed a mere sixth in the English Schools final, but this month he achieved his dream by beating Ovett’s best time of 3:30.77 with 3:30.62 in Monaco.
Ovett’s mark was a world record in 1983, whereas Grice’s performance places him No.4 on the UK all-time rankings behind Mo Farah, Steve Cram and Seb Coe – all of whom have broken the 3:30 barrier – and puts Grice in the frame for a potential podium place at the IAAF World Championships in Doha this year, not to mention the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
“I’m very aware of the history,” he says, “and ever since I spoke to AW for the article all those years ago that mentioned what Steve Ovett had done, his time has been ingrained in my head so to get it is like a dream come true.”
Grice says fellow Phoenix member Paul Collicutt keeps Ovett and his former training partner Matt Paterson up to date with results and adds: “The whole club was excited to see me race in Monaco because they knew I was in good form. Paul called Steve straight away without realising it was early hours of the morning in Australia and I think Steve was out for dinner but he replied with a few words saying ‘congratulations’.”
Since that early article in AW, the past decade has seen Grice change his name to Charles Da’Vall Grice. After that early sixth place in the English Schools final, he later went on to win two English Schools golds and a bronze medal in the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore at 1000m. In 2013 he took silver in the European Under-23 Championships at 1500m as his improvement continued under the coaching of Jon Bigg. Several British 1500m titles followed and in 2016 he reached the Olympic final in Rio, placing 12th in a slow, tactical race won by Matt Centrowitz.
That same year he ran 3:33.60 for 1500m – again in Monaco – and that time survived as his PB until last week when he sliced three seconds off his best. “I think I’ve been capable of this kind of time on paper,” he says, “but it’s just been a case of actually putting it down.”
Amazingly his performance was achieved despite spending much of the spring period wearing a protective boot due to injury. “I tore my plantar fascia tendon after the indoors and I was in a boot for two months,” he explains, “so to be running this well off that kind of build-up is great.”
He jokes: “Running less is the way forward! I went away to Flagstaff in May and was out there for five and a half weeks and raced in Portland (June 9) but at the start of the camp I was only allowed to do 100m strides in my heavy running shoes in 15-16 seconds so I had to take baby steps. Then out there I got pretty fit.”
When he was injured he kept fit doing cycling in a home-made altitude chamber in England, plus swimming. “I guess I’ve also had years of training banked and am lot stronger,” he says.
Since his teenage years he has increased his mileage gradually every year under the patient supervision of Bigg and he has been a regular at British Athletics altitude camps where, compared to some athletes, he is recognised as being a big ‘responder’ to altitude work.
“Nothing happens overnight,” he says on his training and improvements. “It’s taken years and years of hard graft. Jon (Bigg) was always very good back then in holding me back. I would always want to do more and more but he had a long-term plan for me.
“I’ve had a lot of messages from people wanting to know what training I’ve done in the past few weeks but it’s not about that. It’s about the months and years leading up to a race. It’s quite funny how people always think there’s some kind of magic session or a magic camp where you can go away on one altitude camp and then you’ll run amazingly.”
Grice is speaking to AW from St Moritz, where he is enjoying a few days of training at altitude with friend and training partner Adam Clarke, among others. Rather than being homesick or treating it as ‘work’, Grice says he enjoys the lifestyle of training camps. “I like being away at altitude,” he says. “No distractions. Simple living. Plus St Moritz is such a beautiful place and it’s good to hang out in places like this with mates like Adam.”
Being an elite athlete also often means there is uncertainty when it comes to racing and Grice only got a last-minute invite to the 1500m in Monaco. The new world rankings system means he has struggled to get into Diamond League races lately and instead has raced in meetings in places like Watford and Marseille, although he does not necessarily think it has done him any harm. “It’s good for confidence to get some wins,” he says.
