Whatever outdated ideas persist about her event, McKinna wants to debunk myths about sportswomen in her field
4 March 2021 • 7:30am
Whenever Sophie McKinna does something of note - an increasing occurrence since becoming Britain’s first female shot putter to make a world final for 36 years - the same photo tends to accompany news of her latest feat: tongue out, eyeballs bulging, in her attempt to launch the four-kilogram shot as far as she can.
It is an image of one of the best athletes in their field doing exactly what they need to be one of the best in the world. But, like the image of shot put more generally, says McKinna, the photograph seems to confirm a lot of stereotypical ideas about her sport.
2: Romania, Cuba
1: Britain, Belarus, Portugal, Uganda, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, South Africa, Qatar, Ecuador, Japan, Australia, Turkey, Bahrain, Ukraine, Germany
The first thing to note is the sheer globalisation of the sport in recent decades. Where the same few nations tend to dominate at the top of medal tables, there are a greater number of nations producing global medal-standard athletes than ever before. Two of the most recent indoor world records (both from triple jump) came from Venezuela and Burkina Faso - two countries with almost no athletics heritage whatsoever.
Greater competition is simply making it much, much harder to claim world records and the pot-luck nature of producing the type of talent to break a world record is shown by the spread of countries above.
Wigton Roadrunners are among the sports groups that are cautiously optimistic about the proposed roadmap out of lockdown Local businesses and sports groups across the area eagerly awaited the Government s roadmap for easing Covid restrictions in England on Monday. The roadmap has been broken up into stages with 8 March marking stage one, which will see the reopening of all schools and colleges. Depending on infection rates and the success of each stage, formally organised outdoor sports can take place again from the 29 March, Hairdressers and barbers will be able to open on 12 April, and hospitality venues will be able to seat customers indoors from 17 May.