Conference weekend is always busy as every major collegiate conference decides it’s champions. Add to the mix the Diamond League’s Shanghai stop, and the Cayman Invitational with the seasonal debut of Usain Bolt, and you had one exciting weekend of track and field!
With the NCAA Championships, Olympic Trials, and multiple national Trials around the corner, did we learn anything of significance? I think so. 
For starters, the known top elite men’s sprinters are starting more slowly this year. Justin Gatlin won Shanghai handily at 9.94. Fast, but significantly slower than the 9.7’s he was running at this time last year. Word is he’s been nursing an ankle injury. But, maybe just as well that the peak is where it needs to be – Rio – this year. Meanwhile in the Cayman Islands, Bolt opened at 10.05 – off his stated goal of sub 10. Word as I write this is that he’s in Germany having a hamstring treated. We’ll see how last year’s two top sprinters fare in the next few weeks leading up to Trials.
How about those that will challenge them? Tyson Gay ran 10.03 in a small meet in Florida showing that he is in decent York early – though he too has opened faster in the past. Likewise Asafa Powell clocked 10.04 in a small meet in France – also known to be faster this time of year. And in Germany, Yohan Blake clocked 10.03. No one seems to be “in a hurry” this year. Me thinks older and wiser in this Olympic year for the top men!
That creates an opportunity for youngsters to step up. This time last year that’s what Trayvon Bromell and Andre Degrasse were doing as they headed towards an NCAA showdown. This weekend, Brit Nethaneel Mitchell Blake stepped into the spotlight with a blazing 19.95 SEC win – part of a 10.16/19.95 double! He ran 10.09 earlier in the season at the Texas Invitational, so the young man is legit, and certainly a find for Britain. Easily the top performance by a young sprinter this week. Though I have to say that Tevin Hester is beginning to look like a serious Trials contender after his 10.01w/20.13 ACC double. With many of the “old guard” of US sprinting aging, now is the time for a youngster of two to step up and make a mark.
The women are doing just that! In the Cayman Invitational, Jenna Prandini twice took wins over quality fields running 11.16/22.63 – her 100 over Carmelita Jeter. Nice wins to back up her 10.95 from Mt SAC. Her “replacement” at the University of Oregon, Hannah Cunliffe, was second set Mt SAC (10.99), and won a Pac 12 double in 11.08/22.49 – solidifying that she could be a threat at both NCAAs and the Trials. Oregon could play a huge roll at the Trials on the women’s side of the sprints with English Gardner who rolled to a 11.04 in France – giving Oregon three of the top ten in the world right now. Of course the top woman on the clock this year is Tori Bowie who went sub 11 again with a 10.91 in Germany – right now the woman to beat!
The SEC looks to be producing 200 meter sprinters this year, as Felicia Brown (22.26), Taylor Ellis Watson (22.48), Kyra Jefferson (22.56), and Jada Martin (22.60) had nice runs in the final. As I’ve said previously, the women’s sprints are shaping up to be hotter than the men in 2016!
All the speed wasn’t in the sprints however. In the hurdles, Omar McLeod used his recent sub 10 speed to run sub 13 in Shanghai blitzing a 12.98 to lower his own world lead. Right now McLeod is starting to look unstoppable – and I’m beginning to wonder where the Americans are with no one really stepping up yet! I’ve also been waiting for US long jumpers to step up, and this weekend it was a football player taking over the world lead in the long jump as Marquis Goodwin file out to 8.45m/27’8.5″ – heading towards the jumping of the jumpers of the 80’/90’s!
Another surprise, in the negative direction, was the 800 loss of David Rudisha in Shanghai. I’m used to seeing Rudisha looking about as dominant as an athlete can, but after about 650 meters, he just didn’t look like himself. Time takes its toll on everyone at some point and I’m wondering if the hard place that Rudisha ran at for a few years has done just that. I hope not, because if really like to see sub 1:41 again.
That said, anything can happen in an Olympic year. We have collegiate regionals in two weeks, and the Rabat DL this week – a first for Africa. Expect more hot times ahead.