Relapse

US track & field television coverage has a cancer of stupid. It began to go into remission during the Worlds, but relapsed with a vengeance today.

The double whammy that plagues the broadcasts is 1) wasting huge amounts of time with introductions, previews, slo-mo replays, and vacuous post-race interviews and 2) failing to cover huge amounts of the meet. This has to be the worst offender in this way in recent memory, even worse than the awful Adidas Classic last May.

There were sixteen events on the program of the Zurich Weltklasse meet. Only eleven even got mentioned on the air, and two of those (women's pole vault and high jump) got only the most cursory coverage--the dreaded "here is their winning attempt" crap that denies the existence of an actual competition.

No coverage of the men's 1500, steeplechase, triple jump or javelin. Most inexplicably, no women's 1500, where America's Anna Willard came up just 0.23 seconds short of beating the World/Olympic champ, and two more Americans toook 4th and 5th. In terms of depth of performance, this is without a doubt the greatest single women's 1500 race in US history. Nothing.

This may not actually be the worst telecast of a track meet ever on national TV, as the mind-bending pair of Larry Rawson and Carol Lewis were mercifully absent. But coming as it did on the heels of a week where the producers seemed to begin to figure out what we wanted to see, it is without a doubt the most disappointing.

Zurich Reactions

SPOILER ALERT: if you're planning on watching this on TV on Sunday, don't read this. But if so, why are you on the internet anyway?

Results / IAAF recap / video-on-demand

This is the penultimate round in the final go-round of the Golden League. Good riddance, too. The whole jackpot thing is just a bit too contrived. For example, Kerron Stewart had the 4-for-4 thing going into today, and there was speculation that World champ Shelly-Ann Fraser would hold back to keep her compatriot in contention. If Fraser didn't hold back on purpose, then she just ran a piss-poor race. In any case, Jeter won, and made next week's final Golden League women's 100 meters mean...well, I guess it doesn't directly affect anything.

The big news on the world stage was the return to top form by Isinbayeva, who broke her own World Record (video link).

But to me, the bigger story is Ritz. He's legend around here, as the best schoolboy runner the rust belt has ever seen. His performance level after high school has been spotty, and rarely has he strung together several big things. So today's 5k American record, on the heels of his 10k PR for sixth in Berlin, means a lot. (Let's Run story / T&FN video interview)

That's one story, and a big one to me because it stands the conventional wisdom on its head. Here's why. The meet was on during my planning period, but I couldn't watch it on UniversalSports.com because I don't have administrator priveleges to install Flash player 10 at work. So I had to follow the meet on the various message boards and blogs. As my team was getting ready for practice, I told them the final event was the men's 5k, featuring one American, ten Kenyans, two Ethiopians, and a Ugandan. They laughed and predicted the American would be last. And through 1600 meters, they were right...but Ritz was on 12:55 pace at the time.

And after practice I delivered the shocking news that he'd taken third, to the World record holder and one other, and had run 12:56. Earlier in the meet, the USA took places 2-4-5 in the women's 1500, beating back a lot of damn good runners in the process. That the USA took 7th in the men's 800 and went 7-9 in the men's 1500 was considered well below expectations. This is a vastly different scenario at a Weltklasse meet than we've become accustomed to.

Do you remember what Golden League distance races looked like even five years ago? Americans couldn't get a spot on the starting line in any of them, and deservedly so. We were minor-league. Now we're major-league, and while we haven't won any championships (aside from Lagat's '07 double), we have a whole crew of younger runners all within spitting distance of them. Now, there is a reason for American TV to show distance races in their entirety. We're in them, and we affect the outcome of them.

Diamond League Changes Everything?

Today the IAAF released its Diamond League calendar for 2010.

The Diamond League format changes a lot of things, and almost all for the better. One of the big problems in getting the top athletes to compete against each other instead of ducking for the big money is that the most popular events are held far too often. Example: all 24 of the biggest invitationals have held or will hold the men's 100 meters. By contrast, next year's Diamond League will have the event maybe ten times in its fourteen meets.

When there are dozens of opportunities to compete, the talent pool spreads out and lining up deep races just doesn't happen very often. This isn't as big a problem in, say, the high hurdles, since hurdlers specialize in a single event. But sprinters generally run both the 100 and the 200, and between the two they're probably held 75 times on the World Athletics Tour. No wonder sprinters can duck each other. It's the exact same problem as when Seb Coe and Steve Ovett avoided each other: popular distances held all the time, and each ran multiple distances.

So finally the IAAF has figured out a way to control the problem: limit competitive opportunities in some events. At the same time, they've radically upped the profile of events that were virtually ignored in the Golden League setup by mandating they be held a minimum of eight times in those fourteen meets.

This is old news, though. What was really a big deal with today's announcement was the timing of the two US meets, the Reebok Grand Prix in New York and the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene. Respectively, they will be on June 19th and July 3rd, a radical departure from their traditional dates.

These two meets will bookend the USATF championships (June 23-26). There will be major international competition in the USA in the summer, after the national championships, for the first time in several generations.

Even more commonsense is the fact that these meet won't be swallowed up in the domestic college and high school seasons, when the natural fan base (coaches and athletes) are busy with other things. As much as I love the pros, I'll be at the state meet the first Saturday in June until I die (and I may require my casket to be brought down every year too). And where the major sports media is concerned, these meets are no longer up against the NBA and NHL playoffs--the only competition will be baseball and golf, which many will quite happily abandon in favor of something new.

Also, these meets are just the fifth and sixth in the Diamond League series. Unlike the Golden League, where competing in all the meets was mandatory if you wanted the payoff, it's not that way in the DL. So most domestic athletes will likely stay in home for just about the whole time until USATF/Pre...which should help out meets like Toronto's new Festival of Excellence and anything else someone decides to dream up.

