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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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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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 United States Olympic Committee and USA Track & Field on Friday hosted a media teleconference with 2008 U.S. Olympic Team hopeful Deena Kastor (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) to preview the upcoming 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials-Marathon in Boston, Mass., April 20.
Kastor has had a storied career as an American distance runner. In 2006, she became the first American woman to run under two hours and 20 minutes which won her the Flora London Marathon. Her time of 2:19:36 smashed her own American Record of 2:21:16, which she set in London in 2003. Kastor’s time made her the fourth fastest woman ever in the marathon. A year earlier, she barely missed her own American record in the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:21:25. With the win, she became the first American to win a major marathon since Kristy Johnson 1994.
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Today on Episode 136 of TheFinalSprint.com Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, I participated in the USATF-hosted, Drake Relays Media Teleconference which featured 110m hurdler Allen Johnson. In his distinguished career, Johnson has won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympic Games, 4 golds and 1 bronze in the World Outdoor championships and 3 gold and two silvers in the Indoor world championships, including his 2nd place finish this year in Valencia, Spain.
I joined Mike Mahon, the media coordinator for the Drake Relays, Peter Gambaccini from Runner’s World and reporters from the Associated Press, Oakland Tribune and Reuters in the teleconference. We asked Allen questions that covered a wide range of topics, including his career, doping, promotion of track and field, the athletes’ ability to speak out at the Olympics, how much longer he plans to compete, and much, much more.
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Host: USATF | Guest: Allen Johnson
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 23.6 MB | Length: 00:34:24
Episode Sponsored By: U.S. Army Special Forces
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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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Kenya’s Coach Accused Ethiopians Of Fielding Over-aged Ringers
According to an article on Kenya Broadcasting Corporation’s website, Kenyan Head Coach Julius Kirwa is accusing arch rivals Ethiopia of “age cheating.” Kirwas, the article states, had told journalists that the junior Kenyan teams had lost at the IAAF WOrld Cross Country Championships this past weekend because of injuries and “because their major opponents from Ethiopia were much older.”
Read more at: [Kenya Broadcasting Corporation]
Oscar Pistorius Will Have His Day In Court
Double amputee Oscar Pistorius, a South African sprinter who is banned from the Olympics because of an alleged advantage offered to him by his prosthetics, is set to appear before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest appeals court in international sport, on April 29th and 30th.
Read more at: [The Canadian Press]
Gatlin To Argue His Case Before CAS
Speaking of appeals by sprinters, Justin Gatlin is set to have his own day in court. The CAS has agreed to hear his case on May 28th and 29th. Gatlin is insisting that he never knowingly took steroids. A lift on his ban could allow him to compete at the US Olympic Trials in June and July.
Read more at: [The Canadian Press]
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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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Controversial Front-Runner For USATF Presidency
Montreal 4×400m gold medalist Herman Frazier is being considered for the role of president, according to an article on the UH website. Frazier is a controversial choice, having made some unpopular decisions while athletic director at two different universities.
Read more at: [University of Hawaii][Wikipedia]
Incipient Shot Put Feud?
Christian Cantwell may have begun a feud with fellow shot-putter Reese Hoffa by calling him a hypocrite when Hoffa refused to bring Cantwell’s shot put to the US Indoor Championships. Hoffa defended himself against the volatile Cantwell, saying he wasn’t going to help his competitor. Adam Nelson was mentioned during the verbal exchange. Is this fuel to spark the big men’s competitive fires, or is it a major distraction in an Olympic year?
Read more at: [Boston Globe]
Pre-Worlds Profile of the Great Maria Mutola
The IAAF website has a profile of the great 800m runner Maria Mutola, who will toe the line in Valencia, Spain for her 8th gold medal in the indoor world championships. Mutola will retire after the Beijing Olympics to devote her time to her charity Foundation in Mozambique.
Read more at: [IAAF]
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Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. For more information about Nick please visit: www.nicksymmonds.com
This weekend marked the real beginning of 2008 for me. Traveling across the country to race at the Boston Indoor Games was a decision not easily made. Many factors go into choosing a season […]
Reese Hoffa, Jenn Stuczynski, Dwight Phillips, Adam Nelson, Khadevis Robinson , Angela Daigle-Bowen and Galen Rupp headline a top international field that includes Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar for this Saturday’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the second event of the 2008 Indoor Visa Championship Series.
Track fans around the country will have limitless opportunities to […]
With wins in 11 of 16 events, Team USA dominated Team World Monday evening at USA vs. the World at the Run for the Dream at the Save Mart Center, located on the campus of Fresno State University in California. Scored as a dual meet, Team USA won 96-66.
Three-time Olympian Amy Acuff won the women’s […]
Meet director Mark Wetmore added some additional depth to the Millrose Games’ Wanamaker Mile, announcing today that Galen Rupp Pictured and Nick Willis would be on the starting line with last year’s 1-2 finishers, Bernard Lagat and Craig Mottram.
Rupp, 21, the NCAA 10,000m record holder, is a natural distance runner, who also holds the U.S. […]
USA Track & Field CEO Craig A. Masback is departing USATF after leading the organization for more than 10 years, USATF President Bill Roe announced Wednesday. Masback will become Director of Business Affairs for Nike’s Global Sports Marketing Division and will transition to his new position over coming weeks and months.
In his decade of service […]
Six active and five old-timer Masters athletes have been elected to the USATF Masters Hall of Fame.
The actives are: Carol Finsrud, Alfred Guidet, Gayle Johnson, Barbara Miller, Austin Newman and Nadine O’Connor. The old-timers are: Dan Conway, Alfred Funk, Ruth Rothfarb, Dorothy Stock and Herm Wyatt.
The Hall now contains 53 women and 99 men, […]
Eugene, Ore., will host the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2008, and the U.S. Outdoor Championships in 2009 and 2011. In between, USATF announced today, the national championship meet will move to Des Moines, Iowa, home of Drake University and the Drake Relays.
“For several years, we have wanted to bring one of our premiere events […]
USA Track & Field and the U.S. Olympic Committee on Wednesday announced their intent to host the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field in Eugene, Oregon, USATF CEO Craig Masback announced Wednesday. The announcement was made at an afternoon press conference on the University of Oregon campus.
Eugene, which next year will host […]
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 […]
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