This post is NOT going to be ALL I'd planned it to be.
But that doesn't mean my World Championship coverage will be anything less!
In fact, it means I'll have even MORE complete coverage than planned.
So let me tell you---briefly---what THIS post will include---AND what's to follow!
I have 9 marks to report.
These SHOULD be the final marks I'll be giving you BEFORE the WC.
I'll then give you a few more Book & Movie reviews which were NOT included in my post "Track and Field History & Culture--Part 2".
This will be followed by an UPDATED list of my World and US Athlete of the Year Top 10's.
I first listed them in my post "Track and Field History & Culture--Part 1".
That was on July 12th.
There have been some significant changes since then!
I'll close with some "News & Views" about the WC, but also on whatever else crosses my mind.
What will NOT be included today will be the COMPLETE event schedule for all 9 days of the WC.
However, I will have a special post devoted to ONLY the schedule in the next couple of days.
Then, on Friday, August 21st, I'll post my predictions of which World and Meet Records might fall in Beijing!
This will be divided into TWO posts--one each for Men and Women!!
DURING the 9 days, I'm planning on AT LEAST 3 posts FILLED with results from EVERY event of the previous 3 days!
These also will be dual posts--one for each gender!
Finally, when the entire meet is finished, I'll do a full meet review and analysis, choosing AOM's (Athletes of the Meet") and such!
Enough!
Let's get on with those 9 marks!
Pawel Fajdek is the dominant male Hammer thrower this year.
His latest throw measured 83.93, or 275-4.
It breaks his own National Record of Poland.
(What is it with Poland's HT'ers this year--male and female??)
It also moves him from 17th to 9th on the A-T World list!
Thomas Rohler of Germany also improved on his throws PR--in the Javelin!
His 292-10 ranks him 14th A-T World!
Phillip Milanov threw the Discus 218-8 for the National Record of Belgium!
Quenesha Burks improved her LJ best to 22-9.
(More on that 22-9 later!)
It makes her 15th A-T US.
The 4X100 Relay team of Barbados ran 38.55.
It broke their National Record, but it misses my World DDD by 0.08 seconds!
Joanna Jozwik ran 600 meters in 1:25.04.
Had to look it up---as I don't keep OUTdoor 600 lists---and found it makes her 12th A-T World!!
Not many true elites run this, so being 12th on the A-T World list should be seen with that in mind.
However, it IS a fast time, and indicates a probable BIG PR over her 1:59+ current best!
One who DID---sort of!!!---PR in a BIG way in the 800 recently was Molly Ludlow, who's replacing the injured Ajee Wilson on TeamUSA in Beijing!
I said "sort of" because her recent 1:57.2 was....
with a running start!
had a male pacer the entire way!
was timed by her coach with a stopwatch!
and was a "solo" time trial on her home track in Indiana!!
Nonetheless, her time WAS 1:57.2, a full 1.48 seconds faster than her ACTUAL PR from earlier this summer!!
Finally, I have 2 (THREE!) PV marks.
Adrianna Jacobs PV'ed 13-7.25 to make her 20th A-T HS.
(Remember, HS marks are list-worthy through August 31st, even if the athlete graduated in May or June!)
Then there's the TWO National Records for Finland by Minna Nikkanen!
On August 2nd, she vaulted 14-11.50 for an NR.
Then on August 8th, she broke that mark with 15-1.
I may have mentioned this earlier, but I recently bought The Big Gold Book from T&FN!
It's MUCH better than I'd thought!
The 2 main (biggest!) sections are the Metric Conversion tables and the Multi's Scoring Tables.
Remember Quenesha Burks's 22-9 LJ I just reported?
Well, it was reported as 22-8.75.
But then T&FN (or rather eTN) said it was 22-9.
So I put my brand new TBGB to work!
The Book says 22-9 is 6.93 metric, which that 22-8.75 was ALSO reported as!
Yet the Book has NO metric mark for 22-8.75!
They say 6.92 is 22-8.50, and 6.93 is 22-9!
But then I noticed there were "6.93"'s on TWO pages!!
Page 12---titled HJ-PV--says 6.93 IS (as I noted!) 22-8.75!
But Page 14--that one titled LJ-TJ-SP!!--says 6.93 is 22-9!!
WHAT???!!!