He also feels his 3:33.60 in Monaco in 2016 hinted at more to come. “When I ran that time I was overtaking Mo (Farah) on the back straight and got this sudden surge of ‘wow’ and thought ‘is this really happening?’ I remember my hand then clipping Mo’s trail leg and I nearly tripped him and then I bolted off and died the last 100m (Farah finished fifth and Grice ninth). I was on for about 3:32 but I faded and loads of runners came past me.”
Similarly, he feels his 3:30.62 in Monaco last week was not perfect and suggests there is more to come. “I was running a little wide at some points and I got a load of spike marks up the back of my leg because I was running into the back of people a little,” he says.
“I knew if I had the opportunity of racing in Monaco then I could get a PB of maybe 3:31,” he continues. “But I’d not raced there since 2016, when I ran my PB, so I didn’t want to set a limit on what I could do.
“I knew I had to hurt early. In races this year I’ve only gone through 800m in 1:54 or so but this one I was going to have to suffer early on and I went through 800m in 1:52 and 2:21 at 1000m. I honestly think I can go quicker. It probably won’t happen this year now but hopefully next year I’ll go back.”
Crazy night in Monaco to go fourth on the UK ?? 1500m all time list. Wow ?? #GRICEGRIND
1. Sir Mo Farah 3:28.81
2. Steve Cram 3:29.67
3. Seb Coe 3:29.77
4. Charlie Da’Vall Grice 3:30.62
5. Steve Ovett 3:30.77 pic.twitter.com/KhhWEDtWMV— GRICEGRIND (@CharlieGrice1) July 13, 2019
It also wasn’t perfect that his coach was unable to watch him. Bigg was at the European Under-23 Championships in Sweden and stayed in a hotel near to Stockholm so he could potentially fly to Monaco, but close to the event he realised it was impossible to get there in time so he watched on a live stream instead.
In addition, Grice could barely have picked a worse weekend to run his fast time. With Wimbledon, the Cricket World Cup and British Grand Prix it meant athletics was drowned by other sports and struggled to get any coverage. “I think back in the day they stopped the news to play these big races whereas athletics doesn’t really hold any real weight these days,” he says. “It is a bit annoying but I guess it is what it is.”
If his form continues, though, he will surely get the recognition eventually. After this weekend’s Diamond League in London, where he is set to race 800m, his next big target is the Müller British Championships in Birmingham where he will face one of the strongest fields of the weekend – including Josh Kerr, Chris O’Hare and Jake Wightman – in the battle for Doha qualification.
“I can’t wait for it. I hope it’ll be a good turn-out,” he says. “You go to Birmingham and sometimes it’s not a great atmosphere. Races like Highgate have shown what more can be done. But the British Champs has the potential to be a crazy race with six or seven people with the qualifying time and that’s what my focus will switch towards soon.”
So what motivates him most in future? More fast times and records, or a podium place at a global championship? Without hesitation he replies: “Definitely medals. Fast times are great and I’ll 100% be going for a British record one day. It probably won’t happen this year with this weird season. But myself and Jon have always said it’s all about the medals.
“The next two years are huge with a Worlds and Olympics and the 1500m time the other night shows that I can be in the medals.”
T2 Diamond Series: Get ready for Johor Bahru!
Let the show begin!
The stars will be shining bright for the next four days in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, where the top 16 women’s and top 16 men’s athletes will compete for silverware and precious world ranking points. These will come especially handy for qualification to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In addition, there is an attractive total prize purse of $1.5 million across the three T2 Diamond events scheduled during 2019, which fans can watch live on itTV.
The refurbished T2 Diamond series has returned to where it was inaugurated in 2017. The famous Iskandar Malaysia Studios (IMS) in Johor Bahru will be host to what is being called one of the progressive tournaments in table tennis, and rightly so. This competition provides a more fast-flowing format of the sport, whereby the elite athletes taking part have more than just their opponent to worry about, as the time limit of 24 minutes looms. In case there is no winner after 24 minutes, a FAST5 format will be introduced with the first player to five points winning each remaining game. Existing games in progress at the 24th minute mark will continue to 11 points.
