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World Championships Review–Individuals Pt1
Now for the fun part, looking at individual performances – and there were certainly some very good ones. First however, let’s get a bit of perspective by taking a look at medal counts. The double digit medal earners: United States 25 total, 6 gold, 14 silver, 5 bronze. Russia 17 total, 7 gold, 4 silver, 6 bronze Kenya 12 total, 5 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze Ethiopia 10 total, 3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze As expected Russians performed well at home. While traditional European power Germany continues to have difficulty getting back to Eastern Bloc prominence. In general there was no core of dominant nations, but a relatively even…
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Trials Final Weekend
After over a week of action, the Trials wrapped things up in nice style this weekend. There were only 2 finals on the track on Saturday, but 5 on Sunday. With 2 field finals each day. One would almost think they could have had single day “finale” and did it up right for the fans. Still there was some great action over the final two days. There were only four finals on Saturday, but they were something else. In the field we got what we expected in triple jump with Christian Taylor and Will Claye setting the pace. They did it early with Taylor hitting 17.32m/57’10.25” and Claye 17.55m/57’7” in…
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The Top Collegians Heading Into the Trials
It’s finally here – the Olympic Trials. The biggest meet outside of the Games themselves. And with the first half of the Diamond League and the NCAA Championships concluding this past weekend, I think I’ve seen enough to stick my neck out there and make my predictions on the crap shoot that is the Trials. The toughest road to London may be the one taken by those still in college. College athletes are part of programs that compete for indoor titles, and outdoor titles before they finally get to line up to take their shot at making the Olympic team. So while the elite athletes get to take their time…
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Early Weekend Results – Oslo / NCAA
It’s only Friday, but we’ve already had enough track to fill a weekend – and we’re just getting started! The early results are in, and while Oslo wasn’t quite as hot as I had hoped, the "kids" we definitely ahead of expectations at the NCAA Championships! Let’s start with Oslo where vets Usain Bolt (JAM) and Sally Pearson (AUS) confirmed their status as early London favorites. Fresh off his 9.76 in Rome last week, Bolt cranked out a 9.79 in Oslo. Again his only competition came from teammate Asafa Powell who was second in 9.85. Powell seemed more relaxed today as he wasn’t right next to Bolt, and no one…
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Hot Weekend After Ostrava
This weekend was a reminder that this support is not always as predictable as we like top think it is. For example, the hot meet was supposed to be in Ostrava. After all that was the meet with all the "names" – Bolt, VCB, Spearmon, Merritt, and Semenya among others .But as the sun is beginning to set, things got hot after Ostrava – mostly by what appears to be a budding youth movement this season. From collegiate athletes at the two Division I Regionals; to the first major high school post season invitational; to a pair of "lesser" meets on the European Circuit; a slew of young up and…
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More Weekend Highlights
Day one of the Florida Relays was a hard act to follow, but the rest of the weekend managed to hold it’s own starting with Day Two in Florida. Focused on relay events the men’s 4×1 and the women’s 4×4 produced some outstanding times. In the 4×1 a Pure Athletics team of Mookie Salaam, Keston Bledman, Travis Padgett, and Nickel Ashmead went 38.64 to win ahead of host Florida’s 38.91. The winning time equaled the #3 time in the world while Florida became the #3 collegiate 4×1 on the season. Notable in 4th place was Star Athletics which featured Trell Kimmons to Justin Gatlin on the first two legs. Notable…
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Florida Relays Day One – Sizzling
Usually I wait through the weekend to talk about the highlights, but they were running so fast in Florida that Day One was just a repeat highlight reel. Tiffany Porter (GBR) started the afternoon off with a nice 12.96 (-0.5) – fastest time this side of last week’s blazer in Tuscon, and of course Sally Pearson (AUS). Then an early treat as the male hurdlers took the track. Crossing the finish line first in 13.10 (+3.0) was Ronnie Ash (USA), as he ran his way into the early hurdle conversation taking the scalps of Dexter Faulk (USA) 13.25, Dexter Faulk (USA) 13.25, Lehann Fourie (RSA) 13.31 and David Oliver (USA)…
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Has the U.S. Lost Its Sprint Mojo?
Talking with a neighbor who is a fan, but not an “uber” fan, of the sport after this weekend’s U.S. Open, I was asked “what’s wrong with the U.S. sprinters?” When I asked what he meant, he basically said that we didn’t win either sprint (won by Asafa Powell & Veronica Campbell). I responded that many of our best weren’t at the meet, and his follow up was that we didn’t win the World Championships, or the one before that, or the Olympic Games either. We had a nice chat after that, and while I won’t bore you with the blow by blow conversation, it did make me realize a…
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Who Will Emerge in 2012 – Men
Christmas is behind us and that means the new year, and the 2012 Olympic season, is only a week away. If there is one thing that is certain about an Olympic year, it’s that there will be athletes that step out of the shadows and into the spotlight. The ’76 Games in Montreal gave us Edwin Moses. The ’92 Games of Barcelona brought us Quincy Watts and Kevin Young. 2004 was the big stage debut of Keninisa Bekele, and of course Beijing was Usain Bolt’s time to shine. You never know whose star is going to shine, but you can bet that someone unheard of, unheralded, someone that’s lost before,…