Pre Classic Middle Distance Fields Announced

How fortuitous. And lucky too.

Today I posted my current rankings for men's and women's middle distances. Today the fields for those same events at the Prefontaine Classic were announced.

So here they are, as currently ranked in my system...

800 METERS (MEN)
2. Ahmad Ismail (Sudan)
3. Yuriy Borzakovskiy (Russia)
8. Boaz Lalang (Kenya)
15. Khadevis Robinson
27. Nick Symmonds
30. Christian Smith
24, 1500m Alfred Yego (Kenya)
**Gary Reed (Canada)
**Amine Laalou (Morocco)
So far as I know, the last three will make their seasonal debut at 800 in Eugene. Reed split a respectable 1:45.73 at the Penn Relays.

800 METERS (WOMEN)
11. Hazel Clark
20. Kenia Sinclair (Jamaica)
24. Alice Schmidt
34. Jemma Simpson (Great Britain)
**Pamela Jelimo (Kenya)
**Janet Jepkosgei (Kenya)
**Alysia Johnson
**Tatyana Andrianova (Russia)
The two Kenyans have not yet started their season, but are pretty much everyone's favorites to be the world's best.

1500 METERS (WOMEN)
1. Anna Alminova (Russia)
4. Jenny Barringer
5. Nuria Fernandez (Spain)
7. Gelete Burka (Ethiopia)
14. Anna Willard
28. Shayne Culpepper
48. Meskerem Assefa (Ethiopia)
55. Nancy Lagat (Kenya)
6, 5k-10k Shalane Flanagan
13, 800m Treniere Clement
21, 3k-5k Shannon Rowbury
34, 800m Christin Wurth-Thomas
**Erin Donohue
Very, very deep. The best women's 1500 race yet this year.

BOWERMAN MILE (MEN)
1. Haron Keitany (Kenya)
6. Belal Mansoor (Bahrain)
19. Shedrack Korir (Kenya)
27. Alan Webb
45. Peter van der Westhuisen (S Africa)
47. Nate Brannen (Canada)
58. Josephat Kithii (Kenya)
58. Juan van Deventer (South Africa)
62. Lopez Lomong
7, 800m Asbel Kiprop (Kenya)
**Leonel Manzano
**Nicholas Kemboi (Kenya)
**Evan Jager
**Henok Legesse (Ethiopia)

Two things to consider: my World Rankings only take into account what has already happened, so early-season rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. For the most part, these reflect the indoor season, which was long enough ago to not have a huge amount of predictive power. Also, the rankings have less meaning the further down the list you go.

But no matter how you look at it, the Prefontaine Classic deserves its inclusion in the new Diamon League.

Shot Putters on Gorée Island

File under "I did not know this":

One of the most unique and historical venues in all of sport will once again figure prominently when the IAAF World Athletics Tour resumes with the Meeting International d'Athletisme de la Ville de Dakar on 17 and 18 April.

Since 2006, the island of Gorée, a few miles off the coast of Dakar, has hosted the meeting's Shot Put competition one day prior to the main meeting in the Senegalese capital. Gorée, now a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, was for three centuries the largest dispatching point for the African slave trade, with millions of men and women being loaded onto vessels that would carry them to a lifetime of enforced labour in the Americas and around the world.

In the last three editions of the meeting, competitors have praised the competition's intimate setting as one of the finest and most memorable experiences of their careers.

Wow.

Future of the Golden League

While cleaning house today, I came across some notes I furiously scribbled down a few weeks ago regarding the IAAF's Golden League and World Athletics Tour.

This year, the Golden League was disjointed and hard to follow while the World Tour as a whole was an abject failure. Maybe the TV ratings were decent and so forth, but as far as a coherent structure for track and field it simply did not work.

What led me to this conclusion? I was at my in-laws' house, and NASCAR's Chase for the Cup series was on the TV. A few weeks before that, the PGA's FedEx Cup playoffs were on. Both have been highly successful efforts by their respective professional organizations.

By comparison, track's flagship series this year was disjointed. Two meets in early June, another two a whole month later, then another six weeks before the final two meets. The World Athletics Final was a real downer as the biggest stars, such as Bolt, skipped it. In terms of giving structure to the season, there was none.

By contrast, NASCAR and the PGA have taken the playoff mentality of team sports and successfully applied it to individual sports. Before trying to figure out how the IAAF could do the same, we need to carefully look at what it is that's being done.

NASCAR and the PGA have figured out what game shows have known for decades. Your standard 30-minute game show boils down to three stages: first round, second round, and lightning round. Jeodpardy! is the classic example, but pretty much everything on GSN follows this format. Points are accumulated all the rounds, but the second round counts much more than the first and the lightning round most of all. Why? So that everyone is still in the competition until the very end, because even big leads are not insurmountable. If the leader can't lose, why keep watching?

Likewise, the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Chase to the Nextel Cup reduce or eliminate any points lead built up during the regular season. The same happens in any team sports playoffs; the teams with the best regular-season records have to start all over again and win the playoffs to get a championship. The Patriots had no built-in advantage over the Giants in last year's Superbowl, even though they clearly had earned one, and the "best" team of 2007 didn't win the championship because they weren't the best on that one day. I'm not complaining; I hated the Patriots, and in fact the possibility of them losing made it that much more interesting to watch. If late-season competition is to be compelling, championship contention must be heavily (or completely) weighted towards that period.

If the IAAF wants a compelling end to the season, then, there must be some type of short-term chase to a championship. Of course, we had a great one this year called the Olympics. But to extend interest beyond those two weeks and into the professional circuit, we need something different than what we've got.

