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A Crowd is Starting to Form in the Hurdles
It’s early in the season, and few of the top athletes have made it to the track yet, but the 110 hurdlers are doing what they do – compete! I love the hurdlers. For starters it’s one of the most exciting events on the track. There’s speed. The technique of the hurdles. The ebb and flow of the race. But most of all there’s the hurdlers themselves. No ducking and avoiding each other. You don’t have to wait all season to see the top guys going at it. They line up every week and compete. It reminds me of track and field back in the ‘60’s/’70’s/’80’s – when you could…
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More Weekend Highlights
Day one of the Florida Relays was a hard act to follow, but the rest of the weekend managed to hold it’s own starting with Day Two in Florida. Focused on relay events the men’s 4×1 and the women’s 4×4 produced some outstanding times. In the 4×1 a Pure Athletics team of Mookie Salaam, Keston Bledman, Travis Padgett, and Nickel Ashmead went 38.64 to win ahead of host Florida’s 38.91. The winning time equaled the #3 time in the world while Florida became the #3 collegiate 4×1 on the season. Notable in 4th place was Star Athletics which featured Trell Kimmons to Justin Gatlin on the first two legs. Notable…
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Florida Relays Day One – Sizzling
Usually I wait through the weekend to talk about the highlights, but they were running so fast in Florida that Day One was just a repeat highlight reel. Tiffany Porter (GBR) started the afternoon off with a nice 12.96 (-0.5) – fastest time this side of last week’s blazer in Tuscon, and of course Sally Pearson (AUS). Then an early treat as the male hurdlers took the track. Crossing the finish line first in 13.10 (+3.0) was Ronnie Ash (USA), as he ran his way into the early hurdle conversation taking the scalps of Dexter Faulk (USA) 13.25, Dexter Faulk (USA) 13.25, Lehann Fourie (RSA) 13.31 and David Oliver (USA)…
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Big Weekend of Invitational/Relay Meets Online
Now that we’re outdoors expect this year to go whizzing by. June will be Championships month – NCAA, High Schools and assorted National Olympic Trials. July will be European Circuit month replete with the heart of the Diamond League. Then finally August will be Olympics month, dominated of course by the London Games. Before we get there, however, we have to get through April and May, and this month is Relays/Invitational month. Things opened up nicely with the Texas Relays last week and should get even hotter this weekend with several more meets on tap headlined by the Florida Relays, Oregon Pepsi Team Invitational, and the Stanford Invitational – all…
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Will Marvin Bracy Be the Next Olympic Prep?
It’s rare that high school athletes are able to compete in the Olympic Trials, let alone the Olympic Games. While the Games in it’s infancy was able to produce a Bob Mathias – high school decathlon gold medalist in London (1948). Today’s Olympics are a “professional” affair dominated by athletes that train year round and get paid to do so. Grown men & women who have dedicated their lives to earning a living through sport. Some sports like swimming, diving, and gymnastics are dominated by teens, but in track and field it’s very rare to find the high school athlete that is able to compete against the mature bodies of…
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Richards Ross Highlights Weekend of Speed
Speed was on display this past weekend and nowhere was it more prominent than the speedy state of Texas and the annual Texas Relays. The first sign that things were going to be fast came in the qualifying rounds of the University 4×1 when Auburn scorched the track for a 38.95 in their heat. That’s the kind of time one expects to see collegiate teams run in the semis or final of the NCAA Championships, not an opening round of the Texas Relays – one of the first runs for college teams of the season. They proved that was no fluke however, as they flew to a WL 38.30 in…
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No Deuce for Tyson Gay in London
That’s the word from Tyson in an interview with ESPN. In the interview Gay states that he’s had a few nagging injuries that have slowed his preparation for the Olympic season. He said that the injury that forced him to have surgery last year is fully healed, but some muscle strains and inflammation have twice halted his training. As a result he’s taking it slow and won’t have the time he feels he needs to prepare for both the 100 & 200. That’s the news, so what are the implications. After all, Tyson Gay is arguably the best sprinter in the US when healthy. His resume includes the AR in…
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2012 Outdoor Preview – Hurdles
If you like speed and competition then you must like the hurdles. Unlike the pure sprinters, who seem to avoid each other as much as possible until forced to toe the line for championships, the hurdlers compete often and face each other with regularity. The sprinters tend to get more publicity but of the four hurdle events three of them have legitimate shots at having WR’s broken – two by more than one individual. The hurdles are among the hottest events in the sport, with some of it’s best athletes. If you’re not watching the hurdles you’re missing some of the best competition the sport has to offer. Here’s…
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Memories of the Games – Paula Ivan
Before I take a look at the hurdles events for 2012, I want to go back to the middle distances for a moment. Because as I was looking at this year’s women’s 1500, visions of one of the most gutsy performances in Olympic history were running through my mind. I’m actually a big fan of the mile/1500 meters, I grew up during the era of Jim Ryun, Kip Keino, Ben Jipcho, John Walker, and Filbert Bayi – milers that ran fast and competed strongly. Having cut my teeth on competitors like these, I’m often disappointed by the slow, tactical affairs that milers often produce – especially in championship settings. Back…
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The Outdoor Season Kicks it Up a Notch
It was only a couple of weeks ago that we were talking about the Indoor World Championships, yet here we are in the month of March and we have our first “sub” of the season! Sub meaning a mark under a typically accepted elite threshold – like a sub-10 100 for men, sub-4:00 1500 for women, or a sub 27:00 10,000 for men. Typically I would run a poll around the end of the month asking which event would see the first “sub”, but I won’t be doing that this year because we already have our first “sub” of the year courtesy of Mr.Wallace Spearmon (USA)! Scanning the results earlier…