{"id":277089,"date":"2023-03-10T05:35:42","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T06:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=277089"},"modified":"2023-03-11T01:00:55","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T01:00:55","slug":"the-friendly-rivalry-behind-crazy-paris-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=277089","title":{"rendered":"The 'friendly rivalry' behind 'crazy' Paris pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leanne Pompeani<\/a>\ufeff calls it a "friendly rivalry".<\/p>\n

The Canberran is among a raft of Australian women eyeing Paris Olympics<\/a> marathon selection, as are Eloise Wellings, Izzi Batt-Doyle and Ellie Pashley.<\/p>\n

The four super athletes\ufeff and a host of others, including a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, are shooting for marathon selection knowing only three will be given a plane ticket to Paris.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Shortcut' suspicions raised amid Bol drug saga\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Teammates fear abuse will force Mitchell to quit<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Green lifts lid on secret behind India dominance\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Yet on the streets of the Japanese city of Nagoya on Sunday, Pompeani and Pashley will park the intense battle and attempt to guide Wellings and Batt-Doyle to qualification times.<\/p>\n

The willingness of Pompeani and Pashley to run as pacemakers in the Nagoya Women's Marathon is a reflection of\ufeff the gruelling nature of the sport, as well as the phenomenal team spirit shared by Australia's leading female distance runners.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"You don't really see that on the track; it's a bit of a different mindset\ufeff," Batt-Doyle told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"I feel with the marathon people have this understanding. Everyone who's run a marathon knows that it's not you versus me, it's not me versus Eloise, it's not me versus Ellie; it's me versus myself, it's me versus the distance.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>What baby news means for Aussie marathon hero's Paris dream<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"So you have to focus on what you're doing, and what other people are doing isn't so important, whereas on the track you really have to keep tabs on what races people are doing, tactics like, 'Oh, she's going to kick at 200 (metres to go), I better make sure I'm ready to go'. Things like that come into play.<\/p>\n

"A lot of times I've dragged people around on the track and shaken my head afterwards because, realistically, I've helped them get on the team and I've missed out.<\/p>\n

"But the marathon just doesn't quite have that same attitude."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The\ufeff entry standard for the women's Paris Olympics marathon is 2:26:50, but to borrow from high jump or pole vault parlance, scorching times set by Sinead Diver and Lisa Weightman have raised the bar.<\/p>\n

Diver broke the national women's marathon record when she posted 2:21:34 in Valencia in December, before Weightman registered the third-fastest time in Australian history in February, clocking 2:23:15 in Osaka.<\/p>\n

Among the others gunning for Paris Olympics marathon selection is Jessica Stenson<\/a>, who won Commonwealth Games gold<\/a> in Birmingham last year, as well as Milly Clark and Genevieve Gregson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I think the comradery there is really lovely," Batt-Doyle said.<\/p>\n

"Most of the women have got kids, so there's just a different perspective. They care about their running, they value their results, but they're also juggling and looking after their kids and a life, and it's not that kind of bubble of just running, just results, self-worth wrapped up in your result. They've got a really good perspective on life and I think that plays into it."<\/p>\n

Pompeani is yet to make her marathon debut, but the reigning women's national 10,000-metre champion anticipates making the jump early next year.<\/p>\n

"We are rivals, but \ufeffwe're all friends, so it's a friendly rivalry when it comes to making teams and racing," Pompeani told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"In the marathon, and even the 10,000 metres, for us to run fast we kind of need to help each other. So we're kind of thinking, 'If I help you, will you help me?'."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not only did Diver eclipse a 16-year national record in Valencia, the Tokyo Olympian sliced two minutes and 37 seconds from her personal best.<\/p>\n

Weightman chopped 45 seconds from her personal best in Osaka.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Six of the top-10 times in Australian women's marathon history belong to runners\ufeff vying for Paris Olympics selection.<\/p>\n

"I definitely think it will have to be a 2:22, 2:23\ufeff to make the (Paris Olympics) team, which is crazy," said Batt-Doyle, who recorded 2:28:10 on her marathon debut in Melbourne in October.<\/p>\n

"A year ago if someone said that people would have been like, 'No way', because we didn't have anyone running that fast for some years. But I think that's the reality now.<\/p>\n

"The Olympics are really quite a long time away and I'll probably run another two marathons before then, in an ideal world.<\/p>\n

"I really just want to focus on self-improvement in Nagoya, see where I'm at and go from there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"But I know that at some stage you've got to really have a crack at that much faster time if you want to put yourself on the team.<\/p>\n

"Making teams is a huge goal for everyone … but if you focus on the times too much you can get away from yourself. It's about focusing on getting better and trying to be the best you can be, and hopefully that puts you into that conversation where you are in the top three."<\/p>\n

Pompeani says the plan for the Nagoya Women's Marathon is to lead the field through halfway in 71:30, which equates to three minutes and 23 seconds per kilometre, and to keep pacing until the 25-kilometre mark.<\/p>\n

The 2022 women's City to Surf champion sees\ufeff the challenge as a stepping stone in her transition to racing full marathons.<\/p>\n

"This pacing is a new thing for me, so it opens \ufeffthe doors to the marathon," Pompeani said.<\/p>\n

"Partly why I'm doing this pacing is to get my foot in the door in the Japan marathon scene and get my face out there, and hopefully they invite me back when it's time for a marathon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I haven't started marathons at all yet. I've done a few half-marathons.<\/p>\n

"To get into the scene of the big marathons, this is a good start for me."<\/p>\n

Batt-Doyle has returned to Japan for the second time in just over a month\ufeff, having contested the Marugame half-marathon on February 5.<\/p>\n

The South Australian says she feels "pretty privileged" to be contending for Paris Olympics selection against the likes of Diver, Weightman, Wellings and Stenson, but admits her lofty goals have raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n

"A lot of people asked me last year, 'Why are you doing a marathon? That's the hardest team to make'," Batt-Doyle said.<\/p>\n

She's embracing the "friendly rivalry".\ufeff<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leanne Pompeani\ufeff calls it a "friendly rivalry". The Canberran is among a raft of Australian women eyeing Paris Olympics marathon selection, as are Eloise Wellings, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=277089"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277091,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277089\/revisions\/277091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=277089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=277089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=277089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}