Most have been waiting on next weekend, with Millrose and Karlsruhe on tap, for the fireworks of the indoor season to begin. Fireworks started a weekend early, however, as Georgia’s Torrin Lawrence sped his way to a collegiate record in the 300 meter dash. A 20.79/48.18 sprinter indoors last year as a freshman, Lawrence set a Collegiate Record of 32.32 in the 300 meters at the Hokie Invitational in Virginia. The mark is also the #5 mark ever indoors: 31.88 – Wallace Spearmon31.94 – Kerron Clement31.94 – LaShawn Merritt32.19 – Robson da Silva32.32 – Torrin Lawrence The time puts Lawrence in some lofty company as da Silva, the least known…

Recent news out of Washington State University is that Jeshua Anderson, former national high school record holder in the 300H, will be giving up playing both football and track in favor of just focusing on track. I would imagine that most track fans are considering this a coup of sorts for the sport as Anderson is a young rising star in the sport. The Washington State junior, has already won a World Jr championship over the 400 meter hurdles (2008), as well as NCAA championships as a frosh and soph (2008, 2009) over the barriers. He has personal bests of 48.47 over the barriers and 46.08 over the flat 400…

Within the past 48 hours Mark McGwire has confessed to what we’ve all suspected for years – that he indeed was using steroids during the best part of his career – the home run smashing, record breaking years of his career. This continues the pattern of high profile, “superior” athletes confessing after years of denial that they indeed used performance enhancers during their reign of superiority. Clearly at this point there is some sort of correlation between the performance of many of the world’s most elite or superior athletes and the use of drugs in enhancing their performance. And while I in no way intend to paint all “super” athletes…

Typically the indoor season sort of fills the time until the “real” track season starts around April. Over time its gone from being a “season” to being “filler”. For many, however, I think it could be a vital part of training. Aiding in such things as improving one’s start and early acceleration in the sprints; working on race tactics in the distances; sharpening technique in the field events. From that standpoint, there are several athletes that I feel could benefit from a strong indoor season this year – especially since there is no major championship this year. Without a Major on the schedule, athletes can afford to start their seasons…

As we close out this decade and move into the next, the most excitement the sport has coming out of the “oughts” has been the record breaking exploits of Usain Bolt, and the altering of the 100 and 200 meter sprint lists by Bolt and Tyson Gay. During the decade we also had a near record run in the 1500, record runs in the 5000, 10000, 110 hurdles, steeplechase , marathon, and decathlon. We also saw several near record performances in these events – all of which brings attention and excitement to the sport. Especially since our primary marketing plan seems to rest on the setting of records. The women,…

We enter 2010 with ’09 in the rear view mirror – and the vision in that mirror is one of a massive assault on the short sprints in 2009. Tyson Gay debuting at 19.58; becoming consistent at 9.7 (9.79w, 9.75w, 9.77, 9.71) and setting a new American Record of 9.69. Kerron Stewart (10.75, 10.75) and Shelly Ann Fraser (10.79, 10.73) with multiple 10.7’s and Carmelita Jeter (10.67, 10.64) with multiple 10.6’s. And of course a new set of WR’s (9.58, 19.19) from Usain Bolt. This being the second year in a row that we’ve seen the sprint lists sizzling, it begs the question: with the sprinters now at such an…

Happy New Year to all those that have visited my site this past year! I hope that the new year brings joy and happiness to all. Thank you for visiting in 2009, I hope you enjoyed my site in it’s first year. To show my appreciation for your support my goal is to make the site even better in 2010. May 2010 be a great year for the sport and all of its supporters!

I remember looking forward to the first World Championships back in 1983. We had boycotted the 1980 Olympics, so the last time the US had participated in a global championships had been the Games of 1976! So it had been an eternity for track fans salivating for a global event. Of course, to that point, the only guide that we had for such an event was the Olympics themselves. So that’s what we got in 1983, the Olympics minus all of the other events, as the World championships emulated the Olympics in every way. The same number of participants per nation; “A” standards and “B” standards; four year cycle between…

Men’s Sprints Usain Bolt – 100/200Tyson Gay – 100/200Maurice Greene – 100Asafa Powell – 100Shawn Crawford – 200Jeremy Wariner – 400Lashawn Merritt – 400Chris Brown – 400 Usain Bolt won double gold in Beijing, then again in Berlin. He was a presence in the deuce throughout the second half of the decade with a 9th in Helsinki and silver in Osaka before his dominance in Beijing and Berlin with two gold medal and WR performances (19.32, 19.19). He just recently joined the fray in the 100 the final two years but what he accomplished is hard to deny with 3 lowerings of the 100 record (9.72, 9.69, 9.58) and 2…

I’ve seen many “end of the decade” articles out there, but they all seem to have forgotten how many years are in a decade – blinded by the bright lights of the lightning Bolt’s past two seasons. As spectacular as he has been there was much that took place between 2000 and 2009. So I’ve taken my own look at the decade that is closing. There were many outstanding athlete’s and performances over the decade. Michael Johnson finished out his career this decade, as did Maurice Greene, Ivan Pedroso, Noah Ngeny, Frankie Fredericks, Irina Privalova, Gabriella Szabo, Maria Mutola, Colin Jackson, Allen Johnson, Jonathon Edwards, Heike Dreshsler, Wilson Kipketer, and…