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It Doesn’t Get Much Better
It’s the toughest team in the world to make. That’s the general consensus when it comes to the US track and field team. Of course, if anyone has doubt, go and watch reruns of this year’s contest. Starting with the second half of the meet. Then try to pick your favorite event. Let’s see, you could select the men’s 110H. That has Grant Holloway running sub 13, three times. Two of them sub 12.90. Including 12.86, the #4 time in history (he also owns #2). Behind him were 12.93 (Freddie Crittenden) and 12.96 (Daniel Robert’s). Making this the first race in history with three men under 13.00! Times of 13.03…
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Story Lines Heading to Paris
We’re finally ready to go play outside! As exciting as this year’s indoor season was, outdoors is always better. If that’s the case, this is going to be a season for the ages. Especially the ending with Noah Lyles running the 4×4 and others saying, yo I wanted to do that! That is what Olympic seasons are about. The Ultimate in competition, combined with stories of all types. Success, failure, close finishes, rising stars. In many ways it’s the stories that make the Olympics. So today I’m going to throw some potential story lines out into the ether. Something to follow on the road to and during the Paris Games.…
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Men’s 200m Outlook, 2024
So, with the 100m in the books, as well as a discussion on the relay, let’s take a look at the 200m. I’ll start by saying that we have the fastest/deepest group that the event has ever seen! Three of the six fastest ever (four of ten) are currently competing. With ten of the top twenty all time running on the track this year. This is incredible depth. The list of current competitors includes seven national record holders and the World U20 record holder. It also includes the defending Olympic champion and the last three World champions – who all happen to be the same individual. As a matter of…
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The 4×1, Third Leg
Since I’ve given my 100m thoughts, I’m going to jump to the relay before discussing the deuce. Mostly because we’ve had so much failure in this event and I want to get my thoughts out there early. I was talking about the US relays recently with a coach friend and we agreed that it’s really not that difficult to put a squad together – or to coach it. So let me share my thoughts on relay construction. I’m going to start by saying that there is no “standard” way to put a 4×1 together. It depends on who YOU have available. I say this because so many people have this…
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Budapest Was As Good As Advertised
Prior to the start of Budapest 2023, I foresaw this as potentially one of the greatest championships ever. The losses of several top athletes didn’t deter me from this thought. Now that the meet has been run and the results are in, I would say that my original assessment was correct. The depth of talent in this sport is greater than it’s ever been. From late 30 year old veterans to young 19 and 20 year olds, I don’t think the sport has ever been better talent wise from top to bottom. Things started quite excitedly as the finals of the mixed relay and women’s 10,000 provided both tragedy and…
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Texas and Florida Signal Start of the Season
This year’s indoor season was as good as I’ve ever seen. Personally I much prefer outdoors, but the marks that were churned out this year, were nothing short of stellar. Especially on the women’s side. This coming with most “elite” athletes either not competing at all indoors, or only making a brief appearance. Still we got WR’s from Mondo Duplantis (6.22m), Ryan Crouser (23.38m), and Femke Bol (49.26). We also got great marks from Grant Holloway (7.35), Trayvon Bromell (6.42), and Britton Wilson (49.49). Marks good enough to be outstanding outdoors! Which is where we’re finally headed. There have been a few meets already, but with the Florida and Texas…
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2022 – One Outstanding Season
Just as the letter Z closes out the alphabet. Zurich and Zagreb have closed out the 2022 track season. And what a season it’s been. More Championships than ever in one season with NCAA’s, Nationals, Worlds, U20’s, Commonwealth, NACAC, and Europeans! That’s enough to fill an Olympic cycle, let alone one year. That’s just championship meets. There were the other usual competitions. The relay meets – Florida, Texas, Penn, MtSAC and others. The European Circuit, Diamond League, Continental Tour, and other assorted meets. With that many competitive opportunities you would expect a few exceptional results. Well we had more than a few. As several all time lists were edited in…
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They Said He Couldn’t Be Replaced
I’ve been saying since before Covid, that the 200 meters is the deepest and most exciting event in the sport. Primarily because that’s where the bulk of the sprint talent is – on both the men and women’s sides. Judging from the results coming out of the World U20 Championships the deuce is only going to get better. Especially on the men’s side. It’s rare that a young sprinter comes along that legitimately runs adult elite times in the 200. The most recent was a young Usain Bolt, who became the first to run sub20 (19.93) in 2004. Given what at that time was considered a legendary run, it was…
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Trials Preview
Now that we’ve gotten past the first big championship meet of the year (NC’s) we’re days, not weeks, away from US Trials. Days as in about 10. A meet that many consider as tough as Worlds. Given its depth and cutthroat nature. This year should be no different with several high level matchups on the horizon. In some ways that’s an understatement, because basically every event has some sort of high level matchup. This year, however, there are some matchups that seem more exciting to me than usual. For example. Trey Cunningham v Devon Allen – Men’s 110H At the start of the season, most would have predicted…
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The Chill List
It seems that everyone has a “list” these days. There’s the Bowerman for collegiate athletes. And I’ve noticed several podcasts attempting to put together lists. The problem that I have with these lists however. It’s that it’s basically impossible to separate say 10 athletes from the pack in this sport. Especially Post Covid, as it seems that every event has at least two or three deserving athletes – at every level of the sport! So, I’ve decided to create a list that ISN’T supposed to be the ten “best” athletes in track and field. Instead, my list is of the ten athletes I’m going to focus on watching this year!…