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London Olympics – THAT Was Exciting !
OK, my feed was working all day, and it was a great day to watch live track and field at the Olympics. I’m a day behind, but so much happened not enough time or room to catch up on everything. I will say an outstanding win in the pole vault for Jenn Suhr (USA). Primarily because Yelena Isinbayeva was in the field and finished with the bronze. A great win for Jenn who upgraded from silver in Beijing, but more so the signal of change in the event, as “Isi’s” best days are clearly behind her. Remember a couple of weeks ago I said this was going to be a…
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London – Injuries, Upsets, Questions
The London leg of the Diamond League loomed as the most significant of the year for me. In part because it is the only DL meet to have all of the various events – so somewhat of a full preview before the Games – but also because London is where the Games are being held. We didn’t get a peak at the Olympic stadium, but otherwise the same conditions that will prevail at the Games. So it had the potential to be as close to a pre-Olympic meeting as one could put together. So, what were the results after two days of competition (somehow it still takes us two days…
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Pre–Outstanding Results, Lots of Questions
Trying to put something together on this meet has been giving me fits. Once again the Pre Classic was the best non championship meet on US soil. From the distance races Friday night (streamed live thank you) to the Bowerman Mile that closed out the NBC broadcast, the fields were top notch across the board. And at the end of the day, the results show 10 world leading performances, led by the very deep Kenyan 10,000 meter Trials. But while the results were outstanding, in many cases they were also confusing, as favorites didn’t always perform like favorites; and American athletes often didn’t look like the Trials were a scant…
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Liu (12.97) and Dibaba (3:57.77) in Shanghai
The Doha Diamond League event set a standard that may be difficult to match. And it didn’t help that the weather wasn’t very cooperative in Shanghai, as it was rainy throughout, keeping performances down.That made the world leading races by Genzebe Dibaba (ETH) and Liu Xiang (CHN) that much more phenomenal, as sterling marks were hard to come by in China. The women took to the track for the 1500 chasing the world leading time of 4:05.92 set last night by Shannon Rowbury (USA), and in spite of the conditions the pace maker set sail with splits of 62.3 / 2:08 with several women tucked in behind. Then Dibaba took…
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2012 Outdoor Preview – Hurdles
If you like speed and competition then you must like the hurdles. Unlike the pure sprinters, who seem to avoid each other as much as possible until forced to toe the line for championships, the hurdlers compete often and face each other with regularity. The sprinters tend to get more publicity but of the four hurdle events three of them have legitimate shots at having WR’s broken – two by more than one individual. The hurdles are among the hottest events in the sport, with some of it’s best athletes. If you’re not watching the hurdles you’re missing some of the best competition the sport has to offer. Here’s…
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Memories of the Games – The 110 Hurdles
We’ve got a bit of breathing room until the NCAA and World Indoor Championships get rolling next weekend, so I thought I would take another trip down memory lane to past Olympic Games. Looking over at my current poll where the men’s 110 hurdles is clearly winning as the WR most likely to fall this year, made me realize that the hurdles just may have been the most consistently exciting event of the auto timing era. I’m sure that statement will surprise many of you. After all young fans that have grown up with the Olympics of the last decade have grown up in the age of Mo Greene and…
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Hot Marks Indoors AND Outdoors
With the indoor season getting ready to wind down with various championships, some athletes are beginning to test themselves outdoors under the Australian sun. The result this weekend has been a combination of sterling marks both indoors AND outdoors, as the year looks ready to shift into Olympic Preparation Mode. The big indoor meeting of the week was the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham England, and it didn’t disappoint as several athletes left with world leading performances. Perhaps the most surprising being Jessica Ennis’ 7.87 60HH victory. Surprising because Ennis is foremost a Heptathlete, but clearly the hurdles are one of her strengths. She’s good enough to edge World silver…
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Video Updates – 2/18
For those of you that enjoy competition videos, the Videos page has been updated with the following recent indoor performances: Birmingham Grand Prix, Men’s 60 Hurdles Birmingham Grand Prix, Men’s 60 Meters Adam Kszczot’s 1:44.57 Kirani James’ 45.19 Genzebe Dibaba’s 4:00.13 Anna Chicherova’s 2.06m / 6’ 9” Jenn Suhr’s 4.88m/16’ Indoor AR WL And by request the Men’s 4×1 final from Daegu Enjoy
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What Role Will Injury Play in the London Sprints?
I ask that question because with approximately six months until London, we are already talking about injuries and/or potential injuries to top level athletes – most notably Usain Bolt’s visit to a German doctor. Coming on the heels of Bolt ending his 2011 season on an injury note, this could become a significant story line as we get closer to the Games. I say “could” become significant because there is still a lot of time on the calendar before we get into the June “qualifying” period of Olympic Trials across the globe. The injury story, however, almost always plays a role on the medal stand at the Olympics. Beijing lost…
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Potential 2012 Match Ups to Watch For
Things should start heating up pretty quickly now. The U.S. Marathon Trials are in less than two weeks, and the indoor season will be going strong by the end of the month. So we’ll be full gear into the buildup for London in just a few weeks. Of course one of the big questions in any Olympic year is: who will the major players. It might be a bit early to start identifying major players, but here are some matchups that I think bear looking for this year, that should have a major effect on medal distribution in London. Usain Bolt v Tyson Gay v Yohan Blake (Sprints) These…