When the world’s best get together you get to take a real good look at yourself. Big fish in small ponds get to feel what its like to swim with nothing but big fish! In the process some fish find out they aren’t as big as they once thought. And so it was with our sprinters when they hit the track in Berlin as we found out just how many big fish we really have. Berlin was a Good News, Bad News meet for the US in the sprint realm. The Good News is that we are still the deepest nation on the planet when it comes to the sprints.…

With the close of any Olympic or World Championship competition comes the inevitable “critique” of the event. Often that review is pretty easy – either the meet is really exciting or not. But as I sat down Sunday after the final 4×4 was done, and then again yesterday as I tried to jot down my thoughts, I realized that this meet was different than just about any other I had ever watched. And after much thought I’ve come to the conclusion that this was perhaps the most complex set of competitions that I’ve ever seen – a meet within a meet, within a meet. The meet that most will remember…

An interesting World Championships for the US came to a close with one more relay disaster, but a lot of promise elsewhere. After the debacle of the US men’s 4×1 squad there was hope that redemption would come in the form of the women’s team. But that was not to be as the women also failed to get the baton around the track. This time second leg Alexandria Anderson ran up too quickly on Muna Lee. But if that alone weren’t enough Lee pulled up in the process, and had to be taken off the track with an injury – while the squad got to watch their heat go in…

That’s the only way that I can describe today – and this meet – for the US team. Paraphrasing Newton’s Third Law of Motion, for every win in Berlin we seem to have to have some tragedy! Today’s triumph’s came at the end of the meet in form of the women’s 200 and the men’s 400 – a pair of events that we can typically count on in global contests. Though as was also demonstrated today, certainty for the US in track and field is becoming a precious and vanishing commodity! In the 200 we got a head to head battle between twice Olympic Champion Veronica Campbell Brown (JAM) and…

Often a meet becomes defined by an individual – someone who dominates. If the opening weekend didn’t define this meet as belonging to Usain Bolt, then today certainly did. I said earlier in the week that 9.58 was a time that had only been discussed previously in fantasy terms. Well the winning time of today’s 200 meter final (19.19) has never been discussed in ANY terms! Such was the magnitude of the performance. It doesn’t even look like a time that one would discuss in track and field! Yet that is where the clock stopped today as Usain Bolt crossed the line miles ahead of his nearest competitor! Oh, the…

Pretty quiet the past couple of days. The big highlight was Sanya Richards finally getting the “monkey off her back” by winning her first global gold medal after being ranked #1 in the event for the past 5 years. A beautiful race, she finally ran “her” race and beat the field decisively in a world leading 49.00. Of course it seems with this meet that for every up moment there is a down one, and yesterday we got the news that Tyson Gay was withdrawing from the 200 – which meant we would not get another Tyson Gay / Usain Bolt match up. Bummer, because so far that’s been the…

A very mixed bag today, and somewhat of a let down after yesterday. Very hard to top that men’s 100 meters. Though the women had their final today – and it too was very fast. But before that there was excitement of a sort, as World Record Holder Yelena Isinbayeva no heighted in the pole vault and failed to gain a medal of any color! Perhaps the biggest shock that this meet will see. We knew there was a small chink in her armor as she recently took second on count back to today’s eventual winner Anna Rogowska (POL), but no one expected a no height from what has been…

Words can’t describe what I watched earlier today – so I invented a new one! How else do you describe the greatest 100 meter race in the history of the planet? Consider that Asafa Powell finally ran near his potential in a Major. At 9.84 he would have won almost every other major ever contested. Today he was rewarded by setting a record for the fastest ever third place – in any race! Consider that Tyson Gay shattered the American Record and came within a hair of Usain Bolt’s WR with his sizzling 9.71! Only Bolt’s 9.69 Beijing race has been faster – meaning Gay would have won any other…

Very interesting opening day. A few disappointments. A couple of well earned wins. And a possible preview of a repeat of Beijing. With a lot of qualifying taking place in the early round, the meet got going in earnest with the women’s steeple heats. And if the heats are any indication, then gold is going to Gulnara Galkina (RUS). Running in Heat 1, she simply ran clear of the field and never looked back. She seems to know only one way to run, annihilate the competition! Which is what she did, winning easily in 9:17.67 with her closest competitor, Antie Molder (GER) a far back second in 9:21.73 – a…

The wait is over. Tomorrow the biggest meet of the year begins – the World Championships. Start lists are now up. Television schedule and internet links are listed on the right of this blog. The schedule for the opening day is listed below. There will be two finals tomorrow – Men’s Shot Put and Women’s 10,000. American’s have a chance to gain medals right off the bat in the Shot with Reese Hoffa, Christian Cantwell, and Dan Taylor being three of the top four throwers this year. Shot leaders. Top American hopes in the 10,000 will be Amy Begley Yoder and Shalane Flanagan. 10,000 leaders. Opening day will also feature…