-
World Championships Review–Individuals Pt1
Now for the fun part, looking at individual performances – and there were certainly some very good ones. First however, let’s get a bit of perspective by taking a look at medal counts. The double digit medal earners: United States 25 total, 6 gold, 14 silver, 5 bronze. Russia 17 total, 7 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze Kenya 12 total, 5 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze Ethiopia 10 total, 3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze As expected Russians performed well at home. While traditional European power Germany continues to have difficulty getting back to Eastern Bloc prominence. In general there was no core of dominant nations, but a relatively even…
-
World Championships Review, Events
As I said previously, this meet lacked the "Championship" feel for me. I think some of it had to do with the negativity leading up to the meet – the bans. But the competition/performances were lacking. In retrospect it’s what I predicted early on – a transitional championship dominated primarily by youth. When your meet is dominated numbers wise with youth, you don’t get the "peaked" performances of veterans. So many events were/felt down compared to other major championships this time around. We did however, get a lot of good competition lead by the veterans in most cases – age it seems does have its advantages! And with a championship…
-
World Championships Review, Overview
It came, they competed, it’s over. After the wait and the build up the World Championships have come and gone. A little over a week of solid track and field, and a lot happened. Normally I would try to comment as things happen, but this year’s meet came at an odd time. School starting for my kids; one starting college; a trip cross country – and that’s just the peripherals. So I decided to try something different this year. Watch all the action; take notes; and then review. As I did this I began to look at the meet a little differently. I started grouping events and individuals. There were…
-
Worlds Preview – Moscow Mid & Long Distance
Time to take a look at the middle and long distances before the starting gun goes off. Right off the bat, I have to say that we’ll be minus one of the biggest stars in the sport with the loss of David Rudisha – out due to injury. That won’t diminish things overall however, as London star Mo Farah and all time greats Bernard Lagat, Meseret Defar, and Tirunesh Dibaba are all healthy and on board for this one. So, while it’s unlikely we’ll get a WR performance like we got in London, we should get some tremendously exciting competition! And that, after all, is what a championships should be…