A very busy weekend of indoor action saw lots of expected change in the yearly lists as the season began to heat up in earnest. Some of the most exciting marks occurring on the field.
None more exciting than Ivan Ukhov’s 7’ 9.75’ high jump on Saturday. The mark was just off his PB of 7’ 10.5” and was the highest jump indoors since 2007. He took a shot at the 8’ barrier before he was done coming up just short. Nonetheless Ukhov looks to be in fine form early.
Already leading the world in the triple jump, Teddy Tamgho (FRA) improved his seasonal best to 57’ 8.5” at a meeting in France. Tangho is proving to be extremely consistent early this season with three jumps here over 56’ 10” to go with last week’s 57’ 3”. Could be a special season if he can stay healthy and focused.
While on the triple jump, Florida’s Will Claye took the collegiate lead with his 55’ 3.75” leap at the Texas A&M Challenge. While A&M lead the Big 12 to a win over Florida and the SEC, Claye’s move to Florida this year (previously at Oklahoma) could tip the scales in the collegiate battle later this year for the team title. A&M took last year’s men’s title by 1 point over Florida and has lost sprinter Curtis Mitchell to the professional ranks. Meanwhile among it’s highly ranked recruiting class, Florida picked Claye. Keep watch on these two schools and Oregon as the season progresses.
Speaking of shifting balances of power, there was another nice battle on the field in New York as Ryan Whiting took the scalp of one Christian Cantwell 69’ 11” to 69’ 7”. Not an easy task given Cantwell’s competitive record over the past few seasons. The other battle that took place was among American decathletes Ashton Eaton, Tre Hardee and Bryan Clay who competed in a three event challenge – with the athletes placing in that order. A very early preview of what should be our team heading to Daegu later this year, as we have perhaps our best trio ever in the decathlon. And to punctuate the field strength Fabiana Murer (BRA) vaulted 15’ 6.5” to take the world lead in that event.
So definitely the weekend’s strength was in the field events. Even Britain’s multi event queen got into the act on the track and she upset Lolo Jones (US) in the 60 hurdles in a world leading 6.97 in Glasgow – David Oliver opening his season at 7.51.
Not completely unexpected as indoor marks in the field tend to be much more on par with their outdoor counterparts. The tightness of the indoor tracks making running marks a bit harder to come by. That said, Ukhov and Tamgho are looking like potential record setters at their current paces. So definitely two to keep an eye on as we head into the mid portion of the indoor season.
If you haven’t seen it yet, here is Ukhov’s leap.