Other than that "weirdness", TBGB is an EXCELLENT book to own!
I won't detail its contents here, but I started a thread on it on the T&FN Message Board, where I detailed the entire contents!!
Check it out!
Or better yet, BUY the book!!
I ordered the 2012 edition of Wilfried Kramer's "National Records for All the Countries of the World" a few weeks ago, but haven't received it yet.
(It takes 4 weeks or more!)
But I own the 2003 edition, and it too is EXCELLENT!!
When they say "ALL" the countries, they MEAN all the countries!!
The newest edition---the one I ordered--contains over 200 countries' NR's!!
Can't wait!!
I mentioned I'd bought the DVD for the movie "McFarland USA".
Well, I finally got around to watching it!
And it was so good, I watched it a SECOND time a day or so later!!
It's the "true" story of McFarland's 1987 XC team, coached by Jim White.
Several liberties were taken with the facts, but that takes NOTHING away from this movie's greatness!
(Even the REAL Coach White said he liked it!!)
If you're wary of Hollywoodized versions of true stories---or of how Hollywood has treated movies about running and T&F in the past---don't worry.
Kevin Costner's performance---AND those of the team's runners (all actors, of course!)---were uniformly great!
Besides, how many OTHER movies can you name about HS XC teams??
See it, please!
Now for my updated AOY lists.
I won't copy the original lists (from July 12th) here.
If you want to reference those, check the post named above!
So here are my CURRENT AOY Top 10's, as of today, August 17th.
Men first.
Men-World
1. Justin Gatlin (Nothing's changed to alter his status!)
2. Pablo Pichardo (Ditto!)
3. Eliud Kipchoge (Same here!)
4. Julius Yego (Ditto here too!)
5. Asbel Kiprop (On list for 1st time!)
6. Pawel Fajdek (Despite PR, he moves DOWN a spot. Because of Kiprop!)
7. Joe Kovacs (Also on list for 1st time!)
8. Jairus Birech (DOWN 4 places!!)
9. David Storl (Down 2 spots. 2nd SPer!)
10. Choose from Ayanleh Souleiman (formerly 6th!), Renaud Lavillenie, Orlando Ortega, Christian Taylor, Trey Hardee, Mo Farah, Evan Jager, with other newbies being Shawn Barber, Damian Warner, Usain Bolt (!!!), and Thomas Rohler!
Men-USA
1. Gatlin
2. Kovacs
3. Jager
4. Hardee
5. Taylor
6. Marquis Dendy
7. Bershawn Jackson
8. Trayvon Bromell
9. Boris Berian
10. Bernard Lagat
Women-World
1. Genzebe Dibaba (Same as July 12th!)
2. Anita Wlodarczyk (Moves up from 8th!!)
3. Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce (Remains 3rd!)
4. Brianne Theissen-Eaton (DOWN 2 places!)
5. Almaz Ayana (Down one place!)
6. Yarisley Silva (New to the list!!)
7. Virginia Nyambura
8. Dafne Schippers (New to list!)
9. Allyson Felix (DOWN 4 places!!)
10. Choose from Candyce McGrone, Christina Schwanitz, Shaunae Miller, Sharika Nelvis, Jasmine Stowers, Eunice Sum, Shamier Little, Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou, Tianna Bartoletta, Sifan Hassan, Shannon Rowbury, and Elaine Thompson!
Women-USA
1. Shannon Rowbury (She's ahead of Felix--unlike on the World list--because of her AR!)
2. Felix
3. McGrone
4. Nelvis
5. Stowers
6. Little
7. Jenny Simpson
8. Bartoletta
9. Vashti Cunningham
10. Choose from Jenn Suhr, Sandi Morris, Molly Ludlow, Nicole Tully, Michelle Carter, Kara Winger, Emma Coburn, Dawn Harper-Nelson, English Gardner, and Candace Hill.
Finally, a couple of comments on some recent news events.
USATF---for SHAME, for SHAME!!!
Nick Symmonds--Congratulations on being America's (TEAM USA's) best Male 800 runner in 2015, and being kicked OFF the team by that ruling dictatorship aka USATF/NIKE.
Drug users are allowed to remain on the team, while the WINNER of the USATF meet's WC Trials 800 is NOT!!
