• Will These Athletes Find Success Outdoors?

    Finally, it’s time to head outdoors, where the Olympic season will begin to gear up in earnest. But before I say goodbye to the 200 meter ovals, I want to point out a Baker’s Half Dozen (7) athletes that showed serious growth this indoor season. Good enough that I want to keep an eye on them as the year moves forward. Indoor track and outdoor track tend to be two different animals.  If you remember earlier I listed the Indoor Champions from ‘08 to see how they faired in Beijing. While all of these athletes did not win gold in Istanbul, all had indoor seasons that if duplicated could at…

  • More Thoughts on Championship Weekend

    Like I said yesterday, there was just too much to say after the weekend to put into one post, so I’m back to continue the conversation – and I think I’ll start with Sally Pearson (AUS). I didn’t include Sally yesterday because frankly she just didn’t have any competition – none. Yes there were other women out there, but we all knew she was running a time trial – and what a time trial! One meet, that’s all she’s had indoors all year. One meet and she clocked 7.73 making her equal 4th all-time – and she was only .05 off the WR! This woman is on track to do…

  • Claye, Isi, Lowe, & Kimmons Lead Busy Weekend

    There was a lot of activity in what was a long weekend of track and field as multiple day meets took center stage with athletes looking to qualify for the NCAA and World Championships. Clearly we are witnessing the first “peak” of the year, as many folk showed up ready to rock and roll! So many, that I’m going to tackle the highlights by areas of disciplines instead of individuals or individual events. Jumps and Vaults I’m going to start here, because the first real highlight of the weekend happened before the weekend got fully under way as Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) solidified her return to the vaulting wars by a)…