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What’s Wrong With Track?
More often than not, that question comes up whenever I talk to people about the sport. And lately, I’ve seen lots of articles on the sport that are raising the same question. Even professional athletes are starting to ask that question – some commenting recently that they know they’re in a “dying” sport! When athletes start making statements like that you have a problem, because they are the heart of the sport. Personally,I don’t think there is anything wrong with track – it’s arguably one of the most exciting sports out there. It’s not like you go to a track meet and are forced to watch teams take turn playing…
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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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D.oha A.thletes M.ake N.oise!
D.A.M.N.! If today’s meet in Doha was the”opening act” of the Olympic year, I can hardly wait for the denouement in London – it’s going to bring down the house! Today’s events were Olympic in quality across the board and began to fuel plot lines that will only be answered by a gathering of all the world’s best into one stadium. As several athletes were clearly looking to send/answer statements to and from their peers. Take the sprints for example. Last week Usain Bolt’s 9.82 in Kingston let the world know he was up to the challenge of defending his Olympic title. Mid week Yohan Blake said, not without a…
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We Need Internet Presentation Standards
I often wonder why this sport has such a difficult time marketing itself because we live in the age of the Internet – and dispersing information is as simple as clicking a few buttons. But then I log on and try to get information on a track meet – and it’s not available. Or, as when I attempted to watch the Jamaica Invitational this past weekend, the information flow is horrible. In the case of the Jamaica Invitational, everything from a results site that didn’t update, to a feed that froze often and finally just cut out before the conclusion of the meet. On the one hand I hate to…
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Doha Should Start the DL Off With a Bang
Kingston was pretty hot, and over the last few weeks we’ve had bits and pieces of high quality action in various meets – like Mt SAC, Penn, and Drake. But now we get to finally get the start of the Diamond League on Friday, and looking at the provisional start lists Doha is going to crank things up a couple notches! With the relay season history, the Diamond League is the next "phase" of competition on the road to London – and with Doha sporting some of the best fields I’ve seen outside of the DL "finals" it looks like the Diamond League may finally begin to deliver on its…
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It’s Time to Talk About the 4×1
Ok, between the indoor season and the last few meets, we’ve seen most of the world’s top sprinters on the track. So, with some 80 days until the start of the London Games, it’s about time to start looking at the relays. Of course the race that will draw the most attention will be the men’s 4×1, because of names like Bolt, Gay, Blake, Lemaitre, and others – and that means a discussion of the squads for the United States and Jamaica. There’s always the chance, a la Great Britain in 2004, that someone else can sneak in for the gold or silver, but barring catastrophe this is where the…
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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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Jamaica Invitational to Highlight Sprinters
Jamaica is the home of defending Olympic champions Usain Bolt (100/200), Veronica Campbell Brown (200), and Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, so it’s only fitting that this weekend’s JN Jamaica Invitational will have a laser like focus on sprinting. The headliner will be Usain Bolt who will open his season in the 100 meters. Bolt will take on a field that includes Richard Thompson (TRI), Nesta Carter (JAM), Michael Frater (JAM), and Darvis Patton (USA). The race should give us a good indication of Bolt’s level of fitness as the last time he contested the 100 in this meet (in ‘08) he ran 9.76 – on his way to an Olympic…
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Robles and Merritt Open Fast
The “relay” season is over which means that the pattern of meets is about to change, as we move from domestic competitions to IAAF sanctioned international meets with the Diamond League at the core. So instead of weekend meets running two or three days long we now move to single day competitions sometimes on the weekend, sometimes running mid week. That schedule started yesterday with several athletes starting their path to London at the Baie Mahault meet in Guadeloupe just outside France. With the international season under way and literally weeks to go before the start of most country’s Olympic Trials we’ll start to get a rush of big name…
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Interesting Results Out of Stanford
On Saturday the speed burners did their thing at Penn and Drake. On Sunday it was the distance runners turn, as several took to the track Sunday evening in the cool weather in Palo Alto. The results produced several world leaders and some interesting stories. First the new world leaders: 4:07.00 – Anna Pierce (USA) 3:35.19 – Andy Baddeley (GBR) 14:43.11 – Sally Kipyego (KEN) 13:11.63 – Lopez Lamong (USA) 31:15.97 – Betsy Saina (KEN) 27:27.96 – Cameron Levins (CAN) Those are the new leaders, now let’s take a look at the results – because some good stuff happened at Stanford – especially for middle distance runners. I’m going to…