Backstraight Boys Athletics Chat

We’ve not seen any of the Australian coverage of the Commonwealths, but – if the Gold Coast production team is anything like the BBC – they love showing historic montages of Aussie athletic greats (whilst there are field event and distance finals taking place –...

The Commonwealths have been stressful in a number of ways: four separate teams to follow for the usual Team GB stalwarts; deciding which will yield more Twitter traction – #GC2018 (lost amongst the masses?) or #GC2018Athletics (too specialist?); and the delicate balancing act of turning...

Claire’s back in England, but Jody and Bayo have jetted off to the Gold Coast, where they’re representing the hallowed establishment of Track and Field News as Commonwealth Correspondents! We’ve not had the chance to dissect last month’s World Indoors, so here’s our gap-bridging offering:...

Queen Mary The Great. When we contrived to bump into Mary Peters at the BAWA awards luncheon back in November, Jody told her he’d rather interview her than Usain Bolt, and – on this week’s pod – you’ll hear why. A lengthy and lofty career...

11th August 2017. London. Courtney Frerichs eats a bowl of fruit loops for breakfast. She lines up for the women’s steeplechase final, the word ‘Fearless’ inked temporarily upon her arm. She trusts implicitly in her coaches and sticks with Emma Coburn. She wins her first...

As fun as these descriptions are to write, the way to sell you on this episode is a list: a star-studded who’s-who of the athletes Jody spoke to at the 2018 British Indoor Champs, many of whom shrugged off the challenges of tight bends, injury...

Need a lawyer? An outstanding tongue-in-cheek cover of a Sheeran track? A Summer and/or Winter Olympic role model? Or just an absolutely cracking new Instagram follow? Look no further than Jazmin Sawyers. This girl can do everything, and – as we discovered in December –...

Much to Claire’s delight, this week is the first episode with complete gender parity (Jody’s off sunning himself in Goa). In his absence, Bayo and the Backstraight Girl discuss December’s Euro Cross Country Championships, Farah’s shock SPOTY victory, and the resolutions they’d like to see made...

Part two of our latest recording session. We talk about the things we love in athletics, and those we really don’t. Expect cameos by Whitney, Flo-Jo, Fort Minor, and a whole host of other snippets from across the history of this inspiring, infuriating, and glorious sport....

As recording sessions go, this one was an epic. We sat down mid-afternoon, before gradually cancelling our evening plans and discussing athletics’ news well into the wintry night. Colin McCourt, the British Athletics Writers’ Association luncheon, and that laughably recognisable image of a ‘mystery athlete’...

A slight misnomer here, as we’ve ended up editing out the Stranger Things chat (in case you were wondering: Jess also thinks Season Two, Episode Seven was abysmal), but it’s left even more room to talk athletics, and the meteoric ascent of one of Britain’s...

Following on from Aly Dixon’s chat with Claire last week, we’ve a pretty marathon-heavy pod. Mo Farah is hopping on a plane to get good at running them; Jonny Mellor won’t be getting on a plane, despite having raced one really fast; and Dewi Griffiths...

What do flamingoes, Paula Radcliffe, and screaming Londoners have in common? Well, not very much at all, if we’re honest – but they’re all discussed in this week’s episode: another in-depth athlete chat. This time, Claire talks to Aly Dixon – who thrilled the nation...

Doping dominates discourse on athletics. Fact. We don’t want to discuss cheats on our podcast. Also true. Fantastic athletes who were robbed of their moment upon the podium at a major championships receiving their overdue rewards following the discovery of foul play? We love it....

World and Olympic Champion, Tianna Bartoletta, has carved quite the niche. She can jump over seven metres, has a world record to her name, has studied medicine, and crafts powerful, eloquent blogs about the weightiest of issues. Who better to kick off our longer interview features this...

In perhaps the most eclectic episode to date, Claire and Jody discuss their European athletes of the year, the future (or lack thereof) of the Commonwealth Games, who might break the men’s marathon world record in Berlin this Sunday, and the total fruitcake who told...

It’s a patchwork quilt of an episode today, as the gang tackle your questions on the season, and contemplate the Diamond League as a concept. Bayo calls in from an airport bar, Jody conducts a fascinating interview with eloquent and honest sprint star Ashleigh Nelson,...

Ten days glued to our televisions or seats in the Olympic Stadium wasn’t enough athletics for a fortnight, so we met up to discuss our highs, lows, and takeaways. Listen out for the latest addition to Backstraight’s offering: a competition to win some World Champs...

We stole fifteen minutes before our BBC 5 Live debut to record an emergency pod, pooling some of our thoughts on the World Championships so far. Spoiler alert: expect rants about coverage, and rave reviews of the new hedgehog on the block. You know the drill: rate,...

Although they’ve hardly snuck up on us (we’ve talked about nothing else for months), the World Championships are finally here: London 2017 is days away! With that in mind, the entire team met up to preview the event, and couldn’t resist throwing it back to some...