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Eugene, New York Tapped for IAAF “Diamond League”
Posted March 2nd, 2009 at 5:23 PM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
The IAAF announced on Monday that the Nike Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., and Reebok Grand Prix in New York City will be part of a prestigious new circuit of elite track meets known as the “IAAF Diamond League”, starting in 2010.
Replacing the current ÅF Golden League of six meets, the Diamond League will feature at least 12 globally televised meets on four continents, giving the IAAF a series that extends beyond the European confines of the current Golden League, into the United States, Asia and the Middle East.
The Diamond League also will expand the number of events contested in the IAAF’s showcase series, featuring 32 different event disciplines. All 32 events will have equal prize money, with each meet doling out $416,000. Top stars will be signed to contracts to compete in the series.
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World Records and Doping Suspicions
Posted June 10th, 2008 at 10:00 AM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports
We get a fantastic world record in the 100 meters, and one of the first questions is about drugs. From the New York Times:
When Usain Bolt of Jamaica set a world record of 9.72 seconds at 100 meters Saturday night, two questions became urgent:
Was the supporting tailwind legal?
Was Bolt himself legal?
Track and field has become so compromised by doping that any startling performance brings immediate suspicion. Even before the race at the Reebok Grand Prix meet on Randall’s Island, Bolt and his top challenger, the 2007 world champion Tyson Gay, faced inevitable questions from reporters about performance-enhancing drugs. The pre-race inquiries have become as routine as the postrace drug screens.
The purists and the pollyannas alike bemoan this state of affairs. And while the comedians and cartoonists have (rightly) turned their doping jokes towards baseball instead of track, they still don’t get the same treatment. Manny Ramirez smacked his 500th career home run this week and did not have to answer these kind of questions.
Will track ever be rid of this suspicion? I say not any time soon, and maybe never.
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The Week in the Rear View: Racing News May 26 – June 1
Posted June 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 AM by Jay Hicks
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Columns, 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.
Everyone in the track world is talking about Usain “Lightening” Bolt. He shut ‘em down—literally! Bolt quieted his critics with a 9.72 seconds World Record performance with World Champion Tyson Gay in the race. Tyson Gay looked in good shape for this time of season running 9.85, which was good enough for second. Doesn’t that sound crazy? Bolt is now the favorite in Beijing, but two months is certainly a long time from now.
You could call it the law of averages. The Jeremy Wariner vs. LaShawn Merritt race in Berlin resulted in the end of Wariner’s winning streak that dates back to 2005. Merritt was superb. He executed a perfect race strategy to deliver the win. Before the media writes the early demise of Wariner, it should be noted that he isn’t in top shape, not yet—that will be in Beijing.
Distance Races Also Thrill At Reebok Grand Prix
Posted June 1st, 2008 at 3:46 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
It is true that most of the 6,000-plus spectators who filled Ichan Stadium here, especially the 1,000 or so Jamaicans, came to see explosive sprinters like Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix. Their cheers, deafening during the sprints, were largely lacking during the distance events, despite the entreaties of RRW’s favorite meet announcer Scott Davis.
However, some exciting sprint finishes in the longer races did get the crowds on their feet, in particular the finish of the men’s 5000m where Shadrack Kosgei of Kenya and Ali Abdosh of Ethiopia duked it out on the final 100m, the first race after a 45 minute delay caused by a heavy thunderstorm. The pair were running close to 13-flat pace throughout the race, and it took a 56-second final 400m by Kosgei to lock down the win by just 4/100ths of a second, 13:14.46 to 13:14.50. Abdosh was sprinting so fast in the final meters he nearly fell as he crossed the finish line.
“I thought the sprint was fantastic,” said a beaming Kosgei. “I was really strong.”
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Video Of Usain Bolt’s 100m World Record (9.72!)
Posted June 1st, 2008 at 12:35 PM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Despite Late Start, Tollefson Still Hoping For Beijing Birth
Posted May 31st, 2008 at 12:27 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Carrie Tollefson traveled a rough road to make the USA Olympic team for the 2004 Games in Athens, and it looks like her path to this year’s Beijing Olympics won’t be any smoother.
Tollefson, 31, made it to the 2004 Games in the 1500m when she won a four-way sprint at the USA Olympic Trials over Jen Toomey, Amy Rudolph and Jenelle Deatherage. Just 39/100ths of a second separated the top four women in a race Tollefson was essentially forced to run after finishing only sixth in the 5000m final, her primary event.
But things got even weirder after that. Not a single finisher in that 1500m final had achieved the Olympic Games “A” standard of 4:05.80. Suzy Favor Hamilton had the time and ran in the prelims, but a hamstring injury forced her to scratch from the final. That meant that Tollefson had to achieve at least the “B” standard of 4:08.20 to get herself on the team, and if she achieved the “A” standard she would bring Favor Hamilton along with her (for two or more athletes to compete in an Olympic Games discipline both must have the “A” standard; only one can compete with the “B” standard).
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Reebok Grand Prix To Begin One Hour Later
Posted May 31st, 2008 at 12:07 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Organizers of today’s Reebok Grand Prix announced that the start of the meet would be delayed by one hour due to the rainstorm which is currently lashing the city.
“Because of thunderstorms in the forecast, the Reebok Grand Prix will begin at 6 p.m., one hour later than scheduled,” read a statement circulated by the event’s media director, Barbara Huebner. “All of the events will be conducted one hour later than originally scheduled.”
