As I type, it's 4 hours until 2017 exits the womb of time--for better or worse!
Just enough time for this blog to name its AOY's for the US and the World for the year still (barely) breathing!!
Track and Field News announced theirs recently too!
And I can safely say we (again!) disagree on certain matters!
Read on to see where--and why!
But as ever, results come first!!
The Boston University Mini-Meet #2 produced a good one!
DJ (David) Principe won the first section of the Mile in 4:04.47.
One of the better XC runners this past fall, Principe now ranks 6th A-T HS!!
(He says he'll race next at the Dartmouth Relays next week!!)
In a mixed 3000, Cory McGee ran a solid 8:57.87, with Liz Costello following in 9:00.44.
Good times for December on a 200 meter track!!
And now for Aaron K's Track and Field Record Book's picks for Athletes, Performances, and Personalities of the Year--the year being OUTdoors 2016!
For my Collegiate & HS posts, refer to the archive for September!
As usual, the Men go first, followed by the Women!
WORLD Athlete of the Year--MEN
WAYDE VAN NIEKERK
When the criteria is weighted heavily towards MAJOR records being broken, and the Men produced a measly single WR this year, this award becomes the easiest of choices!
But WVN ran fast over 3 distances, as he dipped under 10 in the 100, and 20 in the 200.
His runaway victory in Rio, however, was the key to his winning here!
43.03--and looking smooth & pretty all the way--as if a sub-43 is his for the taking!
Honorable Mentions go to Ryan Crouser, Eliud Kipchoge & Ken Bekele, Ashton Eaton, Usain Bolt, Kerron Clement, Thomas Rohler, and Renaud Lavillenie.
US Athlete of the Year--MEN
RYAN CROUSER
In a year where the US Men struck out in the National Records department, Crouser's incredible emergence from the Collegiate to the Professional ranks--in the biggest meet of the year--self-typed his name in as AOY for the United States in 2016.
And that series!
He PR'ed 3 times--and it wasn't by fractions of inches!!
While he towered over his competitors (in every sense!!), there were other Americans whose stars shone bright.
Honorable Mentions go to Evan Jager, Justin Gatlin, LaShawn Merritt, Kerron Clement, Ashton Eaton, Sam Kendricks, Clay Murphy, Galen Rupp, Matthew Centrowitz, Jeff Henderson, Erik Kynard, Christian Taylor, and Rudy Winkler.
Special shout-out to the retired (from track racing) Bernard Lagat!!
WORLD Performance of the Year--MEN
That 43.03!
Or those FOUR 10.75's over 100 meters--back-to-back!
Or the beating of a WR held by Michael Johnson!
WVN, Congratulations!
HM's go to Crouser's 73-10.75 SP, to Mr's Kipchoge, Bekele, and to Wilson Kipsang, to Thomas Rohler, Pawel Fajdek, and to Ashton Eaton!
So why wasn't Matthew Centrowitz given even an HM??
This blog honors Records & Marks!
Winning--even Gold in the Olympics--just doesn't matter here that much--if at all!!
And winning in a time that Sophs in High School can run matters even less!!
Another huge congrats to Mr Lagat for adding the 10000 to his list of Age 40+ records he claims!
Shattering the old mark by over 40 seconds is worth an HM, don't you think?
US Performance of the Year--MEN
Mr Crouser's winning Put in Rio gets this prize!
But this was closer than the margin of victory Crouser enjoyed in Rio!
Merritt's 19.74 at the Trials was pretty spectacular for a guy who was running his "other" event!!
So were Rupp's pair of 26.2's.
Kendricks's Vaults were always impressive!
As noted, Eaton produced a clutch performance--even if not record-breaking!
Kerron Clement making sub-48's in the 400H commonplace again!
I just wish Mr Jager had run a 3000SC time beginning with a 7!
Again, Lagat's 27:49 was DEEEE-licious!!
WORLD Personality of the Year--MEN
He is simply larger than life!
And being THAT, he is too larger than the sport of Track and Field!
I speak of the man whose signature pose is as famous as Napoleon's!
I speak of the man--without whom the stands in Rio would have been even emptier!
I speak of a man with a book, a movie, a dance routine, an ACT that might never be surpassed!
Usain Bolt is beginning his final year of competition--he says--sort of!
THANK YOU, Usain!!
US Personality of the Year!
What nicer guy in T&F is there than Bernard Lagat?
A bald head, a shining smile, a mansion-full of Age Records, a beautiful family--all the while exuding that imperfect combination of confidence and gracefulness!
Like Usain, he is retiring--sort of, kind of!
And like Mr Bolt, he will be missed!
Thank YOU, Bernard!
And now for the Women!!
WORLD Athlete of the Year--WOMEN
ALMAZ AYANA
This, folks, was a real toughie!!
T&FN decided on Anita Wlodarczyk!
As did other entities!
Not me!!
In a year where the Women walloped FOUR World Records out of various stadia--and where EACH of them held several tons of significance--how do you decide!
Let's do it by process of elimination!
Kendra Harrison nipped the 1988 WR of 12.21 by Yordanka Donkova by 0.01 seconds!
It did NOT matter to me that she failed to make TeamUSA for the OG!
