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Kimberlyn Duncan Leads Weekend Collegians
Friday we were treated to Doha, and one of the best Diamond League events the league has put together. The weekend was left to the “youngsters” as collegiate conference meets dominated the action as the road to the NCAA championships began. The college season has been relatively quiet so far, with coaches having both the NCAA championships AND the Olympic Trials in mind as they’ve prepared their athletes this year. So we’ve seen a lot less of the top athletes early on and marks have been relatively modest. Ah, but that changed this weekend as the top collegians began to close the gap with their elite counterparts in a couple…
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Bolt and Jeter Lead Weekend Highlights
As expected, speed was on display this weekend at the Jamaica Invitational – over and over and over again. The usual suspects – Bolt, Jeter, Blake – did their thing, but there were also a couple of surprises. First the expected, and a touch of surprise as Carmelita Jeter (USA) powered her way to a WL 10.81 (1.0) in the 100 meters – running the event’s first sub 11 of the year. It wasn’t surprising that she took over the world lead in her first 100 of the year, it was surprising that she had to run that fast, as Kelly Ann Baptiste (TRI) got out ahead from the gun…
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The Pieces are Coming Together
The great thing about the Penn Relays is that it’s the first time we get a large gathering of top athletes together at the same meet. The tough part is that they aren’t competing head to head and they’re not competing in individual events – so "evaluating" where they are can be a bit more difficult. And with the Trials less than two months away, and the Games within there months, trying to figure out the pecking order of the top athletes is on everyone’s mind. Well I think several athletes had great early auditions yesterday in Pennsylvania. On the men’s side the US won both "heats" of the 4×1:…
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Has the U.S. Lost Its Sprint Mojo?
Talking with a neighbor who is a fan, but not an “uber” fan, of the sport after this weekend’s U.S. Open, I was asked “what’s wrong with the U.S. sprinters?” When I asked what he meant, he basically said that we didn’t win either sprint (won by Asafa Powell & Veronica Campbell). I responded that many of our best weren’t at the meet, and his follow up was that we didn’t win the World Championships, or the one before that, or the Olympic Games either. We had a nice chat after that, and while I won’t bore you with the blow by blow conversation, it did make me realize a…
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Bolt Wants Four London Golds – But are Any Certain?
Usain Bolt stated recentlythat he now wants to add the 4×4 relay to his repertoire in an attempt to go for four gold medals at the London Olympic Games. The last time we saw a four medal haul at the Olympic Games was by Carl Lewis in 1984 – before that it was Jesse Owens in 1936. So it is indeed a very rare occurrence – one that requires both dominance over one’s opponents as well as a bit of luck and good fortune. Owens was one of the most dominant athletes of his day. But in fairness to the competition, Ralph Metcalf didn’t run his best 100 in Berlin,…
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John Smith Reboots w/ Dix & Bailey!
The last time U.S. sprint fortunes were in the precarious position we are now was coming off the 1996 Olympics. Yes, Michael Johnson won the long sprint double – the 200 in WR time. But for four straight Majors (’92, ’93, ’95 & ’96), we had lost the men’s 100 meters – and Donovan Bailey (CAN) took possession of the WR with his ’96 win. In ’95 & ’96 we lost the 4×1 relay as well – botched handoff in ’95, poor personnel management in ’96. Sound familiar? Early during that same time frame, Coach John Smith was nurturing quarter milers Steve Lewis, Danny Everett and Quincy Watts who won…