{"id":1625,"date":"2012-09-20T10:37:42","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T17:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1625"},"modified":"2012-09-20T10:37:42","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T17:37:42","slug":"what-are-the-sports-best-rivalries-pt2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1625","title":{"rendered":"What are the Sport’s Best Rivalries (pt2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Allyson<\/a>The last time around I took a look at some rivalries on the men’s side of things that l think would be a good sell to build the sport from a marketing perspective. Today I want to broaden that to include the women (and a hybrid) – who actually tend to compete against reach other on a more regular basis than the men.<\/p>\n

The first rivalry I want to look at really hasn’t become one yet but I think could be a doozy – Allyson Felix v Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce over 200 meters. Both women have experienced rivalries in other events – Felix v Veronica Campbell Brown over 200, and SAFP v Carmelita Jeter over 100. Both rivalries have been great, but both have a woman on the other side that is beginning to age – Campbell Brown and Jeter. Felix and SAFP on the other hand are both young and talented, and Fraser Pryce has gotten very good in the deuce. With both women beginning their approach to their late 20s they’re ready to hit their prime – which means some sub 22 showdowns could be in store.<\/p>\n

Felix is involved in another potential rivalry that I would LOVE to see play out – Felix v Richards Ross over 400 meters. Sanya is the best of the world in the event, and in spite of a few mistakes at Majors has dominated this event for most of the last decade. Allyson, however, has run 49.5 in minimal appearances and has shown in relay action that she may indeed be the best in the world. The problem has been that Felix favors the 200 and needs the speed and rhythm of the 100 to perform her best there. Trying to double in the 200\/400 is just hard as Allyson found out in Daegu and Sanya found out in London. But oh would I like to see this pair for just one season doing nothing but running the 400, and going at it in \u201cbest out of five\u201d on the season. Perhaps we could find ourselves back in that mid 48 second range once again – or perhaps even lower! Great for the fans, great for TV, great for the sport!<\/p>\n

\"Sanya<\/a>Everyone loves to talk about the sprints, but like the men the women’s short hurdle race has become one of the hottest events on the track. In 2011, Sally Pearson stepped up her game and became #4 all time in the event. This year Dawn Harper became =#7 all time and took Pearson to the photo in London. Suddenly we have a rivalry at a level not seen since the 80s! Both women should have at least one more Olympic cycle in them – that’s at least four more years of sub12.50 racing. I think that is very marketable.<\/p>\n

One of my personal all time favorite rivalries was Jackie Joyner Kersee v Heike Dreschler in the long jump. I’m beginning to think that Brittney Reese v Anna Nazarova could be the next big long jump rivalry. Both women are outstanding jumpers. They are approximately the same age. And they bring that East v West vibe to the track. What I like most however, is that Reese has that 24 foot ability and I think Nazarova is competitive enough to push her to it – and possibly beat her in the process. They have all the ingredients to be must see TV.<\/p>\n

Speaking of must see TV, a great multi event rivalry can be just that which is why I love the pairing of Jessica Ennis v Tatyana Chernova. Another pair of exceptional athletes who also bring that East v West vibe – and they get eight events and two days of head to head competition to thrill a crowd. Ennis got a lot of publicity competing at home in the Games, but she and Chernova are headline quality regardless of location or event. <\/p>\n

