I'm getting to really love these kinds of DL's (& other "big" meets).
You know, the kind where expectations are sky-high, while the results "crash" to the ground!
Okay, so the Zurich DL wasn't all THAT bad!
Based on its history, wherein most of the Meet Records are comparable to those found in the World Championships and even the Olympics, you really can't expect a huge amount of record-breaking at the Weltklasse.
You take what you can get, and move on.
And that's EXACTLY what I'll be doing here.
I'll report---as I've done throughout this blog's first 9 months---the records broken and the good marks.
And then I'll move forward....and offer some news, opinions, criticism, predictions, and other stuff.
Gia Lewis Smallwood is having her best season at age 35.
She finished about 1 meter behind winner Sandra Perkovic today, tossing the Discus 218-3.
Then I discovered a big OOPS in my T&F Record Book!
I had her PR at 216-5.
So I'd THOUGHT her 218-3 was a PR!
It wasn't.
I looked at T&FN's yearly lists, and found out she'd reached 220-10 in the Glasgow DL!!
How did I miss THAT??
So she moves (or moveD!!) from 4th A-T US into 3rd.
Reese Hoffa won the SP battle with a throw of 71-10.50.
This broke his own Age 36 record!
Sticking to the field events, Keshorn Walcott threw the Javelin 281-5, breaking his own National Record of Trinidad.
And Nicole Buchler didn't win the PV, but her height of 15-3.75 is the new National Record of Switzerland.
Not from Zurich, but Mark Hollis PV'ed 19-1.50.
This moves him from 23rd A-T US, tied with 8 others (!!), up into 19th!
Ruth Jebet ran the 3000 Steeplechase in 9:20.55.
This breaks her own Age 17 record by about 6 seconds!!
It's faster than the Age 18 mark, and falls just 0.18 seconds short of the Age 19 record!
It's also the National Record of Bahrain.
In the final event of the meet, Great Britain's Women's 4X100 Relay team broke their National Record (in beating the US and Jamaica!) with a time of 42.21.
They move from Nation number 10 to number 9 on the A-T World list.
And that's a wrap!!
Really!!
Aside from the above records and marks (and don't get me wrong, I honor and respect these great marks!! ALL records are due this same honor and respect. That's the raison d'etre I started this blog!!) here's some other Weltklasse news, and assorted stuff from other venues.
Can't wait to see the full video from the Women's 1500!!
Jenny Simpson JUST edged Shannon Rowbury, both running 3:59.9's.
(Not often, if at all, you see 2 Americans winning against a field of VERY strong Africans!!)
But the most spectacular moment happened AFTER they crossed the line, both diving for the victory!
And dive they did.
Simpson leaned best and went flying to the track.
In doing so, it APPEARED she (accidentally) clipped Rowbury as Shannon sped past (her kick's momentum driving her past Simpson), and Shannon belly-flopped to the hard surface, crashing arms, legs, belly, and face to the track, looking like she'd been TACKLED by some 300 pound behemoth!!
(Except that Jenny is about one-third that weight!!)
She apparently is okay, suffering just a few abrasions and bruises.
But what a frigging race!!
THAT is the way I would hope ALL distance races were run!!
Take a lesson from these Warrior Women, Galen & Mo!!
Another Warrior Woman is Emma Coburn.
She sped the first 1K of her Steeple in 3:01.
But her attempt to both win the race and break her own American Record fell short.
Nonetheless, many kudos to her for demonstrating how distance races should be run!!
Alexa Efraimson is a Professional runner now, having signed with Ray Flynn and Nike.
She's now starting her senior year of HS, and will attend (a thus far unknown) college, but not as a runner!
No indication of what her next race will be, but she intends to run SOME Cross Country!
Mike Hickey will remain as her coach.
Mary Cain was a no-show in Zurich.
Up to a few days before the meet, she'd been listed as an entrant in the 1500.
(Refer to my last post, where I mentioned that!)
Then her name was gone, and Brenda Martinez was added!
(Martinez ran her fastest of the year, a 4:01+.)
Nothing has come out of the NOP/Salazar/Cain camp about WHY she didn't race.
It's probably school (which started last week).
But she'd said that she would miss the first two weeks.
I guess she decided she didn't want to.....or couldn't!
So this appears to end her VERY brief 2014 outdoor season!
I did a count of the 2014 marks on my 8 Outdoor DDD lists (4 women's and 4 men's).
As of yesterday (BEFORE the Zurich meet!), there were 316 marks from this year.
Here's the breakdown:
On the HS lists, the Women have 49 performers, while the Men score just 26.
Collegiately, the numbers are: Women-56, Men-31.
I combined the separate US and World lists, with the following totals:
Women-100, Men-54.
Thus, the Women outscore the Men, 205 to 111.
That makes 316 performers with marks from 2014.
This is all events (no Walks, and limited Relays).
These numbers will be added again on December 31st!
What can you expect from this blog for the rest of the year?
(Keep in mind I began the blog on December 9th of last year, so I did all the 2013 INDOOR stuff in my first few posts! This year will be different, simply because I've covered this entire year so far, Indoors and Out!)
In the next week or two, you'll get reports from the final DL, in Brussels.
There's also a few smaller European meets that usually produce good marks, such as Rieti, DecaNation, and ISTAF in Berlin.
Then there's the Continental Cup.
I have no idea what to expect from that, but it's getting some play on Twitter and some Message Boards, so I expect it will be interesting.
There's the Berlin, NYC, and Chicago Marathons.
Also some shorter road races.
The first pops up this weekend. (EDIT: The date is actually September 2nd, next Tuesday!)
Molly Huddle will be in the USATF 20000 Championships in New Haven, CT.
Having run the Half in 1:09:04, I see a time of 1:05+ as eminently doable!
Shalane Flanagan will zero in on Deena Kastor's AR in the Marathon on Berlin's flat and fast course.
I think she has an excellent chance!!
(Barring the usual Marathon disasters---injury, weather, bad pacing!!)
Chicago brings us Mr Ken Bekele in just his 2nd Marathon.
He ran 2:05:03 in his first.
He'll have a fair chance to beat that in Chicago.
I'll comment some on what's happening in XC, but mainly on the WHO, not the times!
And December will bring all my "wrap-up" material from 2014 (Athletes of the Year, etc), plus the beginnings of the 2015 Indoor season. (Although, as with last year's early results, I listed them by YEAR, thus making it appear that 2014's early season marks were actually 2013's--which they WERE in actuality!)
See you next week!
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Two Mile Run--Records, History, Marks, Trivia
You might ask, Where is your report on the Birmingham DL?
And I would reply, Right HERE!!
But while the Birmingham meet was far better than the Stockholm affair, it really was fairly weak.
EXCEPT for 2 Two Mile races.
(I could easily say, but for ONE 2 Mile race, but more on that in a moment!)
To find the "other" Birmingham news, see the bottom of this post!
The TWO MILE RUN
Today's DL gave us TWO 2 Mile races, a Men's and a Women's.
Many people (especially the British!) would say Mo Farah's great run was the highlight of the entire meet.
And I agree, it WAS a great run, but it was NOT the highlight of the meet!
That accolade belongs to the WOMEN'S 2 Mile!!
And here's all the reasons why!
This one race rewrote my T&F Record Book's 2 Mile data in several ways.
Place Records
I keep Place Records for the 2 Mile from 2nd to 10th place.
All 9 of those Place Records date from 2014.
Only one of these came from the Prefontaine 2 Mile.
(Betsy Saina's 8th place mark from Pre.)
The other 8 are from today's race!
DDD's
For those not aware, my DDD's (Double Dandy Dozen) are my Top 24 All-Time Performers lists (World, US, Collegiate, HS).
SIX new names made my World DDD today in the Women's 2 Mile!
And 3 more were already on my World list, but got PR's today.