We also need to recall how things used to be. The forerunner of the World Athletics Final was the Grand Prix Final, and the IAAF got its best athletes to show up by giving out a big jackpot to a champion of champions, the single male and female athletes who had the greatest seasons (as determined by a points total). Once that went out the window, it got a lot harder to get universal participation. And in an Olympic year the need to be at peak form for the Games trumps all else.

So here's my idea in a nutshell. Meets before the Olympics or Worlds score points just like they do now, but the series expands to add some other events like the World Indoor, US Championships, the European Team Championships, and so on. Also, maybe bonus points for good marks. The Worlds/Olympics also add in very big points. Immediately after the WC/OG, the top five or six in each event qualify to a short series of meets held over about two weeks, capped by the World Athletics Final. Call it The Home Stretch or some such catchy thing. And not only have event championships, but an overall title as well. (Note: if bonus points for good marks are awarded, it is possible that the overall title could come down to two athletes in the same event. Head-to-head competition is the essence of sports!)

The other thing that must be kept in mind is that different years are, well, different. The schedule should be adjusted to account for the supreme importance of the Olympics, and the rapid downward spiral of public attention afterwards. World Championships years should likewise be treated differently than either Olympic or World Cup years.

This proposal would ash-can the Golden League as we know it. I wouldn't miss it. By the end of the year, the remaining contenders are attempting to not lose, which in sports is generally considered not interesting.

Weltklasse Zurich Preview

I also have preview up at The Final Sprint. The nitty-gritty: ESPN Classic, 4-6 p.m. tommorrow. Here's who the top competitors are. I know there's a lot, but it's the Weltklasse for cryin' out loud. I have no idea why my HTML coding is giving such a gap to the table below.

Time	Event	Key Competitors
12:40 PM	Women’s Pole Vault	#1 Yelena Isinbayeva, #2 Jenn Stuczynski, #3 Svetlana Feofanova, #4 Monica Pyrek, #5 Yulia Golubchikova, #6 Fabiana Murer, #7 Silke Spiegelburg, #10 Carolin Hingst
1:40 PM	Men’s Javelin	#1 Andreas Thorkildsen, #2 Tero Pitkämäki, #3 Tero Järvenpää, #6 Eriks Rags, #8 Ilya Korotkov, #9 Sergey Makarov, #10 Magnus Arvidsson, #11 Vadim Vasilevskis
1:45 PM	Women’s High Jump	#1 Blanka Vlašic, #2 Anna Chicerova, #3 Yelena Slesarenko, #4 Tia Hellebaut, #6 Chaunte Howard, #7 Vita Palamar, #8 Ruth Beitia
1:45 PM	Men’s 100m (race “C”)
1:50 PM	Men’s 100m (race “B”)
2:00 PM	Men’s Long Jump	#3 Hussein Taher Al-Sabee, #4 Mohamed Salman Al Khuwalidi
2:05 PM	Men’s 1500 meters	#2 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, #4 Shedrack Korir, #5 Asbel Kiprop, #6 Abdalaati Iguider, #9 Rashid Ramzi, #10 Juan Carlos Higuera, #12 Mehdi Baala
2:15 PM	Women’s 400 meters	#1 Sanya Richards, #4 Shericka Williams, #7 Novlene Williams, #8 Amantle Montsho, #9 Mary Wineberg, #10 Tayana Firova
2:25 PM	Men’s Steeplechase	#2 Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong, #3 Michael Kipyego, #4 Paul Kipsiele Koech, #4 Mehiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad, #5 Ezekiel Kemboi, #7 Wesley Kiprotich, #9 Tareq Mubarak Taher
2:40 PM	Men’s 110m Hurdles	#1 Dayron Robles, #2 David Oliver, #5 Joel Brown, #6 Anwar Moore, #8 Aries Merritt
2:45 PM	Women’s 800 meters	#1 Pamela Jelimo, #2 Janeth Jepkosgei, #3 Maria Mutola, #4 Kenia Sinclair, #5 Yuliya Krevsun, #11 Elisa Cusma, #12 Marilyn Okoro
2:55 PM	Men’s 100 meters	#1 Usain Bolt, #3 Walter Dix, #5 Richard Thompson, #7 Marc Burns, #8 Michael Frater, #10 Churandy Martina, #11 Darvis Patton
3:05 PM	Men’s 400m Hurdles	#1 Kerron Clement, #2 Bershawn Jackson, #3 Danny McFarlane, #4 Angelo Taylor, #5 L.J. van Zyl, #6 Marek Plawgo, #8 Isa Phillips, #11 Markino Buckley
3:15 PM	Women’s 200 meters	#3 Allyson Felix, #9 Marshavet Hooker, #12 Debbie Ferguson
3:20 PM	Men’s 400 meters	#1 Jeremy Wariner, #2 LaShawn Merritt, #3 Chris Brown, #4 David Neville, #9 Johan Wissman
3:30 PM	Women’s 100m Hurdles	#1 Lolo Jones, #2 Brigitte Foster, #3 Sally McLellan, #4 Delloreen Ennis-London, #5 Dawn Harper, #6 Joesphine Onyia, #8 Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, #11 Susanna Kallur
3:35 PM	Men’s 5000 meters	#1 Kenenisa Bekele, #2 Moses Ndiema Masai, #4 Micah Kogo, #6 Joseph Ebuya, #7 Mark Kosgei Kiptoo, #12 Leonard Patrick Komon
3:55 PM	Men’s 4x100 meters	Jamaica, USA, Trinidad

World Final Day Two recap

Results
IAAF recap
AP wirestory
Athletics Weekly report

Event-by-event...