Coloured rubbers will also be allowed, with reigning T2 Diamond women’s champion, Bernadette Szocs, the first to seize on this new ITTF initiative by going with pink rubber for one side of her bat. Other players are expected to follow suit as the season progresses.
“Table tennis continues to be one of the leading sports in the world, with our world class athletes delivering exciting and compelling fast-paced action at the table. We hope to see that the T2 model will prove to the market how best to commercialise table tennis. At the ITTF we are flexible and open to new ideas of taking the sport to a new level and success for the T2 events would demonstrate that there is a much better chance for table tennis to grow as fast as we’d like.” ITTF CEO, Steve Dainton
“From our founding T2 APAC and its innovative team play, we now move the competition a notch higher with the world’s top players needing to play consistently well just to qualify for each of our three lucrative events. Our exacting format means players will need to be at their very best to win and we expect fans to be treated to table tennis of the highest quality in T2 Diamond.” Chairman of T2 Diamond and Special Adviser to ITTF President, Mr Frank Ji
“It is fitting that Malaysia hosts the opening event of the world’s most riveting table tennis tournament – Seamaster T2 Diamond 2019 Malaysia. The T2Cavern at IMS was where history was made in 2017 and where table tennis will chart new heights with the world’s top 16 men’s and women’s players. The combined prize purse of US$1.5 million is an added bonus as these world class players also stand to gain additional ITTF World Ranking points in the tight battle for 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualification.” T2 CEO and Commissioner, Jeff Chue
Champions get the action started
As if that was not enough to get everyone excited, China’s Olympic champion Ding Ning, who has enjoyed somewhat a revival in recent weeks, is set to meet Bernadette Szocs from Romania in the very first round. Ding, who is nicknamed ‘The Queen of Hearts’, has reached two consecutive finals on the ITTF World Tour (Korea and Australian Opens) but failed to convert the silver into gold.
Over to the men’s draw, German legend Timo Boll will be unable to defend his title, given his recent hip injury in the build-up to the tournament. His quality will be missed, however his compatriot Dimitrij Ovtcharov will look to keep the German flag flying high against world no.1, Xu Xin. The Chinese star dubbed ‘Xu-perman’ has now won three World Tour titles in a row. Will anything or anyone stop him in Johor Bahru?
Another Chinese champion last week in Geelong, Sun Yingsha will be looking to maintain her good run of form against Chen Szu-Yu from Chinese Taipei. Women’s world no.1 Chen Meng will need to be careful versus one part of Hong Kong’s doubles champion in Geelong, Doo Hoi Kem, who has repeatedly shown that she is not to be taken lightly.
Just days after defeating the legendary Ma Long in Australia, it remains to be seen if the ‘Dragon-slayer’ Wang Chuqin can work his magic against Lin Gaoyuan in the opening game on Thursday. Brazilian rising star Hugo Calderano will want to avoid any form of backlash from Fan Zhendong, as the former top-ranked Chinese looks to turn the tide of an underwhelming year so far for him.
The next four days call for eyeball-glued action with the top 32 in the world out in force. Stay tuned on all the action as it unfolds by following the links below:
MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Brandon Overton won Tuesday night’s Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series presented by Sunoco Race Fuels late model feature at Smoky Mountain Speedway.
Madden took the lead on lap 22 and never looked back en route to a $3,500 payday.
Overton’s victory was his second win on the tour in 2019 and his 12thcareer Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series triumph.
The start of the race would see Michael Chilton grab the race lead, with Donald McIntosh, Dakotah Knuckles, Brandon Overton, and Jake Knowles giving chase. The only caution of the race would appear on lap two for debris on the track in turn three.
