The season is winding down quickly, with the Commonwealth Games the biggest competition remaining – and it’s restricted to a select few nations. For all intents and purposes US athletes are done, with a bit of rest on the docket before resuming training for the upcoming World Championships season.

Lots of ups and downs this year, and I will spend some time talking about them as we head into the Fall training / road racing season. But the one area that I want to give a shout out to right away is to the athletes on the track above 400 meters. One of the things that I will have to do fairly soon is update my “Thirty Watch List”. When I first put it together it was dominated by the sprints and hurdles. Watching this season play out, I think that there may be some action above the sprints this next time around!

I have to start with Chris Solinsky. He lead the world over 10000 meters for almost the entire year, as it was only two weeks ago that Kenya’s Josephat Menjo surpassed Solinsky’s AR of 26:59.60! Granted it moved him to “only” #30 all time, but when was the last time an American was in the top spot on a yearly list in the 10000? If I’m not mistaken you’d have to go back to 1986 when Mark Nenow lead the world with his AR 27:20.56 – twenty four years ago! Solinsky also gave us three races under 13:00 in the 5000 meters – with a 12:55.53 PR that would have been an AR if it weren’t for Bernard Lagat.

Ah, Bernard Lagat. I keep worrying about his age, but it doesn’t seem to bother him. At 35 years old he ran an AR 12:54.12 over 5000, a 3:54.36 mile, 3:32.12 over 1500 and won a 3000/5000 double in the Continental Cup. Lagat is STILL a factor, and he and Solinsky should make quite a pair over 5000 next year. And that’s not saying anything about Dathen Ritzenhein or Matt Tegenkamp who had their own breakthroughs under 13:00 last season.

And while Lagat looks like he will have help in the longer distance, we saw some improvement from others in the shorter distance too. Specifically from Andrew Wheating and Leonel Manzano. Wheating had multiple event duty for the University of Oregon as they gave game chase for an NCAA title coming up a bit short in their battle with the University of Florida and eventual champion Texas A&M. But Wheating did his part taking an 800/1500 double before heading to Europe and taking on the big boys. All he did after a lengthy collegiate season was run bests of 1:44.56, 3:30.90 and 3:51.74 – making me wonder whether he is a half miler or a miler! Similar improvement was made by the diminutive Manzano. The gutsy Manzano kept staying with the pace in Europe and was rewarded with PRs of 1:44.56, 3:32.37 and 3:50.64. Lagat is still our best competitor on the international stage, but Wheating and Manzano are the future, and have the potential to make some noise next year with a bit of improvement – especially in the metric mile which is in the 3:30 to 3:32 zone right now.

Our women continue to make great strides in the middle distances as well. Last year it was Christin Wurth Thomas, Anna Pierce, and Jenny Barringer that make big moves. Barringer was quiet this year, but Pierce and Wurth Thomas continued to shine with Wurth Thomas improving her 1500 down to 3:59.59 – her second year in a row under 4:00. This year we can add the names Alysia Johnson, Phoebe Wright, and Morgan Uceny to the mix as they had major improvements of their own this year. Johnson was twice under 1:58 and lead the world at 1:57.34. After winning this year’s NCAA championship Wright went to Europe and ran very well dropping her PR down to 1:58.22. And Morgan Uceny was double trouble running 1:58.57 in the 800 and 4:02.40 in the 1500. All three are hard charging, front runners who are not afraid to try and stay with the pace – any pace. Together with Wurth Thomas, Pierce, Barringer and Shannon Rowbury – who began to blossom in ‘08 and has continued to run well – we look well poised to battle the rest of the world in the women’s middle distances next year!

All in all I have to say that we look to have improved much in the past couple of seasons in the non sprints on the track. I’m looking forward to some success stories in Daegu and beyond. It’s been a while coming, but I think this group is truly capable.

Yes I know that the 2010 season isn’t quite done yet. But for my money it’s never too early to put a relay team together. Because one of the most important aspects of relay running is continuity and team togetherness – and that’s difficult to achieve when team members are practically making introductions prior to stepping on the track to compete! That’s why I think it’s time to start thinking about creating “national relay squads” that are selected and run together during the course of a couple of seasons or so – health and injuries permitting – as opposed to our antiquated system of selecting the first few men that cross the finish line at our national championships each year Read More...

After watching the Continental Cup this weekend, I am more convinced than ever that it’s time to move on with something else. Watching the meet the stands were very sparsely populated, and the sport had to have lost money on the event if attendance is any indication. Probably because it’s just difficult for paying patrons to get behind what is supposed to be a championship level event that is missing so many championship level athletes Read More...

This weekend will see the first rendition of the “Continental Cup”, which is simply a reworked version of the “World Cup”. At the time of it’s inception in 1977, the World Cup was a welcome sight on the track and field scene. After all, we only had one real championship of any kind on a global level – that being the quadrennial Olympic Games Read More...

As is typical, there has been a lot of action in the men’s 100 meters this off season. Lots of PR’s and, with the exception of history’s three fastest on the clock, quite a few head to heads. The big race for many being this year’s Rieti meet where nearly everyone set a PR or seasonal best. So heading into the next trifecta of Major championships, just where do the sprinters sit with respect to each other? Well, as with the short relay, talk is already heating up regarding this topic, so I thought I would take my own shot at “ranking” the world’s current crop of sprinters Read More...

Ahh the discussion about relays. Doesn’t matter who is in the race, relays always elicit a lot of conversation. Which is why they should be on meet schedules far more often than they are! Take the recent Weltklasse meet in Zurich. The US team in the race came away with a 37.45 – the 5th fastest time ever and #2 time for an American squad Read More...

The Ivo van Damme meeting in Brussels marked the end of the Diamond League for 2010. And while it was the second half of the “finals” som,ehow the meet was not quite as exciting as I had anticipated. Especially in light of the Rieti meeting that followed. Perhaps it was the cool weather which seemed to keep most performances down a bit Read More...

Friday will mark the end of the inaugural Diamond League with the Ivo van Damme meeting in Brussels. This meet will mark the second half of the “finals” that began in Zurich, with the final “Diamonds” being awarded. As in Zurich all the fields are loaded, so the events that follow are those that I expect may stand out a bit from the rest Read More...

I’ve not written anything on the Semenya case as of yet for several reasons. Mostly because it is really a fairly complicated matter. Especially as it deals with issues of privacy. I will start off by saying that the IAAF among other organizations involved in the sport including the South African federation have sorely mishandled this matter from the very beginning Read More...

While the details on Rudisha’s WR run are still filtering in, I’ve found video of the race (below) and taken my own rough splits. This run saw Rudisha pass through 400 in 48.9, 600 in 1:14.5, and of course the 800 mark in 1:41.09. I’ve gone through my archives and found the splits for Rudisha’s 1:41 Read More...