Mens' 200: Jaysuma Saidy Ndure gained some notoriety late this season by running second or third in several Golden League 100m races, with decent but not-stunning times. The more observant fan might have known he's a better 200m runner. Today he stomped Wallace Spearmon by 0.29 seconds with 19.89. Definitely the find of this meet!
T&FN discussion - video

Men's 1500: Daniel Kipchirchir Komen was supposed to be one of the dominant milers this year, but it didn't really come out that way until after the World Championships. Today he outkicked a field that included Baala, Webb, Sullivan, Ali and Baddeley.
T&FN discussion - video

Men's Steeple: Paul Koech won almost every race he was in this year, save the all-important Kenyan Trials where he finished fourth and was not selected for the World Championships. He easily won again today, running 8:00.67 to runner-up Mateelong's 8:07.66 (and this without a pacemaker). Statistically, Koech is now probably the second- or third-best steepler of all time.
T&FN discussion - video

Men's 5000: Two days, two wins for Edwin Cheruyiot Soi. His kick was described as one of the best ever. Sihine was way back in sixth; there may have been some Kenyan team tactics going on there.
T&FN discussion - video

Mens' 110H: All of the world's best hurdlers save WR holder/world champ Liu Xiang were in the race. Dayron Robles, who was a bit of a disappointment in the early and middle parts of the season (no medal in Osaka) has been running very well in the last few weeks. Today he took it up another level; he ran 12.92 (wind 0.0), equal to the 4th-fastest athlete of all time. David Payne ran another great race (13.08) for second, with Trammell third. Robles' mark is definitely the performance of the day.
T&FN discussion

Men's High Jump: World Champ Donald Thomas added the World Final title to his short but rapidly-growing list of accomplishments. Remember, just two years ago he'd never tried the event and was still playing basketball for Auburn. Stefan Holm gained some measure of redemption for his Osaka failure by taking the runner-up spot.
T&FN discussion

Men's Pole Vault: Brad Walker cemented his position as the year's top vaulter with a 5.91 victory, beating back crowd-supported Germans Otto (2nd, 5.86) and Ecker (4th, 5.81) and Aussie Hooker (3rd, 5.81) in the process. He then actually had the audacity to attempt a WR 6.16 meters. Do I even have to mention that he didn't make it?
T&FN discussion

Men's Long Jump: These days, discussion of the event virtually begins and ends with Irving Saladino. He suffered and injury in Rieti and ended his season right there, so he was a no-show today. The man who came the closest to beating Saladino, Andrew Howe, won by a fairly wide margin with 8.35.
T&FN discussion

Men's Hammer: In the marquee running events many top stars skipped this meet. This was not the case in events which get lesser coverage such as the long throws; all the best hammer guys were here today. The title went to World champ Ivan Tsikhan.
T&FN discussion

Men's Javelin: Yet another Pitkämäki win (although to be fair, runner-up Thorkildsen is still recovering from injury). Every one of the top six was from a nation bordering the Baltic Sea.
T&FN discussion

Women's 100: All-around sprint star Allyson Felix chose the 100 for her first (only?) post-Osaka race and came up 0.05 short on a late-race surge. Emerging talent Carmelita Jeter won in 11.10 (wind -0.6) while a resurgent Christine Arron was third.
T&FN discussion - video

Women's 400: All the top 400 runners save Felix were in the race, and all got their butts kicked by Sanya Richards (49.27, equal to her own world leader).
T&FN discussion - video

Women's 800: Janeth Jepkosgei. Get to know this name--it sure looks like she's going to dominate the event for years to come.
T&FN discussion

Women's 3000: A Defar-Jamal matchup did not materialize. Defar won in 8:27.24 to 5k champ Cheruyiot's 8:28.66, but it actually was not as close as that appears. A dominant win for an athlete with a reasonable case for Athlete of the Year.
T&FN discussion

Women's 400H: This race was almost a microcosm of the season in this event. World Champ Jana Rawlinson dominated for 300+ meters, then folded in the straight and got nipped at the line by a surging Anna Jesien. Natasha Danvers-Smith's apparrel made a bit of a stir.
T&FN discussion - video

Women's Triple Jump: Tatyana Lebedeva continues to do the opposite of what we expect: win the long jump and get beaten in the triple. Surprise World champ Yergelis Sevigne won again today (14.78), with Devetzi second (14.75) and Lebedeva third (14.72).
T&FN discussion

Women's Shot: Nadzeya Ostapchuk evened the major-meet score with World champ Valerie Vili, 20.45 to 20.40.
T&FN discussion

Women's Discus: It actually took Franka Dietzsch two throws to put this one away. Runner-up Vera Pospíšilová-Cechlová was a bomb in Osaka, not qualifying to the final.
T&FN discussion

World Final Day One recap

Results
IAAF recap
Raf Casert's AP story

Event-by-event...

