The CHill Zone of T&F

It’s been a while since we’ve headed towards a Major and I’ve felt we had a real shot at a medal in the middle distances on the women’s side. Not since Jearl Miles Clark in the 800 in the late 90’s and Suzy Favor Hamilton in the 1500 at the start of this decade have we really had the talent to make an impact internationally. That’s changed in a big way in 2009! We got our first glimpse at the Prefontaine Classic where Jenny Barringer just missed victory by.01 while breaking the 4 minute barrier in the 1500 (3:59.90). Behind her we also saw outstanding runs by Anna Willard (4:01.44)…

With the sports’ big headline makers this season – Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt – taking a break today, one would have thought that the Monaco Grand Prix would be a bit lackluster. Nothing could have been further from the truth! Today’s meet may have been the most overall exciting to date – as it should have been with the World Championships just a few weeks away. In a meet filled with highlights, I have to say that for me the most exciting was Maggie Vessey’s (US) 800 meter victory. Vessey has been teasing with the 2:00 barrier all season with tactics reminiscent of ’72 Olympic champion Dave Wottel –…

Only two big meets left to the end of July and the two week break before the World Championships. Monaco will be the penultimate stop on the road to Worlds, and presents several interesting events. The men’s 100 will be without Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay for the first time in weeks. 200 man Wallace (US) is entered however, and will get to test his speed against Beijing finalists Churandy Martina (AHO) and Darvis Patton (US). A good move since Spearmon will need to get out well to have any shot at Bolt and Gay in the 200 in Berlin. In the men’s 400 this year’s find, David Gillick (IRL)…

As Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay traded eye dropping races this weekend in London in preparation for their impending showdown in Berlin, the sport once again finds itself once again dealing with the news of multiple doping offenses coming out of the sprint community. This time, the news comes not out of the United States – which has gotten more than one black eye this decade via doping scandals – but out of Jamaica, the home of multiple WR breaker Asafa Powell and the sports newest wunderkind double Olympic champion Usain Bolt. The names of the athletes were reported via an Italian Newspaper this weekend: Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson, Sheri-Ann…

We’re heading towards the home stretch on our journey to Berlin and no one is blazing that stretch like Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt. London was the first time we’ve seen them on the track together this year – though it was in separate races. Neither had any difficulty dispatching with their competition. In the 100, Bolt survived a shaky start to blast by the field in 9.91 (-1.7). Well ahead of second place Yohan Blake’s (JAM) 10.11. Bolt was expected to get a competitive tune up here from compatriot Asafa Powell, but Powell was a well beaten 6th (10.26) and not looking like a man ready to challenge the…

London will be one of the final tune ups before the big party in Berlin. As such it will be one of the best attended venues by top athletes this season. So we’ll get a peak at some of the athletes that should shape events in Berlin. Among those in attendance we will get a look at: • 4×1 relay squads from the US and Jamaica. • Long jump leader Dwight Phillips (US) against Australian upstarts Fabrice Lapierre and Mitchell Watt. • 400 hurdle leader Lashinda Demus (US) and Olympic champ Melaine Walker (JAM). • 100 hurdle leader Lolo Jones fresh off her 12.47 effort. • 200 leader Tyson Gay…

In track and field the 100 is typically the showcase sprint at almost every meet. In Berlin, the women’s 200 has the potential to upstage the 100 as two of the world’s best sprinters happen to be competing in this event – Allyson Felix (US) and Veronica Campbell Brown (JAM). These two women have dominated this event in the big meets since the middle of the decade. Veronica Campbell Brown has been Jamaica’s most decorated sprinter this decade accounting for Ten medals in Olympic and World Championships competition! Two of those performances were gold medals in the 200 meters in both the ’04 Olympics in Athens and last year’s Games…

Lead by Lolo Jones’ (US) 12.47 win in the women’s 100 meter hurdles, the Rethimno track proved to be quite fast today. Jones was injured earlier in the year at the Drake relays and wasn’t able to return to form in time to be a factor at Nationals, but she was near her old form today winning in her season’s best time. Another who appeared back in form was Carmelita Jeter (US) who has looked less than her best since arriving in Europe following Nationals. She ran under 11 seconds for the first time since hitting Europe winning the women’s 100 in 10.97 ahead of an 11.08 for Allyson Felix…

With most athlete’s starting to wind up their preparations for Berlin, the meets here during the last part of July will give us our last peak at some of the sports main players. Right off the bat yesterday we got a look at Jeremy Wariner. He won the 400 but only in a time of 45.28 and not with the type of run that we have come to associate with him. We didn’t get the blistering third 100 that has been his past trade mark. And he wasn’t as dominant in the final 50 as we’ve come to expect. He had company coming off the final turn, was able to…

One of the things that makes track and field exciting is great head to head competition. Nowhere are the head to head battles any bigger than at the World Championships and Berlin will have its fair share. With four weeks to go before the Opening ceremony, I will be taking a look at several of these match ups, starting with the men’s 400 and Jeremy Wariner and Lashawn Merritt. Wariner owned the 400 in the middle of this decade winning the Olympics in 2004 and the World Championships in ’05 & ’07. Wariner rarely lost, and then only in meets that were off the radar and really didn’t matter –…