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Despite Bumpy Start, Webb Confident Prior to U.S. Olympic Trials
Posted June 25th, 2008 at 8:30 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
When Alan Webb finished 16th at the U.S. 8-K Championships last March, then stepped off the course with about 800m to go at the Carlsbad 5000 three weeks later, alarm bells went off amongst America’s track fans. A panic practically ensued when he withdrew from the mile at the Drake Relays a week after the Carlsbad race. Was Alan Webb in trouble in this all-important Olympic year?
Not according to Webb or his coach, Scott Raczko. With the opening of the U.S. Olympic Trials just two days away in Eugene, Ore., Webb feels he’s on target to perform at his best at the Trials and make his second Olympic team. For him, his season is just getting started.
“Basically, going back to last fall to now I’ve gotten a lot accomplished in the fall and winter,” said Webb in an interview on his cell phone. “I had a little hiccup around the 8-K and Carlsbad, but things have been going great since then.”
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Nick Symmonds: Anticipation
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry 15)
Posted June 17th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Nick Symmonds
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Nick Symmonds
Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. Be sure to check every other Monday at http://nicksymmonds.thefinalsprint.com/ for Nick’s latest entry! For more information about Nick, also please visit: www.nicksymmonds.com
Ive always tried to keep my mind focused on my most immediate competition and generally to keep it from drifting towards thoughts of other upcoming races. I find that if I get caught up in thinking about the Trials or the Olympics or any other race, I’m distracted from the
nearest challenge and the valuable opportunities it may present to learn and grow as an athlete.
So now, with my last race before the trails out of the way, I am finally free to let my mind focus on what I need to do in the prelims. At this point there is not a whole lot more I can do to build my strength and only a little more sharpening to do on the speed side. Really, I am just going to try and get as much rest as I can and make sure that on June 27th my legs are as fresh as possible. I know now that the most important thing I can do to be prepared is to just take care of my body and do my best to ensure that nothing tragic happens.
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The Week in the Rear View: Racing News June 2 - June 8
Posted June 10th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jay Hicks
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Columns, Olympics, Drugs In Sports, Week in Rear View
The Week In the Rear View is a weekly column wrapping up the week’s events in running and track & field. I am normally found at PreraceJitters.com, writing about the fast life of track and field.
This was a week that saw records drop. The Prefontaine Classic is one of the hallowed places in the United States to host a track and field meet. The standing ovation for Maria Mutola was griping. The track great won her 16th and final Pre Classic 800. One track expert I spoke with on the phone after the meet summed it up best saying, “The fans at Pre really get it. They really get the sport.”
Jeremy Wariner did more than “bounce back” from the rare loss to LaShawn Merritt in Berlin last week. The Olympic and World Champion ran 43.98 in the IAAF Golden League Meet in Oslo on Friday. Some of the pundits may have forgotten that Michael Johnson lost to Frankie Fredricks in the 200 after the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials and before going on to run 19.32 the Olympics Games.
SoundOFF: Images, Media, and the State of Our Sport
Posted June 9th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Motivation, Success Stories, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns, High School
This past weekend I went the Ohio High School Track & Field Championships, a meet I’ve missed only once since I first attended as a high school sophomore in 1987. I like it for a number of reasons; the competition is fierce, the meet is well-organized, the athletes cannot hide their love of the sport, and I get to see a lot of old friends. This year’s meet wasn’t much different from all the rest–some great marks, kids having the time of their life, battles that go right to the finish line. But I took away something from this meet I’ve never experienced before.
I love to run and compete, but I’ve always thought my only talent is hard-headedness. I suppose all distance runners downplay their inherent physical abilities, but I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever beaten another male runner of a similar age who takes running more seriously than I do. My best high school 1600-meter time was 4:56, and that after several years of very hard work. I simply have always believed that I had few if any physical abilities, mostly because I see my body is all wrong for distance running.