Men's 100: The AP headline reads "Asafa Powell wins 100 meters at World Athletics Final, but misses world record". The IAAF story leads with "Asafa Powell has developed a knack for making even some of the most sensational performances in history seem almost routine." He won by 0.23 seconds over Jasuma Saidy Ndure, who himself set a new national record. Considering the headwind (0.3 m/s), it was about the second-best mark of Powell's career.
T&FN discussion - video

Men's 400: In the absence of Jeremy Wariner, the event was won by Osaka runner-up LaShawn Merritt in 44.58, with Christopher Tyler second (44.87) and Angelo Taylor third (44.92). No one else beat 45 seconds.
T&FN discussion - video

Men's 800: Not one of the medalists at the World Championships were in attendance. Yusuf Saad Kamel just nipped Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, 1:45.61 to 1:45.67.
T&FN discussion

Men's 3000: Kenenisa Bekele was supposed to be in the race but pulled out. It was a relatively easy win for Edwin Cheruiyot Soi; Worlds medalist Eliud Kipchog had a bad day and finished sixth.
T&FN discussion - video

Men's 400H: This was the race of the night. All the best hurdlers were in the race. Marek Plawgo, Kerron Clement and James Carter all came to the line together; the Pole outleaned the others, fell and was ill. He's had a wonderful finish to his season.
T&FN discussion - video

Men's Triple Jump: Walter Davis took his third post-Osaka win in four tries with a seasonal best mark. The top three (Davis, Wilson and Evora) all made their best marks in their final attempts.
T&FN discussion

Men's Shot Put: Reese Hoffa is doubtless the year's top putter and he beat a stacked field here. Once again, he was behind until his final throw when he unleashed a big one.
T&FN discussion

Men's Discus Throw: Alekna must still be suffering from the injury that held him back in Osaka; he now has a two-meet losing streak. He held on to second, to World champ Gerd Kanter who solidified his claim to a world #1 ranking.
T&FN discussion

Women's 200: Uhh, yeah. Just one Osaka 200m finalist (Akron's LaShantea Moore) was in attendance. Muriel Hurtis just beat out Debbie Ferguson, 22.73-22.74. There were strange issues with the starter; Kim Gevaert was DQ'd for a false start, sat out another false start, and then reinstated.
T&FN discussion - video

Women's 1500: Maryam Yusuf Jamal whupped the year's #2, Yelena Soboleva, by more than four seconds. There are rumours that she will enter the 3000.
T&FN discussion - video

Women's Steeple: Most of the top players were here. World Champ Volkova did not run as well in this race, finishing fourth; the winner was Osaka bronze-medalist Eunice Jepkorir, in a relatively slow 9:35.03.
T&FN discussion - video

Women's 5000: Only six runners! Meseret Defar was on the start list initially but will run the 3000 instead. The athletes who took places 2-3-4 at the World Championships 5k were in the race, however. Cheruyiot first (14:56.94), Kibet second (14:57.37 PR), Cherono third (14:58.97).
T&FN discussion

Women's 100H: This was ridiculous. Susanna Kallur, Lolo Jones and Sally McLellan all got DQ'd on false starts. And there was reportedly some bad blood between Perdita Felicien and "victor" Michelle Perry. A most disappointing and disgraceful end to the season for an event which has been pretty interesting this year.
T&FN discussion - video

Women's High Jump: Vlasic, again.
T&FN discussion

Women's Pole Vault: Isinbayeva, again, but not comfortably. Pyrek set a PR and forced a jump-off. This was the first competition with three athletes over 4.80.
T&FN discussion

Women's Long Jump: Lebedeva beat a field that wasn't all that great in terms of depth.
T&FN discussion

Women's Hammer: Yipsi Moreno had two measured throws, both of which were good enough to win.
T&FN discussion

Women's Javelin: Early-season hero Obergföll was only third, while late-season hero Špotáková won with a new national record (67.12). It's always better to be the second of those than the first.
T&FN discussion

IAAF preview of the second day

World Athletics Final preview

Meet website
Timetable
Entry Lists (provisional) - discuss
World Athletics Tour standings
IAAF previews:
Sprints - Distance - Hurdles - Jumps - Throws
Day One
USATF promo

Net coverage:
WCSN, beginning at noon Saturday and Sunday

TV coverage:
no English-language North American coverage, so far as I know
(Due to Canada's hosting of the U-20 World Cup, CBC has contractual obligations with FIFA for the current Women's World Cup, and Hockey Night in Canada will begin next weekend)

Berlin Golden League Review

Results
IAAF Review
AP wirestory

Richards and Isinbayeva hold on for the $1 million jackpot.

Event-by-event...

Men's 100: None of the top athletes ran; Ndure just nipped Devonish in 10.14 (-0.5 wind). Video

Men's 200: The only big names here were Americans Spearmon and Martin, who went 1-2 in 20.22 and 20.54 (-0.8 wind).

Men's 400: Even Jeremy Wariner is beginning to feel the effects of a very long season...but not as much as everyone else. He ran 44.05, while second place (Christopher Tyler) ran 45.10; US champ Angelo Taylor was third. Video

Men's 1500: If memory serves me, this was Lagat's first loss since July. He was passed by Daniel Kipchirchir Komen on the final turn but held off everyone else.

Men's 110H: Allen Johnson started his season very late and wasn't in form to make the Worlds team, but has been very good over the last week or so of the season. The three big stars (Liu, Trammell, Robles) were absent but most of the rest were here; Johnson topped them all in 13.33 (-0.5 wind) for his first win of the year. Video

Men's 400H: Marek Plawgo continued his late-season heroics, winning (49.01) by a scant 0.01 over James Carter, with Felix Sanchez a well-beaten fourth.

Men's Pole Vault: Germans Danny Ecker and Bjorn Otto went 1-2 with Brad Walker third (a countbakc loss to Otto).

Men's Triple Jump: Probably the event of the day. All the top jumpers were in attendance and it was a close one. Aarik Wilson and World champ Nelson Evora tied with 17.07, and their second-best jumps were also tied (17.02). They had to go back to the third-best mark to get a winner, which was Wilson. Gregorio, Davis, Sands and Lewis rounded out the top half-dozen.

Men's Javelin: Dueling northerners Pitkämäki and Thorkildsen each only took two throws. The Finn's mark of 88.58 held up (no one else in the field save Thorkildsen has beaten that this year). The Norwegian's 80.71 wasn't remotely close to good enough to hold second; Magnus Arviddson and Teemu Wirkkala both topped it, giving Thorkildsen his worst result on the 2007 World Tour.