Fourteen (14!!) of my World Top 24 are from 2014!
And 8 of my USA Top 24 date from 2014!
Finally, to make 24th place on my World list USED to take a 9:38.39.
It now, post-Birmingham, takes a 9:33.47!
Now here's all the data, athlete by athlete!
Mercy Cherono won the race in 9:11.49.
(She passed 3000 meters in about 8:38 and change.
This is the Birmingham DL Meet Record.
It's the new National Record of Kenya.
She moves from 3rd A-T World up to 2nd.
(She doesn't get the Age 23 record, as that belongs to WR holder Meseret Defar!)
Viola Kibiwot finished 2nd in 9:12.59.
This is the best 2nd Place mark ever!
She also broke her own Age 30 record!
Irene Jelagat ran 9:12.90 for 3rd.
It's the best-ever 3rd Place mark.
She nabs the Age 25 record.
She remains in 4th A-T World!
Genzebe Dibaba ran "only" 9:14.28 for the best-ever 4th Place mark.
(Don't forget, she holds the INdoor 2 Mile record at 9:00.48!)
This makes her 7th A-T World.
Betsy Saina ran 9:16.95 for the best-ever 5th Place mark!
It's also the Age 26 record.
And it moves her from 15th A-T World up to 9th!
Alemitu Haroye ran 9:20.81 for 6th place.
It's the best-ever 6th Place mark.
She also gets the Age 19 record.
The old record belonged to Zola (Budd) Pieterse, dating from 1985!!
It makes her 12th A-T World.
Susan Kuijken's 9:23.52 is the best-ever 7th Place mark.
It's also the Netherlands National Record.
And it puts her in 17th A-T World.
Renata Plis ran 9:28.80.
It's the new National Record of Poland.
And it gets her 20th A-T World.
Clemence Calvin ran 9:30.39 for the best-ever 9th place mark.
It's the new National Record of France.
And it puts her 22nd A-T World.
Maryam Jamal ran 9:33.47 in 10th place.
She gets the best-ever 10th Place mark!
It also nails down 24th place on my World DDD list.
And let's not leave out Gabriele Grunewald, whose 9:41.76 in 11th makes her 7th A-T US.
(She was the only American in this race!)
(Hang in there, I'll get to Mo's race in a bit!)
I'm an advocate of the Bring Back the Mile campaign (to replace the 1600 in US HS's.
But I'm even MORE of an advocate to return the TWO Mile to its former glory.
Here's some "trivia" about my favorite distance.
(As a runner, I probably ran more 2 milers, in races and/or training, on a track than ANYbody!! I used to do 4 or 5 two milers in intervals! This was back in the days when tracks were 440 yards!)
In 1972, Lyudmila Bragina set a 3000 Meter WR of 8:53.0.
The current WR for the 218 meter-longer 2 Mile is 8:58.58!
Based on the split given Mercy Cherono today (8:38+), the final 218 meters took her 33+ seconds.
When Sonia O'Sullivan set her 2 Mile WR of 9:19.56 in 1998 (It ranks her 10th A-T World now!), she took just 32.5 for her last 218 meters.
Thus, IF Cherono had continued for another 218 meters in her 8:21.14 (2nd place) run earlier this year, her Two Mile time might have been around 8:53 or 8:54!
(Helen Obiri's 8:20.68 might have gotten her an 8:52+!!)
Think where my DDD's would be if a couple more 2 Mile races were held this year (or next!), but with one featuring most or all of the greatest current American runners over the 1500-5000 spectrum!
Today, Gabe Grunewald did NOT have her best race.
She's capable of running 3000 in the high-8:30's or low-8:40's.
Based on that 32-33 second finish over the final 218 meters, this would make her a potential 9:10-9:12 Two Miler!
Add Jenny Simpson, Shannon Rowbury (With an 8:31+ PR, she can run about 9:03!!), Mary Cain, Emily Infeld, Kim Conley, Jordan Hasay (Her 8:46+ 3000 PR gives her an approximate 2 Mile of 9:18 or 9:19!), Molly Huddle, Abbey D'Agostino, Aisling Cuffe to your field, and you've got the makings of a MASSIVE overhaul of the US Top 24 list!!
(And that's just a FEW names off the top of my head! Heck, you could add HIGH SCHOOLERS to the field (a separate heat!!), and even THEY could make the list. It's a sad state of affairs that it takes HS girls to fill out my current Top 24 A-T US list!! All it takes is 10:05.61 to make the US Top 24!!)
Be it known that I'm talking of OUTdoor 2 Milers here, as I keep my lists for OUT and INdoor completely separate!!
The US record is 9:11.97 by Regina Jacobs
Francie Larrieu's 9:44.2 from 1972 (!!!) still ranks 10th A-T US!!
I strongly urge such distance-oriented American meets as the Mt SAC Relays, Payton Jordan, Portland Track Festival, USATF (formerly Oxy) High Performance, and yes, the Prefontaine DL, which held the first of the two fantastic Women's Two Milers this year, to add an elite Women's Two Mile race to their schedule!
And invite all the above named, plus 2 or 3 dozen others, to race a SERIOUS Two Mile!!
As noted MUCH earlier, the women weren't the only ones to race the 2 Mile distance at the Birmingham DL.
Mo Farah ran what technically should be called a time trial, winning easily in 8:07.85.
(No other times are really worth reporting, as none of them added to or changed the data in my Book!)
Farah's time is the National Record of Great Britain.
He broke the venerable Steve Ovett's time of 8:13.51, run in 1978---the year 400 man Chris Brown and American star Kara Goucher were born!!
It's also the Birmingham DL Meet Record.
He gets the Age 31 record.
And it ranks him 7th A-T World.
Shoved OFF my World DDD were 2 guys you might have heard about.
Ken Bekele ran his 8:13.51 in 2007.
And as noted, the Brit whose NR Farah broke, Mr Ovett, also got booted!!
There were 4 other Meet Records from the Birmingham DL.
Asbel Kiprop won the Mile in 3:51.89.
Fourteen guys broke 4:00!!
Mutaz Barshim won the HJ at 7-9.75 for the MR.
But Bogdan Bondarenko also jumped that height (losing on more misses), but should be credited with the Meet Record too.
Jairus Birech, despite having to use his hands to STRADDLE the final barrier (!!!), ran 8:07.80 for the MR in the 3000 Steeplechase.
And David Rudisha showed sparks of his London WR 800 form in a fast 600.
His time of 1:13.71 rates as 4th best A-T World.
And it's a Meet Record.
(I don't keep OUTdoor 600 records, so I had to look some of this stuff up!! LOL)
There's an old mark I somehow overlooked from a few weeks ago.
Krisztlan Pars threw the Hammer 271-3, moving him from 24th A-T World up to 19th!!
Well, Mary Cain's return to the track wars is scheduled for Zurich's DL, just 4 days from now.
I'll have her results, plus whatever else happens of note, from that meet immediately following its conclusion!
See you then!
And I would reply, Right HERE!!
But while the Birmingham meet was far better than the Stockholm affair, it really was fairly weak.
EXCEPT for 2 Two Mile races.
(I could easily say, but for ONE 2 Mile race, but more on that in a moment!)
To find the "other" Birmingham news, see the bottom of this post!
The TWO MILE RUN
Today's DL gave us TWO 2 Mile races, a Men's and a Women's.
Many people (especially the British!) would say Mo Farah's great run was the highlight of the entire meet.
And I agree, it WAS a great run, but it was NOT the highlight of the meet!
That accolade belongs to the WOMEN'S 2 Mile!!
And here's all the reasons why!
This one race rewrote my T&F Record Book's 2 Mile data in several ways.
Place Records
I keep Place Records for the 2 Mile from 2nd to 10th place.
All 9 of those Place Records date from 2014.
Only one of these came from the Prefontaine 2 Mile.
