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First Prediction – US 100 Men
It’s the end of the year, and a stones throw to the US Trials. That, and the suspension of Coleman has everyone trying to figure out the men’s sprint squad. That’s not going to be easy, because not everyone competed in 2020. Those that did had an abbreviated season and right now everyone is training for 2021. So picking this team today is going to be tough. As a matter of fact, it’s probably easier to pick the Tokyo final knowing who most of the rest of the world will be sending to the Games. But who said it has to be easy? This is the fun part of being…
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My Favorite All Time Middle Distance Runners
I’m still working on this years top 10 lists, so going to take another trip down memory lane and look at my favorite middle distance runners. As stated previously,you must be retired to make the list so that precludes the addition of current athletes like David Rudisha. It doesn’t diminish the list however, as some of the best ever have already graced the track. That said, I also want to remind that it’s not a Greatest of All Time list. It’s a list of my personal favorites. With that, lets give it a go. 1. Wilson Kipketer – Before David Rudisha there was Wilson Kipketer. Not as fast as Rudisha,…
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Trials Day 4 – Half Way to London
Heading into the midway break, Monday was the first really "quiet" day of the Trials. But then, how do you compete for headlines with Eaton’s WR, Dead Heat Gate, and the returns of Justin Gatlin & Tyson Gay? After all that excitement Monday was rather tame. With most of the London berths in the day’s field event finals already decided based on limited numbers of individuals with "A" standards, the"drama" for the day was produced by the two 800 finals. Alysia Montano took the guess work out of who would win the women’s race as she went immediately to the front; opened up a sizeable lead; and cruised home to…
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The Pieces are Coming Together
The great thing about the Penn Relays is that it’s the first time we get a large gathering of top athletes together at the same meet. The tough part is that they aren’t competing head to head and they’re not competing in individual events – so "evaluating" where they are can be a bit more difficult. And with the Trials less than two months away, and the Games within there months, trying to figure out the pecking order of the top athletes is on everyone’s mind. Well I think several athletes had great early auditions yesterday in Pennsylvania. On the men’s side the US won both "heats" of the 4×1:…
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Memories of the Games – Hart & Robinson
Between now and the start of the Games there will be quiet periods between the action. One of the things I’d like to do during the down times is share some of my memories of the Olympics. In most cases I will look at individuals or individual races, so today I’m going to start with my first major memory of the Games – Eddie Hart & Rey Robinson in Munich (’72). I started out as a sprint fan, in large part because my dad was a sprint fan, and I watched the ’68 Games with him, and there were sizzling sprints! But I remember them mostly as highlights as I…
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What Will Our Male Middle Distance Presence be in London
Looking back on 2011 & Daegu, and forward to 2012 & London, I find three areas in the U.S. that concern me. One is the men’s sprints & hurdles which I recentlytouched on. Another is our field events in general – something I’ll be talking about in the very near future. The other, that I’ll be addressing today, is our male middle distance runners. I say this in spite of Matt Centrowitz’ surprise bronze in Daegu, because it was just that – a surprise. Because right now there is only one middle distance runner that we can count on to produce when needed – Bernard Lagat – and his career…