It's a familiar story: a Brentford striker scores lots of goals ➡️ gets signed by another club ➡️ Brentford are tipped to struggle. Except they don't. The west London club are experts in centre-forward succession planning. @liamtharme.bsky.social explains how it works ⬇️ bit.ly/4pDFMes

I spent 30 mins talking with Eliud Kipchoge. The nicest man in athletics. Everything about his new “world tour” (7 marathons, 7 continents, 2yrs), racing Bekele, 1:59 in Vienna, WRs in Berlin, books, mentorship & Kipyegon’s sub4 attempt @theathletic.com 🇰🇪 www.nytimes.com/athletic/679...

Eliud Kipchoge exclusive interview: Breaking records, the sub-two-hour marathon and his new 'World Tour'

nytimes.com

"I wrote down in my goal book that I want to become a 100m and 200m world champion, and then a 4x100m champion again.” Melissa Jefferson-Wooden had more than a breakout year in 2025. The American spoke to @liamtharme.bsky.social about it.

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden interview: ‘I really did everything that I wanted to do this year’

The 24-year-old American’s remarkable season brought 19 wins from 20 individual races, and seven revisions to her personal bests

nytimes.com

Pod tomorrow on this very subject. Any questions for the panel? @zonal-marking.bsky.social @markcarey93.bsky.social @liamtharme.bsky.social

Michael Cox@zonal-marking.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Lots of new signings - not many goals. It's quite tough to get cohesion between new attackers at this stage of the season, and watching some really quite bad Premier League games so far underlines that. www.nytimes.com/athletic/663...

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce wants a dream ending at the World Championships but, whatever happens, the 38-year-old's incredible legacy is assured, writes @liamtharme.bsky.social ⤵️ 🔗 theathletic.com/6615685/?sou...

It’s World Champs week! 🇯🇵 First up, I spoke to Mondo Duplantis’ former coaches @lsu.bsky.social and the Swedish NT 🇸🇪 to understand how he went from child prodigy to doubly Olympic champ and 13x world records www.nytimes.com/athletic/657...

Armand Duplantis, the making of a generational talent: ‘It’s like I’m a performing artist’

Armand Duplantis is just 25 but is already an all-time sports great

nytimes.com

Send in your questions for @theathleticfc.bsky.social Tactics Podcast special mailbag episode! What trend, team, or player has caught your eye from the season so far? Or are there any tactical/data questions you would like us to address? Let us know below! www.nytimes.com/athletic/660...

Mailbag: Send in your questions for The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast

Send in your questions now ahead of a special episode of The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast

nytimes.com

A piece I’ve wanted to write all summer: why four Jamaican 🇯🇲 field athletes, three of whom were Olympic medalists in Paris, are switching allegiance to Turkey 🇹🇷 I asked Rajindra Campbell (shot put) + Roje Stona (discus) about their decisions in Zürich www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...

Why are Jamaica's Olympic medalists switching to represent Turkey?

nytimes.com

Send in your questions now ahead of a mailbag episode of the pod next week. Drop them here, or follow the link below. www.nytimes.com/athletic/660...

Mailbag: Send in your questions for The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast

nytimes.com

No Gabby Thomas in Tokyo. A real shame. She’s out with an Achilles problem which started in May and resurfaced in July. She was the only track athlete with three golds (200m, 4x100m, 4x400m) in Paris, and took silver in Budapest over 200m. www.nytimes.com/athletic/659...

Olympic 200m champion Thomas to miss World Championships with injury

nytimes.com

Track coach Gjert Ingebrigtsen, the father of double Olympic champion Jakob and his six siblings, was convicted of hitting daughter Ingrid with a towel but cleared of all of the abuse charges made by his children after a high-profile trial in Norway this year. He speaks to @liamtharme.bsky.social.