The restart would see Chilton maintain the race lead, while Overton would take the third position and one lap later, eighth place starting Tommy Kerr would grab the fourth position. Chilton would begin to stretch his lead over McIntosh at this point, while Overton would close in on McIntosh and begin to challenge him for the second position.
Ashton Winger would make his way into the top five at this point and would take the fourth position on lap 14.
Meanwhile, Chilton would open about a three-quarters of straightaway lead over the battle for second between McIntosh and Overton as Chilton would start working slower traffic on lap 17 and Overton would overtake McIntosh for the second position on the same circuit.
Overton would quickly begin to close the gap between himself and Chilton at this point and would pull alongside Chilton on lap 21 and take the race lead one circuit later.
Overton would slowly drive away from Chilton in the remaining laps of the event to claim the victory by 2.369 seconds over Chilton, with McIntosh finishing in the third position. Winger and Knuckles would complete the top five finishers
The finish:
Brandon Overton, Michael Chilton, Donald McIntosh, Ashton Winger, Dakotah Knuckles, Jake Knowles, Tommy Kerr, David Crabtree, Tanner English, Robby Moses, Cla Knight, Bobby Giffin, Stacy Boles, Craig Greer,Kyle Strickler
LEXINGTON, N.C. – Kaulig Racing announced Wednesday that part-time driver AJ Allmendinger will compete in the No. 10 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen Int’l on Aug. 3.
Allmendinger is a previous winner at Watkins Glen, having earned a victory in 2014 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series for JTG-Daugherty Racing.
“It’s an honor to be able to compete for Kaulig Racing at one of my favorite tracks, Watkins Glen Int’l,” Allmendinger said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to win there in the Cup Series and had a strong run finishing second last season in my only Xfinity start there.
“Matt Kaulig, Chris Rice and all of the guys made Daytona so enjoyable and fun, and I can’t wait to get to The Glen.”
In his lone Xfinity Series start at the New York road course, Allmendinger collected one stage win and led 11 laps en route to a runner-up finish.
So far this season with Kaulig Racing, the veteran driver has led 33 laps and crossed the finish line in third, all in his first start with the team at Daytona Int’l Speedway on July 5.
As previously announced, Allmendinger is also scheduled to join the No. 10 team at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Aug. 10, Road America on Aug. 24 and at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL on Sept. 28.
The primary partner for the No. 10 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen will be released at a later date.
CONCORD, N.C. — Despite a winless week, Brad Sweet remains atop the National Sprint Car Rankings after the week ending July 14.
With an average finish of 5.154 in 39 starts, Sweet – who also leads the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car standings – holds the top spot over Donny Schatz and Buddy Kofoid, who makes his debut in the national rankings after making his 20th start over the weekend.
Danny Dietrich and David Gravel round out the top five.
Dietrich leads the Eastern region on the strength of 11 victories, while other regional leaders are Kofoid (Great Lakes), Billy Balog (Great Plains), Dominic Scelzi (West), Jacob Patton (Mid-America) and Jack Sodeman Jr. (Ohio-PA).
Dietrich leads the country with 11 victories, while Sweet follows with 10 wins. Aaron Reutzel, Freddie Rahmer and Lance Dewease have each won seven main events.
Eighty-nine drivers have combined to win 199 features run through July 14.
To view National and regional rankings, click below.
Question remains: When will Open return to Trump Turnberry?
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – The R&A held its annual meet-and-greet with the media on Wednesday at Royal Portrush and it didn’t take long for the usual question about The Open’s possible return to Trump Turnberry to come up.
The Open hasn’t been played at Turnberry, on Scotland’s west coast, since 2009. For some in the United Kingdom, the question has become politically charged since the course is owned by U.S. President Donald Trump and the R&A doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to return to the layout.
“We've talked about this many times in terms of it being part of the pool of courses; nothing's changed from the previous points and comments that I've made on that in respect to taking The Open there,” said Martin Slumbers, the R&A’s chief executive. “But it's absolutely one of the pool of 10 courses.”
