Phil Mickelson steps off jet to make flying start in US Open

Phil Mickelson plays his approach to the 10th during a US Open first round of 67 which put him into the lead. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images

Phil Mickelson is proof that competing at the summit of professional sport need not necessarily come at the expense of family values. He has also already made a mockery of the importance of textbook pre-tournament routine.

For a US Open already unorthodox Mickelson's build-up seemed appropriate. The 42-year-old, a four-times major winner, then played himself firmly into Merion contention with an opening round of 67, three under par.

Mickelson supplied the first uplifting story of this major weekend. By the time he stepped from his final green he had been installed by bookmakers as the favourite for the tournament. "It was a good start," he said, with more than a hint of understatement. Later, as a second storm siren of the day delayed play with a host of players still in the early throes of their first round, Mickelson was rightly in relaxation mode. He had earned a Friday lie-in.

In isolation, given the weather disruption which plagued day one and made the rough at this venue even more treacherous, a 67 would rank as impressive. In Mickelson's case he is due extra praise.

He had flown home to San Diego from Pennsylvania on Monday night after the rain deluge which interrupted practice that day. Not only did the American opt to continue his preparations for the year's second major in the comfort of his own facilities – his practice putting green has a stimpmeter reading of 14 – but he attended the eighth-grade graduation of his daughter, Amanda, on Wednesday.

Thereafter? Mickelson departed San Diego at 11.15pm local time and arrived in Pennsylvania at 4.30am. He therefore made a journey of 2,700 miles and was in position, right on time, for his 7.11am first-round start. "This is not out of the ordinary," Mickelson said. "I do it six, maybe 10 times a year where I fly east red eye, play an outing and come home."

The round itself was textbook Mickelson. There were miraculous recovery shots where less capable players would have recorded a score significantly over par. Mickelson had just a solitary blemish – a bogey five on the 11th. A late highlight was a 20ft birdie putt, sunk on the 237-yard, par-three 9th, Mickelson's 17th. Tiredness? Not a glimpse of the stuff.

That said, Mickelson is one of only 11 players in the field to have previously played competitively at Merion. He featured in the 1989 United States Amateur Championship. The Californian also visited last week, when meaningful plotting and practice time were undertaken.

"I didn't feel I needed more time at Merion, what I needed was to get my game sharp, to get my touch sharp," he said. "And having a nice practice facility and nice weather for the last couple of days allowed me to do that."

Mickelson has previous for putting family first. At the 1999 US Open he wore a bleep device during competition with his wife Amy due to go into labour. Mickelson finished second in that tournament – he has done that on five occasions in the US Open, a tournament record – to the late Payne Stewart.

Mickelson's disappointment at that outcome was offset by two matters: the insistence of Stewart that he would win a major, which turned out to be correct, and the birth of Amanda on the day after the event finished.

Mickelson's prominence, and the backdrop to it, at least offered an endearing element to a disrupted Thursday at Merion which threatened to overshadow the return of the US Open to a famous old venue.

The morning storm which was forecast to hit this tight, hazardous parkland course duly obliged and suspended play from 8.36am for three and a half hours. When the tournament got under way again, afternoon players suffered a delay of three hours and 34 minutes. Play was halted again, at 10 past six, for 45 minutes.

Owing to the delay, the event's marquee group of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott were left playing a game of catch-up which was due to continue into the second morning. Woods, who seemed to sustain an injury to his left hand or wrist when playing from rough on the 1st, may be grateful for that. McIlroy, conversely, was enjoying benign and soft course conditions.

Ian Poulter had looked capable of joining Mickelson in a strong first-round position but the Englishman stumbled badly after going three under inside five holes. He closed at one over. "You need to respect this golf course. It's brutal," Poulter said. Lee Westwood fared better at maintaining a strong start and reached the turn at two under.

Among those to struggle more seriously were Keegan Bradley, a former major champion who had represented the United States at Merion at amateur level. Bradley has work to do just to be around for the closing 36 holes, having slumped to a 77.

But for Mickelson, it could be suggested those who toiled needed to appreciate the value of standard preparation. How he merited his proper night's rest.

View the original article here

Christophe Lemaitre: 'At the start line-up, you have a one-track mind'

Sprinting is dominated by Americans and Jamaicans. What does the rest of the world have to do to catch up? Don't forget the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago. I had a quick look, out of curiosity, [to see who was] the last European medallist on a sprint competition on the Olympic Games and it was in 2004. Obikwelu in the male 100m and Nesterenko on the female 200m. I don't know if any magic formula exists but I would say it is necessary to be inspired by a winning culture.

What's the most important thing you need to be good at sprinting? You know, when you're behind the start line-up, you have one-track mind: you just focus on being the first to cross the finish line. So I would say you need to be fully determined to excel yourself. Of course, there are many other criteria and, above all, hard work. You cannot succeed without hard work, even if you are gifted.

You've made a film with Asics about how details are important for success, and how you spend hours in training working on them. Which of the details have had the biggest impact on your running? When I am on the track at the stadium, I spend hours with Pierrot [Carraz, his coach]. He's continuously trying to improve the way I run, trying to perfect it. It is high-level training. For my part, I pay special attention to the start, which is my weakness, but also the curve. But behind the scenes there are all the details of everyday life, like recovery and food. I changed a lot recently and I pay much more attention [than I used to] on all those details that became habits.

