We’re heading towards the home stretch on our journey to Berlin and no one is blazing that stretch like Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt. London was the first time we’ve seen them on the track together this year – though it was in separate races. Neither had any difficulty dispatching with their competition. In the 100, Bolt survived a shaky start to blast by the field in 9.91 (-1.7). Well ahead of second place Yohan Blake’s (JAM) 10.11. Bolt was expected to get a competitive tune up here from compatriot Asafa Powell, but Powell was a well beaten 6th (10.26) and not looking like a man ready to challenge the…

London will be one of the final tune ups before the big party in Berlin. As such it will be one of the best attended venues by top athletes this season. So we’ll get a peak at some of the athletes that should shape events in Berlin. Among those in attendance we will get a look at: • 4×1 relay squads from the US and Jamaica. • Long jump leader Dwight Phillips (US) against Australian upstarts Fabrice Lapierre and Mitchell Watt. • 400 hurdle leader Lashinda Demus (US) and Olympic champ Melaine Walker (JAM). • 100 hurdle leader Lolo Jones fresh off her 12.47 effort. • 200 leader Tyson Gay…

In track and field the 100 is typically the showcase sprint at almost every meet. In Berlin, the women’s 200 has the potential to upstage the 100 as two of the world’s best sprinters happen to be competing in this event – Allyson Felix (US) and Veronica Campbell Brown (JAM). These two women have dominated this event in the big meets since the middle of the decade. Veronica Campbell Brown has been Jamaica’s most decorated sprinter this decade accounting for Ten medals in Olympic and World Championships competition! Two of those performances were gold medals in the 200 meters in both the ’04 Olympics in Athens and last year’s Games…

Lead by Lolo Jones’ (US) 12.47 win in the women’s 100 meter hurdles, the Rethimno track proved to be quite fast today. Jones was injured earlier in the year at the Drake relays and wasn’t able to return to form in time to be a factor at Nationals, but she was near her old form today winning in her season’s best time. Another who appeared back in form was Carmelita Jeter (US) who has looked less than her best since arriving in Europe following Nationals. She ran under 11 seconds for the first time since hitting Europe winning the women’s 100 in 10.97 ahead of an 11.08 for Allyson Felix…

With most athlete’s starting to wind up their preparations for Berlin, the meets here during the last part of July will give us our last peak at some of the sports main players. Right off the bat yesterday we got a look at Jeremy Wariner. He won the 400 but only in a time of 45.28 and not with the type of run that we have come to associate with him. We didn’t get the blistering third 100 that has been his past trade mark. And he wasn’t as dominant in the final 50 as we’ve come to expect. He had company coming off the final turn, was able to…

One of the things that makes track and field exciting is great head to head competition. Nowhere are the head to head battles any bigger than at the World Championships and Berlin will have its fair share. With four weeks to go before the Opening ceremony, I will be taking a look at several of these match ups, starting with the men’s 400 and Jeremy Wariner and Lashawn Merritt. Wariner owned the 400 in the middle of this decade winning the Olympics in 2004 and the World Championships in ’05 & ’07. Wariner rarely lost, and then only in meets that were off the radar and really didn’t matter –…

    With this year’s World Championship only one month away, I thought it was time to start focusing on it. And my first thought was to round up my top ten moments from Worlds Championships past. But as I began to do so something strange started happening, the name of Stuttgart became VERY prominent! As a sprint fan Tokyo ’91 and the men’s 100 immediately came to mind as did Rome ’87 and Osaka ’07. But then suddenly four Stuttgart performances in a row appeared on my screen and I began to realize that I was actually getting ready to pay homage to one meet instead of several.  So that is…

  The one thing that World Championships and Olympic Games have that is missing from most other meets is the relays – the 4×1 and the 4×4. These events are quite possibly the most exciting on any track docket when they are contested, as they are fast, involve several athletes, and have a lot of action and movement among the teams.  With only a few weeks left until the start of the World Championships in Berlin, most countries will be looking to solidify their squads for Worlds. Putting together teams for the 4×4 is pretty straight forward – put your four best quarter milers on the track and let them have…

Tyson Gay and Kerron Stewart made strong cases for why they could both be atop the podium as the Road to Berlin passed through Rome today. Gay blazed a world leading 9.77 in just his second 100 of the season as he handily defeated former world record holder Asafa Powell and a very strong field. Gay used a decent start and tremendous mid race surge to run by Powell and the rest of the field on his way to victory. Kerron Stewart (JAM) used a similar surge midrace to overtake the blitz start of countrywoman and Olympic champion Shelly Ann Fraser. With her win she replace Fraser as world leader…

With the season hitting high gear on the way to the World Championships next month, Rome sits in the position of coming off an exciting Lausanne meet. With the weather playing a factor for many in Switzerland, I had to take a look at the weather report for Rome tomorrow. The forecast: Partly cloudy skies. High 83F, humidity 40%. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. 5% chance of precipitation. Translation – it should be a good day for competition. Start lists are up and it looks like there will be lots of stars stopping in Rome. We got to see Usain Bolt do his thing in Lausanne on Tuesday,…