(Betsy Saina's 8th place mark from Pre.)
The other 8 are from today's race!
DDD's
For those not aware, my DDD's (Double Dandy Dozen) are my Top 24 All-Time Performers lists (World, US, Collegiate, HS).
SIX new names made my World DDD today in the Women's 2 Mile!
And 3 more were already on my World list, but got PR's today.
Fourteen (14!!) of my World Top 24 are from 2014!
And 8 of my USA Top 24 date from 2014!
Finally, to make 24th place on my World list USED to take a 9:38.39.
It now, post-Birmingham, takes a 9:33.47!
Now here's all the data, athlete by athlete!
Mercy Cherono won the race in 9:11.49.
(She passed 3000 meters in about 8:38 and change.
This is the Birmingham DL Meet Record.
It's the new National Record of Kenya.
She moves from 3rd A-T World up to 2nd.
(She doesn't get the Age 23 record, as that belongs to WR holder Meseret Defar!)
Viola Kibiwot finished 2nd in 9:12.59.
This is the best 2nd Place mark ever!
She also broke her own Age 30 record!
Irene Jelagat ran 9:12.90 for 3rd.
It's the best-ever 3rd Place mark.
She nabs the Age 25 record.
She remains in 4th A-T World!
Genzebe Dibaba ran "only" 9:14.28 for the best-ever 4th Place mark.
(Don't forget, she holds the INdoor 2 Mile record at 9:00.48!)
This makes her 7th A-T World.
Betsy Saina ran 9:16.95 for the best-ever 5th Place mark!
It's also the Age 26 record.
And it moves her from 15th A-T World up to 9th!
Alemitu Haroye ran 9:20.81 for 6th place.
It's the best-ever 6th Place mark.
She also gets the Age 19 record.
The old record belonged to Zola (Budd) Pieterse, dating from 1985!!
It makes her 12th A-T World.
Susan Kuijken's 9:23.52 is the best-ever 7th Place mark.
It's also the Netherlands National Record.
And it puts her in 17th A-T World.
Renata Plis ran 9:28.80.
It's the new National Record of Poland.
And it gets her 20th A-T World.
Clemence Calvin ran 9:30.39 for the best-ever 9th place mark.
It's the new National Record of France.
And it puts her 22nd A-T World.
Maryam Jamal ran 9:33.47 in 10th place.
She gets the best-ever 10th Place mark!
It also nails down 24th place on my World DDD list.
And let's not leave out Gabriele Grunewald, whose 9:41.76 in 11th makes her 7th A-T US.
(She was the only American in this race!)
(Hang in there, I'll get to Mo's race in a bit!)
I'm an advocate of the Bring Back the Mile campaign (to replace the 1600 in US HS's.
But I'm even MORE of an advocate to return the TWO Mile to its former glory.
Here's some "trivia" about my favorite distance.
(As a runner, I probably ran more 2 milers, in races and/or training, on a track than ANYbody!! I used to do 4 or 5 two milers in intervals! This was back in the days when tracks were 440 yards!)
In 1972, Lyudmila Bragina set a 3000 Meter WR of 8:53.0.
The current WR for the 218 meter-longer 2 Mile is 8:58.58!
Based on the split given Mercy Cherono today (8:38+), the final 218 meters took her 33+ seconds.
When Sonia O'Sullivan set her 2 Mile WR of 9:19.56 in 1998 (It ranks her 10th A-T World now!), she took just 32.5 for her last 218 meters.
Thus, IF Cherono had continued for another 218 meters in her 8:21.14 (2nd place) run earlier this year, her Two Mile time might have been around 8:53 or 8:54!
(Helen Obiri's 8:20.68 might have gotten her an 8:52+!!)
Think where my DDD's would be if a couple more 2 Mile races were held this year (or next!), but with one featuring most or all of the greatest current American runners over the 1500-5000 spectrum!
Today, Gabe Grunewald did NOT have her best race.
She's capable of running 3000 in the high-8:30's or low-8:40's.
Based on that 32-33 second finish over the final 218 meters, this would make her a potential 9:10-9:12 Two Miler!
Add Jenny Simpson, Shannon Rowbury (With an 8:31+ PR, she can run about 9:03!!), Mary Cain, Emily Infeld, Kim Conley, Jordan Hasay (Her 8:46+ 3000 PR gives her an approximate 2 Mile of 9:18 or 9:19!), Molly Huddle, Abbey D'Agostino, Aisling Cuffe to your field, and you've got the makings of a MASSIVE overhaul of the US Top 24 list!!
(And that's just a FEW names off the top of my head! Heck, you could add HIGH SCHOOLERS to the field (a separate heat!!), and even THEY could make the list. It's a sad state of affairs that it takes HS girls to fill out my current Top 24 A-T US list!! All it takes is 10:05.61 to make the US Top 24!!)
Be it known that I'm talking of OUTdoor 2 Milers here, as I keep my lists for OUT and INdoor completely separate!!
The US record is 9:11.97 by Regina Jacobs
Francie Larrieu's 9:44.2 from 1972 (!!!) still ranks 10th A-T US!!
I strongly urge such distance-oriented American meets as the Mt SAC Relays, Payton Jordan, Portland Track Festival, USATF (formerly Oxy) High Performance, and yes, the Prefontaine DL, which held the first of the two fantastic Women's Two Milers this year, to add an elite Women's Two Mile race to their schedule!
And invite all the above named, plus 2 or 3 dozen others, to race a SERIOUS Two Mile!!
As noted MUCH earlier, the women weren't the only ones to race the 2 Mile distance at the Birmingham DL.
Mo Farah ran what technically should be called a time trial, winning easily in 8:07.85.
(No other times are really worth reporting, as none of them added to or changed the data in my Book!)
Farah's time is the National Record of Great Britain.
He broke the venerable Steve Ovett's time of 8:13.51, run in 1978---the year 400 man Chris Brown and American star Kara Goucher were born!!
It's also the Birmingham DL Meet Record.
He gets the Age 31 record.
And it ranks him 7th A-T World.
Shoved OFF my World DDD were 2 guys you might have heard about.
Ken Bekele ran his 8:13.51 in 2007.
And as noted, the Brit whose NR Farah broke, Mr Ovett, also got booted!!
There were 4 other Meet Records from the Birmingham DL.
Asbel Kiprop won the Mile in 3:51.89.
Fourteen guys broke 4:00!!
Mutaz Barshim won the HJ at 7-9.75 for the MR.
But Bogdan Bondarenko also jumped that height (losing on more misses), but should be credited with the Meet Record too.
Jairus Birech, despite having to use his hands to STRADDLE the final barrier (!!!), ran 8:07.80 for the MR in the 3000 Steeplechase.
And David Rudisha showed sparks of his London WR 800 form in a fast 600.
His time of 1:13.71 rates as 4th best A-T World.
And it's a Meet Record.
(I don't keep OUTdoor 600 records, so I had to look some of this stuff up!! LOL)
There's an old mark I somehow overlooked from a few weeks ago.
Krisztlan Pars threw the Hammer 271-3, moving him from 24th A-T World up to 19th!!
Well, Mary Cain's return to the track wars is scheduled for Zurich's DL, just 4 days from now.
I'll have her results, plus whatever else happens of note, from that meet immediately following its conclusion!
See you then!
Sunday, August 17, 2014
The Euro's---Yawn!
Boy, do I ever hate doing these kinds of blog posts!
You know, the kind when there's so little to report, it doesn't seem worth the time or trouble.
And when even that minimal amount of "noteworthy" marks just aren't that noteworthy.
But the European Championships of 2014 was a major meet, and thus deserves a post, however brief it might be.
So, on with it!
The one WR came in the Men's 50000 meters Walk.
Yohann Dinez walked an astounding time of 3:32:33 to shatter the WR by 1 minute and 41 seconds!
