The CHill Zone of T&F

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”. I’m going to chalk up most of the post race chatter to either youth – haven’t been watching the sport very long). Nationalism – we all like to think “our” athletes are unbeatable). Fanaticism –  fans sometimes get so wrapped up…

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. A stat that has gone somewhat under the radar as Bolt has run roughshod over the rest of the world over the past two seasons. With Usain Bolt setting three WRs in the event over the past two seasons (9.72, 9.69 & 9.58) and…

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). The other because the history of Asafa Powell is rife with missed/avoided big races. Powell became a blip on the sprint radar in 2003. That season was his first under 10.10 as he ran to a PR 10.02 in Brussels.…

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. Many of the European Championships top field event performers will also be in attendance, as well as a strong contingent of distance runners from Africa. So, without further adieu, here are the events I’m most looking forward to in Stockholm.   Men’s…

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. Much better than if he had run something like 10.4x. First half of the race was technical but not sharp. Second half better turnover. About what you would expect with four years rust. Now the questions are can he get the kind of competition he needs to get really sharp, and can he…

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 .07. Similar in the field where second through ninth in the men’s high jump all cleared 2.26 (7’ 5”)! So from a competitive stand point, it was perhaps the best meet of the year – because here was a meet full of drama and excitement from beginning to end.…

Yesterday Germany’s Verena Sailer won the women’s 100 meter title in a PR 11.10. Not big headline news when you consider that seven women have run under 11.00 so far this season, and four of them have run under 10.90! Makes Sailer’s win seem rather pedestrian in comparison. But when you take a look at the history of Global sprinting, European sprinting in particular, the win was rather huge. Because once upon a time Germany defined women’s sprinting. Starting with Renate Stecher (GDR) in the ‘70’s, the two Germany’s (there was an East and a West at that time) dominated just about every European and Olympic Sprint final heading into…

Much has been made of the fact that Christophe Lemaitre became the first white sprinter to crack the sub 10 barrier when he blitzed to a 9.98 clocking at the French championships earlier this month. More impressive to me however, was yesterday’s 100 meter victory at the European Championships. Because as I watched him through the rounds and into the final, what I saw was a young man that is more than fast – he is a competitor! The field that he took on was a veteran field that contained some of the best that Europe has had to offer, not just currently but over the past decade. There was…

That seems to be the question on the table amid reports that two years into the position, USATF CEO Doug Logan is being evaluated and is possibly facing dismissal pending improvement by mid August. The word that he is being evaluated doesn’t come as a surprise as most employees within organizations are given annual performance reviews – and Logan is an employee of the organization. I raise the question of whether or not USATF needs a new CEO more so to take a look at Logan’s performance over the past two years to determine if we do need a new CEO, and more importantly if we do what should we…

Watching the World Jr Championships this weekend I had very mixed feelings. On the one hand, the next generation of World and Olympic champions seems to be developing quite nicely. So nice in fact, that it will not be easy for us (the US) to hit that magical 30 medal mark in major championship competition as the rest of the world continues to progress. With the exception of the US and Kenya with 15 medals each, the distribution of medals was pretty even globally. Kenya’s juniors mirroring the efforts of their senior counterparts by dominating the distance events by scoring in every event 800 meters and up. Similarly, most other…