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Olympic Trials Part 1 – Upsets & Speed
We’ve finally arrived to that part of the season that really matters – Olympic team qualifying! That means EVERYONE had to show up. That means some of the best competition of the year. That means watching track and field the way it is supposed to be watched – in a stadium; with ALL of the events represented! And guess what? No one leaves early. No one is worried about "attention spans". No one needs bands playing in the parking lot, or portions of the meet in the street! Why? Because when you get the best athletes available to compete, the sport in its purest form is as good as ANY…
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A Month From the Trials
We’re about a month away from the Trials and the crystal ball is still pretty murky! Usually I have a pretty good idea how the Trials are going to go by now, but so many elites have been quiet – especially the distance crowd. This may be one of the most surprising Trials in awhile. The colleges have yet to have their Regionals and Nationals – those will take place in the next two weeks. Though I’m not seeing a lot of collegiate athletes making this team. Mainly because a lot of top talent has already gone pro. We’ve had three Diamond League meetings with this weekends competition in Rabat,…
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How to Win the 4×1 in Rio!
It’s one thing to be dominated in the sprints by an athlete like Usain Bolt, but during the same time span we’ve seen a comedy of horrors take place in what was also an American staple – the 4×1 relay. The American men haven’t won a 4×1 in a major since 2007 – approaching nearly a decade! This is tragic, and the first step to righting this ship in my opinion, is to admit FAILURE and move on. I don’t want to hear about Bolt, because the races have been lost before Bolt has gotten the baton – he’s not had to catch anyone from behind. And the one time…
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Lausanne/Paris –Turning the Corner to Moscow
Suddenly the World Championships are very close, and we got a couple of very good “tune up” meets on back to back days (Thu/Sat) that I think started to set the stage for Moscow. Now’s the time when we either watch athletes start to reach their peak or begin to falter a bit. Either way, we’re starting to get a clue at where the best battles may be when the first events begin at the World Championships. Judging from what I saw in Lausanne and Paris there’s going to be some great action in Moscow. A lot of this season’s top action has been turned in by the women. This…
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It’s July Where Are We?
This has been a very interesting year so far. Lots of transition going on throughout the sport. Rising athletes. Injured athletes. Athletes returning from injury. More transition than usual in the year following the Games it seems. Then of course there are the usual off the track issues such as drugs, which never seem to go away. So many things that I don’t know where to begin, so rather than say a lot about one thing, today I’m going to take a stab at saying a little about a lot of things – starting with the Diamond League which gives us a Fourth of July meet in Lausanne in two…
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Rollins’ 12.26 Leads Weekend at Nationals
As I thought prior, this was one of the hottest National Championships in a long time – and it was lead by women and youth. Don’t get me wrong, the men got the job done and we’re sending a nice male squad to Moscow. But the women were doing spectacular things everywhere you turned – and none were any more spectacular than Brianna Rollins. Rollins started looking like gold at the NCAA Championships when she screamed collegiate records of 12.47 & 12.39 – but that was just a warm up for Des Moines. This weekend saw her run 12.33w, 12.30w before blazing 12.26 (1.2) in the final for a new…
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Gay (9.75) & Gardener (10.85) Lead US Champs
We’re halfway through the US Trials and those gusts of wind that have been howling through the stadium seem to be the winds of change as veterans have been dropping like flies in Des Moines. Jeremy Wariner out in the first round. Ditto Angelo Taylor. Walter Dix a semifinal casualty. Doc Patton a DNS. Trell Kimmons won’t be leading off any 4×1’s this summer. The relay is the only way we’ll see Mike Rodgers in Moscow. Maggie Vessey out in the semis, along with Phoebe Wright. Lauryn Williams another semi casualty. Ditto Mary Wineberg. Sanya Richards Ross hanging on by a thread. With so many former championship medalists out before…
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T.G.I.F. Again – Tyson Gay Is Fast Again
He’s baaacckk. That’s the only conclusion I can come to after watching Tyson Gay blitz a world leading 9.86 in Kingston over the weekend. The slow start. The mid race, drag car acceleration. The race was vintage Tyson Gay. Most impressive however, was the way he overcame the blitzkrieg start of Nesta Carter and out ran the seasons early sensation, Doc Patton. Gay laid waste to these athletes like a sprinter who has few peers -and at=#2 all time that exactly how he should look. On the heels of a trio of 45 second quarters – two open and one relay – Tyson opened sharp. Sharp enough that we should…
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Mt SAC Leads HOT Weekend
We’re a weekend away from the Penn Relays, which is typically the meet that sets things off for the outdoor season. After this weekend’s performances however,I think things were set of just fine and we’re on our way to one hot track season. Things started off on a down note with word that Yohan Blake won’t be competing until the Jamaican championships in June. The cramp he suffered last week turned out to be a tear, so no more racing til then. Of course the way the top sprinters compete we won’t be missing much in terms of head to head competition, but it could affect his sharpness at Trials.…
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Who’s Windows are Threatening to Close?
A common phrase in the world of sports refers to an athletes "window" closing – to his or her window of opportunity expiring. In most cases we’re talking about the opportunity to win a title, but the term can also refer to obtaining records or other significant performances. Every couple of Olympic cycles or so, as the sport’s population begins to age at the top end, we get a group of individuals who’s windows begin to close. For these athletes, they start to compete against “Father Time” as much as their real world opponents. In that regard this year could be huge in the careers of several athletes – more…