Finally there are two great rivalries that get very little opportunity to play out – the men and women’s 4×100 meter relays. When the Jamaican and American men and women take to the track with batons in hand the resulting race is about as exciting as it gets in all of sport. Look no further than London where they produced a pair of WR efforts. Unfortunately we only get to see this once a year. The IAAF should really look at encouraging the inclusion of the 4×1 (& 4×4) into more meets. Perhaps adding it to the Diamond League as a diamond event – with a bit of financial incentive. Now THAT could become be the best rivalry in all of sport! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time around I took a look at some rivalries on the men’s side of things that l think would be a good sell to build the sport from a marketing perspective. Today I want to broaden that to include the women (and a hybrid) – who actually tend to compete against reach other on a more regular basis than the men. The first rivalry I want to look at really hasn’t become one yet but I think could be a doozy – Allyson Felix v Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce over 200 meters. Both women have experienced rivalries in other events – Felix v Veronica Campbell Brown over 200, and SAFP v Carmelita Jeter over 100. Both rivalries have been great, but both have a woman on the other side that is beginning to age – Campbell Brown and Jeter. Felix and SAFP on the other hand are both young and talented, and Fraser Pryce has gotten very good in the deuce. With both women beginning their approach to their late 20s they’re ready to hit their prime – which means some sub 22 showdowns could be in store. Felix is involved in another potential rivalry that I would LOVE to see play out – Felix v Richards Ross over 400 meters. Sanya is the best of the world in the event, and in spite of a few mistakes at Majors has dominated this event for most of the last decade. Allyson, however, has run 49.5 in minimal appearances and has shown in relay action that she may indeed be the best in the world. The problem has been that Felix favors the 200 and needs the speed and rhythm of the 100 to perform her best there. Trying to double in the 200\/400 is just hard as Allyson found out in Daegu and Sanya found out in London. But oh would I like to see this pair for just one season doing nothing but running the 400, and going at it in \u201cbest out of five\u201d on the season. Perhaps we could find ourselves back in that mid 48 second range once again – or perhaps even lower! Great for the fans, great for TV, great for the sport! Everyone loves to talk about the sprints, but like the men the women’s short hurdle race has become one of the hottest events on the track. In 2011, Sally Pearson stepped up her game and became #4 all time in the event. This year Dawn Harper became =#7 all time and took Pearson to the photo in London. Suddenly we have a rivalry at a level not seen since the 80s! Both women should have at least one more Olympic cycle in them – that’s at least four more years of sub12.50 racing. I think that is very marketable. One of my personal all time favorite rivalries was Jackie Joyner Kersee v Heike Dreschler in the long jump. I’m beginning to think that Brittney Reese v Anna Nazarova could be the next big long jump rivalry. Both women are outstanding jumpers. They are approximately the same age. And they bring that East v West vibe to the track. What I like most however, is that Reese has that 24 foot ability and I think Nazarova is competitive enough to push her to it – and possibly beat her in the process. They have all the ingredients to be must see TV. Speaking of must see TV, a great multi event rivalry can be just that which is why I love the pairing of Jessica Ennis v Tatyana Chernova. Another pair of exceptional athletes who also bring that East v West vibe – and they get eight events and two days of head to head competition to thrill a crowd. Ennis got a lot of publicity competing at home in the Games, but she and Chernova are headline quality regardless of location or event. Finally there are two great rivalries that get very little opportunity to play out – the men and women’s 4×100 meter relays. When the Jamaican and American men and women take to the track with batons in hand the resulting race is about as exciting as it gets in all of sport. Look no further than London where they produced a pair of WR efforts. Unfortunately we only get to see this once a year. The IAAF should really look at encouraging the inclusion of the 4×1 (& 4×4) into more meets. Perhaps adding it to the Diamond League as a diamond event – with a bit of financial incentive. Now THAT could become be the best rivalry in all of sport!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[106,119,84,392,28,19,212],"class_list":["post-1625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-felix","tag-fraser","tag-harper","tag-nazarova","tag-pearson","tag-reese","tag-richards-ross"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-qd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":271,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=271","url_meta":{"origin":1625,"position":0},"title":"Rivalries Drive Sport","author":"CHill","date":"February 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Russell vs Chamberlin. Lakers vs Celtics. Ali vs Frasier. Rivalries create excitement, enthusiasm, passion and lasting memories, Boxing enthusiasts still talk about The Thrilla in Manilla. The Super Bowl was born of the rivalry between the AFL and the NFL. Magic vs Bird revived a then struggling NBA.Track and field\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Filbert Bayi","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/a\/d\/9\/b\/Filbert_Bayi_837f.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":422,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=422","url_meta":{"origin":1625,"position":1},"title":"Top of My Xmas Wish List\u2013Hot Rivalries","author":"CHill","date":"December 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the time of year when you submit your wish list to Santa Claus in hopes that come Christmas morning you will find something special beneath the tree. While that list has already been sent off, I do have another list that I\u2019m hoping the \u201cSanta\u201d of track and\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=422#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"OSAKA, JAPAN - AUGUST 30: (L-R) Second placed Usain Bolt of Jamaica and race winner Tyson Gay of the United States of America cross the finish line during the Men's 200m Final on day six of the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships on August 30, 2007 at the Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan. (Photo by Andy Lyons\/Getty Images)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/1152029\/11th-iaaf-world-athletics\/11th-iaaf-world-athletics.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1619,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1619","url_meta":{"origin":1625,"position":2},"title":"What are the Sport’s Best Rivalries?","author":"CHill","date":"September 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Coming off a successful Olympics and 2012 season, it\u2019s time to take a look at how the sport can improve moving forward. One of the glaring problems in the past few seasons in my opinion has been the false start rule which I addressed a couple of days ago. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Aman\"","block_context":{"text":"Aman","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=aman"},"img":{"alt_text":"David Rudisha3","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/David-Rudisha3_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1052,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1052","url_meta":{"origin":1625,"position":3},"title":"Blake 9.90 Leads Weekend Activities","author":"CHill","date":"April 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Rivalries are GREAT for the sport of track and field. I just can\u2019t say that enough. Athletes seem to compete better when they have a chip on their shoulder; something to prove; a score to settle; or sometimes just plain don\u2019t like each other. Ovett v Coe. Nehemiah v Foster.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Blake\"","block_context":{"text":"Blake","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=blake"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yohan Blake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Yohan-Blake_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":423,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=423","url_meta":{"origin":1625,"position":4},"title":"Best Ever \u2013 My Favorite Heated Rivalries","author":"CHill","date":"December 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As I stated previously, one of the things that has been missing from the sport are high level rivalries. We have some of the best athletes the sport has ever seen, but getting them to compete against each other with anything remotely resembling regularity seems to be nearly impossible as\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"24 Sep 1988: Left to Right: Ben Johnson of Canada, Calvin Smith of the USA, Linford Christie of Great Britain and Carl Lewis of the USA sprint away from the starting blocks during the 100 Metres final at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. \\ Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK \/Allsport","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view1.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/3294481\/ben-johnson-canada-linford\/ben-johnson-canada-linford.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":577,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=577","url_meta":{"origin":1625,"position":5},"title":"Zurich \u2013 Speed Upstarts Rule","author":"CHill","date":"September 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the recurring themes of the recently completed World Championships was that of up and coming athletes breaking through to the big time. While it was clear in Zurich that it\u2019s time for the season to end as many athletes are now weary, several of the upstarts in Daegu\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Blake\"","block_context":{"text":"Blake","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=blake"},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh4.ggpht.com\/-0vQUMFTIAIM\/TmoNUQEIEZI\/AAAAAAAAAd0\/qmX95bUyoeY\/image_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1626,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625\/revisions\/1626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}