{"id":2668,"date":"2022-07-01T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-01T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2668"},"modified":"2022-07-01T06:00:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T13:00:32","slug":"the-world-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2668","title":{"rendered":"The World is Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Sound the alarm. The British are coming. The British are coming. And the French, Italians, Nigerians, and Ethiopians. The World Championships begin July 15th, and they’ll be here in the United States for the first time. While people are making a big deal out of it, the US has hosted global events in the past. I mean, We’ve hosted the two largest sports gatherings in the world, the Soccer World Cup (’97\/’03) and the Olympics several times – most recently in Atlanta in 1996. As a matter of fact, we’ll be hosting the Olympics again in 2028. And recently we hosted the World Indoor Track Championships in 2016. This just happens to be the first World Outdoor Track Championships in America.<\/p>\n

It couldn’t come at a better time. Coming on the heels of an Olympics where we had to travel half way around the world, in the middle of a global health crisis. And to be honest, we didn’t do as well as we anticipated. Not that we expected to dominate the Olympics mind you, because the world has gotten better. A lot better. There were events however, that we’ve just traditionally performed a bit better than we did in Tokyo. I’m talking primarily about the sprints, hurdles, and relays. And Americans took issue with that. I’m not gonna lie, I had a problem with that myself. Reasons were given however, such as showing up without enough time to acclimate, because of Covid rules, and the lack of a training camp for the same reason. In the end, the results were some sub par performances on the track.<\/p>\n

So, after selecting what appears to be another stellar team. We get a “do over” in two weeks time – with a “home field advantage” no less! No long term travel, because this time there will only be a couple of time zones involved. No masks, or restrictions. And we’ll have the ability to conduct training camps. Best of all, we’ll be competing at the same venue where we recently completed our national championships. In front of a home crowd no less. Much better conditions than a year ago. So, will we be able to “make up” for last year’s performances? I would say the odds are excellent that we do. So, this is how we’ll look on the track in those “failed” events this time.<\/p>\n

Sprints<\/b>
\nThe sprints tend to get a lot of focus in global Championships. Especially the 100 meters. Part of last year’s “disappointment” was that we lost both the men and women’s titles in this signature event. This go round, both the men and women have outstanding squads to put on the track. Led by Trials champions Fred Kerley (9.76) and Melissa Jefferson (10.69w). The finishers behind both, put up stellar times, with the men – Marvin Bracy (9.85) and Trayvon Bromell (9.82) standing among the best in the world. On the women’s side, only the Jamaicans can keep us off the podium. As based on recent performances the US women should be more competitive than in Tokyo!<\/p>\n

We also have the defending World champions in the men’s 100 (Christian Coleman) and 200 (Noah Lyles) to go with the above. Current world 200 leader, Erriyon Knighton. And two of the three fastest quartermilers this year in Michael Norman, Champion Allison and Randolph Ross. On the women’s side we have Trials 200 champion, Abby Steiner. Who has 3 of the top 4 times in the world in her event. Throw in strong depth in each event, and we should improve on last year’s performances.<\/p>\n

Hurdles<\/b>
\nThe men’s 110H boasts defending World champion, Grant Holloway (12.81) who is #2 all time. He’ll be joined by #3 all time, Devon Allen (12.84); Collegiate champion, Trey Cunningham (13.00); and former national champion, Daniel Roberts (13.00). A pretty formidable group. The women’s short hurdles are just as formidable with the defending World champion (Nia Ali). And the current two fastest women in the world, Keni Harrison and Alaysha Johnson. As good as the short hurdle group is, the 400H group is even stronger! I’ll start with the women and defending champion, Delilah Muhammad, who is also #2 all time. Then I’ll follow up with Olympic champion and WR holder, Sydney McLaughlin. Who is threatening to put the record out of reach of mere mortals! Throw in collegiate champ Britton Wilson and super vet Shamier Little, and the only thing preventing a sweep might be Dutch hurdler Femke Bol, #3 all time. On the men’s side, we boast Olympic silver medalist and #2 all time, Rai Benjamin. He’s joined by two newbies at this level in Trevor Bassett and Khalifa Rosser. New but fast, as they are #’s 3 & 4 on the yearly list<\/p>\n