It's also, obviously, an EC Meet Record, as well as the National Record of France.
Another long distance Meet Record was set by Cristelle Daunay of France.
She won a great Marathon battle with Valeria Straneo of Italy.
Her time of 2:25:14 is the new MR.
Anna Wlodarczyk of Poland threw the Hammer 258-5 for the Meet Record.
It's also a new National Record, breaking her own.
She missed the Age 29 record by just 4 inches!!
But she moves from 4th A-T World up into 2nd!
Dafne Schippers is an up-and-coming Heptathlete, but here, she showed even more prowess as a sprinter!
Her winning 200 mark of 22.03 was a PR by 0.31 seconds!!
It's a new Netherlands National Record.
And it misses my Top 24 Performers list by just 0.03 seconds!!
Schippers also won the 100, but didn't break any records.
One who did---a boatload of them!!---was the previously unknown Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland!
In the 100, she set 2 National Records--11.32 in her heat, and 11.20 in the final.
She PR'ed twice in the 200 as well.
First to 23.02, then in the final, she ran 22.83.
Another National Record!
Sandra Perkovic was born 20+ years too late!!
Or maybe I should say her birthdate was perfect!!
Her winning Discus toss of 233-2 is the best mark in the World since 1992!!
She was just 2 years old then!
It's the new National Record of Croatia, breaking her own mark.
And it moves her from 20th A-T World up to 18th.
Ruth Beitia won a good Women's HJ with a jump of 6-7.
This is the new Age 35 record.
BTW, the Women's HJ was far better than the more-anticipated Men's version.
Yet another expectation of multiple 2.40 leaps for the men fell into the junk pile of failure!
There were 4 other National Records at the EC's.
Switzerland's Men's 4X100 Relay team ran 38.54.
They missed getting on my Top 24 Nations list by just 0.02 seconds!
Great Britain's Women's 4X100 Relay team broke their National Record by 0.19 seconds with their 42.24 winning time.
This moves them from Nation number 14 to 10th position!
Balazs Baji ran the 110H in 13.29 for the National Record of Hungary.
And Tatjana Jelaca threw the Javelin 210-8 for the National Record of Serbia.
Not in the European Championships, but Hua Koffi sprinted a 10.05 100 and a 200 in 20.25.
Both of these are National Records of Ivory Coast!
(These happened in the African Championships!)
Out of curiosity, I looked back at the Commonwealth Games Meet Records, to compare them to the just completed Euro's.
For the men, the Commonwealth Games produced 4 Meet Records.
The Euro's?
ZERO!!
(I didn't count the WR---and MR---in the 50K Walk, as the CG's didn't have the Walks this year.)
For the women, the score was 6 to 2, CG's over the EC's in the MR department.
This was caused by 2 reasons, IMHO.
1. Commonwealth athletes are better than European athletes.
2. Several records that should have been broken, weren't!
Of course, the latter reason also served for the CG's!
The next post will cover the next DL, in Stockholm, coming up in 4 days.
I checked the entry lists for Stockholm (as of today), but Mary Cain is NOT listed for the Women's 1500.
She'd said she would be running there (in her WJC interview), so this could mean her season is finished!!
See you all then!
You know, the kind when there's so little to report, it doesn't seem worth the time or trouble.
And when even that minimal amount of "noteworthy" marks just aren't that noteworthy.
But the European Championships of 2014 was a major meet, and thus deserves a post, however brief it might be.
So, on with it!
The one WR came in the Men's 50000 meters Walk.
Yohann Dinez walked an astounding time of 3:32:33 to shatter the WR by 1 minute and 41 seconds!
It's also, obviously, an EC Meet Record, as well as the National Record of France.
Another long distance Meet Record was set by Cristelle Daunay of France.
She won a great Marathon battle with Valeria Straneo of Italy.
Her time of 2:25:14 is the new MR.
Anna Wlodarczyk of Poland threw the Hammer 258-5 for the Meet Record.
It's also a new National Record, breaking her own.
She missed the Age 29 record by just 4 inches!!
But she moves from 4th A-T World up into 2nd!
Dafne Schippers is an up-and-coming Heptathlete, but here, she showed even more prowess as a sprinter!
Her winning 200 mark of 22.03 was a PR by 0.31 seconds!!
It's a new Netherlands National Record.
And it misses my Top 24 Performers list by just 0.03 seconds!!
Schippers also won the 100, but didn't break any records.
One who did---a boatload of them!!---was the previously unknown Mujinga Kambundji of Switzerland!
In the 100, she set 2 National Records--11.32 in her heat, and 11.20 in the final.
She PR'ed twice in the 200 as well.
First to 23.02, then in the final, she ran 22.83.
Another National Record!
Sandra Perkovic was born 20+ years too late!!
Or maybe I should say her birthdate was perfect!!
Her winning Discus toss of 233-2 is the best mark in the World since 1992!!
She was just 2 years old then!
It's the new National Record of Croatia, breaking her own mark.
And it moves her from 20th A-T World up to 18th.
Ruth Beitia won a good Women's HJ with a jump of 6-7.
This is the new Age 35 record.
BTW, the Women's HJ was far better than the more-anticipated Men's version.
Yet another expectation of multiple 2.40 leaps for the men fell into the junk pile of failure!
There were 4 other National Records at the EC's.
Switzerland's Men's 4X100 Relay team ran 38.54.
They missed getting on my Top 24 Nations list by just 0.02 seconds!
Great Britain's Women's 4X100 Relay team broke their National Record by 0.19 seconds with their 42.24 winning time.
This moves them from Nation number 14 to 10th position!
Balazs Baji ran the 110H in 13.29 for the National Record of Hungary.
And Tatjana Jelaca threw the Javelin 210-8 for the National Record of Serbia.
Not in the European Championships, but Hua Koffi sprinted a 10.05 100 and a 200 in 20.25.
Both of these are National Records of Ivory Coast!
(These happened in the African Championships!)
Out of curiosity, I looked back at the Commonwealth Games Meet Records, to compare them to the just completed Euro's.
For the men, the Commonwealth Games produced 4 Meet Records.
The Euro's?
ZERO!!
(I didn't count the WR---and MR---in the 50K Walk, as the CG's didn't have the Walks this year.)
For the women, the score was 6 to 2, CG's over the EC's in the MR department.
This was caused by 2 reasons, IMHO.
1. Commonwealth athletes are better than European athletes.
2. Several records that should have been broken, weren't!
Of course, the latter reason also served for the CG's!
The next post will cover the next DL, in Stockholm, coming up in 4 days.
I checked the entry lists for Stockholm (as of today), but Mary Cain is NOT listed for the Women's 1500.
She'd said she would be running there (in her WJC interview), so this could mean her season is finished!!
See you all then!
Friday, August 8, 2014
Records--And why I've compiled a Book of them!
I started a thread on the T&FN Message Board recently to cover all pre-meet topics surrounding the European Championships, which begin August 12th.
In my initial post, I offered my opinion as to which EC Meet Records might be broken.
Why didn't I offer it here?
No good answer.
Just decided not to, and it gave me a subject to start that new topic at T&FN.
However, to sort of even things out a bit, it was a few of the comments I received about my offering that led me to put up this "extra" post here!
Because a few people there basically ridiculed the notion of athletes going for Meet Records.
They said that, in Championship situations, Medals took precedence over records.
(Although at least one acknowledged that a few might consider an All-European record of enough importance to go for it!)
Anyway, that discussion provided the impetus for this post.
I will list EVERY category of records I have in my Book, and tell you why I include them.
And why I felt a blog devoted ENTIRELY to Records (and Top 24 list marks!) was of interest, important, and even necessary.
WORLD Records
These are obvious.
They are the very best there is in any event.
These are a MUST!
COLLEGIATE Records.
Same goes here.
Except this category includes a few caveats.
