The CHill Zone of T&F

With no major championship on the docket this season, I keep looking at results as to what they may mean for our chances in Daegu, London and Moscow. From that perspective Monaco was one awesome meet, because everywhere I looked US performers were turning in outstanding performances. And nowhere more so than watching our middle distance runners. I’m going to start with a middle distance runner that moved up a bit in distance – Shannon Rowbury. Rowbury was one of our breakthrough 1500 runners in ‘08 running a PR 4:00.33 in Paris. She stepped her game up another notch getting bronze in the 1500 at Worlds in Berlin. She’s run…

  I never thought I would utter those words about any sport, let alone track and field. Not after growing up wishing that athletes could run track just like they played football or basketball – full time and making a living at it. Yet, here we are in the New Millennium and I now understand the meaning of the phrase: “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it”! Because what I’m getting now are fewer opportunities to see the best athletes perform. Fewer top level match ups. And recent situations such as Usain Bolt refusing to run in Britain because of “tax” issues and Walter Dix pulling…

Since we reached the half way point of the Diamond League things have really kicked into gear. Performances have begun to pick up and we are seeing more and more solid head to head match ups. Tomorrow we head to Monaco for a meet that promises to be hot from start to finish. My picks for hot match ups.   Men’s 200 WL: 19.56, Usain Bolt – JAM Best Entry: 19.72, Walter Dix – USA The big headlines have gone to the 100 meter races this year, but this deuce could be the deepest sprint of the season. Three of history’s fastest take to the track with all three having…

This time of year everyone is focused on the big competitions – Rome, Paris, Zurich, Oslo, New York, Lausanne, London, etc. It’s those locations that have the big budgets and the ability to bring in the big names and provide the ticket buyer with the splashy results. Every once in a while, however, the little out of the way meets attract enough athletes looking for an extra meet, or a tune up prior to a “big” meet, to get some pretty good results. Such was the case yesterday, as the little town of Lignano Sabiaddoro in Italy, as American women did a number in the 800 meters. To be honest…

Over the past week or so results have been flying in so fast and deep that there have a few things that I have overlooked mentioning as I’ve tried to comment on various competitions. One of the biggest was the results of the NACAC Under 23 competition held last weekend – a regional (North and Central America) meet highlighting the areas youngsters. There were lots of sterling marks turned in at this meet, none more so than Curtis Mitchell’s (USA) 19.99 200 meters in his semi final. The mark was no fluke as he returned to run 20.06w in the final as he dominated both his semi and the final…

David Oliver is beginning to remind me of Sergei Bubka. You know how Bubka would improve a centimeter at a time as he raised the World Record. Now Oliver is taking his PR – which is now the American Record – down a notch at a time. In Eugene he ran 12.93 to get in reach of the AR. In Lausanne he tied it at 12.90. Yesterday in Paris he ran 12.89 to take it down one more inch! And the thing was, it was far from the perfect race. A less than good start was followed by some average hurdling over the first couple of flights before he seemed…

The Diamond League seems to be out of it’s doldrums. I mean does anyone really remember Doha, Shanghai, or even Oslo? Yes these meets had their sprinkling of stars, but, as even the Diamond League itself is proving, it’s matchups that truly drive this sport. And now that we are getting some serious head to head confrontations, things are spicing up a bit more and Paris will provide us with some very nice head to heads tomorrow.   Men’s 100 WL: 9.82, Asafa Powell – JAM       9.82, Usain Bolt – JAM Best Entry: 9.82, Asafa Powell – JAM                 9.82, Usain Bolt – JAM Last week’s 100 in Gateshead, gave us…

After watching this year’s version of our national championships, it clearly paled in comparison to the Olympic and World Championship selection versions. As a matter of fact, it paled in comparison to this year’s NCAA championships. With little to gain by attending in an “off season” many chose not to. There were bright spots mind you. David Oliver, Kara Patterson, Wallace Spearmon, and Bershawn Jackson had noteworthy performances.  But for the most part it was a lackluster meet – prompting some to question the fan loyalty of host city Des Moines. But alas, the real issue, as it oft seems to be with this sport, is how to get your…

With our National Championships complete and the Diamond League at the mid point it seems like an appropriate time to take a look at what’s happened so far this season. As with any endeavor there have been ups and downs but I want to start off looking at the positive things that have happened in the sport this year – especially for US fortunes going forward. So here are 10 things I have found exciting about the first half of the 2010 season. The first two focus on the international sport. The third on the future in general. And the rest focus on reasons to be excited about the sport…

The first meeting of the second half of the Diamond League series was the first to feature a head to head meeting of two of the world’s three top sprinters – Tyson Gay (US) and Asafa Powell (JAM). Powell has been running well all season long. He co-leads the 100 on the clock at 9.82, and has three legal clockings under 9.90. Tyson Gay started his season with a 19.41 WR 200 on the straight, but since has been nursing a sore hamstring. His return to the track in Eugene was fast at 19.76 though the rust showed as he suffered defeat to Walter Dix and his 19.72. Gateshead was…