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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…
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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…
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Potential London “Upsets”
Reading through the news I noticed that currently the sports books have Usain Bolt as an overwhelming favorite to win 100 meter gold in London. While Bolt has earned the right to be considered favorite vis a vis his competitive record in the last four years, the Olympics is the place where miracles – or at least upsets – occur with regularity. One need look no further than Bolt himself who emerged from last place finish in the ’05 200 final, and a silver in the ’07 race, to double sprint gold – and double WRs – in Beijing. Or how about the Seoul Games of ’88 where record holders…
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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…
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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…
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American Women Leading the Way to London
As we close to door on the 2011season all was not bleak for the U.S. on the track. While our men had their difficulties and many lament that the rest of the world has “caught up” to us; the distaff side of things did remarkably well. From the 100 through the 1500, including the relay and hurdle events – U.S. women were on or very near the podium. In some cases “catching up” to the rest of the world! Following the Beijing Games, many were ready to concede sprint supremacy and dominance to Jamaica. After a Jamaican sweep of the 100, another 200 win by Valerie Campbell Brown over Felix,…