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Walker breaks AR, Mutola wins for 16th time at Nike Prefontaine Classic
Posted June 8th, 2008 at 11:34 PM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Meet records fell across all event groups, none bigger than Brad Walker’s American record in the pole vault, and Maria Mutola had a historic exit Sunday at the Nike Prefontaine Classic.
The fourth event of USATF’s Visa Championship Series, the Nike Prefontaine Classic drew a meet-record 14,221 fans to Hayward Field, site of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field June 27-July 6. They were treated to a formidable show, including no fewer than eight meet records and Walker’s AR.
The 2007 world champion, Walker looked magnificent throughout the competition. He had just one miss, at his opening height of 5.70m/18-8.25, then passed to 5.90m/19-4.25, which he cleared on his first attempt and which won the competition for him. Walker then elevated the bar to 6.04m/19-9.75. On his very first attempt, he cleared, brushing the bar just a bit, but leaving it up.
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Prefontaine Classic Preview: Sprint and Middle Distance Events
Posted June 6th, 2008 at 11:00 AM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Women’s 400 meters
4:03 p.m. EDT (1:03 p.m. local)
Competitors have not yet been announced.
Men’s 100 meters
4:12 p.m. EDT (1:12 p.m. local)
The favorites are Michael Frater (Jamaica) and Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles), who are #7 and #8 respectively in my World Rankings points system. Veteran sprinter Francis Obikwelu (Portugal) is just starting his season and could challenge for the win as well. Other entrants include Darrel Brown (Trinidad) and Americans Mark Jelks, Shawn Crawford and Ivory Williams.
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Prefontaine Classic Preview: Special Distance Races
Posted June 6th, 2008 at 8:03 AM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
This weekend’s Prefontaine Classic promises to be a great meet as always. This year we’ll get something extra: a morning session has been added featuring a women’s 5k and a men’s 10k, and each race has the world record holder who will be trying to break it again. Today I will preview these races, with the remainder of the meet to come over the next few days.
TV coverage will be live on NBC from 4 to 6 p.m. EDT (1 to 3 p.m. local). For more information go to the Prefontaine Classic home page.
Note: In these previews I refer to the “Superfan World Rankings”. These are objective rankings based on meet results from the current year. Complete event-by-event rankings will be posted next week.
To the nitty-gritty: an event-by-event preview…
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Famed Hayward Field prepares to continue legacy at 2008 Olympic Trials
Posted June 15th, 2007 at 2:20 PM by Courtney Albon
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Ground was broken on Monday at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, which hosted the legendary Prefontaine Classic last weekend in Eugene, OR; initiating the venues’ transformation as it prepares to host the fast-approaching 2008 Olympic Trials.
The first phase of renovations that will, when completed, amount to $7.39 million began with the excavation of the track’s infield which will be leveled and equipped with two pole vault runways, long jump and triple jump runways, side-by side shot put rings and high jump pits.
With a November deadline, officials have outlined a strict schedule for the renovation of the facilities. After the first phase is completed in mid-July, workers will put the final touches on the infield and insulate the stadium with bleachers that will seat 15,000 spectators. In September, the track’s surface will be laid out and, later in the year, a top-quality video scoreboard will be installed.
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Symmonds to compete in Eugene for Pre Classic
Posted May 9th, 2007 at 5:30 PM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Reigning USA Indoor men’s 800m champion Nick Symmonds will face top fields twice at his home track over the next five weeks.
Coming off his impressive win last weekend at the Osaka Grand Prix in Japan, Symmonds will compete in the friendly confines of Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., at the Road to Eugene 08 on May 27, and the Prefontaine Classic on June 10, which is the fourth event of USA Track & Field’s Outdoor Visa Championship Series.
A member of the Oregon Track Club based out of Eugene, Symmonds was the surprise runner-up at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis. He’ll face a strong field at the Pre Classic that includes reigning U.S. Outdoor champion Khadevis Robinson, who ended the 2006 season ranked #7 in the world and #1 in the U.S by Track & Field News.
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Who had the more impressive Boston Marathon debut?
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Great review, I wrote one on the Ironman Road Trainer HRM, which is similar to this one, without the...