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Dai Greene and the Drug Issue
It’s “Championship Week” for the indoor season, and I’m going to spend the rest of the week talking about the upcoming NCAA and World Championships. But I feel compelled today to comment on an issue that continues to destroy our sport – DRUGS – because one of the potential headliners in London has brought this topic to the forefront in a not so flattering light. Dai Greene (GBR) as the winner of last year’s World Championships 400 meter hurdles, is one of Britain’s “hometown” favorites to win a medal in London this summer. But while most of the stars of the sport are quietly going about the business of putting…
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Pearson 12.49 Highlights Quiet Weekend
This was one of those pre championships, lull weekends, with only a little action taking place ahead of the upcoming NCAA and World Indoor Championships. On the collegiate level the top athletes were getting a bit of rest and relaxation ahead of the upcoming championship meet. That left athletes that hadn’t qualified for the meet, out giving it their final shot at obtaining a qualifying mark at what are traditionally called “Last Chance Meets” all over the country. Of course collegiate athletes weren’t the only ones running in these meets as many elite/open athletes not entered in the World Championships took the opportunity to get in some low key competition…
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Memories of the Games – The 110 Hurdles
We’ve got a bit of breathing room until the NCAA and World Indoor Championships get rolling next weekend, so I thought I would take another trip down memory lane to past Olympic Games. Looking over at my current poll where the men’s 110 hurdles is clearly winning as the WR most likely to fall this year, made me realize that the hurdles just may have been the most consistently exciting event of the auto timing era. I’m sure that statement will surprise many of you. After all young fans that have grown up with the Olympics of the last decade have grown up in the age of Mo Greene and…
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Collegiate & Miscellaneous Weekend Wrap
I didn’t include the collegiate performers in yesterdays post because, quite frankly, they just weren’t in the same ballpark this last weekend. Usually at this point a few have stepped their game up enough to warrant watching in the race for Olympic berths. But with so many of last year’s stars either graduating or going pro the landscape is rather barren of proven talent this winter. That may change once we get outdoors, but this winter has been rather quiet on the collegiate front. Still the aspect of team competition makes the collegiate race for titles an interesting and compelling one, and when it comes to collegiate titles one need…
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Claye, Isi, Lowe, & Kimmons Lead Busy Weekend
There was a lot of activity in what was a long weekend of track and field as multiple day meets took center stage with athletes looking to qualify for the NCAA and World Championships. Clearly we are witnessing the first “peak” of the year, as many folk showed up ready to rock and roll! So many, that I’m going to tackle the highlights by areas of disciplines instead of individuals or individual events. Jumps and Vaults I’m going to start here, because the first real highlight of the weekend happened before the weekend got fully under way as Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) solidified her return to the vaulting wars by a)…
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The College Championship Journey Begins
Believe it or not, there has been a collegiate indoor season this year – it just hasn’t dominated the news this time around. In the past we’ve gotten super performances in events like the 400 where collegians Kerron Clement (44.57), Kirani James (44.80) and LaShawn Merritt (44.93) still sit #1, #3, and #4 all time. Similar performances like Wallace Spearmon blazing 20.10 in the 200 – #2 all time or Paul Ereng covering 800 in 1:44.84 – a WR at the time. We’ve seen Ginnie Powell run the hurdles in 7.84, Jenny Simpson the mile in 4:25.91, and Destinee Hooker high jumping 6’ 6”. This year, however, collegiate performances have…
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World Indoor Medalists and Olympic Medals
The World Indoor Championships are right around the corner – and relatively speaking so are the Olympic Games. With so many top athletes not performing indoors, focusing instead of preparing for the outdoor season and ultimately the Games, it made me wonder which was more beneficial: using the indoor season to prepare, or continuing to train through the indoor season and opening in March/April instead. Without undertaking a full scientific study on the subject, a quick and easy way to look at the matter would be to compare medalists from Indoor Worlds to those from the Olympics to see how well indoor success transferred to Olympic success. So here are…
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Projected U.S. Indoor Champions
We’re getting ready to wind this indoor season down. Several countries will now put together their teams for the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, which will be the culmination of the season. Here in the U.S. that process will be a Trials meet this coming weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This won’t be the “knock down drag out fight” of a meet that we will see come June when the Olympic Trials take place in Eugene – as many athletes forego the indoor season and focus their preparation on outdoors. It will be an outstanding competition, however, as several individuals have performed well enough to lead the world in…
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Hot Marks Indoors AND Outdoors
With the indoor season getting ready to wind down with various championships, some athletes are beginning to test themselves outdoors under the Australian sun. The result this weekend has been a combination of sterling marks both indoors AND outdoors, as the year looks ready to shift into Olympic Preparation Mode. The big indoor meeting of the week was the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham England, and it didn’t disappoint as several athletes left with world leading performances. Perhaps the most surprising being Jessica Ennis’ 7.87 60HH victory. Surprising because Ennis is foremost a Heptathlete, but clearly the hurdles are one of her strengths. She’s good enough to edge World silver…
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Video Updates – 2/18
For those of you that enjoy competition videos, the Videos page has been updated with the following recent indoor performances: Birmingham Grand Prix, Men’s 60 Hurdles Birmingham Grand Prix, Men’s 60 Meters Adam Kszczot’s 1:44.57 Kirani James’ 45.19 Genzebe Dibaba’s 4:00.13 Anna Chicherova’s 2.06m / 6’ 9” Jenn Suhr’s 4.88m/16’ Indoor AR WL And by request the Men’s 4×1 final from Daegu Enjoy