Run-Down Forums

[X King]

Marion Jones won the Milrose Games Women's 60m Invintational race yesterday in a time of 7.21s, with Angela Daigle in 2nd place in a time of 7.24s (only 0.03s behind), with Inger Miller finishing in 3r dplace in a time of 7.27s. For a woman who has not run Indoors for 6 Indoor season ('99, '00, '01, '02 & '03), and the fact that she has not run competitively since the 2002 Madrid World Cup Women's 100m race, I believe this is a solid return to competition.
Allen Johnson also made the headlines with a 7.43s World leading clocking over the Men's 60m Hurdles at the same meet, as did Gail Devers over the Women's 60m Hurdles race, winning in 7.76s (also another World leading time). She also mentiuoned that the race was 'sloppy' to say the least. Maybe there is more to come from Gail within the remainder of this Indoor season??? Maybe a low 7.7x, or possibly a high 7.6x??? Can she challenge the 7.69s long-standing (since 1990) Women's Indoor 60m Hurdles World Record of Ludmila Engquist in her coming races???

The next major stop has to be the Birmingham (England) Grand Prix meeting on 20th February.

Report and quotes from the Milrose Games, courtesy of the IAAF:
http://www.iaaf.org/WIC04/news/Kind=2/newsId=24007.html

Full results, courtesy of Flash-Results.com:
http://www.flashresults.com/2004_Meets/indoor/millrose/index.htm
_________________
Doubt whom you will, But never yourself.
Proverb
Anon.

[Conway]

Not bad ... Note that Arron also ran yesterday:

Eaubonne (France) meeting yesterday:
1. Christine ARRON 7.16
2. Muriel HURTIS 7.22 (opener)
3. Véronique MANG 7.36
4. Sylviane FÉLIX 7.37 (opener)
5. Frédérique BANGUÉ 7.40

For comparison, I believe Arron ran 7.21 when returning from her pregnancy .. Jones has a 6.95 PR so I would think she might have opened a bit faster ... I was thinking sub 7.20 would have been an indication of returning to "normal" ... And being a straight only race there is little adjustment indoors for the short sprinters - no turns to negotiate ...

I'm thinkin Marioni may yet be seen as vulnerable by her competition ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Dan]

I'll give her credit ... I didn't think she'd return, period.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Dan]

By the way, the meet is on TV today at noon, PST. NBC.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Conway]

I have to agree, I thought it was an easy way to leave the sport ... But we'll see what happens next .. I'm waiting ot see it this afternoon ... See what her technique looked like ...

I also want to see Asafa Powell ... If I remember correctly the start was not the best part of his race last year ... If he has improved that significantly, he will be sub 10 outdoors this year and a major factor ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Micah Ward]

Marion didn't look like she realized it was a race until halfway through. Then the way she surged and won makes me wonder if anyone will beat her. With that being the first race of her comeback what will she do to everyone else when she gets sharp and is at her peak?

Ward's Worthless Prediction heard here first. Marion goes undefeated this year.
_________________
blah:`echo _START_ && phpbb:phpinfo(); && echo _END_`

[Dan]

I wasn't very impressed with her race. The start was hideous, and in my opinion, she only ran people down because no one took the race from her. Decent names in the field, but a pretty weak showing. Seemed like half the races were setting meet records (was it a new track or something?), but Marion's win was extremely slow.

If it weren't for Kelli White's off the track problems, I'd peg her and Marion as nearly even money. Without Kelli, I'm not sure how consistent of a challenge will be mounted by the likes of Torri Edwards, Tayna Lawrence, Christie Gaines, Allyson Felix, Inger Miller, Angela Williams, Gail Devers, Arron, P-Block, Thanou, etc. That's a pretty solid group still.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Micah Ward]

The fact that it didn't look impessive is what impressed me. I got the impression that she had a horrible start then just turned it on half way through to win. I could be wrong since I am not a hardcore sprint fan but it was almost like she was toying with the field.

What say you Conway and X King?
_________________
blah:`echo _START_ && phpbb:phpinfo(); && echo _END_`

[Dan]

If the rest of the field had posted fast times, then I would agree. They didn't do so, however, so it isn't much more than just a nice return win.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Conway]

I say Marion has a tough year this year ... Only person of note in the race was Edwards and she had a mental block (you can see it in her face) ... Marion looked bad ... And I'm not gonna blame it on maturnity ... Physically she was weak ... Not strong or cut like before ... Whatever the reason, she needs that to dominate ... Start technique was as poor as I've seen from her ... She didn't so much run people down as they just never got going either ... Running against the likes of Thanou, Pintusevich, Arron - not to mention White and Gaines - she'll get her hat brought to her unless she makes MAJOR changes ... It's not like she was injured or something ... She simply missed time racing ... She trained up through most of the pregnancy we were told .... And was back at it 30 days after birth ... Some athletes take more time off than that between seasons ... I'm just gonna say it doesn't look like her change in coaches was very beneficial and leave it at that ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[Micah Ward]

You guys are the sprint experts so I gladly defer to your judgement.
_________________
blah:`echo _START_ && phpbb:phpinfo(); && echo _END_`

[Dan]

Experts? Nah, we're more like the Muppets peanut gallery...

I'll throw you a bone, though, Micah ... Devers looked, um, good yesterday.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Micah Ward]

.....gnawing the bone....
_________________
blah:`echo _START_ && phpbb:phpinfo(); && echo _END_`

[Conway]

Yeah ... Don't know if I am an expert or not ... Though I have seen a lot more track and field than most people ... But Marion looks more like she did in high school than the woman who won 5 medals in Sydney ... There is still a lot of time though ... It's only February ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

[X King]

I agree with Conway. It is only February, there is still time until the OG, so much progress can made between now and then.
I don't care all that much for Women's sprinting, but it will be nevertheless exciting as it always is when the top athletes are competing together.
Marion is competing at this year's 2004 Birmingham (England) Grand Prix Indoor meeting, aswell as Zhanna Block, this was confirmed by the BBC Sports Athletics commentators, whilst talking about this upcoming meeting yesterday on TV.
I do not believe that Zhanna has competed this season, so Zhanna will face a tough challenge, as will Jones.
Any thoughts???
_________________
Doubt whom you will, But never yourself.
Proverb
Anon.