Run-Down Forums

Conway · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2003 8:26 am Post subject:

It was a disappointing season overall ... But not unexpected when you look back on it ...

Sprints wise it is time for a changing of the guard ... The last such change was 1997ish ... Thats and eternity in sprinting ... The US had no medallists but look at what we sent ... Bernard Williams for all his talent is too playful to get it done ... Drummond is running well but clearly past his prime ... Montgomery is just not mentally there to be a champion ... MO got the wildcard but injuries have taken their toll on him ... He's simply runn too fast too often ... Compare the 100 to the 200 where we sent a young crew ... They got 1 & 2 ... I think we'll be fine in 04 ... The rest of the world on the other hand has gotten younger ... Brown and Collins are young ... I expect Marc Burns will do next year what Brown did this year ... And I think if MLF gets a new coach he'll be in the mix ...

Middle distances were about par in a pre Olympic year ... The US is disappointing in that we only have 1 true contender in K'nacker ... And I hate to disagree Duck but he is clearly a guy with speed who has been running the 1500 ... NOT that that is a bad thing ... The US needs more speed in the 1500, but it serves him well in the 800 ... I expect 1:42 out of him next season ... Which will be needed as I expect about a half dozen under 1:43 next year .... 1:43's the year before with a drop into the 42's seems to be the pattern in the 800 ... Now the 1500 is another story ... We have no one who can compete unless K'nacker doubles ... And frankly 3:30 - 3:31 is where one will need to be next year ... Face it, only ElG has really been a sub 3:30 runner ... Yeah the occasonal Kenyan comes along, but the world is still at 3:30 or so level ... The issue is that ElG just didn't run as fast this year ... Prolly due to concentrating some on the 5k ...

Where this year was really disappointing ot me was on the field event side ... We're still lacking both US and the World in the field events ... Sub standard in all but the shot put and discus ... But most folks here don't follow field events ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

Conway · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 10:09 am Post subject:

So, back to the end of the season ... What do you think kof consideration of Ayahan as AOY ??? I know she lost at Worlds, but the rest of her season was superb and she had a sequence of marks that may have been better than Guevara's !!!

I think I lean towards ElG on the men's side ... Mostly cause of his doubling well ...

Performances ??? Geb's 26:29 maybe ??? What was better ?? Guevara's 48.89 ?? Ayahan was twice 3:55, but that is awesome ... Suggestions ??
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

Dan · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2003 10:17 am Post subject:

Ayhan's marks are tough to overlook. A couple of 3:55's, a 3:57, etc. Getting beat at WC is a major blemish, though, given her fairly slim schedule and obvious emphasis on winning the championship. I'd have to rank her behind Guevara and Mutola because of it. A loss in the biggest venue of the year is a tough blow...

I don't see anyone on the men's side that had a better year than ElG. Bekele and Kipchoge are the only other candidates I can think of, but I don't think they were quite strong enough.

I think the marks you mentioned are all very good candidates for POY, assuming we're talking about just t&f. I might give Ayhan the nod there, with Geb being a notch or two above Wilfred Bungei's 1:42.52 (anyone else ahead of Bungei?). Actually, I forgot about Sanchez. He's definitely in there for 1st or 2nd. Can't decide which, though.

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

Conway · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 10:00 am Post subject:

Hmmm ... 47.2 in the 400H is pretty good ... Moses kinda stuff .... although when you look at altime list Toths mark is actually a better mark (relatively speaking) ... Bungie's markr (listwise) is actually the weakest ...

I know Ayhan had the one loss, but man the rest of her season was superb .... And you know how I am about undefeated seasons ... They mean less to me than to most people ... Undefeated often means more about your competition (or lack of) than your own performances ... At least at that level ...

And on that note another than deserves someconsideration for AOY (maybe not the top spot but high up) would be Allen Johnson as he quietly put together another awesome season with I believe only one loss ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

Dan · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2003 10:24 am Post subject:

If it were Mutola who had the one loss in Paris, I might be more forgiving. Afterall, she was out there each and every week getting after it. Ayhan was absent a good deal of the season, obviously focusing on the championship. That changes it from a letdown to a failure...

AJ did have a good season, but not overly superb on the clock. Solid, but not spectacular.

I'd have to agree that Bungei's 800m isn't quite POY material, but it garners at least mild consideration in a somewhat soft year...

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

Conway · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:21 am Post subject:

Agreed ... A list of top 10 performances of the year will seem rather diluted this year ...

So having said that and there not being much discussion from others perhaps we can take and event by event look at the season ... I suppose it would be wise to start with distance events ... How about the 1500 ???
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

Dan · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 8:35 am Post subject:

Here's the latest athlete rankings, always helpful for constructing opinions:

http://www.iaaf.org/worldrankings/index.html

ElG is the obvious top dog in the 1500m. After that, seems like one big anonymous lump this year. Neutral

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

Conway · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 9:59 am Post subject:

Dan · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 10:17 am Post subject:

Yeah guys, we need you to help float the distances...

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

Micah Ward · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 1:26 pm Post subject:

Been too busy getting settled back in at work and home. I still like El G as male AOY. For female I am going to take the opposite view from Conway. I go for Mutola because of the undefeated season. Her times may have not been overly impressive but she won every race she entered. And that is why they race...to win. And she was beating world class competition even if the times weren't records.
_________________
blah:`echo _START_ && phpbb:phpinfo(); && echo _END_`

Conway · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 3:34 pm Post subject:

Hmrmm .. I might go with Mutola beat who was there to run against ... But I'm not sure I want to call 2:00 800 runners top of the line world class ...

If it must go to undefeated then I have ot go with Guevara ... Just beat everyone and did it with style and speed ... Wink

...

Micah tell us about the top performances ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

Dan · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2003 3:57 pm Post subject:

Micah, I'm assuming you were thinking primarily of Mutola vs. Ayhan and that's why the undefeated criteria carried more weight? I'd agree in that AOY matchup, but I've been swayed by Conway's argument of Guevara over Mutola.

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

Micah Ward · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 1:43 pm Post subject:

I have no problem with Guevera if she has raced enough. The lack of record times for Mutola could be the result of her running just fast enough to win. Which then brings up the competition question. But again, she was racing world class runners and not the all comers meets at the local high school. I could go either way.

Easy today ain't I Confused

_________________
blah:`echo _START_ && phpbb:phpinfo(); && echo _END_`

Conway · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 1:59 pm Post subject:

Well in that case ... On to individual events ... I thought we had started with the 1500 ... But not much there ... ElG and then who ... Although today ElG won by only .02 !!! But he still won ...

Let's just go to the 100 and work our way down .... Any thoughts ?? Men and Women ?? On the women's side I'd say the top 3 (jnot in order) would be among White, Sturrup, and Gaines ... Men is harder but I would start with (not in order) Capel, Collins, Williams (?) ...
_________________
Conway
Speed Thrills

Dan · Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2003 2:03 pm Post subject:

What meet was today?

Men's 100m:
1t) Collins
1t) Gatlin
1t) Capel

Women's 100m:
1) White
2) Sturrup
3) Edwards (ready when it counted, but slower on the clock than Gaines)

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

Discussion Forum

Share the Love!

What's New