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Lead Stories: Monday, December 1, 2008

2008 Track & Field
Previews & Predictions:
Women’s Middle-Distance

Posted January 25th, 2008 at 5:25 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Maria Mutola recently announced that she will retire at the end of the 2008 season. That’s a shame because she has been the ambassador of women’s 800m running ever since she broke on the world-class middle-distance running scene in 1991 with a time of 1:57.63. Since then she’s run between 1:55.19 and 1:58.98 a staggering 108 times. The only other woman to come even close to running that many world-class times in the 800m has been the great Cuban runner Ana Quirot, who ran between 1:54.44 and 1:58.95 a total of 72 times between 1986 and 1997. The 800m event will truly be diminished when Mutola retires.
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World records likely in Osaka?

Posted August 23rd, 2007 at 9:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports

The Osaka track is extremely fast, as evidenced by Jeremy Wariner’s early-season 44.02 back on May 5th, 2007 at the Osaka Grand Prix. That bodes well for the sprints, obviously, which means that most of the distance records are probably safe. Hard tracks are best for sprinting, while soft tracks are best for distance races. So which world records are safe and which ones could be broken in Osaka?

The two safest records are undoubtedly Jarmila Kratochvílová’s 1:53.28 in the women’s 800m and Marita Koch’s 47.60 in the women’s 400m. These records were set way back in 1983 and 1985, respectively, and will probably be safe for some time to come. The 2007 world’s best for the 800m, set this week by Ukraine’s Yuliya Krevsun in Bangkok, Thailand, is 1:57.63, nearly 4 1/2 seconds slower than Kratochvílová’s controversial mark.

Rumors of drug use by both Kratochvílová and Koch persist, their best marks having come during the heyday of the Cold War when nationally-sponsored doping programs within the Iron Curtain were rampant. It should be noted, however, that neither neither athlete ever tested positive for PED’s and both records are still considered to be official by the IAAF.
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