For example, no marks AFTER the NCAA Championship meet (whether Indoor or Outdoor) are eligible.
For Indoor, no OT marks are included.
Outdoors, no wind-aided marks.
HIGH SCHOOL Records
Again, there are caveats, somewhat different than for the Collegians.
For the nonce, I'm including HSR's set by Pro athletes.
(In that case, I'm speaking currently of just one person, Mary Cain. However, she MIGHT soon be joined by Alexa Efraimson!!)
I obviously thus include marks made by HS athletes competing against Collegians and Professionals!
US Records
These come under the umbrella of NATIONAL Records.
I've singled out the US for special consideration for several reasons.
Number one reason is that I'm an American.
If I were French, I'd probably have a DDD (Top 24 Performers list) for FRANCE!!
(In the case of the Men's Steeplechase and Marathon, my World DDD is ALMOST all Kenya!!)
CLASS Records.
I include all 4 years of both High School and College.
However, it's sometimes difficult to figure out a Collegian's status, because of redshirting and 5th year Seniors!
But these give a good indication of the progress some athletes make while in school.
There HAVE been cases where an athlete held all 4 Class Records in their event.
But NEVER all 8!!
PLACE Records.
I don't consider these super important.
But I DO consider them to be of great interest!!
Why?
Because, isn't it fascinating to see how great a mark is needed for "just" a 6th, or 8th, or 12th place finish in ONE race (or field event)??
Except for the most jaded, some of those "bottom" placers would amaze you!
AGE Records
Here is where I differ quite a bit from many other sources.
Most Records sources (including IAAF and T&FN) keep "Youth", "Junior", and "Masters" records.
I don't.
My Age Records go basically from 17 to 40, without those generic nebulous umbrella designations.
My only deviation from the "17 to 40" age range is that on each end, I label it "0-17" and "40 and over".
The former means that the mark for 0-17 could be set by an athlete of ANY age up to and including Age 17.
Thus, that mark could be by someone 15 or 16 years old!
And for the latter case, the "40 and over" record could be set by someone 41 or 42....or 57!!
I just felt it was too much work to include EVERY age---from 5 to 95----as some sources do.
MOST of the top marks (on ANY of my lists!) come from within that age range!
NATIONAL Records
Here, I was forced (or at least decided!!) to limit this category to really elite marks!
Until just a few months ago, I had VERY strict standards for inclusion here.
A couple of examples were "9.94" for the Men's 100 and "12:51.99" for the Men's 5000.
This limited my Nations list to a VERY few!!
So when I began my blog last December, I decided to loosen my restrictions.
But NOT completely!
I won't include Tongan Island records of 40 minutes for the 10K (if that's what it is!! LOL), or just 5-10 for the Women's HJ from Timbuktu (!!??).
So, within reason (and that designation is QUITE arbitrary!!!), I'm including many more National Records.
(See MOST of my first 76 blogs for all the NATIONAL Records that have been broken in the past 8+ months, both Indoors and Outdoors!)
COMBINED EVENTS Records
This is another category where I greatly (completely!!!) differ from T&FN!
They go by a POINTS system that's been in place for decades, similar to the Points Tables for the Multi events.
In those, points are assigned to a mark to indicate its value.
I say, Bah Humbug!!
Why use (arbitrary) points systems when you can rely solely on the MARKS??
In this category (just for outdoor marks!!), I have the following categories:
100-200
100-200-400
400-800
800-1500
1500-3000
1 Mile-2 Mile
1500-5000
3000-5000-10000
3000-3000SC
5000-10000
110H (or 100H for Women!)-400H
400-400H
I USED to have a couple of field event categories---the LJ-TJ and SP-DT---but discontinued them a few decades ago!)
What I do here is just ADD the times together!!
No points assigned!
One criticism of my method is that it's unfair to some athletes in some of the categories.
For example, in the 3000-5000-10000 category, it's said that the 10K skews the results, as you can add or deduct too many seconds from that one event, whereas in the 3000, you generally only gain a second or two.
Take the case of Daniel Komen, the 3000 WR holder.
He also has a very fast 5000.
But his best track 10K was just 28:12!!
So he doesn't even make my list!
In fact, he doesn't even come CLOSE!!
Yet in T&FN, they recognize Komen as one of the very greatest in that tri-event category!!
(In a future blog post, I'll offer some of these lists---or at least partial lists!)
MEET Records
This is the category that inspired this post!
As with National Records, I HAD very strict standards for inclusion.
And I've greatly loosened them here too!
But I still don't have every meet.
In fact, SOME meets where WORLD Records have been set are NOT included!!
Why?
Because the MEET is just too esoteric, or small!
In several cases, I have meets which are no longer being held.
Why?
Because, at the time, they were considered some of the best meets around, and the MR's are still great today!
But as with National Records, you'll find EVERY MR that's been broken during the past 8+ months---in the meets I include in my Book!!
And THAT is why I considered my opinion on which European Championships MEET Records might be broken next week to be of some import.
(In the minds of those T&FN MB posters, they obviously were NOT considered so!!)
But let me try to answer the title's question---Why did I compile a BOOK of Records??
The simplest answer is that "records are made to be broken".
Too simple!
My answer would be that WORLD Records were given TOO MUCH importance---by sports media, INCLUDING such T&F-specific media experts as T&FN---and by the general fan!
At various times during the past few decades, T&FN (and other sources) have railed against being WR-fixated, stating that they happened too rarely, and were getting rarer by the day!
I agree.
WR's ARE too rare!
As are Collegiate and HS Records!
(Tell that to Mary Cain the past 3 years!!)
So what to do, to continue to promote the sport, MINUS (for the most part!) WR's, or others of the highest significance??
My reply was (decades ago!!!), and still is, to place HIGH VALUE on so called "lesser" records.
Namely, all of the above I named in this post!!
So when a fan goes to a meet, or watches it on TV or online, and EXPECTS or HOPES for a WR, he/she doesn't go away disappointed when that WR attempt ultimately (and almost inevitably) fails!!
He/she is THRILLED when the Meet's announcer states that a MEET or NATIONAL or AGE Record has been broken!
Or "just" that a certain mark is the "8th best ever" or some such.
THAT'S why I have my DDD's!!
To HONOR those marks which make the ALL-TIME Top 24 list in a category!
(Many just list the Top TEN!!)
This allows so much more enjoyment of a meet, or a specific performance, than the "thrill of victory or the agony of defeat".
And that is why I compiled my T&F Record Book.
I just got tired of all those disappointments when a WR-attempt failed.
See you all soon!
In my initial post, I offered my opinion as to which EC Meet Records might be broken.
Why didn't I offer it here?
No good answer.
Just decided not to, and it gave me a subject to start that new topic at T&FN.
However, to sort of even things out a bit, it was a few of the comments I received about my offering that led me to put up this "extra" post here!
Because a few people there basically ridiculed the notion of athletes going for Meet Records.
They said that, in Championship situations, Medals took precedence over records.
(Although at least one acknowledged that a few might consider an All-European record of enough importance to go for it!)
Anyway, that discussion provided the impetus for this post.
I will list EVERY category of records I have in my Book, and tell you why I include them.
And why I felt a blog devoted ENTIRELY to Records (and Top 24 list marks!) was of interest, important, and even necessary.
WORLD Records
These are obvious.
They are the very best there is in any event.
These are a MUST!
COLLEGIATE Records.
Same goes here.
Except this category includes a few caveats.
For example, no marks AFTER the NCAA Championship meet (whether Indoor or Outdoor) are eligible.
For Indoor, no OT marks are included.
Outdoors, no wind-aided marks.
HIGH SCHOOL Records
Again, there are caveats, somewhat different than for the Collegians.
For the nonce, I'm including HSR's set by Pro athletes.
(In that case, I'm speaking currently of just one person, Mary Cain. However, she MIGHT soon be joined by Alexa Efraimson!!)
