{"id":414,"date":"2010-11-05T16:38:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-05T23:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=414"},"modified":"2010-11-05T16:38:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-05T23:38:00","slug":"the-best-of-2010-the-meet-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=414","title":{"rendered":"The Best of 2010 \u2013The Meet of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/sports\/track-and-field-ncaa\/image\/9162522?term=ncaa+track+and+field+championships\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/9162522\/track-and-field-ncaa\/track-and-field-ncaa.jpg?resize=234%2C297\" border=\"0\" width=\"234\" title=\"Track and Field: NCAA Championships\" height=\"297\" oncontextmenu=\"return false;\" ondrag=\"return false;\" onmousedown=\"return false;\" alt=\"Jun 12, 2010; Eugene, OR, USA; Keshia Baker of Oregon (right) edges Jessica Beard of Texas A&amp;M on the anchor of the women's 4 x 400m relay, 3:28.54 to 3:28.57, in the 2010 NCAA Track &amp; Field Championships at Hayward Field. Photo via Newscom\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear:left;height:0px;overflow: hidden;\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/view.picapp.com\/\/JavaScripts\/OTIjs.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As I continue to take a look back at the 2010 season, I\u2019ve looked at some standard \u201cawards\u201d (Athlete of the Year) as well as some not so standard (Top Breakthrough Americans).<\/p>\n<p>This is another of those non standard awards. Though I think there should be some way of&nbsp; evaluating how well our meets do every year. If for no other reason than to tweak them for the better. Because the better we present our product, the better the sport should become. <\/p>\n<p>So, what meets caught my eye in 2010? Well, Stockholm\u2019s DN Galan meet gave us the match up of the year as Tyson Gay defeated Usain Bolt to lay claim to the title World\u2019s Fastest Human of 2010. While Berlin may have had the year\u2019s most magical moment as Dsvid Rudisha toured two laps of the bright blue oval in 1:41.09 to take down one of the sport\u2019s most revered records \u2013 Wilson Kipketer\u2019s 1:41.11 from 1997! But both lacked depth throughout.<\/p>\n<p>The European Championships in Split saw many of Europe\u2019s best post their best marks of the year, but the results on the track were far below par in most cases compared to the best of the rest of the world.<\/p>\n<p>And with no Major Championship berths on the line, most national championships were a cut below what we\u2019ve become accustomed to. Leaving us with a lot of \u201cgood\u201d meets but not many great meets.<\/p>\n<p>Zurich and Brussels were the finale meets for the inaugural Diamond League. Which means that they brought together the largest contingent of top athletes on the circuit. And Zurich gave us an outstanding showing of speed with Campbell Brown and Jeter turning in identical 10.89\u2019s with Veronica winning&nbsp; by a whisker. Wallace Spearmon (19.79) and Jeremy Wariner (44.13) showing nice returns to form. David Oliver (12.93) once again under 13 seconds and the US 4&#215;1 blazing to a 37.45. Throw in a 5000 meters with six men under 13 minutes and a 71\u2019 9\u201d shot put by Christian Cantwell, and you have my #2 meet of the year.&nbsp; <\/p>\n<p>Because for #1 I\u2019m choosing a meet that had everything that I think a track meet should have. Stirring competition throughout. Several personal best performances. Upsets. Relays. A full schedule that included ALL of the events for both men and women. And a team competition that came down the the final event of the meet! For those who haven\u2019t figured it out yet, I\u2019m referring to this year\u2019s NCAA Championships \u2013 the only meet of the year that had EVERYTHING that makes for an outstanding meet!<\/p>\n<p>The NCAA Championships kept me engaged for the better part of a week. It offered online streaming and TV. There were story lines galore to follow including the back and forth team battle on the men\u2019s side; the ongoing battle between the Oregon and Texas A&amp;M women; Wheating and the double; upsets in both men\u2019s hurdles; a double in the women\u2019s hurdles; and so many more. <\/p>\n<p>For my money the Meet of the Year. I\u2019m sure there will be some that agree, and those that have their own ideas. So I\u2019ve put up a poll at the top of the page where you can register your votes for the meet you feel was the best of 2010. And feel free to leave comments as I\u2019m curious as to how you viewed this year\u2019s meets. Especially with the Diamond League in it\u2019s first season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I continue to take a look back at the 2010 season, I\u2019ve looked at some standard \u201cawards\u201d (Athlete of the Year) as well as some not so standard (Top Breakthrough Americans). This is another of those non standard awards. Though I think there should be some way of&nbsp; evaluating how well our meets do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-6G","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414","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=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}