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Brussels Has Some Good Match Ups
The second half of the Diamond League final in Brussels offers the best opportunity to see some final match ups before the season comes to an end. As I look at the provisional start lists there should be some exciting head to heads. Let’s start with the men’s 200 where we get a final look at Yohan Blake – on the track where he dropped his 19.26 and became a household name. It would have been nice to see him and Bolt go head to head here – hint hint. Instead we get to see him against Christophe Lemaitre, Warren Weir, and Jason Young and reserve ourselves to comparing his…
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Aries Merritt Best in Berlin
He doesn’t get the biggest headlines – those seem to be reserved for Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. He hasn’t had the greatest individual performance this season – that was easily David Rudisha’s barrier breaking 1:40.91 800 in London. And he didn’t have the greatest performance we’ve seen in several decades – that would be the US women’s record shattering 40.82 relay run at the Games. What Aries Merritt has done however, is quietly put together the most consistent season of high quality performances of any athlete on the planet this year, and perhaps the greatest season any hurdler has ever had! For the 13th time this season…
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Drizzle Fizzle and Sizzle in Zurich
Zurich has traditionally been one of my favorite meets over the years. Mostly because, even before there was a Diamond League (or Golden League) Zurich has always attracted the world’s top sprinters – and this year was no exception. Don’t get me wrong, Zurich is annually one of the world’s best meets overall with high level fields in all of their events, but the sprints have always been special in Zurich. Today however, after watching this meet I’m left with a bag of mixed feelings labeled drizzle, fizzle and sizzle. The drizzle is from the rain that feel during the meet. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a year…
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Diamond League Ready to Wind Down
The year’s big event is over, and now the season’s big series is about to wind down. The Diamond League v blouses tomorrow and next week with meets in Zurich and Brussels. In the chase for Diamond League points and bonus money, these two competitions will offer some of the last opportunities to see big names and big match ups for the season – and Zurich has some good ones. Take the men’s 400 hurdles where five of the year’s six sub 48 hurdlers will be going toe to toe: Felix Sanchez, Angelo Taylor, Javier Culson, Jehue Gordon and Michael Tinsley. Taylor is fresh off a season’s best in the…
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Aries Merritt Back on Track in Birmingham
The double meet weekend that started Thursday in Lausanne, ended early today in Birmingham – and just as it was in Lausanne, speed was on display in Britain. In a meet with several Olympians in attendance the highlight of the day was turned in by Aries Merritt who is on an unbelievable streak of hurdling consistency. Merritt started the weekend by getting DQ’d in Lausanne for a false start. Actually for a flinch – and personally I’d like to see starters take more control in these sorts of situations. The final word on false starts comes down to the human in charge, and when machines detect something the eye can’t…
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Blake Jumps Starts the Weekend in Lausanne
Well, I said the Lausanne start list had an Olympic feel to it and several athletes showed that they were still in Olympic form. In a meet with several Olympic caliber performances the best was turned in by Yohan Blake (JAM) who nailed the start and never looked back in the 100 meters, stopping the clock at 9.69 – making him the =#2 performer all time with the =#3 performance. The man he tied with for #2 performer, Tyson Gay (USA), was second in this race at 9.83 – maintaining his streak of 9.8’s on the season but not yet dipping below that 9.80 level. Blake meanwhile joined Usain Bolt…
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Lausanne & Birmingham Lead Big Weekend
If you’re like me, you got spoiled during the Olympics with high level track and field every day for over a week. Things settled down quite a bit last week in Stockholm as many of London’s stars took time out to catch their breath and rest a bit. Well, they didn’t get paid in London, as many of the athletes pointed out, so it’s back to the Circuit to collect checks. And that means a big weekend of track and field as a host of the sports top athletes will be in Lausanne and Birmingham producing some of the best matchups outside of the Olympic Games. Things get started on…
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The Middle Distances Post London
I’m going to talk about the relays and hurdles, which are speed related, but I want to skip over to the middle distances because it’s become one of the most exciting areas of the sport. Heading into London, I think most people assumed that the 800 & 1500 were the exclusive property of Kenya, who annually dominates the yearly lists – though personally I had some reservations about said dominance. After watching the events play out in London, the lack of Kenyan dominance is just one of the key issues I see in these events moving forward. While the country of Kenya didn’t dominate in London, the most dominant single…
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The Sprints Post London
The first Post London weekend is here and I finally have a minute to just sit and think track. Since many of the biggest moments at the Games revolved around the sprints, seems like a good talking point today. It’s what’s on most people’s minds anyway: Bolt, the Jamaicans, the relay records. So, what did we learn in London, and where are the sprints headed from here? First of all there is no doubt that right now two nations define the sprints: the United States and Jamaica. Both sets of men and women are the short sprints (100/200); with the US men & women, and to a lesser degree the…
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Stockholm Begins Post Olympic Season
The post Olympics season began today in Stockholm and I proved to myself just how big a track junkie I am as I watched the meet on my cellphone as I drove around taking care of business today – such is the life of a track nerd! Unless the first meet after a major is Zurich, that first one is usually a bit “down” compared to the Games – and Stockholm fit that description. There were some very nice fields, but for the most part the competition was a cut below what we got used to during the Olympics – duh. While the marks weren’t as stellar as those we…