USA Olympic Trials 18th-27th June

[Grassmarket]

Out of superlatives. What’s that, 2 WR, 1 wJR and several 2nd best evers? Oh well, at least Holly set an NR.

The infield has a bizarre layout. Is there enough space for the high jumpers with longer, more angled runs? Hopefully they’ve also done their maths properly for the hammer cage.

The hammer was held on another field which I think doubles as the warm-up track. But it’s strange to see a stadium that exists purely for athletics.

Anyway, I think we can conclude that there aren’t going to be many British or even European medals from the sprints in Tokyo, sadly.

[SprintRelayFan]

Does anyone feel a bit weird about some of the American results, especially given the increasing number of high profile doping cases coming out of there? Mu and Syd have been phenomenal since kids, but some of the others..

[MysteryBrick]

I don't think it is doping (for the most part, there will be a bit). I think it is 35 degree heat and a brand new superfast track. I don't think many will ever replicate what they have just done, and definitely not in Tokyo.

[SprintRelayFan]

Thanks MB, good points. Thomas's amazing advances a year on from just avoiding a suspension made me raise an eyebrow (also as a gymnastics fan I always wants to say Gabby Douglas, so she further annoys me

[trickstat]

Apparently a lot of the sprinters were wearing the latest spikes with a carbon fibre insert that some people reckon are 0.2 quicker per 100m.

[Ursus]

The hammer was held on another field which I think doubles as the warm-up track.

Hope that was just due to scheduling or other issues for these champs. Would be furious if that happened for the WC.

[Ladyloz]

I think World Athletics Rules stipulate that for World Champs hammer has to be in the main stadium. But for every other event they hold there I suspect it'll be in the adjacent facility

[trickstat]

I'm pretty sure someone on the Track & Field News forum confirmed that the HT would be inside the stadium at the Worlds.

[LuckySpikes]

OK, here are my dark horse picks to finish top 3 in the distance events ...

Men's
800 - The main contenders for the 3rd place behind Brazier & Hoppel would probably be Murphy, Harris & Rhoads; I'll go for NCAA champ Isaiah Jewett as my dark horse - he looks like a beast.
1500 - Centrowitz & Engels might be the favourites here but otherwise it's hard to know who the outsiders are. Does Cole Hocker qualify as a dark horse? I'll trust his wicked kick in a slow-ish final.
3000SC - H Bor, McGorty, Ferlic & Updike are the favourites here. So, my dark horse is Dan Michalski - he's on the upswing I think.
5000 - Lomong, Fisher, Chelimo & E Bor look to be the favourites here (possibly Kincaid too?). So, I'll go for Eric Jenkins to spring a mild surprise.
10,000 - As marginally the slowest of the 7 athletes with the Olympic standard, I'll go for Joe Klecker as my dark horse.

Women's
800 - Mu & Ajee Wilson are the clear favourites here, maybe with Kate Grace or Sabrina Southerland the other favourites to finish top 3 (Rogers & Green haven't been great this year). Many of the next group are doubling in the 1500 as well so, how's Michaela Meyer as a big dark horse? The new NCAA champ, she seems like a very smart racer and maybe against the pros she could take a big step up.
1500 - With Purrier, Osika, Cranny & Simpson being the clear favourites I'm going for Heather McLean, despite her most recent race being poor. She's got good 800 speed which will serve her well I think.
3000SC - Coburn & Frierichs are the two hot favourites and even though Colleen Quigley hasn't raced for an age I'd say she's still a favourite to make top 3. So, my dark horse is Marisa Howard - I like her aggressive style of racing that could pull her clear of the chasing pack
5000 - There's probably 5 clear favourites here - Purrier, Schweizer, Norris, Cranny & Schneider. For my dark horse, I like the look of Allie Buchalski. Having watched her recently I think there's plenty more in the tank there and she's got decent 1500 speed (4:06).
10,000 - Schweizer, Cranny & Sisson look like the top 3 favourites here then a next group of Infeld, Schneider & Monson. Am I allowed to pick Alicia Monson as my dark horse? She's got loads of upside. I'm not sure she qualifies as a real dark horse but if all 6 of those athletes are racing I can't see anyone outside of them finishing in the top 3. I'd really love to see Natosha Rogers do it but I think she's likely to be done for finishing pace in the last kilometre.

5 of my 10 dark horses for the top 3 in the distances made the top 3! A brilliant result!

Men's:
800 - Jewett 3rd
1500 - Hocker 1st
3000SC - Michalski 4th
5000 - Jenkins 10th
10,000 - Klecker 3rd

Women's:
800 - Meyer 4th
1500 - MacLean 3rd
3000SC - Howard 5th
5000 - Buchalski 5th
10,000 - Monson 3rd

Only one finished outside the top 5!

Even though she finished 4th the one I'm most proud of is Michaela Meyer in the 800. Of all the starters in the first round she was ranked 12th by PB! There was something in the NCAA final that alerted me to her potential, a little move she made with 170m remaining to get on the leaders' shoulders. It looked so effortless. That, plus she's got a pretty wicked kick in the last 60m or so - with 80m to go last night she was 8th.

[Occasional Hope]

5 of my 10 dark horses for the top 3 in the distances made the top 3! A brilliant result!.

By them or you?

[LuckySpikes]

Both?
...

[philipo]

Kunz? 550 points increase in one hep 6153 to 6703.? Yeah. ?.

[MysteryBrick]

I mean, it happened, if that is what you are asking?

[trickstat]

Worth pointing out that she led after the first day in Gotzis before 3 fouls in the LJ so her PB was looking ripe for revision. 6500 or so looked quite feasible but I don't think anyone saw 6703 coming.

[philipo]

Look her up in WA profiles

[philipo]

The point it would take some research to find out how many 28 year olds, mid career, improved so much across the board by a great margin of over 500 points from a 2019 hep to a first 2021 hep. No hep in 2020 I note. No such inprovement by Bugar or Kendell William's.

[philipo]

Sorry bougar

[MysteryBrick]

No hep in 2020 means this is two years of improvement, and the ridiculous conditions meant that she probably overperformed in the speed events. The pandemic has buggered improvement curves across the board.

Of course, this could also be illicitly aided, but an improvement under these circumstances is not evidence by itself.

[Occasional Hope]

Tbh I don’t see her matching that score again, certainly not in Tokyo. I think it was a combination of an inspired couple of days, conditions, and the impetus of getting a qualification when she was out of a rankings position.

[marra]

Yeah, i mean look at her races - the 200m had a +2.0m wind, the hurdles a +2.4m. Her only decent LJ (6.50) was +1.2m. When you consider all the other great times being put out during those trials, it clearly was a fast track and great conditions, especially for sprinting. But those wind readings are hugely beneficial in a Hept.

I'm not suggesting that we can't doubt people, but I'd wait to see if times/distances/scores are repeated in Tokyo before we do. Not every event has those kinds of conditions.