Women's 100: Carmelita Jeter (11.15, -0.3 wind) ran well clear of Lauren Williams and Christine Arron (both 11.24). It was Williams' second race of the day (see below).

Women's 200: Williams led into the straight and held it through to the finish (22.95, +1.2 wind). Notables in the race included Debbie Ferguson (2nd, 23.07), LaShauntea Moore (4th, 23.10), Cydonie Mothersill (5th, also 23.10), and Muriel Hurtis (6th, 23.13). Video

Women's 400: Earlier this week it was reported that World champ Christine Ohuruogu was calling it quits for the season, but she was here in the race along with compatriate silver-medalist Sanders, Amy Mbacke Thiam, Novlene Williams, and hurdle champ Jana Rawlinson. Sanya Richards disposed of them all in world-leading time (49.27) to claim half a million dollars. Video

Women's 800: Another late-season meet, another good field decisively beaten by Janeth Jepkosgei.

Women's 5k: The only Osaka distance medalists entered were Vivian Cheruiyot and Kara Goucher. The former won fairly clearly (14:50.78) while the latter, back in third, broke her PR by 13 seconds (14:55.02)and moved to #4 on the US list behind Shalane Flanagan, Deena Kastor and (cue Darth Vader musical sting) Regina Jacobs.

Women's 100H: Susanna Kallur led from the gun for her third straight post-Osaka victory and a new PR (12.49). Michelle Perry was second, just ahead of Delloreen Ennis-Perry. Video

Women's High Jump: Blanca Vlašic again, but not as dominating. She only jumped 2.00 and needed three attempts to get it. Video

Women's Pole Vault: Isinbayeva was quite dominating here. She went 4.82, while the season's next-best vaulters (Pyrek and Feofanova) were second and third with 10 cm less.

Women's Javelin: German hero Christina Obergföll avenged her Osaka loss to Barbara Špotáková, 64.58 to 64.51.

Berlin Golden League Preview

Meet website
Start lists
Timetable
IAAF preview

Net coverage:
Sportnet.com beginning around 8 AM

TV coverage:
CBC, 4:00-5:00 PM
Versus, 4:00-5:00 PM Monday

Brussels Golden League Review

Results
IAAF recap
AP wirestory

A WR by Defar, while Richards and Isinbayeva stay alive in the jackpot race.

Event-by-event...

Men's 100: In the absence of any other big stars, Powell won convincingly: 9.84 into a 0.3 m/s headwind. This is probably the second-best race he's ever run.

Men's 200: Spearmon took it to Carter and Bolt on the turn and was never challenged, winning by a wide margin in 19.88.

Men's 800: Kenyan David Lekuta Rudisha, called the "dark horse" of the race by the meet director, took almost a full second off his PR for a clear win over tour leaders Mulaudzi, Kamel and Ali. Borzakovskiy ran like crap back in sixth.

Men's 1500: Daniel Kipchirchir Komen swept past a failing Rashid Ramzi in the last lap. Other than these two, no big names were entered save Asbel Kiprop, who finished third from last.

Men's Steeple: Paul Kipsiele Koech has won pretty much everything this year except the Kenyan Trials, which then kept him out of the World Championships. In what was described as a solo run, he took the yearly lead down to 7:58.80 to defeat World champ Kipruto, who himself ran a PR (8:02.89).

Men's 5000: This might be the race of the night. The unknown star, Seleshi Sihine, outsprinted Eliud Kipchoge to win by a mere 0.22 seconds (12:50.16); Osaka bronze-medalist Moses Kipsiro set a national record in third. The top seven were all under 13 minutes, but Tegenkamp looks like he might be past his peak as he "only" registered 13:07.41 way back in 11th.

Men's 10,000: It was supposed to be a record attempt, but it didn't take all that long for Bekele to figure out it wasn't happening. Then relative unknown Moses Masai started gaining on him and with two laps to go Bekele led by only 10 meters. Of course, Bekele pulled away for the win--he hasn't been beaten in the 10k in over 4 years--but it was an actual race. The first four all broke 27 minutes. Video

Men's 110H: Dayron Robles, 13.21, over most of the top Americans (except Trammell). In third, Allen Johnson continues to amaze; remember, he was Olympic Champ when Bob Dole was running for president!

Men's Triple Jump: Walter Davis continued his post-Osaka success, beating back a field that included all the top jumpers (Evora, Gregorio, Wilson).

Men's Javelin: Pitkämäki won on his final throw, Thorkildsen again in second. Those two have been first and second in every Golden League meet this summer.

Women's 100: Like in Osaka, Campbell came out the winner. Unlike Osaka, even Mr. Magoo could have picked the winner--0.11 seconds back were Arron and Edwards.

Women's 200: National hero Kim Gevaert's victory resulted in a "cacophony of noise". Second was Edwards, doubling back from the 100.

Women's 400: The field was fairly deep, including most of the Osaka stars save Ohuruogu. Sanya Richards left them all more than a second in arrears for a new seasonal best of 49.29. Video

Women's Mile: This was supposed to be a clash between Osaka gold- and silver-medalists. They did take places one and two, but it wasn't even remotely close; Jamal put four seconds on Soboleva in the final lap for a new Asian record (4:17.75), albeit for a rarely-run distance.

Women's 2 mile: Meseret Defar's world record 8:58.58 made her the hero of the night. How does this mark stack up? It's worth roughly 8:18.7, which would be the best mark ever made outside of the suspicious 1993 Chinese National Games. In other words, it deserves much more attention than it likely will get.