Gjert Ingebrigtsen interview: ‘Of course there is a winner when it comes to the verdict’

Gjert Ingebrigtsen speaks after a harrowing trial in which his double Olympic champion son Jakob and daughter Ingrid accused him of abuse

theathletic.com

Part five of Football Architects — it's a topical one.... This is how the implementation of the FA's England DNA project supercharged the national teams — women, men, and juniors — to the most successful period in their history. W/ @liamtharme.bsky.social: www.nytimes.com/athletic/646...

Football Architects: The England DNA behind the pursuit of tournament-winning teams

In December 2014, The FA laid out its vision for future internationals to be exceptional across four “corners” - this is what happened next

nytimes.com

US T&F trials start today! 🇺🇸 Here’s your preview: • Qualification process • Syd’s switch to 400m flat • Lyles’ 200m defence • Quincy Wilson but not Hall in 400m • Brazier/Muhammad’s comebacks • Houlihan’s return + more Coverage @theathletic.com www.nytimes.com/athletic/652...

U.S. track and field championships: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and more to watch in Eugene

nytimes.com

Refreshing + insightful chats with Donovan Brazier and Jake Wightman at the London DL 💎 yesterday as two former World Champs attempt comebacks in the 800m and 1,500m Faster races, aggressive tactics, less room for error. US & GB trials soon - both could make Tokyo www.nytimes.com/athletic/650...

Wightman and Brazier's tough comebacks show turbocharging of men's middle-distance running

nytimes.com

Interviewed KJT yesterday ahead of her long jumping in the London DL 💎 Her Paris thoughts and review, chasing Thiam & Hall, reinventing herself and becoming more than a jumper, and her connection with heptathlon 🇬🇧 www.nytimes.com/athletic/650...

Katarina Johnson-Thompson interview: 'I just want to continue heptathlon for as long as I'm capable'

nytimes.com

ICYMI Episode one of Football Architects on Ajax is available to listen to now! With @michaeljbailey.bsky.social @jacobwhitehead.bsky.social @liamtharme.bsky.social and excerpts of an interview with Jasper van Leeuwen and Ruben Jongkind. pod.fo/e/2f4b77

Episode two of Football Architects is LIVE! This part focuses on the rise of Belgium to No.1 in the world. Featuring @michaeljbailey.bsky.social @jacobwhitehead.bsky.social & @liamtharme.bsky.social pod.fo/e/2f8cce

The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast: How Belgium marched to world number one

On episode two of Football Architects, we’re focusing on the rise that took a stagnant Belgium to number one in FIFA’s world rankings.We’ll hear about how they established a footballing DNA, ...

pod.fo

Had the privilege of chatting to Olympic and World 200m silver medalist Kenny Bednarek for 45 mins Olympics review, his upbringing, racing Tebogo, block starts, relaxing off the bend, JuCo and UO dreams, wanting triple gold in Tokyo, fixing US men’s 4x100 & more www.nytimes.com/athletic/645...

Kenny Bednarek knows what he wants, if he can just relax: ‘Make money, get gold medals and just run fast’

The American is on a mission to become the world's fastest sprinter

nytimes.com

What’s it going to take for Faith Kipyegon to become the first female four-minute miler? I spoke to people from Breaking2 in 2017 (Kipchoge’s sub-two marathon shot) to understand physiological + drafting demands for Breaking4. Spoiler: it’s a huge “moonshot” 🇰🇪 www.nytimes.com/athletic/644...

What it would take for Faith Kipyegon to become the first female sub four-minute miler

How learnings from the sub-two hour marathon project have been carried into Thursday's sub-four mile record attempt in Paris

nytimes.com

The end of 2024-25 was a good advert for how youth development in England has been transformed. But no two players have the same pathway — @liamtharme.bsky.social spoke to the Premier League’s Director of Football Neil Saunders and Liam Delap about the nation's talent revolution.

