-
Lausanne/Paris –Turning the Corner to Moscow
Suddenly the World Championships are very close, and we got a couple of very good “tune up” meets on back to back days (Thu/Sat) that I think started to set the stage for Moscow. Now’s the time when we either watch athletes start to reach their peak or begin to falter a bit. Either way, we’re starting to get a clue at where the best battles may be when the first events begin at the World Championships. Judging from what I saw in Lausanne and Paris there’s going to be some great action in Moscow. A lot of this season’s top action has been turned in by the women. This…
-
It’s July Where Are We?
This has been a very interesting year so far. Lots of transition going on throughout the sport. Rising athletes. Injured athletes. Athletes returning from injury. More transition than usual in the year following the Games it seems. Then of course there are the usual off the track issues such as drugs, which never seem to go away. So many things that I don’t know where to begin, so rather than say a lot about one thing, today I’m going to take a stab at saying a little about a lot of things – starting with the Diamond League which gives us a Fourth of July meet in Lausanne in two…
-
USATF 2013 – Changing of the Guard
Life is about change, and sport imitates life. And in the sports world change is inevitable. Injuries and age are the demons of athletes. That and the new and improved versions that arise every year! This year we saw a lot of all three of those things at the National championships – mostly however the rise of new & improved athletes ready to take their place on the international stage. Below are my observations from Iowa of some of the top “next level ready” athletes taking over for those ready (or not) to step aside. Men’s Sprints Tyson Gay & Justin Gatlin are beginning to look ageless, but we…
-
Rollins’ 12.26 Leads Weekend at Nationals
As I thought prior, this was one of the hottest National Championships in a long time – and it was lead by women and youth. Don’t get me wrong, the men got the job done and we’re sending a nice male squad to Moscow. But the women were doing spectacular things everywhere you turned – and none were any more spectacular than Brianna Rollins. Rollins started looking like gold at the NCAA Championships when she screamed collegiate records of 12.47 & 12.39 – but that was just a warm up for Des Moines. This weekend saw her run 12.33w, 12.30w before blazing 12.26 (1.2) in the final for a new…
-
Gay (9.75) & Gardener (10.85) Lead US Champs
We’re halfway through the US Trials and those gusts of wind that have been howling through the stadium seem to be the winds of change as veterans have been dropping like flies in Des Moines. Jeremy Wariner out in the first round. Ditto Angelo Taylor. Walter Dix a semifinal casualty. Doc Patton a DNS. Trell Kimmons won’t be leading off any 4×1’s this summer. The relay is the only way we’ll see Mike Rodgers in Moscow. Maggie Vessey out in the semis, along with Phoebe Wright. Lauryn Williams another semi casualty. Ditto Mary Wineberg. Sanya Richards Ross hanging on by a thread. With so many former championship medalists out before…
-
USATF Plot Lines
The World Championships are in August, and this week we select the athletes that will be representing the good old Red, White, and Blue. In spite of the fact that many say the sport is dead, the US Trials are annually one of the greatest meets on the planet – trumped in depth only by the Games and World Championships themselves. As such it’s a meet steeped in drama and plot lines with many of the world’s best athletes going head to head for spots at the big dance. This year will be no different with intrigue all over the place. Take the men’s 100 where we select the trio…
-
NCAA to USATF Who Will Perform Best?
With the NCAA Championships behind them the collegiate stars are at one of the toughest parts of the season - trying to be even better in an attempt to make the World Championships team. After weeks of conference, regional and of course the NCAA Championships, they must try to hit yet another peak against the best the US has to offer. Depending on your event that task could be nearly impossible with some events in the US being as deep as at Worlds. Even so, I did come up with ten collegiate athletes that I feel have a pretty solid shot at earning air fair to Russia. Especially on the…
-
NCAA Championships – Great Competition
This is one of the meets that I really look forward to each year, because it’s everything that the sport should be. A meet that contests EVERY event. It has relays. The best show up to compete. There’s team scoring. And most of all, the competition is fierce! Yes, the NCAA Championships should be the poster child for track and field. The meet that doesn’t need stars because it creates its own stories and stars – and this year’s version will go down as one of the best ever, because it had all these things in copious amounts! The semis gave an indication that we were going to be in…
-
Upsets in Rome While Collegians Sizzle
If you’re a true fan of the sport then you are in Heaven like me, because we have wall to wall track and field –highlighted by the NCAA Division I Championships and today’s Golden Gala in Rome. So far both have been full of surprises, for different reasons. I’ll start with Rome, the fourth entry in the Diamond League. The Diamond League is supposed to be the "Circuit" where the elite meet to complete (if you use that tag line I want my royalties) and today we got to see Usain Bolt line up against Justin Gatlin – a match up of the last three Olympic Champions! The result was…
-
Prefontaine – Post Meet Thoughts
Ok people, like Christmas the Prefontaine Classic has come and gone – and just like Christmas I find myself the day after trying to figure out how it compares to meets past. It’s not a question of whether or not I liked the meet. It was track and field, of course I liked it. The question is to what degree was my appetite for the sport satiated? Perhaps because of the discussion about the sport in general over the past week I may be a bit more "critical" than usual, but I found the meet to be "just ok" for me. Somehow the "Wow" factor was missing. You may or…