I obviously thus include marks made by HS athletes competing against Collegians and Professionals!
US Records
These come under the umbrella of NATIONAL Records.
I've singled out the US for special consideration for several reasons.
Number one reason is that I'm an American.
If I were French, I'd probably have a DDD (Top 24 Performers list) for FRANCE!!
(In the case of the Men's Steeplechase and Marathon, my World DDD is ALMOST all Kenya!!)
CLASS Records.
I include all 4 years of both High School and College.
However, it's sometimes difficult to figure out a Collegian's status, because of redshirting and 5th year Seniors!
But these give a good indication of the progress some athletes make while in school.
There HAVE been cases where an athlete held all 4 Class Records in their event.
But NEVER all 8!!
PLACE Records.
I don't consider these super important.
But I DO consider them to be of great interest!!
Why?
Because, isn't it fascinating to see how great a mark is needed for "just" a 6th, or 8th, or 12th place finish in ONE race (or field event)??
Except for the most jaded, some of those "bottom" placers would amaze you!
AGE Records
Here is where I differ quite a bit from many other sources.
Most Records sources (including IAAF and T&FN) keep "Youth", "Junior", and "Masters" records.
I don't.
My Age Records go basically from 17 to 40, without those generic nebulous umbrella designations.
My only deviation from the "17 to 40" age range is that on each end, I label it "0-17" and "40 and over".
The former means that the mark for 0-17 could be set by an athlete of ANY age up to and including Age 17.
Thus, that mark could be by someone 15 or 16 years old!
And for the latter case, the "40 and over" record could be set by someone 41 or 42....or 57!!
I just felt it was too much work to include EVERY age---from 5 to 95----as some sources do.
MOST of the top marks (on ANY of my lists!) come from within that age range!
NATIONAL Records
Here, I was forced (or at least decided!!) to limit this category to really elite marks!
Until just a few months ago, I had VERY strict standards for inclusion here.
A couple of examples were "9.94" for the Men's 100 and "12:51.99" for the Men's 5000.
This limited my Nations list to a VERY few!!
So when I began my blog last December, I decided to loosen my restrictions.
But NOT completely!
I won't include Tongan Island records of 40 minutes for the 10K (if that's what it is!! LOL), or just 5-10 for the Women's HJ from Timbuktu (!!??).
So, within reason (and that designation is QUITE arbitrary!!!), I'm including many more National Records.
(See MOST of my first 76 blogs for all the NATIONAL Records that have been broken in the past 8+ months, both Indoors and Outdoors!)
COMBINED EVENTS Records
This is another category where I greatly (completely!!!) differ from T&FN!
They go by a POINTS system that's been in place for decades, similar to the Points Tables for the Multi events.
In those, points are assigned to a mark to indicate its value.
I say, Bah Humbug!!
Why use (arbitrary) points systems when you can rely solely on the MARKS??
In this category (just for outdoor marks!!), I have the following categories:
100-200
100-200-400
400-800
800-1500
1500-3000
1 Mile-2 Mile
1500-5000
3000-5000-10000
3000-3000SC
5000-10000
110H (or 100H for Women!)-400H
400-400H
I USED to have a couple of field event categories---the LJ-TJ and SP-DT---but discontinued them a few decades ago!)
What I do here is just ADD the times together!!
No points assigned!
One criticism of my method is that it's unfair to some athletes in some of the categories.
For example, in the 3000-5000-10000 category, it's said that the 10K skews the results, as you can add or deduct too many seconds from that one event, whereas in the 3000, you generally only gain a second or two.
Take the case of Daniel Komen, the 3000 WR holder.
He also has a very fast 5000.
But his best track 10K was just 28:12!!
So he doesn't even make my list!
In fact, he doesn't even come CLOSE!!
Yet in T&FN, they recognize Komen as one of the very greatest in that tri-event category!!
(In a future blog post, I'll offer some of these lists---or at least partial lists!)
MEET Records
This is the category that inspired this post!
As with National Records, I HAD very strict standards for inclusion.
And I've greatly loosened them here too!
But I still don't have every meet.
In fact, SOME meets where WORLD Records have been set are NOT included!!
Why?
Because the MEET is just too esoteric, or small!
In several cases, I have meets which are no longer being held.
Why?
Because, at the time, they were considered some of the best meets around, and the MR's are still great today!
But as with National Records, you'll find EVERY MR that's been broken during the past 8+ months---in the meets I include in my Book!!
And THAT is why I considered my opinion on which European Championships MEET Records might be broken next week to be of some import.
(In the minds of those T&FN MB posters, they obviously were NOT considered so!!)
But let me try to answer the title's question---Why did I compile a BOOK of Records??
The simplest answer is that "records are made to be broken".
Too simple!
My answer would be that WORLD Records were given TOO MUCH importance---by sports media, INCLUDING such T&F-specific media experts as T&FN---and by the general fan!
At various times during the past few decades, T&FN (and other sources) have railed against being WR-fixated, stating that they happened too rarely, and were getting rarer by the day!
I agree.
WR's ARE too rare!
As are Collegiate and HS Records!
(Tell that to Mary Cain the past 3 years!!)
So what to do, to continue to promote the sport, MINUS (for the most part!) WR's, or others of the highest significance??
My reply was (decades ago!!!), and still is, to place HIGH VALUE on so called "lesser" records.
Namely, all of the above I named in this post!!
So when a fan goes to a meet, or watches it on TV or online, and EXPECTS or HOPES for a WR, he/she doesn't go away disappointed when that WR attempt ultimately (and almost inevitably) fails!!
He/she is THRILLED when the Meet's announcer states that a MEET or NATIONAL or AGE Record has been broken!
Or "just" that a certain mark is the "8th best ever" or some such.
THAT'S why I have my DDD's!!
To HONOR those marks which make the ALL-TIME Top 24 list in a category!
(Many just list the Top TEN!!)
This allows so much more enjoyment of a meet, or a specific performance, than the "thrill of victory or the agony of defeat".
And that is why I compiled my T&F Record Book.
I just got tired of all those disappointments when a WR-attempt failed.
See you all soon!
Saturday, August 2, 2014
10 Meet Records at Commonwealth Games
Except for the problem of length, I would have added to my title....."and so many others could've been broken, BUT....."
Yet the same things happen at most (all!!) other Championship-level meets, including the Olympics, WC's, Euro Champs, USATF, NCAA and World Juniors!
1. Big-name athletes stay away from the Trials, or choose to not compete.
2. They offer excuses, from injury to it being an "off-year", to just not being in "good enough" shape to give it their all.
3. Bad weather raises its ugly head. (See my comments later on the Women's PV at the CG!)
4. The distance races (from 1500 to 10K) turn strategic, with medals being seen as more important than time, or breaking records.
5. The Marathons don't attract the very best athletes, as $$$$$ are not there in these Championship affairs.
All that said, these Commonwealth Games, held in Glasgow (come shine or come RAIN!!) from July 27th through August 2nd, DID produce a pretty good TEN Meet Records!
So let's begin our reportage on them, and other good marks I have to offer.
Since Usain Bolt was the "STAR" of these Games, let's begin with the final event, the Men's 4X100 Relay.
Barring a broken leg or a dropped baton (in the heats or final!), it was a given that Mr Bolt would end this race with a deadly sprint no one on Earth could match.
And this he did!
But BEFORE he did--in fact, before the race even began!--Bolt DANCED!!
There he was, standing in position at the end of the last curve, waiting for the gun to go off, DANCING!!
And a damn good dancer he is!!
Then the race began.
And surprisingly, the British were even with Jamaica, even a slight bit ahead, when Bolt got the stick.
And then he morphed into LIGHTNING Bolt, and he was GONE!!
Bye-bye, all you mere mortals!!