Unlike the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, which are scheduled years in advance, The Open is currently slated to go to Royal St. George’s next year, St. Andrews in 2021 and Royal Liverpool in ’22.
The Open has been played at Turnberry four times but with the addition of Royal Portrush, the site of this week’s championship, to the rotation and St. Andrews slated to host the event every five years, it’s going to become increasingly difficult for Ailsa Course to move back into the lineup.
McIlroy leaning on caddie Diamond's playing experience at Royal Portrush
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – For most, Harry Diamond is simply identified as Rory McIlroy’s caddie. Some might take it a bit deeper and point out the two were best friends growing up in Northern Ireland and that Diamond was the best man at McIlroy’s wedding.
But as McIlroy explained Wednesday at Royal Portrush, site of this week’s Open Championship, Diamond was an accomplished amateur whose experience could be particularly helpful this week.
“I think that's one of the things people don't realize, Harry has played more rounds of golf on this golf course than I have, and definitely more competitive rounds,” said McIlroy, who shot a course-record 61 as a 16-year-old in the North of Ireland Amateur held at Portrush in 2005. “He's just as comfortable on this golf course as I am. So that is a big help this week.”
Diamond was beaten in the North of Ireland finals in 2011 and won the West of Ireland Amateur the next year.
Although McIlroy has played his share of rounds on the Dunluce Links, the first coming as a 10-year-old, he admitted that he will be relying on Diamond this week on a course that’s changed quite a bit in the last 10 years, including two new holes for this year’s Open.
“With Harry's experience around here, not that I don't let him have any say any other week, but I think with his experience around here, my ear will be a little sharper to what he has to say,” McIlroy said.
McDowell avoids 'bittersweet' decision after qualifying for hometown Open
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Graeme McDowell spent much of this spring and summer sidestepping a nagging question: would he qualify for this year’s Open at Royal Portrush?
Thanks to a 30-footer for par on the 72nd hole at the RBC Canadian Open in June, McDowell finally had an answer when he earned his spot in the field at Portrush, where he grew up. He also avoided a difficult choice.
Earlier this season, McDowell committed to a charity event in Portrush the Monday of championship week, a commitment he said he’d honor even if he didn’t qualify for the event. He added, however, that he’d not stay to watch the championship if he wasn’t playing.
Asked on Wednesday if he would have been able to leave his hometown during a landmark week, McDowell sidestepped the question.
“Thankfully we'll never know the answer,” he laughed. “I'd say obviously my plan was to do those [charity events] and get out of here, because I couldn't stand to be here, it would be too bittersweet. It would be too tough to watch the guys go out there and compete on this place where I kind of learned the game.”
Fortunately, McDowell didn’t have to make the choice and will instead get a chance to play the course that inspired him to dedicate himself to golf.
“We had the British Amateur come here in '93, which I [was a standard-bearer] for most of the weekend,” he said. “I looked at those guys and realized that I wanted to be a great amateur player.”
Rahm on bizarre Wimbledon look: Not my 'first choice'
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Jon Rahm was forced to defend himself Wednesday at The Open, but not against some questionable course-management decision.
It had to do with a recent outfit.
Rahm’s mismatched look while sitting in the celebrity-filled Royal Box at Wimbledon drew plenty of guffaws on social media, including from some of his peers like Thomas Pieters.
Asked by a reporter whether he’d seen Pieters this week, Rahm didn’t appear to find the exchange funny. “I haven’t seen him, no,” he said, “and I’m not necessarily going to look for him after something like that.”
And what about that look?
Rahm said the starry number wasn’t his “first choice of shirt to wear,” but the one he wanted wasn’t ready at the dry cleaners.
“Still, you’ve got to wear it confidence,” he said. “I’d rather not go to a Royal Box with a starred shirt, but it’s what I had. I got compliments in the Royal Box. As far as I’m concerned, it was a good day.”
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