Women's 100H: Susanna Kallur stretched her Golden League win streak to two, the same length as Michelle Perry's third-place streak. Ennis-London just nipped the American for second. Video

Women's High Jump: Vlasic appears unbeatable this year. Her card was clean through the winning height of 2.03 and then she took three more shots at a WR height of 2.10.

Women's Pole Vault: The results make it look closer than it was; both Isinbayeva and Feofanova cleared 4.80 but the former did it on her first attempt versus the latter doing it on her third. Still, the jackpot was very much in jeopardy.

Brussels Golden League Preview

Meet Website
IAAF preview - Veronica Campbell - Kenenisa Bekele - Asafa Powell

Net coverage:
Sportnet.com beginning around 1:30 PM eastern time

TV coverage:
CBC, 2:30-3:30 PM Saturday
Versus, 3:00-4:00 PM Sunday

The meet is sold out, no doubt in part because fans will get free beer if a world record is broken.

Rieti GP Recap

Meet website
Results
IAAF recap
AP wirestory

The big news:

Asafa Powell ran 9.74 for a new 100m World Record...in the heats. More on that in another post yet to come. The rap on Powell recently is he can produce fast times but is a horrible underachiever in championships, and running a WR in qualifying does nothing to change that impression.

Men's 100: In the final, Powell ran 9.78 to leave Michael Frater a full 1/4 second behind.

Men's 400: Tyler Christopher beat a mostly B-group in 44.94.

Men's 800: A pretty deep field, including Yego and Borza, was beaten by Belel Mansoor Ali (1:44.02).

Men's 1500: Like the 400, a B-group was beaten by the only Osaka finalist entered. Here it was Juan Carlos Higuero in 3:34.78.

Men's 3000m: Seven Kenyans, two Spaniards, two Americans, and a Japanese. The Kenyans took spots 1-7 (Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa won in 7:32.79) while the two Americans bombed.

Men's 400H: Marek Plawgo proved his Osaka bronze was no fluke. He defeated silver medalist Sánchez, 49.07-49.12.

Men' Pole Vault: A grand total of five entries. Osaka last-placer Denys Yurchenko gained some measure of redemption with a clear win over Averbukh.

Men's Long Jump: The pre-meet headlines were mostly centered around the absence of Italian worlds hero Andrew Howe. Irving Saladino continued his winning streak, defeating the field by over a foot.

Men's Hammer: This was probably the deepest event on today's program; half of the Osaka finalists inlcuding the gold and bronze medalists were present. Koji Murofushi took the lead by a single centimeter on his final throw and it held up for the win. Video

Women's 100: Worlds semi-finalist Sally McLellan beat a few decent sprinters, such as Stephanie Durst, Debbie Ferguson and Sherone Simpson.

Women's 200: Lauryn Williams beat a halfway-decent field (Durst, Mothersill, Ferguson, Hurtis) in 22.76.

Women's 400: A mostly Jamaica vs Russia race was won by Shericka Williams (over Osaka finalist Antyukh) in 51.01.

Women's 800: Jepkosgei continued her late-season dominance. She ran 1:56.29 to leave second place (Svetlana Usovich) over two seconds behind.

Women's 1500: Olga Yegerova (remember her?) ran 4:03.27 to beat Osaka finalists Viola Kibiwott and Yuliya Fomenko. American Fleshman ran a PR (4:05.62) back in fifth.

Women's 3k: Winner Vivian Cheruyiot ran the world's second-best time (8:30.25). In third and fourth, Kara Goucher and Kim Smith dueled again just like in Osaka; Goucher came out ahead with a new PR (8:34.99). It's an outdoor AR of sorts (the only two who ran faster had their careers end with doping suspensions).

Women's Steeple: Osaka champ Yekaterina Volkova beat a decent field in a relatively easy 9:26.80.

Women's 400H: Anna Jesien (Worlds bronze) won in 54.78. Danvers-Smith, last place in Osaka, pushed Worlds silver-medalist Pechonkina back into third.

Women's Triple Jump: Another deep field event; Worlds finalists present were Yargelis Savigne (gold), Tatyana Lebedeva (silver), Anna Pyatykh (fourth), Magdelin Martínez (sixth), Olha Saladuha (seventh), and Keila Costa (ninth). They finished in that exact same order--what are the odds?

Rieti GP Preview

Meet website
IAAF preview
Start lists/results

Net coverage:
WCSN, 11 AM

Weltklasse Review

If you don't want to know the results so you can watch it tomorrow, why are you online?

TV coverage:
CBC, Saturday, 2:00-3:00 PM
Versus, Saturday, 4:00-5:00 PM

Meet website
IAAF results
IAAF recap
Athletics Weekly recap
AP wirestories: #1 -- #2

In general, the stars of last week "looked tired and jet lagged". The meet must have been a bit of a downer. Unless, of course, you read the Voice of America.

Men's 100: Powell's asking price was too high, an exhausted Gay withdrew from the race, and Atkins dropped out with a cold. So we were left with decidedly second-tier sprinters remaining; Obikwelu over Saidy Njure in a pedestrian 10.17. Video

Men's 200: Carter came in more rested than Bolt and Spearmon withdrew. Result: a meet record 19.92 for the X-Man. Video

Men's 1500: The big news here? No rabbits. Webb faded down the stretch once again, finishing only 1.3 seconds out of first but a well-beaten seventh. Baala found redemption for his Osaka semi DQ by outsprinting the field for the win.

Men's 3000: No rabbits, Lagat wins on a convincing finish. You expected something different?

Men's 110H: Robles, the fourth man in Osaka, won by a decent margin over Trammell and Johnson.