While the time wasn't much (by Jamaica's standards!), it was still a new Meet Record.
37.58. (Cut the old mark by 0.62.)
Two National Records went down in the Men's short relay.
The Bahamas ran 38.52 in the heats, to become the 23rd fastest Nation.
South Africa ran 38.35 in the final, to become Nation number 19 on my World DDD list.
The Jamaican women, anchored by MRS Bolt (if only!!), aka SAFP (Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce), also slashed the old MR.
Their time of 41.83 won by more than a full second (!!), and is the new Meet Record.
(They had tied the old MR of 42.44 in their heat!)
While we're on the Relays, the Jamaican women won the 4X400 in an MR time of 3:23.83.
That was seen as inevitable, since they SWEPT the open 400, with Stephanie McPherson winning that one in non-record time.
Kirani James ran solo in the 400, wiping out his "competition" and the Meet Record with his 44.24.
Blessing Okagbare did pretty much the same as James in the 100, winning by a wide margin in 10.85, a Meet Record!
(SAFP didn't run in the open 100, but Veronica Campbell-Brown did.)
Kim Mickle threw the Javelin 216-5 for the Meet Record, also dominating her event.
One event, the Men's Shot Put, saw TWO guys break the Meet Record!
First up was Tom Walsh, whose 69-8.25 set a new MR.
Then came Jamaica's (??!!) O'Dayne Richards, who crushed Walsh's mark by over 14 inches, his 70-10.75 becoming the ultimate CG Meet Record!
It's also the new Jamaican National Record!
But Jamaica??
In the Shot Put???
The very same can be said for the Men's Javelin Throw winner.
Julius Yego won the event.
And he's from Kenya!!
Kenya??
Winning the Javelin???
BTW, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad threw 279-9 in qualifying for a new National Record.
Sultana Frizell, the Canadian record holder in the Hammer, and one of the most fascinating personalities in our favorite sport, set THREE Meet Records during her competition!
She threw 226.2 in qualifying, for the MR.
Then broke that with a 231-5.
Then shattered that one with her final MR of 236-1.
(Her National Record is 10 feet farther!!)
Two more National Records were broken.
Jeff Gibson ran the 400H in 48.78 for a new Bahamas National Record.
Julia Ratcliffe was 2nd to Frizell, and nabbed her own New Zealand National Record with her 230-6.
(She's still in college in the US, but this doesn't count for the Collegiate DDD, as it came after the NCAA meet!)
I mentioned (in the beginning) that race strategy, and runner's priorities (medals over time) dictate that most Championship-level distance races are SLOW!!
The Men's Steeplechase, while not a serious blazer, overcame those barriers (pun intended!).
Jonathon Ndiku of Kenya (Where else??) proved too much for the 8:14+ MR, running 8:10.44 to move the MR more toward the 21st Century!!
I also said earlier there were some MR's that came CLOSE to being broken, but weren't.
One that WAS broken was the Women's 1500.
And that came in a HEAT!!
Helen Obiri ran 4:04.43 in her heat for the new MR.
But alas, the final went in "normal" pedestrian style---jog the first 1200, then kick---so Obiri's mark survived.
(Yet she LOST the final, finishing just 4th!!)
But back to those close calls.
The Men's 10000 MR is a softie, just 27:45!
Yet despite having several runners in there fully capable of running MUCH faster, they jogged the first 9200 meters, leaving the record for future CG participants to aim for!
The Women's Steeple MR should've gone, despite its being a good 9:19.51.
So should have the Women's 10000, being just 31:27.83.
The Men's 1500 MR is from THE best race of ANY Commonwealth Games, the 1974 race where Filbert Bayi beat John Walker in a WORLD Record of 3:32.16!!
Yet in this race was 3:28.81 runner, Ronald Kwemoi, and others fully capable of running sub-3:32.
Anyway, enough of this rant.
It won't change anything!
I spoke of the Women's PV being weather-affected.
Quite!!
I don't think it was the (lack of) quality in the field that saw just FOUR women get ANY height in the competition.
It was probably the torrential downpour that turned the trick.
It stopped, and the competition continued (being re-scheduled by a few hours), but by then, just 4 women had cleared 12-5.50.
That's right, 3.80, or 12-5.50!!
That wouldn't have come anywhere NEAR a medal at the recent WJC!!
And yet it came to win Bronze in Glasgow!!
Alana Boyd cleared 14-9 to win, and she tried 3 times for 15-2, which would've been a new MR if she had cleared.
Oh yes, one more race that came close to getting a new MR was the Women's 100H.
Sally Pearson, having weathered a controversy with the Australian Team Coach prior to the race (He was summarily fired, and sent packing!!), ran good.
Her heat was a 12.69, an easy winner.
And her final was 12.67.
But the MR is 12.65.
I spoke earlier of Usain Bolt's dancing ability.
If you watched the webcast, you were privileged to witness ANOTHER pretty fair dancer!
Her name is Michelle Jenneke, and somehow her 13.38 took 6th in Pearson's race!!
I do have several older marks worth noting, so I'll finish off with those.
A VERY old mark is Kaliese Spencer's 50.19 she ran in the 2013 Rieti 400!!
I somehow missed that, but by adding that to her 400H PR of 52.79, you get a Combined Event total (for the 400-400H) of 1:42.98.
This moves her from 8th to 5th on that list!!
(She won the CG 400H, but it wasn't a PR.)
That small High-Performance meet held in conjunction with the WJC produced one good mark.
Aleec Harris won the 110H in 13.14.
This makes him 23rd A-T US.
And it takes OFF my list three old 13.17 times.
Courtney Hawkins ran his time in 1998.
Tonie Campbell ran his in 1988.
And Sam Turner ran his 13.17 in 1983!!
Anzhelika Sidorova PV'ed 15-5 for 23rd A-T World, tied with 3 others.
Hanna Fedusova threw the Javelin 220-9 for 19th A-T World.
It's also the Ukraine National Record.
Nicole Bush ran the Steeple in a PR of 9:24.59.
This moves her from 12th A-T US up to 5th!
I should mention here that new AR holder Emma Coburn ran a 1500 PR of 4:05.78.
This doesn't move her onto my DDD list, but is significant nonetheless.
Jessica Furlan ran a Canada National Record Steeple of 9:33.45.
Will Leer ran a PR of 3:34.26 in the 1500.
This makes him 24th A-T US.
Cindy Billaud tied the National Record of France in the 100H with her 12.56.
And Talryn Montgomery threw the Javelin 163-1.
This moves her from 23rd A-T HS up into 18th.
I'll mention one more mark which MIGHT be another new Age 38 record in the 100 for Kim Collins.
There was a street meet (the straight track--not oval--set up on a London street) held, where Collins ran 9.96.
If this is found to be legal, it would SMASH his own Age 38 mark of 10.10.
But I'm not 100% certain these marks are valid.
T&FN is seemingly accepting them, as they're listed in their Track Newsletter report of the meet....without any asterisk!
We'll see.
I'll happily adjust Mr Collins's record, if it's found to be legit!!
Meanwhile, see you all (??) soon.
Yet the same things happen at most (all!!) other Championship-level meets, including the Olympics, WC's, Euro Champs, USATF, NCAA and World Juniors!
1. Big-name athletes stay away from the Trials, or choose to not compete.
2. They offer excuses, from injury to it being an "off-year", to just not being in "good enough" shape to give it their all.
3. Bad weather raises its ugly head. (See my comments later on the Women's PV at the CG!)
4. The distance races (from 1500 to 10K) turn strategic, with medals being seen as more important than time, or breaking records.
5. The Marathons don't attract the very best athletes, as $$$$$ are not there in these Championship affairs.
All that said, these Commonwealth Games, held in Glasgow (come shine or come RAIN!!) from July 27th through August 2nd, DID produce a pretty good TEN Meet Records!
