Glasgow<\/a> and defeated Augustine Choge (KEN) with a nice 3:39.03 \u2013 a nice turn of speed for the 5000\/10000 star. <\/p>\nSo another nice early season weekend in the books. And from the looks of things 2012 is going to be one hot, competitive season. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes we spend so much time wishing that the Bolt\u2019s, Gays, and Bekele\u2019s of the sport were competing, that we forget just how much talent there is in this sport! That was evidenced this weekend, because as early as it is in the season, there is still plenty to talk about while many stars have yet to take to the track. Case in point is the 21.87m (71\u2019 9\u201d) heave by Reese Hoffa in Chemnitz, Germany. It was the best throw in the world so far this year, and Hoffa\u2019s best indoors since \u201806 when Hoffa tossed the shot 22.11m (72\u2019 6.5\u201d). That\u2019s a good sign for Hoffa, since he won the World Indoor title in \u201806 and followed up with the World outdoor title in \u201807! So for Reese it could be a portent of things to come. Another athlete performing exceeding well early was Canada\u2019s Brianne Theisen who set a Canadian and NCAA record of 4555 pts in the pentathlon.Considering that she broke two records with the performance I would say it\u2019s a very good beginning. When you take into account that it was her first competition in 10 months, I would say it\u2019s pretty amazing. This Oregon Duck will certainly help lead her team in the battle for NCAA titles indoors and out, and could well be in the mix in the Heptathlon in London. The same can be said for Belarus high jumper Aleksey Dmitrik who cleared a world leading 2.35m (7\u2019 8.5\u201d) in Hustopece, Czech Republic. Only four men cleared higher in all of 2011, with Jesse Williams\u2019 world leader only .02m better! Dmitrik took shots at 2.41m (7\u2019 10.75\u201d) signaling that we could see a return to some serious attempts in the stratosphere this year. I will also note that 2nd place in the women\u2019s competition was Chaunte Howard (USA) in 1.93m (6\u2019 4\u201d) a nice return for her after a year off for maternity. All the top performances weren\u2019t relegated to the field events however, and there were two pretty good meets being held in the U.S. this past weekend. One of which was the Texas A&M Challenge in College Station Texas. As a matter of fact that\u2019s where Theisen set her records in the pentathlon. Also performing quite well in the multis was Grey Horn (FL) who scored 5971 in the men\u2019s Heptathlon \u2013 making him the #6 collegian indoors all time. There was also a nice long jump competition with Decathlete Ashton Eaton\u2019s 8.04m (26\u2019 4.5\u201d) taking the measure of Will Claye\u2019s 7.96m (26\u2019 1.5\u201d) as they moved to #\u2019s 2 & 5 on the season. There were also some outstanding marks around the Texas oval as Joey Roberts (Tx A&M) 1:47.14 and Sam Obinwa (FL) 1:47.22 covered 800 meters in the the #1 & #3 times of the year globally. Demetrius Pinder, running in the Olympic Development section, also ran a world leader covering 200 meters in 20.58. And Oregon\u2019s Michael Berry proved that he is indeed a quartermiler that everyone needs to watch as he ran a sizzling 45.38 anchor in the 4×4 to bring Oregon from way back for the win. Something tells me this kid is just getting started. Of course the other meet of note in the U.S. was the U.S.Open in Madison Square Garden \u2013 and it was the track that dominated in New York. Chief among the competitions were the hurdle races where two athletes with injury plagued 2011 seasons got back on track. In the men\u2019s race it was Terrence Trammell winning over David Oliver 6.45 to 6.50 in the 50 meter hurdles. For the women it was Lolo Jones running clear of the field in 6.78. Great news for both athletes as each has the potential to contend for spots to London, and if this weekend is any indication they will be in the mix. The 50 meters without hurdles were also hot. Asafa Powell (JAM, 5.64) winning a tight one over Nesta Carter (JAM, 5.67) and Trell Kimmons (USA, 5.68). In the women\u2019s version Veronica Campbell Brown (JAM) ran clear of the field with a sizzling 6.08 win \u2013 making her =#8 all time performer. The men\u2019s mile was also competitive, if not as fast as hoped for, as Silas Kiplagat (KEN) outran Bernard Lagat (USA) to the tape 4:00.65 to 4:00:92. And speaking of the mile, I must mention that Mo Farah (GBR) stepped down to the metric mile in Glasgow and defeated Augustine Choge (KEN) with a nice 3:39.03 \u2013 a nice turn of speed for the 5000\/10000 star. So another nice early season weekend in the books. And from the looks of things 2012 is going to be one hot, competitive season.