While wet damp conditions in London hampered many of the events at this weekend’s Diamond League meet, Tyson Gay blazed his way to a world leading 9.78 in the first day’s highlight event. Looking very confident following his previous week’s defeat of Usain Bolt, Tyson once again started well, which meant that the race was effectively over by 30 meters. Only Walter Dix was with him at that point, but some 20 meters later Dix’ body gave out under the pressure as Tyson shifted gears and went on to his world leading mark – well clear of the field. In second Yohan Blake (JAM), set a new personal best of 9.89 as Olympic silver medalist Richard Thompson (TRI) was in a different photo in 10.05. Beautiful run by Gay. And more impressive than his win against Bolt was the fact that for the second straight race, Tyson displayed a better than average start – which could mean serious trouble for the world’s elite sprinters.

Finishing up the second day of competition was hurdler David Oliver, as he continued to dominate his event with a meet record 13.06. Oliver had a decent start but hit some hurdles during the race and never had serious competition. That and the poor weather put to rest any record attempts. It’s a testament to the season that he is having that his meet record time is now considered a bit “ho hum” by his standards. But only WR holder Dayron Robles has run as fast this season.

Also showing her dominance was sprinter Allyson Felix who won a 200/400 double – the 200 on day one in 22.37, the 400 on day two in 50.79. She one the deuce easily as no one was ever really close to her. The 400 required a bit more work as list leader Debbie Dunn (US) and European champion Tatyana Firova (RUS) made her work all the way to the finish line. But Felix demonstrated that her strength in sprinting is, well, her strength as she held off the two 400 meter specialists. I’m hoping that the schedule makers for the upcoming World Championships put together a schedule that will accommodate a 200/400 double for both the men and women – similar to the schedule put together for the 1996 Olympics – so that we can see Ms Felix in both events on the big stage. Could be very interesting.

In other action, Kara Patterson was just four inches from victory over Olympic champion Barboa Spotakova (CZE). Her 208’ throw just short of the Czech’s 208’ 4”. Patterson has broken through the 200 foot barrier this year and isn’t looking back, throwing over that mark regularly every week. For my money she’s this year’s break out athlete – at least on the women’s side – and looks to be a serious medal contender heading into Daegu. Another athlete becoming a tough contender is Morgan Uceny. In London Uceny ran with the leaders until the final strides of the 800. She held second down the final straight before just losing out in the final strides. Her 1:59.32 just missing second by .16 and just off winner Mariya Savinova (1:58.64). It will be hard to keep Uceny off the Daegu team at her current rate. She’s tough and competitive, and runs with a lot of heart.

Similar to Andrew Wheating who once again set a new PR in the 800. This time in taking second to Abubaker Kaki (1:44.38), whom Wheating (1:44.56) never let get too far away.  The time was impressive to me given that Wheating never really looked to turn it on. His long season seemed to wear on him a bit, as he appeared a little tired to me – yet set another PR. With a regular “pro” schedule next year, he looks like a sure candidate to run under 1:44, with a strong shot to make the final in Daegu. Another who looks capable of getting to a Daegu final is Leonel Manzano who improved his mile PR to 3:50.64 as he closed well to take 3rd behind Augustine Choge, KEN, 3:50.14) and Gebremedhin Mekonnen (ETH, 3:50.35).  Manzano became the #9 American ever over the distance, and gives us another strong looking middle distance runner to go with Wheating and Lagat.

All in all a strong set of performances were turned in by US athletes. The final two meets of the Diamond League – Zurich and Brussels – are on tap with Zurich slated for Thursday. Meaning we get more high level action in just a few more days!

Well, we’re rounding the final turn on this season, with three meets left in the inaugural Diamond League season. On tap will be the biggest of the DL meets as London will contest all of the events on the slate over the course of two days – the only DL meet to do so. While it won’t be held in the upcoming Olympic stadium, it will take place in the city that will play host to the Games, giving those competing an idea of what the weather could be like come 2012 Read More...

The word this week on just about every media outlet available – track and field web sites, major newspapers, even USA Today and ESPN – is that Usain Bolt is calling it a season. Within days of his loss to Tyson Gay in Stockholm, Bolt announced that due to lower back pain he will be calling it a season Read More...

Early yesterday morning I got a text message telling me that Antonio Pettigrew had been found dead. As the day progressed details began to fill in. He was in his car. Involved an overdose of sleeping pills. As I read the various articles that came out over the course of the day, I almost came to believe that Pettigrew had a short athletic career that began and ended with the Sydney Olympics in 2000 Read More...

In the days since Tyson' Gay’s “upset” victory over Usain Bolt, much has been written and said. From message board arguments, to newspaper articles, to other bloggers. Everyone has been trying to “figure out” and/or “explain” how the “unbeatable” Usain Bolt lost to Tyson Gay. I’ve seen everything from “Bolt didn’t take Gay seriously”; to “Bolt wasn’t trying”’ to Bolt was out of shape”; to “the race didn’t matter” Read More...

Now we officially have a sprint rivalry with Tyson Gay’s defeat of Usain Bolt (9.84 to 9.97) in the Swedish city of Stockholm. It was Bolt’s first defeat over the distance since July 22, 2008 when he lost to countryman Asafa Powell on this same track. It was also Gay’s first win over Bolt, although they had only met over this distance on two other occasions Read More...

Late Wednesday came word that Asafa Powell (JAM) was pulling out of the Stockholm Showdown with Usain Bolt (JAM) and Tyson Gay (US). While I was disappointed when I got the text message alerting me to the news I was not entirely surprised. One because the trade mark of elite sprinting in the New Millennium has been the lack of top level match ups in the men’s short sprints (100/200) Read More...

August has arrived, and with it the final four events of the inaugural Diamond League. The competition has gotten better as the season has progressed and these final four meets promise to be some real barn burners. August should get off with a big BANG as we get our first real sprint showdown with the big three of men’s sprinting – Usain Bolt,  Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell Read More...

The race that many have been waiting for has finally happened. Justin Gatlin made his comeback with a 10.24 second win in Estonia. Not quite vintage Gatlin, but not bad for the beginning of a comeback. After all it’s been four long years since he has raced, so this would seem to be a nice starting point Read More...

For a track nut like me, watching the European Championships was a real treat. The competition was fierce with most events going right down to the wire to separate contestants. Second through fifth in the men’s 100 all clocked 10.18. Only .01 separated first and second in the men’s 200. Second through sixth in the men’s 400 were covered by only Read More...