-
Farah Sharp at “Hi Performance” Meet
The year’s best gathering of middle/long distance runners took place this past weekend in Southern California at the “Oxy Hi Performance” meet. But after all the races were run and the results came in, I’m still in the dark as to how things look for American distance running – and we’re only a month out from the Trials! Don’t get me wrong, there were some solid performances. Best of the bunch was Mo Farah (GBR) who turned in a 3:34.66 / 13:12.87 double with less than an hours rest between the two events – and won both! Farah starts off his season in fine shape – and I have to…
-
Interesting Results Out of Stanford
On Saturday the speed burners did their thing at Penn and Drake. On Sunday it was the distance runners turn, as several took to the track Sunday evening in the cool weather in Palo Alto. The results produced several world leaders and some interesting stories. First the new world leaders: 4:07.00 – Anna Pierce (USA) 3:35.19 – Andy Baddeley (GBR) 14:43.11 – Sally Kipyego (KEN) 13:11.63 – Lopez Lamong (USA) 31:15.97 – Betsy Saina (KEN) 27:27.96 – Cameron Levins (CAN) Those are the new leaders, now let’s take a look at the results – because some good stuff happened at Stanford – especially for middle distance runners. I’m going to…
-
8 Must See Trials Events
I’m getting antsy, it’s Friday night and no big results can be found – everything major will be happening Saturday. So my mind is wandering in the direction of the Trials. After all, once the smoke clears everything comes down to two meets this year – National Trials and the Olympic Games.In some countries the Trials may be the years most important meet, beside if you don’t get past the Trials you’ll never see the Games – at least not from the stadium in London. So I’m anticipating the Trials almost as much as the Games. With everything on the line and great depth in several events, the US Trials…
-
Mt SAC Match Ups
What’s a sign that this is an Olympic year? That the Mt SAC Relays are loaded. Several fields have multiple world class/ranked athletes scheduled to compete, and the overall level of athletes is as high as I’ve seen in a while. Below is my list of names and events that I think deserve more than a causal look – and there are plenty. This could end up being one of those “memorable” meets. So much so that that I expect that we’ll have LOTS to talk about when this meet is over. For example, take a look at the men’s 400 where Jeremy Wariner will be competing against US indoor…
-
Women’s 1500 Trials Should be Fierce
I want to talk a bit about the false start rule, as well as some of the weekend’s upcoming meets, and Monday’s marathon – and I’m going to do that tomorrow as we head into the weekend. After putting together my early Trials favorites list however, I couldn’t help but take another look at the women’s 1500 because just like the men’s 110 hurdles, we have one of the best fields ever in US Trials history shaping up. The depth is not quite as deep as the men’s hurdles, but the quality at the top is just as good, if not better. Top Current American Women 1500 Runners 3:59.38 Anna…
-
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…
-
New Balance Indoor GP Preview
The indoor season really got rocking last weekend, and looks to pick up stream with the World Indoor Championships just a tad over a month away (Mar 9-11). One of the next steps towards Istanbul is this weekend’s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston. This year’s meet is focusing on the middle and long distance events, and there is no shortage of solid matchups. As a matter of fact, having odd distances sometimes leads to matchups that you wouldn’t normally get in an outdoor meet as athletes move up and down in distance and sometimes meet in the middle of their specialties. Keeping that in mind following are five…
-
U.S. Open Preview
The U.S. Open Indoor meet will be held this weekend, and there are several events worth keeping an eye on, as there will be many top level athletes competing. So let’s take a look at what I think will be the top competitions. Men’s 50 Meters Easily one of the deepest fields of the meet, the men’s 50 has former Olympic & World 100 champion Justin Gatlin (USA); former 100 Meter WR holder Asafa Powell (JAM); and #4 all time in the 100 Nesta Carter (JAM) among the entrants. Powell and Carter are both known as super-fast starters, which should give them an edge in the shortest event on the…