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Lead Stories: Sunday, September 7, 2008

2008 Beijing Olympic Preview: Men’s Triple Jump

Posted August 9th, 2008 at 11:05 PM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Men’s Triple Jump
The Schedule: qualifying, Monday Aug 18; final, Thursday Aug 21
The Americans: #8 Aarik Wilson, #14 Kenta Bell, Rafeeq Curry
The Contenders: #1 Phillips Idowu (GBR), #2 Nelson Évora (POR), #3 Randy Lewis (GRN), #5 Arnie David Girat (CUB), #7 Jadel Gregorio (BRA)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - Idowu, Évora, Wilson; SI - Idowu, Girat, Gregorio
The Story: This one is tough to handicap because the triple jump hasn’t been held much on the World Athletics Tour. World Indoor champ Idowu is undefeated and has the year’s best jump, so he looks to be the one to beat. After that it gets a little hazy. Lewis recently beat World Indoor bronze medalist Évora; Girat’s season highlight was silver at those same indoor championships but hasn’t been nearly as good since then. Note that world record holder Jonathan Edwards recently expressed the opinion that Évora has a better chance of someday breaking his record than Idowu.

Don’t expect much out of US Trials champ Wilson; he has four stress fractures.

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Medal-Threat Womens Jumpers Look to Make Olympic Team

Posted June 27th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Jenn Stuczynski, Chaunte Howard, Brittney Reese and Shani Marks lead a strong contingent in the women’s vertical and horizontal jumps at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field, June 27 - July 6 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

The top three finishers in each race, who have met Olympic performance standards, will earn the ultimate prize of a spot on the Team USA roster for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Pole Vault

Two-time U.S. Outdoor champion and 2008 World Indoor silver medalist Jenn Stuczynski leads the field in the women’s pole vault. Already in her short career, Stuczynski has set three American records with the most recent coming at the 2008 adidas Track Classic when she became only the second woman ever to clear 4.90 meters/16 feet 0.75 inches.
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World Points Standings:
Women’s Jumps

Posted June 19th, 2008 at 9:30 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Rankings, World Standings

High Jump
1. Blanka Vlašic, 108
2. Ariane Friedrich, 59
3. Yelena Slesarenko, 55
4. Vita Palamar, 51
5. Ruth Beitia, 46
6. Marina Aitova, 38
7. Anna Chicherova, 36
7. Tia Hellebaut, 36
9. Ekaterina Savchenko, 32.5
10. Chaunte Howard, 32

Vlašic is the overall points leader for all events, men and women. She goes to all the biggest meets, is undefeated, and regularly jumps higher than any other active jumper’s PR. American Howard should climb the ranks as she continues to improve in her return to competition after having a baby.

Pole Vault
1. Jennifer Stuczynski, 64
2. Yelena Isinbayeva, 48
3. Yuliya Golubchikova, 45
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TFS News Briefs: 3/21/08
Special NCAA Track & Field Edition

Posted March 21st, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, TFS News Briefs

2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field: Week 1
The 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field season officially kicks off in fine style this weekend with 38 (count ‘em, 38!) meets throughout the country. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has links to all of them on their website. Schedules like this one are truly a track junkie’s dream come true.
Read more at: [USTFCCCA]

ASU Opens Outdoor Season At Home
ASU, the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Champions, will open their outdoor season at home this weekend at the Baldy Castillo Invitational. Both the men’s team and the women’s team won the NCAA national titles last weekend. The meet will be contested on the Joe Selleh Track at Sun Angel Stadium in Tempe, AZ.
Read more at: [Sun Devils]

Oregon Host First Meet At Revamped Hayward Field
The University of Oregon’s historic Hayward Field has had an $8 Million facelift in preparation for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, and now the Ducks want to show her off to the world. Folks will get their first look at the freshly-reminted stadium by hosting the Oregon Preview on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008. Over 550 athletes from throughout the Northwest will be competing in the meet.
Read more at: [Go Ducks][Hayward Field]
Image courtesy of GoDucks.com.
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TFS News Briefs: 3/19/08

