The CHill Zone of T&F

Ten days after her surprising win in Lausanne, Morgan Uceny once again took to the track against a world class field. And just as in Eugene and Lausanne she came away with another victory. Actually the word victory doesn’t adequately describe the masterful piece of work that Uceny engineered on her way to once again dominating a class field as she is proving to be perhaps the best tactician in U.S. middle distance running today. Only Bernard Lagat shows the kind of skilled running tactics currently being displayed by Morgan. In Birmingham Uceny settled in over the first two laps and let the pace get established. Then on the third…

You know the Apollo Theatre in New York – where some of the best acts in the world go to test themselves on their way to the big time – and even after. That’s how I felt watching the stream of the Paris leg of the Diamond League. A lot of great talent, most of which I really liked with some expected crowd pleasers; some unexpected talent; and an act that I wanted to have taken off the stage.  The act that I wanted taken off the stage came in the men’s 400. Who would ever have thought to see Jeremy Wariner’s name listed in FOURTH place in a 400…

At the beginning of this track season the most anticipated race in Daegu was the men’s 100 meters featuring Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt – the two fastest men in history. Their showdown was to be THE story of the year. Unfortunately that story will never make it to press, because the new story of the year is the end of Gay’s season to injury and the surgeon’s scalpel. Ah, but that is not the end of the stories yet to be spun in this high profile event. You see the men’s 100 almost always is full of narratives and backstories. Injuries such as Tyson Gay’s are usually the most…

The countdown to Daegu is on and for the next several weeks each meet, each performance, will be scrutinized for clues to what may happen at the big event. The Paris Diamond League meet tomorrow will certainly provide an opportunity to begin to put things into focus, as it is loaded with potential medalists. Having recently put together my list of potential U.S. medalists I will be looking very closely at events that will have an effect on our medal hopes at Worlds. Here are some events that I will watching closely in Paris.   Men’s 200 There has been much talk about Usain Bolt’s level of fitness this year…

It’s hard to talk about Tyson Gay without having the U.S. 4×1 being brought up. After all, Tyson has been involved in the most successful unit’s we’ve put on the track for the better part of the last half decade. So, between talking about Tyson and with Worlds less than two months away, it seems an appropriate time to discuss our potential relay fortunes in Daegu. So I will take this opportunity to give my two cents on personnel and how I see us fairing at Worlds in the four relay events.   Men’s 4×1 Here is where the impact of the loss of Tyson Gay will be felt. Having…

Since June 24th, the question that I have been asked the most is: what do you think is going to happen with Tyson Gay? Because June 24th was the day that Tyson pulled out of U.S. Nationals due to injury. It’s not the first time an athlete has pulled out of a meet because of injury, but I can’t remember when a “DNS” has caused such a stir. Not even when it was announced that Michael Johnson wasn’t going to be competing at the ‘97 Nationals was there this much interest. And Johnson’s withdrawal was on the heels of the ‘96 Olympics where Johnson won the 200/400 double – the…

With the team selected for Daegu, it’s time to start looking at where our medals our. So following is my first Medal Watch List of 2011. My final list of 2010 can be found here for comparison. As you can see the list has already undergone some major renovation since the end of the 2010 season, and with nearly two months to go until Daegu I’m sure there will be more changes. As always the list is composed of those individuals that I feel have the potential to step onto the medal stand at the World Championships. As we know, however, much happens during a meet as intense as Worlds.…

With most rosters for Worlds now in the books, every major get together between now and mid August will be looked at in terms of the World Championships. Who’s hot and who’s not? How do those with byes look? Who looks title worthy and who seems to be coming up out of the shadows? Lausanne was our first post Nationals snapshot, and with the lenses focused on Daegu there were some interesting performances.   Teddy Tamgho (FRA) Tamgho was undefeated until New York. Then in the horrid conditions there he managed only 15.55m (51’ 0..25”) and 7th place. Leaving some to wonder if there was some sort of problem with…

Sanya Richards Ross just brought up an age old issue when it comes to the U.S. Trials system – that it should be changed to ensure we send our best to major competitions. In some ways the sport has already been in agreement. After all, the IAAF went to the bye for World champions because of Michael Johnson’s injury status in 1997. Johnson was injured and unable to compete in our selection meet for the World Championships, and to ensure his competition the IAAF created the bye for World champions that allowed Johnson to compete in Athens. Since then all World champions have been assured a place in the subsequent…

I know I said I was going to recap the field events from Nationals, but I think I will do that in a Preview to Worlds. Mostly because I’m hoping we get a few more athletes in better position, as right now we have a lot of “B” qualifiers and athletes without qualifying marks. And today we are getting back on track, so to speak, with the next stage of the Diamond League – Lausanne. Before that starts, however, I did want to touch on something that I’ve written about before. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about Tyson Gay and his injury, as I’ve mentioned before. And I’m still…