Roughly 48 hours until it all begins – the selection process for our World Championships team. I’ve tried to cover as many events as possible over the last week, but there are still more stories to tell. Here are a few other events that I plan to keep an eye on this weekend.   Men’s Triple Jump This is an event that we once dominated with jumpers like Willie Banks, Mike Conley, Charles Simpkins and Kenny Harrison. Since 1996, however, only Walter Davis has been able to have any kind of impact internationally – gold in ‘05, bronze in ‘07. But suddenly the future looks bright as Christian Taylor and…

The hurdles are perhaps the area where we have some of our strongest contenders for gold medals in Daegu. They also have some of our top young up and coming talent. Here is how I see the hurdles playing out in Eugene. Men’s 110 Hurdles Calling the winner in this event is pretty easy given that David Oliver is the current AR holder; has been rock solid; and is a threat to run under 13.00 nearly every time he steps on the track. Therefore, barring disaster, he should win this race easily. It’s the battle behind him that will be close – with some new blood headed to Daegu. Aries…

The 100 meters gets the headlines, but there are stars aplenty in the long sprints too. Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards, Jeremy Wariner, Wallace Spearmon and a host of new young talent make their homes here in the sprints above 100 meters. So let’s take a look at how these star filled events should play themselves out.   Men’s 200 More than any other sprint, this one will be controlled by the veterans. Tyson Gay has said that he will not run this event here – and possibly not at all this season. That leaves a quartet of vets that have all at one time or other been under 20.00. Two…

This is an event that always drives me NUTS. Track events are pretty simple – the fastest man/woman wins. And in events up through the half mile, that’s pretty much the way the events are run – the gun goes off and everyone takes off in an attempt to reach the finish line first. Except in the mile/1500 meters, which often become “let’s see who can run slowest yet get to the line first” events! I will never understand the “wait and kick” philosophy of milers – especially those that don’t have a kick, yet wait anyway. But for whatever reason that is the game that get’s played time and…

The middle distance events have become very exciting over the last couple of seasons as we’ve had an emergence of talent over both 800 and 1500 meters. This influx of youth has brought us back to being competitive on the world stage on the women’s side and back to respectability on the men’s side. It also makes for exciting races come championships/Trials time. This year’s races should present an interesting mix of young and old. Especially on the men’s side where suddenly the colleges are brimming with 1:44 half milers. So here’s how I see it playing out.   Men’s 800 We need someone to step up and get into…

It’s time to take a look at the female speed demons. Interestingly just as with the men, two dominant women have emerged – one from the US, one from Jamaica. As right now Carmelita Jeter and Veronica Campbell Brown have emerged as the two Alpha Females of the drag racers! The events are also similar in that a youth movement is on the way. The question being will it arrive as rapidly as the men’s youth movement that appears to be on this year’s horizon? It’s hard to tell because the times on the women’s side are not dropping quite as rapidly as they are on the women’s side. Only…

In about one week’s time we start the process of putting together our team for the World Championships. Four days of intense competition that will determine who gets to go to South Korea and who gets to go back to the drawing board. Perhaps the most intense and difficult of the squads to make, is the 100 meter dash team where it is common for .01sec or less to decide who goes and who stays home. A bad day, a bad start, a bad lean can mean the end of the journey. Add to the drama the fact that this year has already seen SEVENTEEN men under the once magical…

In keeping with yesterday’s post on the speed events, here is a corresponding chart on our middle distance runners. This group has been very quiet leading up to this point in the season, and may be even harder to predict than the sprinters. But here is a snap shot of the season to date. Before I start trying to make sense of all the numbers for both the sprinters and middle distance runners as we head into Nationals and determining the team for Daegu. Middle Distance Watch Athlete Season Best Last Mark Comments         Andrew Wheating 3:36.46 3:36.46 Very low key so far this season Cory Primm…

After a week that left me wondering what the heck is going on, it’s time to start to attempt to look at some of the National Trials that are coming up to try and gauge what Daegu is going to look like. And after Des Moines and New York that may not be easy at all! I’ve already talked in depth about what happened in Des Moines – a lot of bad weather and a lot of Texas A&M in the end. The college kids put forth some sterling efforts, but there was a lot of “weirdness” going on – especially for athletes considered favorites. I mean, would you have…

The meet started with the 4×1’s and a pair of upsets. The women started it off with LSU passing as they always seem to do with something on the line. They came to the anchor leg with Kymberlyn Duncan right there with Texas A&M and it was a wrap as she ran away from Ashley Collier for a big 42.64 to 42.93 win! Setting the stage for the rest of the meet. Passing was even more critical on the men’s side as both Florida St and Florida has miscues. Florida St nearly went out of the zone as Makusha tried to get the stick to Maurice Mitchell. The baton even…