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.