As I said previously it’s that time of year – awards / ranking season. And as tends to happen, the first set of awards on the table have already stoked the fires of debate – and that’s a good thing. Can never have enough conversation about track and field!

So while we’re talking, I thought it might be a good time to define what we’re talking about. Rating performance(s) is sort of like having a conversation in a barbershop – everyone has an opinion. Opinions aside, however, there must be some general parameters that we can all come to agreement on.

For example, I think we can agree that great performances should be rewarded. In the world of “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock”, however, I think that consistency is the biggest factor. Especially consistency at a high level – given the caveat that it’s against top level competition. I know that often people look at “undefeated”as being the equivalent of an outstanding season. But I would rather see an athlete compete against the best regularly and take a few losses while competing at a high level, than an athlete taking scalps against mid level competition.

I go back to the days of Steve Williams and Don Quarrie, when they ran against each other often and both suffered losses. But in the grand scheme of things they were the two best in the world regardless of how many more victories any other athlete may have had against lesser competition.

I have similar feelings about a single outstanding meet, or a single outstanding performance – even if that performance is a WR. I take the term Athlete of the Year to mean “all year”. Not early in the year; late in the year or, at the biggest meet of the year – and I know there are many that disagree. I understand that athletes aim their training to do their best at the Games or Worlds – I get that. They are rewarded with the medals and accolades they earn during and for that meet. But there will be several athletes that have outstanding performances in that meet, the next question is how do their SEASONS compare – at least in terms of yearly rankings.

Now that becomes a little more dicey when talking individual events, because the athletes being compared have more in common to refer to. In this case, the Major that year is more heavily weighted in my mind. In large part because it may be one of the few, if not the only, competition where the best actually get on the track at the same time to compete against each other. So that head to head may get weighted more. But even then, for my money, the athlete with the stronger overall season in terms of competition against high level athletes should be rewarded for that – strength of schedule if you will.

My point being is that I see ranking athletes as more complicated than “who was undefeated”, “who set a record”, and “who won the medals”. I want to know who you competed against and how well did they do? How was your whole season? After all if it’s just about one meet why do we hold the others? Every meet an athlete competes in he/she is rewarded for their efforts. Rankings should be about tabulating ALL of those efforts to say “Who Did The Best Job All Season”.

To that end I’ve tried to come up with a rubric – a “Rock, Paper Scissors, Lizard, Spock” if you will – that addresses the various elements that can occur over a season. I’m sure there will be discussion, and have at it. The point of this whole discussion is to figure out how we should be ranking the sport. Personally I think the health of the sport depends on it. Because as long as we the fans, and those that distribute the money put total emphasis on single meets, single performances, and empty wins we in essence promote the lack of head to head competition that permeates this sport! A situation we all complain about! So here is what I try to look at when comparing athlete’s seasons.

Ranking Rubric

** Consistent Season plus Outstanding Performance plus Undefeated plus WR
** Consistent Season plus Undefeated plus WR
** Consistent Season plus Outstanding Performance plus Undefeated
** Consistent Season plus Undefeated
** Consistent Season plus WR
** Consistent Season plus Outstanding Performance
** Consistent Season
** Undefeated Season
** Outstanding Performances

Take note that the term Outstanding Performance is singular. And that the term Consistent Season means at a solid to high level. Running 1:45 in the 800 meet after meet is consistent, but is not going to gain you a high ranking if others are constantly running 1:43/1:44. So the rubric needs to be applied with a sense of logical progression in terms of the performances that are established. It’s simply a framework against which I think performances should be compared.

That said let’s discuss. I’m looking back on the season now and looking to put together some Top Five lists. I thought about -Top Ten, and may depending on what you all think, but in general once you get past the top five athletes comparison in most events gets fuzzy. Personally I’d love to see it get fuzzy among the top five, because that would mean that the top athletes are on the track against each other often. I think we can accomplish that in part by letting them know that their efforts are rewarded even when they take a loss or two as long as it’s truly in the heart of battle.

I will continue to work on the series of best ever races (next will be the women's 800) but we are closing in on the end of the year and soon the start of the 2013 indoor season. And that means end of the year lists and rankings, as well as some early indoor activity. So as things begin to heat up it's back to the excitement of the sport, but I will continue to use the best ever series tho fill in the gaps, as I must admit I am enjoying the research as consuming as it is Read More...

Now we get into some interesting events with the middle distances, and for me one of the most exciting race on the track - the 800 meters. This event has seen some HUGE talent over the decades, and most are represented here. The largest noticeable absence being Sebastian Coe - the man who brought this event into both the 1:42, and 1:41 eras Read More...

This one was a bit harder than the others. In large part because the all time list is heavily populated by Eastern Bloc athletes. At the end of the day however, the results sorted themselves out because many of the too times occurred in races that were outside of major championships with results that were very top heavy with really poor results at the bottom Read More...

Here we go with the 400's. Definitely a bit tougher task, because as the distance increases, so do the odds that things may not be so close at the finish - making the task of evaluating much more difficult. That said, there were races that shone through - because competitors find a way to make things close no matter the distance Read More...

The men's event was tough, the women were even tougher. The biggest problem being depth, as most races over the years have suffers from lack of great depth. Just as in the 100, the great female sprint crews of the 90s have a presence on this list, but there is a nice sprinkling of some of the greatest female sprinters of all time with Evelyn Ashford, Valerie Brisco, and the New Millennium group of Felix, Campbell Brown, Jeter, and Fraser Pryce, among others are also heard from Read More...

Now that the 100 is out of the way it's forward to the deuce - and frankly the 100 was easier! Here's the deal. The issue is that this is not about individual performances, it's supposed to be about the race - the entire race. That said, there have been many great performances where the overall race didn't match up Read More...

This was a very interesting exercise. The men's list was relatively easy to put together, as there have been some very memorable races for the men. As I started putting this list together however, I found that getting the top women together AND performing as a group at a high level has not been as frequent as one would have thought Read More...

A reader had a great idea, to go through and create lists of the top 10 races by event. Nice idea, so I decided to give it a shot. So I'm starting with the 100 - first the men then will follow with the women - and will work my way up in distance if its something that people like/find interesting. Obviously my rankings will be based on races that I've had a chance to see, which means live, TV, or video Read More...