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Pre–Outstanding Results, Lots of Questions
Trying to put something together on this meet has been giving me fits. Once again the Pre Classic was the best non championship meet on US soil. From the distance races Friday night (streamed live thank you) to the Bowerman Mile that closed out the NBC broadcast, the fields were top notch across the board. And at the end of the day, the results show 10 world leading performances, led by the very deep Kenyan 10,000 meter Trials. But while the results were outstanding, in many cases they were also confusing, as favorites didn’t always perform like favorites; and American athletes often didn’t look like the Trials were a scant…
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What Happened to Track?
There is much conversation these days about the impending death of track and field, and with good reason. After all here in the US, we’ve seen a once thriving sport wither down to a handful of elite meets – with embarrassingly poor attendance, and poor television coverage. A far cry from the golden era of the sport from the 60’s thru the 80’s. That said, I’m not sure that the "panic" approach called for by some is the way to make things better. By panic approach, I refer to those that call for such drastic measures as ripping meets apart into mini meets of distance only, sprint only, throws only…
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Lessons Learned From Women’s Day in Rome
The results are in, and after watching the Rome leg of the Diamond League I think I learned a few things. Prefontaine is only two days away, so things could change a bit over the next 48 hours. Results of the meet can be found here, so without going into each and every race and result, here are my thoughts on what happened in Rome. Men’s 100 meters. After watching Bolt today (9.76, -0.1) Ostrava was a matter of jet lag – or perhaps being out too late the night before. Either way, “sluggish” Bolt gave way to a sprinter that had the race under control by 30 meters –…
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Rome to Begin 10 Hot Days of T&F
The US Olympic Trials begin in just a few weeks – June 22 to be exact – with several other national Trials around the same time period. Assuming that most athletes will want to rest award of the big meet, the next couple of weeks are going to be critical competitively, for most athletes as they prepare for their first “peak” of the season. Not so coincidentally the Diamond League is getting ready to present the hottest 10 days of track and field outside of the Trials and Games starting Thursday in Rome (May 31) then rolling through Eugene (June 2), Oslo (June 7), and New York (June 9)! We’ll…
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Hot Weekend After Ostrava
This weekend was a reminder that this support is not always as predictable as we like top think it is. For example, the hot meet was supposed to be in Ostrava. After all that was the meet with all the "names" – Bolt, VCB, Spearmon, Merritt, and Semenya among others .But as the sun is beginning to set, things got hot after Ostrava – mostly by what appears to be a budding youth movement this season. From collegiate athletes at the two Division I Regionals; to the first major high school post season invitational; to a pair of "lesser" meets on the European Circuit; a slew of young up and…
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Back to Code for Some After Ostrava
Well, that wasn’t quite what I expected! Let’s start with the obvious, Usain Bolt (JAM) 10.04 – the slowest 100 meter final of Bolt’s professional career! That’s what I said. He ran 10.03 (0.7) in Rethymno in his pro debut at the distance in 2007. Then opened up in Spanish Town in Mar ‘08 at 10.03 (1.8), before blowing out a 9.76 (1.8) in Kingston – and the rest you already know. His only other final that hasn’t been sub10 was a 10.00 (-0.9) in Toronto, June ‘09. His only other non sub10’s have been in qualifying rounds. Even last year when the world was bemoaning his races he was…
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Ostrava Preview
The early spring was very quiet this year as many top level athletes extended their "base" training well past April. While it made for a relatively quiet early track season, we’re reaping the benefits now though as we get another meet that promises some hot competition with things shifting to Ostrava this Friday. While Ostrava is not the “Diamond League”, many athletes are now trying to get sharp ahead of their Olympic Trial meets – and that means many of the next several meets should be loaded with top level athletes. Ostrava is going to give us another look at Usain Bolt (JAM) in the100 meters, this time facing off…
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Farah Sharp at “Hi Performance” Meet
The year’s best gathering of middle/long distance runners took place this past weekend in Southern California at the “Oxy Hi Performance” meet. But after all the races were run and the results came in, I’m still in the dark as to how things look for American distance running – and we’re only a month out from the Trials! Don’t get me wrong, there were some solid performances. Best of the bunch was Mo Farah (GBR) who turned in a 3:34.66 / 13:12.87 double with less than an hours rest between the two events – and won both! Farah starts off his season in fine shape – and I have to…
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Liu (12.97) and Dibaba (3:57.77) in Shanghai
The Doha Diamond League event set a standard that may be difficult to match. And it didn’t help that the weather wasn’t very cooperative in Shanghai, as it was rainy throughout, keeping performances down.That made the world leading races by Genzebe Dibaba (ETH) and Liu Xiang (CHN) that much more phenomenal, as sterling marks were hard to come by in China. The women took to the track for the 1500 chasing the world leading time of 4:05.92 set last night by Shannon Rowbury (USA), and in spite of the conditions the pace maker set sail with splits of 62.3 / 2:08 with several women tucked in behind. Then Dibaba took…
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Distance Runners to Convene in SoCal
The top sprinters have started off hot this year and have gotten a lot of press. You’d almost think there weren’t any distance runners around. But that’s because they’ve had their own gatherings on places like Eugene and Stanford – locations more conducive to distance running. This weekend we get another distance "party", but on a bit less "friendly" environment in Southern California at the Oxy High Performance Meet. The meet will be a Who’s Who of elite American distance runners as everyone starts tuning up for the impending Trials. For example we’ll see Dathan Ritzenhein and Matt Tegenkamp in the men’s 5000 and Deena Kastor in the women’s 5000…