It seems that World Athletics is concerned about how exciting athletics contests are, or aren’t. At least they say that that’s why they want to change how the long jump is run. It’s also the reason that was given when they wanted to get rid of several events – 200m, TJ and others. Supposedly it’s why the false start rule was changed – to keep the meet moving. Though that’s backfired so they need to change it back. Since this seems to be a preoccupation of World Athletics and Lord Coe, I have two things that I believe will make meets more exciting. Both are very simple in scope. Though one is simple in practice, and the other much more difficult to pull off. So, while I’ll mention both today, I’m going to go into detail on one and come back later to discuss the other in greater detail.

The more complicated one is improving the level of athletes in our top tier competitions. World Athletics rates meets as Gold ,Silver, and Bronze level meets. This is done to give credence to meets because of the athlete ranking system that they’ve tried to devise to bypass actual performance factors to qualify for global championships. I have my own feelings about that system itself, but if that’s the case and we’re ranking meets then it’s my belief that the primary factor in ranking meets should be who is competing in them. In my opinion, to be considered a Gold level meet, at least 50% of the competitors should have experience in either the World Championships or Olympic Games! When a fan buys a ticket to, or turns the TV to a Gold level meet, they should be guaranteed to be watching the best athletes available. These meets should be NFL, NBA quality meets. Competitions where the best PROFESSIONAL athletes are competing. As a matter of fact, it’s my thought that the percentage of World/Olympic athletes competing should define all track meets. Silver level should have at least 33% World/Olympic athletes. Bronze level meets should have at least 25% World/Olympic athletes competing. I would add two more classifications to the already existing list – Diamond (66% W/O or above ), Copper (under 25% W/O). Diamond League meets should have the highest level of W/O athletes outside of those meets themselves. Anything with fewer than 25% W/O athletes should be considered developmental meets. I understand that achieving these levels could be difficult for some existing meets – especially those attempting to be higher ranked competitions. Everyone doesn’t have the Nike budget of the Pre Classic. However, if we are going to be professional, we need to have these levels of athletes competing on something of a regular basis. We need the Sydney McLaughlin’s, Usain Bolt’s, Lamont Jacobs’ on the track, as often as the Femke Bol’s, Noah Lyles’, and Mondo Duplantis’s. The Diamond League was supposed to fix that. Yet the problem still exists. I know that currently WA relies heavily on “how” meets are run, and the “equipment” used to run them. Those things have zero bearing on the level of performances of the meet. That is in the hands and feet of the athletes. Better athletes result in better performances, regardless of the tools used to measure them. Which leads in to what I consider a rather simple way to improve the excitement of our competitions – announcing.

Obviously announcers vary from meet to meet. With the reality that some are just better than others. What I mean by announcing, is the information that’s presented. Our sport has gotten into a place where everything seems to be judged by World Records. The marketing plan seems to rely on having world record holders; who’s attempting to break world records; the pace needed to break a world record; world record holders at the meet. Well, I think you get my point. We’re always talking about and trying to seek world records. The problem with this is multi fold, all culminating in the same space – world records are rare and difficult to predict. That being the case, the bigger issue is this. When everything is compared to the World Record, then anything that isn’t becomes inferior! Meaning nearly every performance in every meet is a disappointment! The announcer, and therefore the fans/audience is left unfulfilled. Now, don’t get me wrong. I agree that fans love the idea of watching records get broken. And we have plenty of records to give them – on top of scintillating competition. We can and should sell those things and use them to create the excitement so desired by WA. The key is two fold. One is putting together fields that have great competition possibilities. The other is for announcers to do the homework to know which records are within reach for any given event. The meet record should almost always be in play – unless it’s a world record. There are regional, area, U20 and U23. Many ways to provide credence to performances. The goal should always be for fans to leave feeling that they’ve watched something of high caliber. Not something inferior. Too often, I hear, or watch comments regarding athletes being slow, or athletes just missing the mark. When that really wasn’t the case.

There are so many things to talk about in a meet. Athletes setting world leading marks. Athletes moving up on all time lists. As well as identifying the matchups in races. A race with Elaine Thompson Herah, Shericka Jackson, and Sha’Carri Richardson has three World and Olympic champions competing! That’s a very high caliber race regardless of what the final result is. If it’s an “average” result (say 10.92) it’s still a great race. I remember a time when results weren’t immediate. When it took 10 to 15 minutes to get results, because actual photos had to be developed and read. Fans actually watched and talked about the race that just happened. They weren’t watching the clock to see what the time was. Once the results were announced that was the icing on the cake! We have to get back to the competition being the thing. Who’s competing being the core of a race, or event. The lead being exchanged multiple times in a long jump or triple jump competition. Or a relay. The men’s 4×1 in the recent African games was thoroughly exciting, because of the competition and the announcing. The announcer was excited and that translated to the race. The time was average and irrelevant. That’s what makes a track meet exciting. The California high school state Championships is one of the most exciting competitions I watch every year. With zero world class marks. It’s because of the competition. I think sometimes we forget how exciting the simplicity of our sport is!

Oft times we do ourselves more injustice than others do. We must strive to present athletics as the high performance sport that it is. There are few athletes in the other professional sports that can do what our athletes do. We must get that message across to fans. Tyreek Hill has elite speed in the NFL, but would have difficulty getting out of the semis at our National Championships. I don’t think that Ja Morant or Anthony Edwards is capable of high jumping 2.30m, or long jumping 8.50m. Or lineman attempting to throw a shot put 21m. We need to do a better job of promoting our athletes. Instead of giving the impression that they’re failing at being great. A 9.89 is not a WR, but it might be a world leader at the time it’s run. If Gabby Thomas runs 21.46 she’s become the third fastest woman in history. Instead of complaining about what a mark isn’t, we need to celebrate what it is! There is much to celebrate at every meet if you just know where to look. And how to tell the story. Fortunately we have a tremendous group of athletes, and this is an Olympic year. A great time and combination to help the world find out about us!