{"id":422,"date":"2010-12-10T07:29:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=422"},"modified":"2010-12-10T07:29:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-10T15:29:00","slug":"top-of-my-xmas-wish-list-hot-rivalries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=422","title":{"rendered":"Top of My Xmas Wish List\u2013Hot Rivalries"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/sports\/11th-iaaf-world-athletics\/image\/1152029?term=tyson+gay%2c+osaka\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/1152029\/11th-iaaf-world-athletics\/11th-iaaf-world-athletics.jpg?resize=234%2C314\" border=\"0\" width=\"234\" title=\"11th IAAF World Athletics Championships: Day Six\" height=\"314\" oncontextmenu=\"return false;\" ondrag=\"return false;\" onmousedown=\"return false;\" alt=\"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)\" \/><\/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>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 field will fill. And that list is headed by the establishment of some real hot rivalries in the sport. <\/p>\n<p>Every year we are promised some exciting head to head action in track \u2013 the kind of competition that once made this sport exciting and great. Something similar to what we had this past year with Chaunte Howard Lowe and Blanka Vlasic \u2013 two women at the top of their game who went head to head several times. Their battles often went down to the final count back, with both women giving their best and pushing each other to outstanding seasons. <\/p>\n<p>That type of competition used to be a staple of the sport, but somehow has gotten lost among the hype of record chasing and the politicization of professionalism. So my request from \u201cTrack Santa\u201d is the establishment of some hot and heavy rivalries in the 2011 season.<\/p>\n<p>Now when I say \u201crivalry\u201d I\u2019m not talking about two athletes competing separately all season until the World Championships with a single competition being used to proclaim supremacy. I\u2019m talking about 3 or 4 head to heads where the prospect of a \u201cbad\u201d day isn\u2019t the determining factor in the outcome of the season. With that said, here are my suggestions for some rivalries I would love to see in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Alison Felix v Veronica Campbell Brown &#8211; 200 meters<\/h3>\n<p>Can you believe that the single race between these two last year was the only time we\u2019ve seen them compete outside of a major championship? Easily the two best female 200 meter runners on the planet, when they get together there are always fireworks. Turn blazer Campbell Brown v blitz finisher Felix is a must see event \u2013 and we need to see it more often.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Rudisha v Kaki \u2013 800 meters<\/h3>\n<p>David Rudisha broke the WR in this event last year, but it was Abubaker Kaki who looked like he was on his way to greatness when he set the WJR of 1:42.69 in \u201808. The two 21 year olds (Rudisha turns 22 this month) are clearly the world\u2019s best right now in this event \u2013 and young enough to have a long and storied rivalry. Time for Kaki to step up his game so we can see some 1:41 battles!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Robles v Oliver v Liu \u2013 110 hurdles<\/h3>\n<p>The only men to run the event in under 12.90 sec (Robles 12.87, Liu 12.88 &amp; Oliver 12.89) are scheduled to take to the track healthy in 2011. Each has had some superb seasons with multiple races under 13.00. It\u2019s time we got the three of them together for should be some titanic battles! Liu just ran 13.09 at the Asian Games to show he is back to health, so all we need is for Robles to show form to go with this year\u2019s leading hurdler Oliver and we could be off to the races.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Bolt v Gay \u2013 200 meters<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s bad enough that we\u2019ve only had one race a year between these two over 100 meters for the past three years, but it\u2019s a complete travesty that we have not seen them race over 200 meters since 2007. Yet that is the case, their last encounter being the World Championships in Osaka. The world\u2019s two best turn runners. The world\u2019s two fastest human\u2019s ever over 100. So similar in race pattern over this event. We\u2019re looking at the Irresistible Force v the Immovable Object as this event is probably each athlete\u2019s best. Time to get it on. Bolt has twice broken the WR running solo as Gay was in neither race. Gay has run 19.58 &amp; 19.41 (straight) to start his last two seasons with no Bolt in sight. It\u2019s time to run them head to head a few times and see what we can come up with. With Bolt at 19.19 and Gay with 9.69\/44.89 credentials, this match up has me drooling even more than running them over 100 meters!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There are lots of other potential rivalries out there as this sport is full of outstanding athletes. It\u2019s time to get them going head to head and really build up this sport.&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 field will fill. And that [&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-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-6O","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422","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=422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}