So let's begin our reportage on them, and other good marks I have to offer.
Since Usain Bolt was the "STAR" of these Games, let's begin with the final event, the Men's 4X100 Relay.
Barring a broken leg or a dropped baton (in the heats or final!), it was a given that Mr Bolt would end this race with a deadly sprint no one on Earth could match.
And this he did!
But BEFORE he did--in fact, before the race even began!--Bolt DANCED!!
There he was, standing in position at the end of the last curve, waiting for the gun to go off, DANCING!!
And a damn good dancer he is!!
Then the race began.
And surprisingly, the British were even with Jamaica, even a slight bit ahead, when Bolt got the stick.
And then he morphed into LIGHTNING Bolt, and he was GONE!!
Bye-bye, all you mere mortals!!
While the time wasn't much (by Jamaica's standards!), it was still a new Meet Record.
37.58. (Cut the old mark by 0.62.)
Two National Records went down in the Men's short relay.
The Bahamas ran 38.52 in the heats, to become the 23rd fastest Nation.
South Africa ran 38.35 in the final, to become Nation number 19 on my World DDD list.
The Jamaican women, anchored by MRS Bolt (if only!!), aka SAFP (Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce), also slashed the old MR.
Their time of 41.83 won by more than a full second (!!), and is the new Meet Record.
(They had tied the old MR of 42.44 in their heat!)
While we're on the Relays, the Jamaican women won the 4X400 in an MR time of 3:23.83.
That was seen as inevitable, since they SWEPT the open 400, with Stephanie McPherson winning that one in non-record time.
Kirani James ran solo in the 400, wiping out his "competition" and the Meet Record with his 44.24.
Blessing Okagbare did pretty much the same as James in the 100, winning by a wide margin in 10.85, a Meet Record!
(SAFP didn't run in the open 100, but Veronica Campbell-Brown did.)
Kim Mickle threw the Javelin 216-5 for the Meet Record, also dominating her event.
One event, the Men's Shot Put, saw TWO guys break the Meet Record!
First up was Tom Walsh, whose 69-8.25 set a new MR.
Then came Jamaica's (??!!) O'Dayne Richards, who crushed Walsh's mark by over 14 inches, his 70-10.75 becoming the ultimate CG Meet Record!
It's also the new Jamaican National Record!
But Jamaica??
In the Shot Put???
The very same can be said for the Men's Javelin Throw winner.
Julius Yego won the event.
And he's from Kenya!!
Kenya??
Winning the Javelin???
BTW, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad threw 279-9 in qualifying for a new National Record.
Sultana Frizell, the Canadian record holder in the Hammer, and one of the most fascinating personalities in our favorite sport, set THREE Meet Records during her competition!
She threw 226.2 in qualifying, for the MR.
Then broke that with a 231-5.
Then shattered that one with her final MR of 236-1.
(Her National Record is 10 feet farther!!)
Two more National Records were broken.
Jeff Gibson ran the 400H in 48.78 for a new Bahamas National Record.
Julia Ratcliffe was 2nd to Frizell, and nabbed her own New Zealand National Record with her 230-6.
(She's still in college in the US, but this doesn't count for the Collegiate DDD, as it came after the NCAA meet!)
I mentioned (in the beginning) that race strategy, and runner's priorities (medals over time) dictate that most Championship-level distance races are SLOW!!
The Men's Steeplechase, while not a serious blazer, overcame those barriers (pun intended!).
Jonathon Ndiku of Kenya (Where else??) proved too much for the 8:14+ MR, running 8:10.44 to move the MR more toward the 21st Century!!
I also said earlier there were some MR's that came CLOSE to being broken, but weren't.
One that WAS broken was the Women's 1500.
And that came in a HEAT!!
Helen Obiri ran 4:04.43 in her heat for the new MR.
But alas, the final went in "normal" pedestrian style---jog the first 1200, then kick---so Obiri's mark survived.
(Yet she LOST the final, finishing just 4th!!)
But back to those close calls.
The Men's 10000 MR is a softie, just 27:45!
Yet despite having several runners in there fully capable of running MUCH faster, they jogged the first 9200 meters, leaving the record for future CG participants to aim for!
The Women's Steeple MR should've gone, despite its being a good 9:19.51.
So should have the Women's 10000, being just 31:27.83.
The Men's 1500 MR is from THE best race of ANY Commonwealth Games, the 1974 race where Filbert Bayi beat John Walker in a WORLD Record of 3:32.16!!
Yet in this race was 3:28.81 runner, Ronald Kwemoi, and others fully capable of running sub-3:32.
Anyway, enough of this rant.
It won't change anything!
I spoke of the Women's PV being weather-affected.
Quite!!
I don't think it was the (lack of) quality in the field that saw just FOUR women get ANY height in the competition.
It was probably the torrential downpour that turned the trick.
It stopped, and the competition continued (being re-scheduled by a few hours), but by then, just 4 women had cleared 12-5.50.
That's right, 3.80, or 12-5.50!!
That wouldn't have come anywhere NEAR a medal at the recent WJC!!
And yet it came to win Bronze in Glasgow!!
Alana Boyd cleared 14-9 to win, and she tried 3 times for 15-2, which would've been a new MR if she had cleared.
Oh yes, one more race that came close to getting a new MR was the Women's 100H.
Sally Pearson, having weathered a controversy with the Australian Team Coach prior to the race (He was summarily fired, and sent packing!!), ran good.
Her heat was a 12.69, an easy winner.
And her final was 12.67.
But the MR is 12.65.
I spoke earlier of Usain Bolt's dancing ability.
If you watched the webcast, you were privileged to witness ANOTHER pretty fair dancer!
Her name is Michelle Jenneke, and somehow her 13.38 took 6th in Pearson's race!!
I do have several older marks worth noting, so I'll finish off with those.
A VERY old mark is Kaliese Spencer's 50.19 she ran in the 2013 Rieti 400!!
I somehow missed that, but by adding that to her 400H PR of 52.79, you get a Combined Event total (for the 400-400H) of 1:42.98.
This moves her from 8th to 5th on that list!!
(She won the CG 400H, but it wasn't a PR.)
That small High-Performance meet held in conjunction with the WJC produced one good mark.
Aleec Harris won the 110H in 13.14.
This makes him 23rd A-T US.
And it takes OFF my list three old 13.17 times.
Courtney Hawkins ran his time in 1998.
Tonie Campbell ran his in 1988.
And Sam Turner ran his 13.17 in 1983!!
Anzhelika Sidorova PV'ed 15-5 for 23rd A-T World, tied with 3 others.
Hanna Fedusova threw the Javelin 220-9 for 19th A-T World.
It's also the Ukraine National Record.
Nicole Bush ran the Steeple in a PR of 9:24.59.
This moves her from 12th A-T US up to 5th!
I should mention here that new AR holder Emma Coburn ran a 1500 PR of 4:05.78.
This doesn't move her onto my DDD list, but is significant nonetheless.
Jessica Furlan ran a Canada National Record Steeple of 9:33.45.
Will Leer ran a PR of 3:34.26 in the 1500.
This makes him 24th A-T US.
Cindy Billaud tied the National Record of France in the 100H with her 12.56.
And Talryn Montgomery threw the Javelin 163-1.
This moves her from 23rd A-T HS up into 18th.
I'll mention one more mark which MIGHT be another new Age 38 record in the 100 for Kim Collins.
There was a street meet (the straight track--not oval--set up on a London street) held, where Collins ran 9.96.
If this is found to be legal, it would SMASH his own Age 38 mark of 10.10.
But I'm not 100% certain these marks are valid.
T&FN is seemingly accepting them, as they're listed in their Track Newsletter report of the meet....without any asterisk!
We'll see.
I'll happily adjust Mr Collins's record, if it's found to be legit!!
Meanwhile, see you all (??) soon.
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