Relays<\/b>
\nPerhaps the biggest complaints came after the relays last year. Specifically the 4×1’s. Now, the men’s was well deserved. As it was the first time they’ve finished a race and failed to make the final. The result of horrible passing. The women however, won silver in one of the fastest times ever run by an American squad. They just lost. But the final pass left a bit to be desired. So, the “what if” syndrome took over. This time around, we have a new relay coach in Mike Marsh. Former 200 meter gold medalist and multiple relay gold medalist. And the athletes have already been talking about a relay camp. So the assumption on my part is that practice will be held, and done properly. Add to that, a sterling list of individuals to choose from for the relay pool. I’m going to stick my neck out and say that we will see better results at Worlds this time.<\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m expecting to see all the way around – better. Starting with winning. We did collect a fair number of medals in these events at Tokyo. The real issue however, was that we didn’t win a single individual gold medal on either the men or women’s side. That was a first. I don’t see that happening again this year. We’re truly too good and too deep for that to happen. If it does, then the world has not only caught up, but surpassed us. And THAT would be cause for some serious soul searching, because we have the talent, coaching, and resources.<\/p>\n

That said, my next post will be my “Predictions” for these events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sound the alarm. The British are coming. The British are coming. And the French, Italians, Nigerians, and Ethiopians. The World Championships begin July 15th, and they’ll be here in the United States for the first time. While people are making a big deal out of it, the US has hosted global events in the past. I mean, We’ve hosted the two largest sports gatherings in the world, the Soccer World Cup (’97\/’03) and the Olympics several times – most recently in Atlanta in 1996. As a matter of fact, we’ll be hosting the Olympics again in 2028. And recently we hosted the World Indoor Track Championships in 2016. This just happens to be the first World Outdoor Track Championships in America. It couldn’t come at a better time. Coming on the heels of an Olympics where we had to travel half way around the world, in the middle of a global health crisis. And to be honest, we didn’t do as well as we anticipated. Not that we expected to dominate the Olympics mind you, because the world has gotten better. A lot better. There were events however, that we’ve just traditionally performed a bit better than we did in Tokyo. I’m talking primarily about the sprints, hurdles, and relays. And Americans took issue with that. I’m not gonna lie, I had a problem with that myself. Reasons were given however, such as showing up without enough time to acclimate, because of Covid rules, and the lack of a training camp for the same reason. In the end, the results were some sub par performances on the track. So, after selecting what appears to be another stellar team. We get a “do over” in two weeks time – with a “home field advantage” no less! No long term travel, because this time there will only be a couple of time zones involved. No masks, or restrictions. And we’ll have the ability to conduct training camps. Best of all, we’ll be competing at the same venue where we recently completed our national championships. In front of a home crowd no less. Much better conditions than a year ago. So, will we be able to “make up” for last year’s performances? I would say the odds are excellent that we do. So, this is how we’ll look on the track in those “failed” events this time. Sprints The sprints tend to get a lot of focus in global Championships. Especially the 100 meters. Part of last year’s “disappointment” was that we lost both the men and women’s titles in this signature event. This go round, both the men and women have outstanding squads to put on the track. Led by Trials champions Fred Kerley (9.76) and Melissa Jefferson (10.69w). The finishers behind both, put up stellar times, with the men – Marvin Bracy (9.85) and Trayvon Bromell (9.82) standing among the best in the world. On the women’s side, only the Jamaicans can keep us off the podium. As based on recent performances the US women should be more competitive than in Tokyo! We also have the defending World champions in the men’s 100 (Christian Coleman) and 200 (Noah Lyles) to go with the above. Current world 200 leader, Erriyon Knighton. And two of the three fastest quartermilers this year in Michael Norman, Champion Allison and Randolph Ross. On the women’s side we have Trials 200 champion, Abby Steiner. Who has 3 of the top 4 times in the world in her event. Throw in strong depth in each event, and we should improve on last year’s performances. Hurdles The men’s 110H boasts defending World champion, Grant Holloway (12.81) who is #2 all time. He’ll be joined by #3 all time, Devon Allen (12.84); Collegiate champion, Trey Cunningham (13.00); and former national champion, Daniel Roberts (13.00). A pretty formidable group. The women’s short hurdles are just as formidable with the defending World champion (Nia Ali). And the current two fastest women in the world, Keni Harrison and Alaysha Johnson. As good