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!
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