The USATF Junior Championships will be held this coming Friday through Sunday in Columbus, Ohio in Jesse Owens Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University. On the line is a trip to July’s IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. (No, I can’t pronounce that, either.) Yours truly, the Track & Field Superfan, will be on site for all three days.
The meet is open to all athletes who are teenagers for the entirety of the 2008 calendar year, and that means all high schoolers and many college freshmen. Unfortunately, USATF was caught in a scheduling bind–some of the biggest states (New York, Ohio and others) had late state championships, pushing Nike Outdoor Nationals a week later than usual, while the Olympic Trials caused the Junior championships to be held a week earlier, and the result is that the two meets are on the same weekend.
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Organizers have secured great line-ups for Sunday’s adidas Track Classic at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., and that includes the middle and long distance events.
The men’s 1500m is shaping up to the the top event, led by double world champion and two-time Olympic medalist, Bernard Lagat. Commonwealth Games medalists Nick Willis of Australia and Nate Brannen of Canada are also in the field, along with perennial Canadia star Kevin Sullivan and former NCAA ace Lopez Lomong. Nick Symmonds will be moving up from his usual specialty, the 800m, while 5000m man Adam Goucher will be moving down for a speed workout.
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The USA Track & Field Foundation announced today that it has made $20,000 grants to two of USATF’s most successful programs, Win With Integrity and the Mark Springer Youth Travel Grant program.
“The Win With Integrity and The Mark Springer Youth Travel Grant Program support the development youth programs in the United States, on and off the track,” said USATF Foundation board member Bob Betz. “Instilling strong core values in our athletes and all young people is a priority for all of us.”
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The yet-to-be-selected CEO to replace Craig Masback at USA Track & Field will be treated to new office space as the U.S. governing body for athletics will be moving out of their offices at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis in advance of its demolition this summer. Moreover, USATF will share space with the U.S. Olympic governing bodies for diving, gymnastics, and synchronized swimming which are also based in Indianapolis. The four organizations will share 32,000 square feet of space at 132 East Washington Street.
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2005 8 km champion Jorge Torres (Boulder, Colo.) and American Record holder for the mile Alan Webb [Pictured] (Reston, Va.) lead the field for the USA Men’s 8 km Championship in New York’s Central Park this Saturday. This year’s championships, hosted by the New York Road Runners (NYRR) as part of the Central Park Challenge, will see a field of more than 50 U.S. men.
Torres, the 2006 champion at 10,000 meters, will use the 8 km as a final tune-up for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships two weeks later in Edinburgh, Scotland. While Webb will use his second “serious” road-race longer than a mile as he finalizes his base training phase in preparation to make the U.S. Olympic squad for 1,500 meters in Beijing this August.
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The most decorated shot putter in World Outdoor Championships history, Adam Nelson continued a streak of amazing performances to win the Visa men’s shot put Friday night in front of 4,519 screaming fans at the 2008 Tyson Invitational.
The fourth stop of the 2008 USA Track & Field Visa Championship Series, the Tyson Invitational will be televised on February 17 from 5-7 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN.
Nelson’s world-leading throw of 22.40 meters/73 feet 6 inches in the Visa men’s shot put is the third-best performance of all time in the shot, and he offered it up in front of the second-largest crowd in meet history at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville. For his efforts, the four-time World Outdoor medalist was named the Team USA Athlete of the Meet, presented by Visa.
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USA Track & Field served as the host to a media teleconference Thursday afternoon featuring two-time USA women’s cross country champions Shalane Flanagan and Colleen De Reuck [Pictured].
Flanagan and DeReuck discussed their preparations for the 2008 USA Cross Country Championships in San Diego on Saturday, where both open and junior men and women will look to earn a spot on the Team USA squad for the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 30.
The championships in San Diego will feature six races that will determine national champions for masters men and women; junior men and women; and open men and women. The event will be televised in association with the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships February 24, from 5-7 p.m. on ESPN 2.
Excerpts from Thursday’s teleconference with Shalane Flanagan and Colleen De Reuck follow:
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USA Track & Field served as the host to a media teleconference Wednesday afternoon featuring Team USA men’s squad members for the 2008 Olympic Marathon in Beijing, China, Ryan Hall and Dathan Ritzenhein.
Hall and Ritzenhein discussed their preparations for the 2008 USA Cross Country Championships in San Diego on Saturday, where both open and junior men and women will look to earn a spot on the Team USA squad for the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 30.
The championships in San Diego will feature six races that will determine national champions for masters men and women; junior men and women; and open men and women. The event will be televised in association with the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships February 24, from 5-7 p.m. on ESPN 2.
