{"id":2367,"date":"2019-01-23T11:32:24","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T19:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2019-01-23T11:32:24","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T19:32:24","slug":"how-about-a-real-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2367","title":{"rendered":"How About a Real World Championships?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It’s funny that one of the first things written about the sport in 2019 is about the addition of mixed relays to the World Relays event and to the World Championships. Funny, ha ha, in that they are being added ostensibly to make the events more interesting for “fans”.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How about we make the World Championships really interesting by having it be about THE BEST track and field athletes in the world? My point being that it’s time to have a true world event and not the knock off of the Olympics that we’ve been running since 1983. The Olympics were created as a “feel good” global competition. As such, EVERYONE gets to send athletes – regardless of how good they are. The result is that the first half of each event is spent “eliminating” individuals that really have no shot in the competition!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s great for the Olympics, but it’s time for us to have a championship that focuses on what’s exciting about track and field – head to head competition. So, to that end, I propose a Worlds where annually the top 32 individuals in each event are invited for the ultimate showdown\/meet. No byes. No previous champion, Diamond League champion (worthless in most cases), or any other made up you get a free pass individuals. Pick a cut off date and the top athletes on that day are given the opportunity to compete in the World Championships!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Would put our best athletes on the track (and field) during the season to get this year’s marks. There would be a reason for athletes to compete early season. Especially if the “tie breaker” for athletes with identical marks is their next best mark – or even third best if that’s what it takes. At the same time it would eliminate some of the brutal national meets that get rid of a lot of the world’s best talent BEFORE Worlds. Ensuring that the biggest meet of the season is truly the hottest competition of the year!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Will some nations dominate events? Yes they will. But if you have 6\/7 of the world’s best in an event then you should. Will some nations get left out? Yes, but THAT is what the Olympics are for. The World Championships will then become like those for soccer and basketball where the truly best are competing. Three rounds of exciting competition in every heat. The potential for “upsets” in every race. Our sport is at its best, when our best are competing. This is how you make your biggest meet of the year exciting.. Not by mixing up men and women in competition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Worlds would immediately become must watch TV. Wall to wall action. No days off kind of competition. And by the way, invite the top 32 relays as well. More exciting than boy girl boy girl. IF the goal is truly to make Worlds better and more exciting, this is the way to go.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s funny that one of the first things written about the sport in 2019 is about the addition of mixed relays to the World Relays event and to the World Championships. Funny, ha ha, in that they are being added ostensibly to make the events more interesting for “fans”.\u00a0 How about we make the World Championships really interesting by having it be about THE BEST track and field athletes in the world? My point being that it’s time to have a true world event and not the knock off of the Olympics that we’ve been running since 1983. The Olympics were created as a “feel good” global competition. As such, EVERYONE gets to send athletes – regardless of how good they are. The result is that the first half of each event is spent “eliminating” individuals that really have no shot in the competition!\u00a0 That’s great for the Olympics, but it’s time for us to have a championship that focuses on what’s exciting about track and field – head to head competition. So, to that end, I propose a Worlds where annually the top 32 individuals in each event are invited for the ultimate showdown\/meet. No byes. No previous champion, Diamond League champion (worthless in most cases), or any other made up you get a free pass individuals. Pick a cut off date and the top athletes on that day are given the opportunity to compete in the World Championships!\u00a0 Would put our best athletes on the track (and field) during the season to get this year’s marks. There would be a reason for athletes to compete early season. Especially if the “tie breaker” for athletes with identical marks is their next best mark – or even third best if that’s what it takes. At the same time it would eliminate some of the brutal national meets that get rid of a lot of the world’s best talent BEFORE Worlds. Ensuring that the biggest meet of the season is truly the hottest competition of the year!\u00a0 Will some nations dominate events? Yes they will. But if you have 6\/7 of the world’s best in an event then you should. Will some nations get left out? Yes, but THAT is what the Olympics are for. The World Championships will then become like those for soccer and basketball where the truly best are competing. Three rounds of exciting competition in every heat. The potential for “upsets” in every race. Our sport is at its best, when our best are competing. This is how you make your biggest meet of the year exciting.. Not by mixing up men and women in competition.\u00a0 Worlds would immediately become must watch TV. Wall to wall action. No days off kind of competition. And by the way, invite the top 32 relays as well. More exciting than boy girl boy girl. IF the goal is truly to make Worlds better and more exciting, this is the way to go.\u00a0<\/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":[74],"class_list":["post-2367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-world-championships"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-Cb","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2873,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2873","url_meta":{"origin":2367,"position":0},"title":"The World Championships Needs Changes","author":"CHill","date":"October 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Trailers are now out for the second season of \"Sprint\"! The huge selling point being that it's the \"Olympic Season\"! The season that matters. If you don't get it done at the Olympics, you won't be remembered! Unfortunately, this is probably true. I remember championship races outside of the Olympics.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/E84FD72B-E78B-4313-B88E-EF5F420C1A1B-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2045,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2045","url_meta":{"origin":2367,"position":1},"title":"My Thoughts on the World Relay Championships","author":"CHill","date":"June 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Focusing on coaching my high school kids, I missed discussing the early season to date, primarily the Diamond League and the World Relays Championship. That's a lot of action\/discussion, so will tackle one then the other and will start with the World Relays Championships since the subject has already come\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Championships\"","block_context":{"text":"Championships","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=championships"},"img":{"alt_text":"Conway Tyson Pic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Conway-Tyson-Pic_thumb1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":406,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=406","url_meta":{"origin":2367,"position":2},"title":"My Vision For the World Championships","author":"CHill","date":"October 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, I know it\u2019s October and we just had the opening ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games.\u00a0 But with the majority of top line athletes missing from the Commonwealth, my mind can\u2019t help but fast forward to the next gathering of the world\u2019s best athletes \u2013 the World Championships in Daegu.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=406#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"BERLIN - AUGUST 23: South Korean dancers perform during the Closing Ceremony during day nine of the 12th IAAF World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium on August 23, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Martin Rose\/Bongarts\/Getty Images)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view1.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/6136639\/12th-iaaf-world-athletics\/12th-iaaf-world-athletics.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":542,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=542","url_meta":{"origin":2367,"position":3},"title":"How Important Is Daegu?","author":"CHill","date":"August 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Or more to the point, how important are the World Championships? Where do they stand in the grand scheme of the sport? I ask because with just under a month until our \u201cBig Meet\u201d the season has seemed a bit, lackluster. Tyson Gay out. Usain Bolt subpar. Yelena Isinbayeva working\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=542#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh4.ggpht.com\/-c510PB3jByo\/Tjbc6jQ3qdI\/AAAAAAAAATM\/WPx8uU5Rbdo\/image_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=258","url_meta":{"origin":2367,"position":4},"title":"Time to Tweak the World Championships","author":"CHill","date":"December 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember looking forward to the first World Championships back in 1983. We had boycotted the 1980 Olympics, so the last time the US had participated in a global championships had been the Games of 1976! So it had been an eternity for track fans salivating for a global event.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Track and Field: 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/5\/8\/3\/2\/Track_and_Field_3c02.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2897,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2897","url_meta":{"origin":2367,"position":5},"title":"Understand the Assignment","author":"CHill","date":"May 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The World Relays has come and gone, with a lot of \"unexpected\" finishes left in its wake. After watching the races and the comments made during and after the event, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people really don't understand the purpose of the meet - including\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"World Athletics\"","block_context":{"text":"World Athletics","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=world-athletics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/2A6245A3-AA6C-4120-AF41-52A4ACA1A12A-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367","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=2367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2368,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions\/2368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}