WTF is WRONG with this picture??
I waited this long to comment on this, because Nick had said he would decide on whatever future action he would take over the weekend, and announce it on social media today!
He didn't do so.
But I wish he'd decided to file a lawsuit DEMANDING IMMEDIATE REINSTATEMENT to TeamUSA!
Clayton Murphy, Nick's replacement, should do what Jordan Hasay did in 2014.
He should graciously and voluntarily WITHDRAW from the team, and say he wants Symmonds returned to his RIGHTFUL spot!!
Anything else will bring nothing but SHAME on the already-tainted reputation of USATF!
I'm willing to bet that any English-speaking announcer of the WC webcasts or TV coverage will make the Symmonds vs USATF WAR a HUGE part of their repartee before, during, and even after the Men's 800 is run!
The other major news is that 28 former drug abusers have been named--and these include some former WC or OG medalists.
They're going to lose their medals, it seems, with lower placing athletes being moved up---some into medal positions!!
More on this another time.
As noted above, Ajee Wilson has been replaced by Molly Ludlow, and Symmonds by Murphy.
Great Britain's Adam Gemili is out of Beijing with an injury.
Genzebe Dibaba IS going to double--in the 1500 and 5000.
Allyson Felix apparently will run just the 400, but will do the 4X400 Relay also.
Kaylin Whitney has become America's ONLY teenager on TeamUSA, as she's been named to the 4X100 Relay squad. Don't know yet if she'll run in the final---assuming the US team MAKES the final!!
Usain Bolt will apparently double also--in the 100 and 200, as well as the sprint Relay!
But I'll have much more on this kind of news on Friday, when I do my World and Meet Record predictions!!
See you in a day or two with the ENTIRE World Championship schedule of events!!
I've been checking every day, waiting for your WC coverage to begin. Great start with this post, and I'm looking forward to all those to come!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to all the events, but my favorite athlete this year is Genzebe. Because she's doubling and therefore has to conserve energy, her times will be good but not what she can do in a dedicated record attempt. I'm hoping she'll go all out for the 5K record, and the first ever woman under 14 minutes, at one of the DL meets after Worlds.
Thanks...again!
ReplyDelete(Surprised a bit you didn't say the PV's (both of them) were your faves!)
As for Genzebe----AND EVERY distance race in Beijing!!--I too doubt any super fast times will occur.
"Strategic" go-for-the-medals- racing will probably negate any chance for fast times....and then there's the predicted heat & smog conditions of Beijing!
But I WISH it were different.
I'll comment on some of this on Friday---in my WR & MR predictions posts--but I wish people like Ayana and Kamworor (Men's 10K) would go out fast, thus forcing Dibaba & Farah to have to choose---follow them, or hope they'll fade later!
Kamworor ran 27:11 in Nairobi's altitude---fastest EVER 10K at altitude---worth maybe 26:40 or faster at sea level!!.
If he wants to beat Farah, he should go for broke---hit 5000 in 13:15, thus forcing Farah to make a choice of HIS strategy!
Whatever happens, should be a GREAT meet.
Actually, I'm more looking forward to the Women's 1500.
To see what time GD chooses to run....AND to see if Rowbury & Simpson can beat Hassan---AND to see if one of them will break Rowbury's new AR!!
Enough.
Schedule out tomorrow, probably.
Of course I'm into the pole vault too. The last T&FN form chart that I saw predicts Jenn Suhr to win the women's PV. I hope she does, but based on past performance and current form, I don't see it that way. My prediction for the three medalists is Silva, Murer, and Kiriakopoulou, with Silva the probable winner. I would put Jenn fourth, but of course she is potentially capable of breaking into the medals, and even winning. I'm hoping for good performances from Sandi Morris and Demi Payne. Inexperienced vaulters often falter on the big stage, and I'm hoping that won't happen for them.
ReplyDeleteOn the men's side I hope Lavillenie is ready for a big vault. I'd hate to see the win go for less than 6m. And I hope someone besides Lavillenie will also get 6m to push him.
In the vault, conditions are always a big factor in the eventual winning height. An adverse wind can mean low heights and lots of misses. However, I've heard it said that the Bird's Nest is a very still wind venue, which is generally good for vaulting. The best is a moderate straight tailwind (with no crosswind vector).