But her back-up times of 12.42 made the 12.20 seem like a one-off!
(Prove us wrong, Kendra!!)
ADDED on January 2nd---
Prove ME wrong!
I reviewed Ms Harrison's season record, and her 2nd best time was 12.24---not 12.42 as stated above!
She also had 2-3 other times at 12.42 or faster!
HOWEVER, that still doesn't make her my AOY!!
For all the OTHER reasons stated above!!
Sorry for MY error!!
Ruth Jebet's total destruction of the 3000SC WR wasn't a shocker!
First, Jebet had run fast in earlier races!
Second, the old WR was---IMHO--pretty soft!
But kudos to this youngster for taking the bull by the horns!
That leaves Wlodarczyk!
Oh boy!
She broke her own WR in the Olympic final!
Then she shattered THAT one in a Memorial meet to an old friend--by over two feet!!
I said "her own" WR!
Almaz Ayana obliterated someone ELSE's seemingly untouchable WR--that of the controversial Chinese, Wang Junxia!
A record unrecognized by T&FN, a record buried in a cave of doubt and deception--and maybe crime!!
But also a record "experts" said might NEVER be broken--let alone CRUSHED by 14 seconds!!
Well, folks, I've never been one of those so called "experts"!
I ALWAYS felt that record of Junxia's WAS breakable--by even MORE than was accomplished by Ayana!
For that lone performance--in a negative split race--which left everyone stunned and awed as it unfolded--I award Almaz Ayana my AOY for 2016--no contest!!
Honorable Mentions to the above-named WR breakers, as well as Elaine Thompson, Shaunae Miller, Brittney Reese, Caterine Ibarguen, Ekaterina Stefanidi & Sandi Morris, Michelle Carter, Nafissatou Thiam, and Sandra Perkovic!
Special shout-outs to Yelena Isinbayeva and Melissa Bishop--two Women who lost NOT on the fields (or tracks) of fair battle, but in the rich offices of those who decide the fates of others from behind cowardly walls of ugliness!!
In MY eyes, both of you are GOLDEN!!
US Athlete of the Year--WOMEN
Here's another one that made me sit & ponder long hours!
Does Ms Harrison deserve the title, for being the sole American to break a WR this year?
For the same reasons stated above, she does NOT!
ADDED January 2nd--
See my added material about Kendra Harrison under my AOY comments!
The same applies here!
Her back-up times were better than I remembered, but Huddle still wins this award!
But if a WR doesn't win someone the AOY, what does?
With several strong contenders, I finally gave it to--
MOLLY HUDDLE
Not so much for her breaking Shalane Flanagan's AR in the 10000--in the greatest Women's 10K EVER!
But for the WAY she did it!
The (now old) American Record holder in the 5000--at 14:42.64--Huddle passed the 5K point in that 10K just 13 seconds slower than her PR!!
And then she ran a good 15:18 to create a new measure of US greatness--her 30:13.17 final time!
She added a debut Marathon time in the 2:28's--on NYC's difficult course, taking 3rd there!
Strong HM's go to Ms Harrison, Emma Coburn, Delilah Muhammed, Chaunte Lowe, Ms Carter, Allyson Felix, Shannon Rowbury, Keturah Orji, and to Gwen Berry, another who had something great STOLEN from her by rich dudes in dull offices!!
(But not by ME!!)
A Special Award for Many Years of Thrills and Magic Hours of Joy to--Sanya Richards-Ross--who has ALSO retired!!
Thank YOU, Ms SRR!!
WORLD Performance of the Year--WOMEN
Akmaz Ayana's magnificent 29:17.45 over 10000 meters of historic track in Rio!
HM's to the 3 other WR's!!
US Performance of the Year--WOMEN
This goes to Huddle's 10K!
But this--in any other year--could have gone to Rowbury's 14:38 over 5000 meters, to Harrison's 12.20, to Coburn's newest AR's, to any of those 10.7 gals--English Gardner, Tori Bowie, and Tianna Bartoletta--to Ms Orji, to Raven Saunders, to Maggie Malone, or to Barbara Nwaba & Kendell Williams!
It was one heck of a year for American Women!!
WORLD Personality of the Year
This award has a TIE!!
Just no way I can separate those lovely new BFF's--Nikki Hamblin of New Zealand and Abbey D'Agostino of the United States!
They'd never met before, I'm told!
So what a First Encounter they had!!
Oh my!!
For taking a tragic moment in time, and molding it into something the entire world thinks is beautiful--and to do so before the eyes of BILLIONS--is why these two wonderful HUMANS so richly deserve this award!!
US Personality of the Year--WOMEN
Again, this must be a TIE---except it can't be!!
Why?
Because one of the two isn't American!!
But, Nikki, we wish you were!!
You are an honor and a champion to your fellow Kiwi's--and to Americans worldwide!!
So I hand this award to Abbey D--whose hands & spirit touch Nikki's every step she takes!
Thank you, both!!
It is now less than two hours until Bellingham WA welcomes the New Year!
Readers of this blog have numerous Previews to help guide you through the next 10 weeks of INdoor T&F action!!
It's already begun--this INdoor season!
In fact, speaking of New Zealand (& its neighbor, Australia), it's now January 1, 2017 there!
HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!!
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