Excerpts from Wednesday’s teleconference with Ryan Hall and Dathan Ritzenhein follow:
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Kevin Eastler, Curt Clausen, Philip Dunn, Matt Boyles and Ray Sharp headline the field Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - 50 km Race Walk at the Miami-Dade County village of Palmetto Bay in Florida, where U.S. Olympic Team berths will be at stake.
A purse of over $55,000 awaits the top finishers of the 50 kilometer (31 mile) walk, the longest track and field event at the Olympic Games. First place will be worth more than $15,000 with the top eight finishers guaranteed prize money.
The local organizing committee is led by event director Robin Beamon from the Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation Department. ING Miami Marathon race director Robert Pozo will be the technical director of the race.
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Three-time World Outdoor 100m champion and 2000 Olympic 100m and 4×100m gold medalist Maurice Greene announced his retirement from track and field Monday in Beijing, China.
Recognized as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, Greene won the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay gold medals at the 1999 World Outdoor Championships in Seville, Spain. In so doing he became the second sprinter ever to defend the 100m world title and the first to ever to accomplish the 100m/200m sprint double at a World Championships. The 1999 World Indoor champion at 60 meters, Greene owns the world record in that event, and his former world 100m record of 9.79 seconds set June 16, 1999 in Athens, Greece, remains the American record.
The 2000 Olympic Trials 100m winner and Olympic gold medalist, Greene also won the 100m at the 2004 Olympic Trials, and later won the 100m bronze medal at the Games in Athens, where he also won a silver medal in the 4×100m relay.
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Ultrarunning legend, 1952 Olympian, New York Road Runners Founding President and pioneer in the field of course measurement and certification Ted Corbitt died Wednesday of cancer in Houston, Texas. He was 87.
Corbitt began his running career as a sprinter in Cincinnati and didn’t run his first marathon until he was 32 years old, placing 15th […]
The USA Track & Field Foundation has presented Elite Athlete Development Grants to four athletes, USATF Foundation Executive Director Tom Jackovic announced Monday.
The USATF Foundation Elite Athlete Grant Program contributes to the pursuit of world-class performances by American post-collegiate track and field athletes. Athletes must meet minimum performance standards to be eligible.
Athletes receiving $3,000 grants […]
1976 Olympic decathlon gold medalist and National Track & Field Hall of Famer Bruce Jenner has been named as a Director of the USA Track & Field Foundation Board, USATF Foundation Executive Director Tom Jackovic announced Thursday.
The USATF Foundation provides a means to attract and guide funds to new and innovative track and field programs […]
2007 Jesse Owens Award winners Allyson Felix and Tyson Gay are finalists for the 2007 United States Sports Academy Athlete of the Year presented by USATODAY.com and MSNBC.com. Last year, the ballot attracted nearly half a million votes from around the globe.
Votes will be collected online from November 30- December 24. The ballot will be […]
The following site selections for upcoming USATF national championships were made at the 2007 Annual Meeting last week in Honolulu, Hawaii:
2008 National Club Track & Field Championships
- Olathe, KS
2008 National Club Cross Country Championships
- Spokane, WA
2008 USA 50km Road Championships - Long Island, NY
2008 USA 100km Road Championships - Madison, WI
2008 USA Mountain Championships - […]
Two of America’s outstanding distance runners, American record holder Dan Lincoln and national champion Katie McGregor (Pictured), will be special guests at the 2007 USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships presented by Finish Line this weekend in Lawrence, Kansas. The duo will be on hand to sign autographs, cheer the runners on, and participate […]
Episode 107 of The Final Sprint Podcast features the second installment in a two-part series of interviews with CHRIS LEAR, author of the cult-favorite running books Running With the Buffaloes and Sub 4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile. TheFinalSprint.com Assistant Editor Jimmie R. Markham joins us for the interview.
In Part […]
The Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT) Council of long distance running has chosen the 2007 USATF Mountain Runners of the Year, Ultrarunners of the Year, and Contributor of the Year. The following will receive their awards at the annual USATF National Convention in Honolulu, Hawaii on Saturday, December 1 at an awards breakfast.
Rickey Gates, 26, Boulder, […]
Lois Ann Gilmore of Janesville, Wis., one of the most successful and prolific age-graded masters distance runners in history and a survivor of two life-threatening illnesses, on Thursday was named USA Track & Field’s Masters Athlete of the Year. The announcement was made by the Masters Long Distance Running and Track & Field Committees at […]
Delegates to the USATF convention who attended the open session of the Long Distance Running Division chaired by Fred Finke were anxious to debate the ban on headphones in road races which was imposed by USATF at last year’s convention.
“We realize this issue has caused a great deal of angst,” said Finke, who has received […]
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