Posted March 19th, 2008 at 3:23 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, TFS News Briefs

Blue Collar High School Runner
Eugene, Oregon’s Register-Guard has a profile of high school speedster Luke Puskedra who describes himself as a blue-collar runner. Puskedra, who has signed a letter of intent to run at Oregon, has the fastest indoor mile time of 2008 for a high schooler, having run a 4:08.77.
Read more at: [Register-Guard]

Spotlight On MarathonWeb.com
New York’s Star Gazette features MarathonGuide.com in an article that covers a range of statistics found on the site including the average men’s time for a marathon (4:29:52), average women;s time (4:59:28) and the % of runners who broke 3 hours in 2007 (only 1.7%).
Read more at: [Star Gazette]

Carolina Klüft Will Not Defend Her Olympic Heptathlon Title
In an expected move, Carolina Klüft announced that she will not defend her Olympic Heptathlon title from Athens. Instead, she will focus on the jumps in Beijing.
Read more at: [IAAF]
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Americans take four wins at World Athletics Final

Posted September 22nd, 2007 at 4:45 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

World champions Michelle Perry and Reese Hoffa stayed true to form, while Walter Davis and LaShawn Merritt also picked up victories Saturday in the first day of competition at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany.

Repeating their finishes from the World Championships in Osaka, Hoffa and Adam Nelson went 1-2 in the men’s shot put with throws of 20.98m/68-10 and 20.95m/68-8.75, respectively. Dan Taylor was fourth with 20.74m/68-0.5, Christian Cantwell fifth with 20.25m/66-5.25, and Garrett Johnson eighth with 19.26m/63-2.25.

Two-time world champion Michelle Perry won the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.68 seconds, .02 ahead of Spain’s Josephine Onyia in second. American Lolo Jones, Sally McClellan of Australia and Susanna Kallur of Sweden - who had dominated Golden League competition since Osaka - all were disqualified in a second and third false start.
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Technical advancements to setting world records

Posted September 8th, 2007 at 4:15 PM by Jimson Lee

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

I like to go back into history and determine what advancements or other factors led to new world records. For example, did athletes employ a new technique or strategy? Were there advancements in technology, running surface or venue? Consider the following observations:

The Triple Jump vs. Shot Put

If you go back nearly 100 years to 1911, the world record for Triple Jump and Shot Put was 15.52 and 15.54 meters (50′ 11″ & 50′ 11.75″) respectively. Today, they stand at 18.29 & 23.12 meters (60′ 0′ & 75′ 10″) respectively.

How can the comparable world records differ by nearly 16 feet over the last 100 years?

Easy, the shot put technique has undergone 2 major changes in the technical throws, with nearly everyone doing the spin technique similar to a discus thrower. You still have to hop, skip, and jump in the Triple Jump.

The same phenomenon can be seen with the High Jump. In 1978, the last straddler to set the world record was Vladimir Jashtshenko with a jump of 2.34m (7′ 8″) before floppers dominated the event.
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Taylor takes triple jump gold at World Youth Champs

Posted July 14th, 2007 at 8:30 PM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

On the first warm day of the meet Saturday, conditions were tailor-made for Team USA’s Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Ga.), as he shattered his previous personal best and won the triple jump with a final-attempt leap of 15.98 meters/52-5.25 on the fourth day of the 5th IAAF World Youth Championships.

Taylor, the long jump bronze medalist whose best coming into the meet was 15.22m/49-11.25, had a hip problem and was behind the board on his first three attempts, but managed to improve on each try. His fourth-round effort of 15.64m/51-3.75 put him into the lead for good, and with the gold assured he uncorked a massive final attempt to record the best jump by a youth in the world this year. Bryce Lamb (Chandler, Ariz.) was eighth at 14.99m/49-2.25.
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