as the short hurdle group is, the 400H group is even stronger! I’ll start with the women and defending champion, Delilah Muhammad, who is also #2 all time. Then I’ll follow up with Olympic champion and WR holder, Sydney McLaughlin. Who is threatening to put the record out of reach of mere mortals! Throw in collegiate champ Britton Wilson and super vet Shamier Little, and the only thing preventing a sweep might be Dutch hurdler Femke Bol, #3 all time. On the men’s side, we boast Olympic silver medalist and #2 all time, Rai Benjamin. He’s joined by two newbies at this level in Trevor Bassett and Khalifa Rosser. New but fast, as they are #’s 3 & 4 on the yearly list Relays Perhaps the biggest complaints came after the relays last year. Specifically the 4×1’s. Now, the men’s was well deserved. As it was the first time they’ve finished a race and failed to make the final. The result of horrible passing. The women however, won silver in one of the fastest times ever run by an American squad. They just lost. But the final pass left a bit to be desired. So, the “what if” syndrome took over. This time around, we have a new relay coach in Mike Marsh. Former 200 meter gold medalist and multiple relay gold medalist. And the athletes have already been talking about a relay camp. So the assumption on my part is that practice will be held, and done properly. Add to that, a sterling list of individuals to choose from for the relay pool. I’m going to stick my neck out and say that we will see better results at Worlds this time. As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m expecting to see all the way around – better. Starting with winning. We did collect a fair number of medals in these events at Tokyo. The real issue however, was that we didn’t win a single individual gold medal on either the men or women’s side. That was a first. I don’t see that happening again this year. We’re truly too good and too deep for that to happen. If it does, then the world has not only caught up, but surpassed us. And THAT would be cause for some serious soul searching, because we have the talent, coaching, and resources. That said, my next post will be my “Predictions” for these events.<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-2668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-H2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":212,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=212","url_meta":{"origin":2668,"position":0},"title":"Time for the US to Step Up and Host a World Championships","author":"CHill","date":"August 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"With two weeks until Worlds and no other meets to look forward to, my mind is now fixated on the World Championships and Berlin. The World Championships have been a staple in Europe since its' inception in 1983. So far eleven renditions of the meet have been held and all\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=258","url_meta":{"origin":2668,"position":1},"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":2685,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2685","url_meta":{"origin":2668,"position":2},"title":"What’s Next?","author":"CHill","date":"July 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a different kind of season with the World Championships being held in the middle of July. Usually the championship meet is at the end of the season. September, maybe late August in an early year. Leaving a lot of track season out there left to be run. So,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Commonwealth Games\"","block_context":{"text":"Commonwealth Games","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=commonwealth-games"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/6B8E235B-830F-4861-93D3-7B66B5A82440-150x150.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":446,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=446","url_meta":{"origin":2668,"position":3},"title":"Should the Olympics Adopt the IAAF Sprint Changes?","author":"CHill","date":"February 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I ask that question because over the past few days I\u2019ve read many, many complaints about sprinters receiving a \u201cbye\u201d from the first round of the Olympics \u2013 based upon the changes to be instituted at this year\u2019s World Championships in Daegu. I raise the question not because I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2367,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=2367","url_meta":{"origin":2668,"position":4},"title":"How About a Real World Championships?","author":"CHill","date":"January 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"World Championships\"","block_context":{"text":"World Championships","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=world-championships"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Sprinter-Shadow_thumb-115x150.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":406,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=406","url_meta":{"origin":2668,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668","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=2668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2669,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2668\/revisions\/2669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}