How the Premier League revolutionised academies to create pathways for Delap, Eze, Johnson and many more

For a while, the footballers developed at English clubs were considered inferior. But no longer. What has changed?

nytimes.com

Tomorrow the Tactics pod brings you a classic: Alternative Team of The Season! One player from every club in the bottom half of the table plus one wildcard - send us your suggestions below 👇

Jean-Philippe Mateta: My Game In My Words “I don’t just want to be, ‘JP scores when he makes the run in behind’. I can dribble, I can shoot first touch, I can score with my left or right, and more with my head" @mattwoosie.bsky.social @liamtharme.bsky.social #CPFC www.nytimes.com/athletic/635...

Jean-Philippe Mateta: My Game in My Words

The Crystal Palace striker talks instincts, finishing technique with both feet and that protective headgear ahead of the FA Cup final

nytimes.com

A labour of love for me to fill in on the @theathleticfc.bsky.social tactics pod and talk #NFFC today. @zonal-marking.bsky.social @liamtharme.bsky.social and @markcarey93.bsky.social brought the knowledge pod.fo/e/2c2575

The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast: How Forest have outsmarted the Premier League’s elite

This week… we’re talking about Nuno Espirito Santo’s Champions League-chasing Nottingham Forest.We’ll break down how a team who flirted with relegation last season have become one of the mo...

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Jakob Ingebrigtsen testified today (he will for 1hr 30 tomorrow too) against his father, Gjert, who is on trial for abuse charges against Jakob and his younger sister Ingrid. A report from day two of the trial, w/ @sigvekvamme.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/athletic/622...

Jakob Ingebrigtsen says he was slapped, kicked by father Gjert who ‘had control over my entire life’

The 59-year-old Gjert Ingebrigtsen denies charges of abuse against two of his seven children.

nytimes.com

NEW POD! It's Champions League review/preview time. We look at the RO16 results and ahead to the quarters. With @michaeljbailey.bsky.social @zonal-marking.bsky.social @liamtharme.bsky.social & @markcarey93.bsky.social pod.fo/e/2b827a

The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast: Who are the Champions League favourites now?

We’re focusing our attention on the Champions League.This season’s competition is at the quarter-final stages — giving us the perfect moment to look back on what’s happened and what the res...

pod.fo

Eddie Howe stressed that, with patience, Lewis Hall would become a top player. He was right. Hall has replaced Trippier’s creativity and brings so much out of Gordon with his underlaps. Involved in all 4 goals v Forest yesterday. Give him his flowers. www.nytimes.com/athletic/615...

Lewis Hall is Newcastle’s new attacking weapon – as Nottingham Forest discovered

Why Eddie Howe's patient restructure of his defence is paying dividends

nytimes.com

Newcastle went with a hybrid defensive approach of a 5-4-1 mid-block and man-for-man press v City. Bounce passes and long balls unlocked them, and Newcastle conceded 3 in a PL first half for the first time under Howe — he called it a “painful watch”. www.nytimes.com/athletic/613...

Chris Wood has now scored 29 goals in 41 Premier League appearances for Nottingham Forest under Nuno Espírito Santo. Since his first game in charge (23 Dec 2023), only Haaland (32), Isak (31) and Palmer (30) have more Premier League goals than Wood.

Ousmane Dembélé is on fire. Only the fourth PSG player to score in 8 consecutive games, he’s hit 20+ goals in a season for the first time, and already has more goals in 2025 than 2024. How Luis Enrique switching him from winger to No 9 has unlocked Dembélé. www.nytimes.com/athletic/613...

How PSG started using Ousmane Dembele as a No 9 and unlocked the form of his life

nytimes.com

It’s one year today that Kelvin Kiptum, Gervais Hakizimana, died in a traffic accident. I wrote this piece ahead of the Olympic marathon in August, speaking to those who knew him and raced against him. Kiptum (2:00:35) still holds the WR from Chicago in 2023. www.nytimes.com/athletic/568...

Kelvin Kiptum: The tragic loss of the marathon runner who was set to redefine the sport

nytimes.com