What has been the highlight of your career so far? Daegu and the 200m. That's by far the highlight of my career. I ran under 20 seconds on the 200m for my first time ever and shared a good time on the victory ceremony with Usain Bolt, who is a living legend. The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible. Although my parents and my relatives were in France, I felt like I was hugely supported. I hope I will have the same emotions in Moscow this summer. Anyway, I'll do my best.

Do you remember your first-ever race? How did you fare?
I still remember this race as if it were yesterday: I was 15, it was in a small village in Belley (in my region): a 50m race was organised. At this time, I was playing handball. I fared pretty well since I ran the fastest time.

Where is your favourite place to run? Aix les Bains, it is a fantastic place to train. Everything is close: hillsides, a grass field track, a weight room and a nice stadium. Really, it's perfect for hard training. As an athlete, I enjoy running in the most famous stadium.

What's the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you? I really appreciate the advice Bolt gave me during the Areva meeting. It can seem obvious but being focused and hard training: these are the keys to success. Bolt is an example for that. He is a very hard worker and I have to get inspiration from his culture of hard work.

What is your favourite running gadget? Definitely my spikes. Without my spikes, I'm nothing. My sponsor really takes care of me: I often receive new custom-made spikes, each time an improved version, lighter, more responsive... For sure, the answer to your question is my spikes.

Do you ever run while listening to music? No, usually not. I often train with my relay team-mates so I do not have time to listen to music. However, during competition I like entering into my own world and music helps me to do so.

What is the worst thing about running? Running when it's raining, no doubt. We have an indoor stadium but I admit that rain remains my enemy. Or, on the contrary, running when it's really hot... But when it's warm, Pierrot and I adapt ourselves.

What do you eat before a big race? I do not change my habits at all. I'm not that nervous before the big races. Never tried nuggets, but maybe I should.

What's the furthest distance you have ever run in training? Do not misjudge sprinters. In winter, sprinters work very hard, with many aerobic training sessions. I have never run a 10k but, when retiring, why not? Ask me the question again in 15 years and I would probably answer you that I had run a marathon.

Have you ever run barefoot? Each summer, I run barefoot during warm-up and recovery on the grass quite often. This allows me to stimulate different foot muscles to the ones I use in my usual running. It makes my feet stronger. However, once on the track, I wear my favourite spikes, otherwise it burns.

Who do you think was the greatest runner of all time?
Hmmm... this is a hard question. Many runners made sprint history: Jessie Owen, Michael Johnson and of course Usain Bolt. Yeah, I would say Bolt.

Christophe Lemaitre is a global ambassador for sports performance brand Asics. Christophe stars in the latest 'Better Your Best' brand film, which can be viewed at asics.co.uk

View the original article here

The school is a health time bomb, report warns at the start of the school week of market

Time bomb health among children who grow up do not walking to school could cost the country billions, says the report must try harder through the streets living on charity.

Children's fears are removed or flattened on the way to school, as well as time constraints, resulted in a major change in attitudes towards walking to school.

And it ceased to be the norm to the exception within a generation, according to a major new report by the living streets charity.

Eight in ten (81 per cent) of parents of primary school students walked to school themselves.

Now, despite the rise in rates of obesity among children, more than one quarter (27%) of parents automatically driving their children to school and more than one in five (21 per cent) have not considered to ensure that their children walk to school.

Health problems related to obesity like heart disease, diabetes and cancers will cost Britain 27 billion ￡ by 2015.

The mere fact of walk to school is not only good for children's physical health, but help to incorporate a good attitude to exercise and maintain good health.

It must be a key element of the Government's strategy to encourage the British to be more physically active, said streets alive.

Less than half [49 per cent] of the primary school children walk to school despite the majority (75%) live within two miles of the school.

One in five primary school children do not walk to school because their parents say they do not have the time to walk with them.

The problem is even worse in children from high school - with only 38 percent opting for walk to school.

And while children start going to school, with 59% of primary school students ready to walk up to 20 minutes each day, the interest fades as they age with only 37 percent of high school students prepared to do this.

The performance of the Government by encouraging children to walk to school has been "mixed" and it "must try harder", according to the report. "School trip for the previous Government policy was quickly abandoned with no replacement," he said.

Walking to school is not only beneficial to the physical and mental health, but help to reduce the congestion of traffic - with fewer cars making the curriculum - improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions", said the report.

And the militants are fighting to reverse the trend towards children leads to school - to ensure that more than half of students in primary schools will be walking to school again by 2017.

Tony Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer, living streets, said: "the overwhelming majority of our grans and grandparents walked to school, but over the generations, we see a steady decline to the point where, it seems, one-fifth of parents do not even think to ensure their child walking to school."? During this time obesity rates have more than doubled, even since I entered the school just about 20 years ago. ?

He added: "encourage walking to school can not only keep children today in good health, but makes for healthy adults in the future." We know that time pressed parents often see jump in the car as the best way to get children to school on time, but we do so at the risk of storing problems for them in the future. ?

Mother of three Laura Lashmar, Sheffield, loved walking to school with his mother and would not for her children to miss.? "Just as my mother walked me to school I did the same thing with my boys.? Walk with your children when they are young is a wonderful opportunity to spend good time together and to hear about their day. It's also a good way to show them the road safety skills, so when they are older and want to walk to school, alone or with friends, you can feel comfortable that they are familiar with the roads and how to cross roads.? It is important for children to develop independence and walk to school is a good way to build their confidence. ?

View the original article here