The first event will be the Digicel men’s 100m - B race at 6:00 p.m.; the last event will be the Digicel men’s 100m at 10:25 p.m.
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
2008 Reebok Grand Prix Preview
Posted May 31st, 2008 at 8:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
With the 2008 IAAF Golden League kicking off in Berlin this weekend, outdoor track is in full swing. This being an Olympic year, every major meet from here on out can offer a piece of what the final Olympic track & field puzzle might look like. The 2008 Reebok Grand Prix, which begins tonight, May 31, 2008, at at 5:00pm in Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island in New York City, NY, is no exception. Here are some quick glimpses into many of the events that will be held tonight:
100m
Men: Fresh off a sizzling 9.76 (just 0.02 slower than Asafa Powell’s world record), Usain Bolt will face World Champion Tyson Gay, who is facing some pre-Olympic jitters. Both men are fully capable of blowing their starts, which would offer Shawn Crawford and Xavier Carter some hope. There’s an A race and a B race. That’s always a letdown, isn’t it?
Women: Loaded with stellar American and Jamaican sprinters, this race should be a preview of the Olympic final: Veronica Campbell Brown, Lauryn Williams, Allyson Felix, Torri Edwards, more.
200m
Men: Wallace Spearmon is the only man in the race to have broken 20 seconds. It’s his race for the taking.
Women: Lashauntea Moore, the 9th fastest 200m runner of 2007 (22.46) faces Muna Lee, the 2nd fastest in the world (22.30) from 2008 and Shalonda Solomon, the 7th fastest in the world (22.36) in 2006. Keep an eye out for University of Texas freshman Bianca Knight, who turned pro this year after running a fabulous 22.40.
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What To Watch: Running & Track Events on TV, Webcast
Posted May 29th, 2008 at 4:30 PM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Columns, Olympics, What To Watch, High School
Here are the running and track & field events coming your way on TV and/or through online webcasts. All times EDT. If I’ve missed anything, put it in the comments section. Check your local listings and enjoy!
NCAA Midwest Regional Track & Field Championships
Huskers.com, Friday and Saturday
Free live coverage of the national championships qualifier from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Meet Website
California High School Track & Field Championships
Fox College Sports Pacific, 7-10:30 p.m. Saturday
replays Sunday at 2 p.m.
The best high school track meet in the country gets richly-deserved regional coverage.
Meet Website
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Jon Rankin: Because You’re the One I Love
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #13)
Posted May 26th, 2008 at 2:14 PM by Jon Rankin
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin
Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of The Final Sprint’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Be sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry at http://jonrankin.thefinalsprint.com/
Every time I step on the track I ask my self this simple question: why? I ask my self again and again why I put my body and mind through all this trouble and pain. And before I know it I hear Coach Cruz yell ‘GO!’ and I’m off without a second thought or answer. I just start running. Occasionally I’ll hear the voice of a teammate as I run by or the sound of the wind howling past my ears as I put one leg in front of the other as fast as I can. All the while hoping I don’t cave in before they give out. And before I know it the workout is a blur or the race is over, my erratic heart beat has slowly subsided to a subdued pitter-patter and I come to eventually find that I’m still in one piece. And as I cool down I think back to the question that always plagues my mind before every race and every workout: why? And the only answer, in the midst of all the heavy breathing, drowned out voices and splits that have no meaning, which seems to unveil itself to me, is that running is the one thing I love most. And that’s why I’ll never stop.
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Who had the more impressive Boston Marathon debut?
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- Lagat, Mottram USATF teleconference excerpts
Organizers of the 2007 Reebok Grand Prix played host to a media conference Thursday featuring Bernard Lagat and Craig Mottram, who will compete in the men’s mile at that event in New York City on June 10.
A Global Athletics & Marketing, Inc., event, the Reebok Grand Prix is the third event of USA Track & […] - Record-holder Stuczynski to compete at Reebok Grand Prix
Jenn Stuczynski, who on Sunday ended the 11-year reign of Stacy Dragila as American Record-holder in the women’ pole vault, will compete at the Reebok Grand Prix on June 2, organizers announced this week. Among her rivals in New York will be Dragila, on the comeback trail after missing last season with an injury.
Also added […] - Four top sprinters set for June 2nd Reebok Grand Prix
American Lauryn Williams, the reigning World Champion; Veronica Campbell of Jamaica, the most successful track athlete at the 2004 Olympics; Tyson Gay, the world’s current #1 sprinter; and World Championship silver medalist Wallace Spea
3D4
rmon will headline the sprint fields at the Reebok Grand Prix on June 2, organizers announced today.
The third-annual Reebok Grand Prix, […] - New York City joins IAAF World Athletics Tour
The IAAF announced today that the Reebok Grand Prix, scheduled for Saturday, June 2, at Ichan Stadium in New York City, had been upgrated to IAAF Grand Prix status and is now part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour.
The Reebok meeting joins the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., on June 10, as the only other […] - “Guess Who’s Back? Back Again”
Many might recall that the phrase “Guess who’s back?” recently trumpeted the arrival of the Real Slim Shady, but as the meet announcer at last Saturday’s Reebok Grand Prix on Randall’s Island declared, “Look who’s back,” he was ushering in the return of the Real Marion Jones.
In vintage form, Jones was first across the […]
The Final Sprint
On June 9, 2009
Bridget said:
I completely agree with this article. Although I don't think moderate caffeine before a moderate workout...