<\/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":[40,196,197,17,195,194,59,188,198,193,22],"class_list":["post-819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-claye","tag-dmitrik","tag-eaton","tag-farah","tag-hoffa","tag-horn","tag-kiplagat","tag-lagat","tag-pinder","tag-theisen","tag-vcb"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-dd","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":152,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=152","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":0},"title":"Doha Reshapes the Yearly List","author":"CHill","date":"May 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Today's meet in Doha got the weekend rolling like few meets do during the course of a season as 13 seasons bests were set in various events all over the stadium!Where to begin? Well Kerron Stewart (JAM) demolished the women's 100 field in 10.93 (+1.3) but was just short of\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":880,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=880","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":1},"title":"Projected U.S. Indoor Champions","author":"CHill","date":"February 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019re getting ready to wind this indoor season down. Several countries will now put together their teams for the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, which will be the culmination of the season. Here in the U.S. that process will be a Trials meet this coming weekend in Albuquerque, New\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Prediction\"","block_context":{"text":"Prediction","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=prediction"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn3.google.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTfxL7XmcpqwuHddDqlRmpP4ahVGz7K3IA56tqCavvXrF9ZfEuiQA","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1073,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1073","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":2},"title":"Kansas Gets Things Rolling Early","author":"CHill","date":"April 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Weekend results are coming in early as the Kansas Relays have already gotten started with some \"Downtown\" events. On Wednesday evening the shot putters were up, throwing in a ring placed in the middle of downtown Lawrence. The result was a stunning competition as Reese Hoffa (21.73m \/ 71' 3.5\")\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Cantwell\"","block_context":{"text":"Cantwell","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=cantwell"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reese Hoffa","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Reese-Hoffa_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1467,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1467","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":3},"title":"London 2012 – Track and Field is Here","author":"CHill","date":"August 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally, the wait is over, track and field starts tomorrow - or later today depending on your point of view. Either way, things get crackin in a big way as some of the biggest names in the sport take center stage during this opening weekend. Take a look at this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"London\"","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=london"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sprint Start","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Sprint-Start_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Sprint-Start_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Sprint-Start_thumb.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":413,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=413","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":4},"title":"The New \u201cMedal\u201d Watch List","author":"CHill","date":"November 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"At the beginning of his short reign as CEO of USATF, Doug Logan set 30 medals as a goal for the US squad at the 2012 London Olympics. That bit of goal setting was the impetus for the creation of my \u201cThirty Watch List\u201d \u2013 to\u00a0 monitor our progress towards\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=413#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Allyson Felix of the U.S. celebrates after winning the women's 400m race during the London Grand Prix Diamond League athletics tournament at Crystal Palace in London August 14, 2010. REUTERS\/Paul Hackett (UNITED KINGDOM - Tags: SPORT ATHLETICS)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view2.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/9546363\/felix-celebrates-after\/felix-celebrates-after.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":390,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=390","url_meta":{"origin":819,"position":5},"title":"Brussels & Rieti","author":"CHill","date":"August 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ivo van Damme meeting in Brussels marked the end of the Diamond League for 2010. And while it was the second half of the \u201cfinals\u201d som,ehow the meet was not quite as exciting as I had anticipated. Especially in light of the Rieti meeting that followed. Perhaps it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Tyson Gay (R) of the U.S. wins the men's 100m race in front of Jamaica's Nesta Carter at the Memorial Van Damme, IAAF Diamond League athletics final meet, in Brussels August 27, 2010. REUTERS\/Sebastien Pirlet (BELGIUM - Tags: SPORT ATHLETICS)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/view.picapp.com\/pictures.photo\/image\/9616563\/tyson-gay-the-wins-the-men\/tyson-gay-the-wins-the-men.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819","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=819"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions\/822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}