Men's 4x100: The USA ran their same foursome as in Osaka, and Jamaica was missing Powell and Nesta Carter. Result: USA by a wide margin.

Men's pole vault: Anothe Osaka champ goes down. Igor Pavlov won on fewer misses over Otto and Lukianenko; world champ Walker only made one height.

Men's triple jump: Walter Davis beat Osaka champ Nelson Evora by a scant 2 cm, with Aarik Wilson third and everyone else well back.

Men's Jav: Pitkämäki lost for only the second time all year; as before, it was to Thorkildsen. The Norwegian put up a season's best in the third round and promptly quit throwing.

Women's 100: In the absence of Veronica Campbell, Christine Arron handily defeated Torri Edwards.

Women's 400: Most of the Osaka finalists lined up against Sanya Richards, who stomped them by a second and a half. Still alive in the jackpot hunt. Video

Women's 800: More domination by Jepkosgei.

Women's 1500: Miryam Jamal cemented her position as the undisputed #1 in this event.

Women's 100H: Just as in the men's hurdles race, 4th place in Osaka (Susanna Kallur) came back to win here. Michelle Perry suffered only her second loss of the season, but this time it cost her big money--she's out of the jackpot race.

Women's high jump: Vlasic continues to dominate this event. She again took legitimate shots at the world record. Video

Women's pole vault: Speaking of domination, we come to Isinbayeva. She may not actually be unbeatable but it sure seems that way. Also still alive in the jackpot hunt.

Weltklasse Preview

The "Olympics in one night" will be held in Zurich's new Letzigrund stadium on Friday at 8 PM their time, 2 PM Eastern time.

IAAF preview
Meet website
Start lists (discuss)

TV coverage:
CBC, Saturday, 2:00-3:00 PM
Versus, Saturday, 4:00-5:00 PM

Net coverage:
none that I know of, but sportnet.com might have it

DN Galan recaps

Recaps: IAAF -- Athletics Weekly

Online videos:
Women's High Jump competition and Vlasic's attempts at 2.07 and 2.10

Men's 100 meters (Powell 10.04)

Men's 400 meters (Wariner 43.50)

Holm makes 2.35 (Men's High Jump)

Women's 400 meters (Allyson Felix 49.70 shocker)

And, shockingly, Wariner's run made ESPN's Top Ten plays, they "even described it correctly -- its # on the all-time list, that he got a diamond, etc."

DN Galan live blog

Meet website

Swedish webcast (on now)

WCSN webcast begins at 1 PM EDT

Live results

Let's Run thread

Right now we're in the "warm-up" events and the webcast is all in Swedish. The language sounds strangely familiar.

Men's 100m B-final: Jaysuma Saidy Ndure (Norway) ran 10.07 into a -1.0 headwind. That's equal to 10.01 in neutral conditions, which ties him for sixth on the yearly wind/altitude-adjusted world list.

Men's 800 meters: Mulaudzi has switched to the 1000m, making it a tremendous race.

Men's Triple Jump: Gregario is not competing (don't know why). Marion Oprea beats Aarik Wilson in a mild upset.

Women's 100 meters: Me'Lisa Barber wins, Richards runs a significant PR (and maybe onto the USA 4x100?), and Simpson proves she will not be a factor in Osaka.

Men's 400 meters: Wariner 43.50. Continues to amaze.


Men's 100 meters A-final: Powell wins, but only by .01 over Derrick Atkins in a relatively pedestrian 10.05 (10.02 corrected for wind/alt).

Women's 5k: Kastor wins in dominating fashion (14:52.23 unpressed, good for #3 on the US list), albeit over a less-than-deep field.

Men's 110m hurdles: Aries Merritt breaks the stadium record (13.09) and gets one of the coveted diamonds. Ohio's Ryan Wilson .01 behind.

I am forced to abandon the live experience to go get a CT scan (attempting to find out why my hearing has deteriorated so rapidly in my 30s).

Men's 1000 meters: Miler Mansoor wins, with 800m star Mulaudzi second and Lagat third. A very deep field.

Men's Javelin Throw: Favorite Thorkildsen wins, just missing a stadium record.

Men's 200 meters: JJ Johnson wins over a fairly weak field.

Men's Steeplechase: I got back just in time to see Koech come down the homestretch and break the 8:00 barrier (and earn a stadium-record diamond).

Men's High Jump: Holm wins with 2.35.

Women's High Jump: Vlasic clean through 2.01 and the only one left jumping.
UPDATE: Makes 2.03 on her second attempt. Now trying 2.07, which would be a PR.
UPDATE 2: Barely missed on her first two attempts.
Update 3: Made it! The best outdoor jump since the inception of random out-of-competition testing (i.e., the real WR).

Women's 100m Hurdles: Susanna Kallur wins (12.66) with enthusiastic support.

Women's Pole Vault: Apparently they are not going to break a tie between Pyrek and Feofanova.

Men's 3000 meters: Bekele through 2k at 4:59.88. Huge lead.
UPDATE: Won by a lot in 7:25.79, missed WR, set stadium record. Teg in fourth.
Hampered by what eldrick called "f******g broke-dick pacers"

Women's Long Jump: All five of Kluft's five marks would have won. She probably has a spot in the World Athletics Final if she wants it.

Women's 400 meters: A stunner. Allyson Felix out-leans Sanya Richards in stadium-record time, 49.70. Was doubling a mistake for Richards? And what the heck has happened to DeeDee Trotter (way back in seventh at 52.17)?

Men's 4x100m Relay: The USA team was listed as "mixed", so I must assume they weren't all Americans. Unfortunately Poland DQ'd and Jamaica didn't compete, making it a rather uninteresting affair.