It was a very long weekend for track and field. The NCAA regionals, and lower divisions started mid week. Rome was on Thursday. The NCAA meets continued through the weekend. Then following a three day Memorial Day weekend, Ostrava started the week. One would think that with SO much action that we would have seen more brilliant performances. After all, tomorrow is the first of June, and it’s time to get things crackin! Rome did it’s share on Thursday, but it took until the end of the weekend and today, before things really began to heat up. That started in Hengelo, where we got to see Dayron Robles once again.…

If this year’s World Championships is the ultimate “Final” test of the season, then meets such as yesterday’s Golden Gala in Rome are a series of minor tests and pop quizzes. Several athletes were taking early tests in Rome – Usain Bolt (his season debut), Allyson Felix (a look at the double), and L.J. Van Zyl (defining his place) – and in my opinion all three passed. Van Zyl (RSA) has been hot since the winter time, running 47.66 in the hurdles in February and 44.86 in the open 400 in March. Of course these were races at home in South Africa where Van Zyl has always done well early…

USATF – USA Track and Field. The governing body of the sport in the United States of America. Outside of the IAAF, the body that should be the most powerful in the sport – in charge of the deepest strongest team on the planet. We produced Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Edwin Moses, Jackie Joyner Kersee, and Evelyn Ashford. By default we should start with 20 medals in Daegu and London. But we can’t find a CEO! Are you kidding me?! This “should” be one of the plum jobs in all of track and field. It should be like placing an ad for coach of the Lakers or manager of the…

Last summer Andrew Wheating emerged as possibly the brightest face in men’s middle distance running in the U.S.. This past weekend he opened his season with a 1500 meter run at the USATF High Performance meet in Southern California. The result was a 3:36.46 win – the #2 time of his career. Not a bad way to start the season. With Lopez Lamong (3:37.01, 4th) and  Leo Manzano (3:38.26, 9th) in his wake, Wheating opened well against what began to emerge last year as the core of our young middle distance runners. And with just a few weeks until the National Championships, looks ready to make a strong run at…

Steve Mullings, already the world leader at over 100 meters at 9.90, improved his best to 9.89 (+2.0) at the NTC Classic in Florida. The mark is important because it shows consistency for Mullings at this new level of performance. It’s also important because it shows just how much of a log jam Jamaica is going to have in it’s 100 meter final in one month’s time. In the past it was the United States that had to suffer the agony of leaving home sprinters that could possibly have made the final in a major if they had just been able to crack the top three at the National Championships.…

The conferences are done. Only two meets left for the collegiate season – the Regional meets and the NCAA Championships. So it’s time to look at who will be this year’s NCAA Champions. Last year’s meet was perhaps the best meet of the year in terms of overall excitement. I expect this year’s meet to follow suit. Following are my thoughts on team champions, events to keep an eye on and individual champions.   Men’s Team Champion – Florida Florida has been runner up outdoors the last two years in a row. By 1 point last year, 2 points in ‘09. Both times to Texas A&M. I think that Florida…

I’ve been having a very interesting conversation the past couple of days with a good friend who took umbrage with my comment that I do not think that street races are the way to build this sport. His position, without all the details, is that street races, vaults, jumps, etc. are an asset to the sport because they bring out crowds of people – and therefore help to build the base of the sport. Even if that were the case, that these events brought people out, I would still be against them because that would be a case of the tail wagging the dog. Getting people excited about something slightly…

Collegiate conferences, Diamond League action, a secondary meet in an off location. If you’re a true fan of track and field, this weekend had some of everything. There are links to results to the right, my impression of some of the happenings of the weekend follow.   Shanghai Diamond League – Great Head to Heads Another very early morning (4am) to catch this meet online! Not the first meet of the weekend, but the one that finally gave us a couple of star level head to heads – and they did not disappoint. The first of these was the women’s 100 with Carmelita Jeter (USA) and Veronica Campbell Brown (JAM)…

The Colorful Daegu meet is already over. I had forgotten how early things are in that part of the world compared to here in the US. Suddenly I remember the Seoul Olympics and the huge difference in time. Watching Worlds this year is going to be a middle of the night (online), time delayed (TV) nightmare! Today’s meet had some decent fields, but after the slew of marks turned in this past weekend, jet lag must surely have had an effect on many of today’s participants. Combined with temperatures in the mid 60’s, the results were not as outstanding as one would have hoped to see on the track that…

This was a very big weekend for track and field at this early stage of the season. The Diamond League opened in Doha on Friday. Saturday we had a sprint fest in Kingston. Late Saturday saw more big names taking to the track in Guadaloupe. And Sunday we got another surprise in the sprints. In what was reportedly rainy weather in Guadaloupe, Lashinda Demus (USA) took her first run over the 400 hurdles this year and finished in a world leading 54.92 – the year’s first mark under 55.00. With a best of 52.63 Demus is one of four women currently competing with a PR under 53.00 – Melaine Walker…