Comments for The CHill Zone of T&F

Comment on Forum by CHill

CHill — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:39:16 +0000

Usually somewhere around now.. Late May to early June.. In time to tune up before Nationals.

Dix did run this past weekend at a small meet in Southern California.. 10.30 (-0.8) .. Nothing earth shattering, but he was injured last year, so not unexpected.. He has a month before Nationals..

Comment on Forum by Jay

Jay — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:10:52 +0000

Mr. Hill nice site very informative. With the US champs around the corner I can’t help but wonder when are the sports elite gonna show up and throw down? With the exception of Gay, we’re still missing Dix and a few others…

Comment on Kirani James’ 44.02 Highlights Shanghai DL by CHill

CHill — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:13:53 +0000

No injuries in 08, but ironically he started suffering injuries after returning to Hart.. And it was injuries that derailed him in Daegu and London..

Money certainly seems to have had something to do with the coaching change.. But his body has failed him since.. I’m not sure he can get back to where he was..

Comment on Kirani James’ 44.02 Highlights Shanghai DL by Aurelio Feldman

Aurelio Feldman — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:53:40 +0000

Wariner´s problem in 08 was problably leaving Clyde Hart because after that he never was the same.

Injuries came years later, but if you look his 08 season he was beaten fair and square by Merritt in the trials and in the Olympic Games and there were no rumors of injuries.

He could have a better chance to win his second tittle if he was not only thinking about money.

Comment on Kirani James’ 44.02 Highlights Shanghai DL by Waynebo

Waynebo — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:44:21 +0000

Good point. Health is always a factor at the elite level.

Comment on Kirani James’ 44.02 Highlights Shanghai DL by CHill

CHill — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:10:35 +0000

Well, Lewis suffered from injuries and improved athletes in the event .. By ’92 Quincy Watts had emerged and at that time no one was going to beat him, including MJ in my opinion …

Then he too suffered injuries and a peaking MJ ..

Wariner fell to Merritt who rose up .. It seems that between injuries and rising athletes it’s tough to repeat ..

MJ was blessed that no one else really reached his level in either ’96 or ’00 .. And the whole Butch Reynolds fiasco didn’t hurt either ..

Comment on Kirani James’ 44.02 Highlights Shanghai DL by CHill

CHill — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:37:30 +0000

Kirani does have stiffer competition to contend with and that could help in his pursuit of the record.. 43.18 is no joke as it took MJ some time to get there.. I wonder if Kirani has the speed to get there?? We will see..

The other less controllable factor is health /injury.. Injury slowed MJ a bit after ’96.. Kirani, or anyone else will need to maintain good health.. Look at what’s happened to Wariner.. One bad coaching move and some minor injuries and now sub 45 isn’t easy..

When you reach that level it’s little things..

Comment on Kirani James’ 44.02 Highlights Shanghai DL by Aurelio Feldman

Aurelio Feldman — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:07:02 +0000

I really love the 400, I think that a 400 runner is a very special kind of athlete because he is a sprinter that struggle with a lot of pain.
James is in my opinion the heir to MJ´s crown and if he stays fit will be the WR holder before the Rio Olympics.
I really hope that Merritt and James have a long rivalry in the event.
Now a question, why there are a lot of cases of 400 young olympic champions that cannot stay on top? I am talking of Steve Lewis, Jeremy Wariner that won olympic gold very young, as Kirani James, but could not deffend their tittle and after four or five years were done.
I really hope that do not happen to Kirani.

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Sun, 19 May 2013 22:37:19 +0000

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Comment on Kirani James’ 44.02 Highlights Shanghai DL by Waynebo

Waynebo — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:22:38 +0000

You already know where I stand on Kirani James, but for everybody else let me make my 2 public predictions about his progress. #1)Based on what I saw in this race, I expect to see his PR come down to 43.6 this year. Lower if Merritt gets back in top form and presses him. #2) If Merritt stays fit enough to keep the pressure on him, I expect him to break MJ’s WR in 2015.

I know it’s a long way from his PR of 43.94 to 43.18 and it took MJ 4 years to get from 43.39 to 43.18. However, the difference I see is competition. MJ had no peers at all. He was almost the only sub-44 guy from 1993 on. Butch Reynolds never got back to WR form and I don’t know what happened to Quincy Watts. In fact, Peter Black admitted that in the ’96 Olympics, he consciously chose to run for the silver because he knew MJ was unbeatable. That’s how big the gap was. Kirani James, however, must contend with Merritt – who has run 43.75 and is young enough for us to expect him to improve on that. I think MJ would have gotten there in ’96 if he had needed to for the win, but no one pushed him.

James will be pushed by Merritt and a crop of young up & comers that I believe is gonna be stronger than the group MJ faced in the 90′s. I think by 2015 we will have a few in the 44.1-44.3 range and we may see one additional member join the sub-44 club. Not sure who though. I think Santos will get there, but probably not by 2015. Wouldn’t it be nice if Wariner could get the fire back in his belly and go sub-44 again? (I know, not likely. I’m dreaming)