After a week that left me wondering what the heck is going on, it’s time to start to attempt to look at some of the National Trials that are coming up to try and gauge what Daegu is going to look like. And after Des Moines and New York that may not be easy at all!

I’ve already talked in depth about what happened in Des Moines – a lot of bad weather and a lot of Texas A&M in the end. The college kids put forth some sterling efforts, but there was a lot of “weirdness” going on – especially for athletes considered favorites. I mean, would you have bet that even one of the following occurrences would have happened? 

• Jeff Demps didn’t qualify for the 100 final.
• Neither did Jeneba Tarmoh who didn’t even get to start her semi after getting dq’d for a false start.
• Omo Osaghe only cleared one hurdle before crashing out in the final.
• Jordan Hasay appeared tired. I’ve watched her since she was a high school freshman and she’s never looked tired.
• Kirani James was supposed to win going away, but instead found three others within .08 at the line! He won by mere thousandths over Gil Roberts who was then dq’d for a lane violation! (Talk about bad luck for Texas Tech – the home of both Roberts and Osaghe.)
• Bad Luck, the song by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, must have been the theme music for Florida this past weekend as not only did Jeff Demps (defending champion) not make the 100 final, but the 4×1 didn’t finish the race, Christian Taylor didn’t make the LJ final, Terrell Wilks didn’t make the 200 final (but finished 5th in the 100) yet they still finished 2 points away from the team title – the third year in a row that they were 2 points or less away from the trophy!
• Florida State, after being on a roll all meet, entered the final event in the lead for the team championship but WITHOUT a team in the relay even though they have a 4×4 squad that has run 3:02.41 this season! Had they been in the race they would have been guaranteed the one point they needed to hold off Texas A&M!

Was there something in the air other than lightning and rain? Then there was New York – same day different time zone – and there was weirdness there too!

• Rain and headwinds were once again the rule of the meet – in June.
• Jeremy Wariner, who earlier this season appeared to be headed back to the zone of “You Can’t Catch Me” found himself struggling to win over Germaine Gonzales and Rondell Bartholomew by .03 & .04 – and Bartholomew seriously ran him down!
• Half miler Kenia Sinclair put a beat down on a 1500 meter field that included Gelete Burka, Jenny Simpson, Shannon Rowbury and Sally Kipyego.
• Half miler Abubaker Kaki, fresh off a SB in Oslo, just pulled up while running the 800. No jostle, no acceleration, just went down around the first turn and stayed down while the others circled the track. He was still there when they came back to mount their finishes.
• Lolo Jones, who looked like she was ready to take the hurdles and run away and hide just two seasons ago, was beaten yet again – this time into 4th place – as she looked hesitant and unsure of herself.
• Allyson Felix won the deuce (her pet event) with what finally looked like a decent turn for her as she outran speed demon Carmelita Jeter in the first 100, yet found Bianca Knight closing on her like a freight train in the final 50 meters as Felix won by only .04.
• The men’s 100 saw THREE men dq’d (one at a time) before they finally got the race off. Then Tyson Gay finds himself down some 3 to 4 meters on a blazing Steve Mullings only to come back and lose on the photo. And if having three athletes thrown out in the same race isn’t weird enough, in spite of that huge discrepancy at the start Gay and Mullings had the exact same reaction time (.154)!

And that’s just what happened this past weekend! I haven’t even mentioned Bolt being only 9.91 & 19.86 and it’s mid June. Or Sanya Richards not being able to get out of third gear.Or the cooling off of L.J. Van Zyl after a blistering early spring. The bottom line is this season has been CRAZY, and nearly unpredictable. One thing is clear, there is going to be change this year. I’m expecting some old names to just not make it, and some new names to make some serious inroads towards the medal stand. I just have to figure out who – that’s going to be the hard part.

So I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks trying to handicap our nationals as well as a few events at some other nationals. Really with the hope of trying to get a bead on Daegu – which I think may end up being the most unpredictable major in quite some time.

I want to start by taking a look at the speed events, which have been experiencing a lot of volatility since Berlin. Below is a chart I’ve started that I’m calling Speed Watch. Basically a snapshot of what’s going on in the speed events. Over the next week I hope to take these names and put them into a meaningful Preview of the U.S. and Jamaican Trials – and eventually the World Championships, which is why you will see a few names on here already that are separate from the two major powers. I will also take a look at the middle distances this week, as we have had a lot of movement there as well.

Speed Watch

The meet started with the 4x1's and a pair of upsets. The women started it off with LSU passing as they always seem to do with something on the line. They came to the anchor leg with Kymberlyn Duncan right there with Texas A&M and it was a wrap as she ran away from Ashley Collier for a big 42.64 to 42 Read More...

Once again the weather reared its ugly head and caused multiple delays to the next to last day at the NCAA Championships. The start of the competition was delayed an hour, and the rain was still falling when things resumed. In spite of the delays and interruptions in their warm up and competition schedules, most of the athletes showed their resolve and competed as if the sun were shining bright Read More...

Thursday was the “lull” day in this weeks track and field action. In a week sandwiched between the awesome Pre Classic and will end with NCAA finals and what is promising to be an exciting meet in New York, yesterday was rather lacking. We did get Usain Bolt’s seasonal 200 debut in Oslo – a race he won in 19 Read More...

Usually there isn’t much to say after the first day of the NCAA Championships. After all, the bulk of the finals are on Friday and Saturday. But Wednesday may have already started shaping those finals as three big names didn’t move through. The semifinals started blazing hot with the 4x1’s. In the women’s semis first Texas A&M (42 Read More...

Watching the bid process for the rights to the next four Olympic Games (‘16, ‘18. ‘20, ‘22) I actually started to get a bit excited, because ESPN & Fox were in the mix and presented proposals that said they would provide actual LIVE coverage of the Games. Imagine that! No more slicing and dicing and leaving action on the floor in favor of next day highlight reels after reading bout the action half a day or more in advance! At the end of the day, however, the Comcast/NBC conglomerate offered more money for the package than either ESPN or Fox could muster, and thus the IOC once again gave the telecast rights to NBC Read More...

Ok, after a week’s delay we will get the semi finals and finals of the NCAA Championships. If you find that comment odd, it’s because essentially the Regional meets were the first and second rounds of the Championships. If that still sounds odd, it’s because it is. We had two meets that solved nothing other than to decide who would get to compete in the semis and finals of the actual NCAA Championships Read More...

The Prefontaine Classic was everything a world class track meet is supposed to be. The Last Night’s Distance Carnival the prelude to today’s meet, produced some exciting and historic distance running. First Moses Kiprop (KEN) circled the track for 75 laps better than anyone else in world history as he set new WR’s for 25K (1:12:25 Read More...

Identifying America’s top sprinters used to be pretty easy. In spite of our depth, there were always two or three men and women that stepped up to stand above the rest. Jim Hines, Charlie Greene, Wilma Rudolph, Steve Williams, Harvey Glance, Evelyn Ashford, Gail Devers, Carl Lewis, Calvin Smith, Chandra Cheeseborough, Mo Greene, Jon Drummond, Valerie Brisco, Read More...

The NCAA Championships begin in one week – one of the hottest meets of the year. But before I take a look back at the Regionals and a look ahead to the action in Des Moines, I have to take a look at this year’s Prefontaine Classic.This year’s meet has been moved back to the beginning of June – after serving time just prior to the 4th of July last year – and if there are few defections from the start lists it should be one of the hottest meets of the year and a true classic Read More...