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2011 in Review – Women’s 1500 Meters
Typically when in doubt, the result of the year’s Major championship does wonders to help sort out the top athletes on the season. When it comes to ranking this year’s women’s 1500 however, Daegu rendered itself fairly useless in the matter. The season got going in earnest as Anna Mishchenko (UKR) won the first stop on the Diamond League in Doha with a WL 4:03.00 – setting a decent early pace. Mishchenko showed consistency in Rome running 4:03.53, but that was only good for 4thplace as Maryam Jamal (BRN) laid the hammer down coming home in 4:01.60 for a new WL. Jamal would lower that SB three days later in…
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Is There a Benefit to the U.S. being in the Diamond League?
I ask this question because last week the Diamond League schedule was released and once again it looks like the New York and Eugene meets received less than preferential treatment. First let’s look at the scheduling aspect. The Prefontaine Classic (Eugene) is scheduled for June 2nd – two days after the Rome meet on May 31st. Similarly the Adidas/New York is scheduled for Jun 9th– two days after Oslo’s Bislett Games! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out a couple of things real quickly. The first is that the athletes will have a very clear choice to make – to compete in Europe, or to cross the ocean…
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2011 in Review – Women’s 400 Meter Hurdles
The women had a much better season relative to their male counterparts. Whereas the men seemed to have difficulty coming up with quality times, the women had no such troubles. Right off the bat, the women started asserting themselves as Lashinda Demus (USA) turned 54.85 to set a solid world lead on May 7th. A week later she lowered her SB to 54.58, but found herself behind the rapidly improving Kaliese Spencer (JAM) at 54.20. Two weeks later they would take to the track in Eugene with Demus turning the tables with a 53.31 to 53.45 win over Spencer – with defending World and Olympic champion Melaine Walker 3rdin 53.56…
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Should Distance Runners Be Given a “Pass” in Evaluations?
I know I said I was getting back to rankings, but there is still a lot of time left before the calendar year is done, and there’s an interesting debate on the floor. The debate revolves around the selection of the Female Athlete of the Year by the IAAF, as the Kenyans are upset that Vivian Cheruiyot lost to Australian Sally Pearson. Now I have to say that I too have issues with the IAAF’s selection process which basically takes the “AOY” and turns it into a popularity contest. Take the men’s finalists for example: Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and David Rudisha. While Blake and Bolt did indeed have nice…
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Is London 2017 a Game Changer?
This week the IAAF announcedthat London will be host to the 2017 edition of the World Track and Field Championships. Interestingly enough, they will follow Beijing who will host in 2015, just as they follow Beijing as host of the Olympic Games (2008). So the question I’m asking myself today is: does this change the dynamics of bidding to host the World Championships? Or phrased another way, will we see more pairings of the Games’ host following up by playing host to the World Championships – a “legacy” to further the use of stadia built in the construction of the Olympic facilities? I actually rather like the idea, if that…
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Bolt Wants Four London Golds – But are Any Certain?
Usain Bolt stated recentlythat he now wants to add the 4×4 relay to his repertoire in an attempt to go for four gold medals at the London Olympic Games. The last time we saw a four medal haul at the Olympic Games was by Carl Lewis in 1984 – before that it was Jesse Owens in 1936. So it is indeed a very rare occurrence – one that requires both dominance over one’s opponents as well as a bit of luck and good fortune. Owens was one of the most dominant athletes of his day. But in fairness to the competition, Ralph Metcalf didn’t run his best 100 in Berlin,…
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2011 in Review – Men’s 400 Meter Hurdles
This was a very interesting event. On the one hand it had the potential to be great with athletes like Angelo Taylor, Bershawn Jackson, Johnny Dutch, and Javier Culson returning from a hot 2010 season. And with L.J. Van Zyl blazing from the late winter, it looked like this might be THE hottest event of the year. But things just didn’t pan out in 2011, which ended up being a season that fizzled more than sizzled. L.J. Van Zyl (SA) started out like a house a fire blazing 47.66 in Pretoria on Feb 25 – faster than anyone in history had ever run so early in the season! He came…
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2011 in Review – Women’s 100 Meter Hurdles
If there is an event that I would hold up as a model for how I’d like to see a season go it would be the women’s 100 meter hurdles! These women did it all. The top women competed from early season through the World Championships – most competing in over 10 meets, and some over 15. They competed against each other often, and did so at a fairly high level for most of the season. If more events had this level of competition throughout the season we wouldn’t be talking about a decline of the sport! The season got started early as Sally Pearson (AUS) ran 12.85 at the…
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2011 in Review – Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles
This was supposed to be one of those “super events” with the three fastest men in history going head to head for hurdle supremacy in 2011. And for a quick minute it seemed like that was going to be the case – but at the end of the day things weren‘t quite what we had anticipated. David Oliver (USA) started things off hot once again running a WL 13.16 to open up his season on Apr 9th. Then he went to Daegu to test things out at the Pre Worlds competition on May 12th– the result a swift 13/24. Then three days later in Shanghai, we would get a peek…
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John Smith Reboots w/ Dix & Bailey!
The last time U.S. sprint fortunes were in the precarious position we are now was coming off the 1996 Olympics. Yes, Michael Johnson won the long sprint double – the 200 in WR time. But for four straight Majors (’92, ’93, ’95 & ’96), we had lost the men’s 100 meters – and Donovan Bailey (CAN) took possession of the WR with his ’96 win. In ’95 & ’96 we lost the 4×1 relay as well – botched handoff in ’95, poor personnel management in ’96. Sound familiar? Early during that same time frame, Coach John Smith was nurturing quarter milers Steve Lewis, Danny Everett and Quincy Watts who won…