Run to Win

In another wind-aided run of 100 meters, Tyson Gay ran (as I like to put it) not quite slow to finish in 9.75 seconds. That’s the 7^th fastest 100 meters ever run under any conditions, although it is not eligible for the record books given the assist from Mother Nature.

He only ran the first round of the preliminaries and then called it good for the week, as he prepares for a showdown with Usain Bolt at the World Championships.

That’s gonna be a good race, despite being over by the time you could blink.

(More Info: ESPN – Photo Credit: Sky Sports)

World record holder and Olympic Gold Medalist Usain Bolt is scheduled to face off against former world record holder Asafa Powell this afternoon in Brussells in the 100m for what was supposed to be a showdown between the 3 fastest men on the planet. Unfortunately, Tyson Gay pulled out of the meet yesterday to avoid further aggravating his hamstring injury.

Both runners are coming into the race strong. Bolt set the world record mark at 9.69 seconds during the Olympics, and won at Weltklasse in 9.83 seconds last week. Powell had a disappointing 5^th place finish in the Olympics, but set a personal best mark of 9.72 seconds in Lausanne, the 2^nd fastest unaided 100m race in history and equal to Bolt’s former record set last May.

The meet is going to air tape delayed on ESPN at 11:00 EDT tonight (and on Sunday on ESPN2 at 3:30 p.m. EDT), but you can watch the 100m race live on SportsCenter this afternoon on ESPN at 2:25 p.m.

Both men are going to try to chase down the world record, but I don’t think that the weather is going to be conducive to lowering the mark set in Beijing and expect that it will hold for at least another week or two.

Update: As predicted, no world record. Bolt ran 9.77 and Powell ran 9.83.

(Photo Credits: Victah Sailer (Bolt) & Jonas Witt (Powell))

This has been a jam-packed weekend; there was a lot going on! If only NBC actually broadcast the races, I’d be all set. I’d sit there and watch commercial after commercial.

First, the women’s marathon. I almost cried when Deena Kastor broke her foot barely 3 miles into the race. Magdalena Lewy Boulet made it a bit further, but also dropped out due to an injury. Blake Russell was the only American to finish, taking about half a minute longer than it did in the Trials back in April and coming in 27^th overall.

It was an exciting race, though. After a pedestrian pace over the first half of the course (I could have kept up), Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania was the only runner to have the courage to go for it. Nobody ever came close to catching her as she crossed in 2:26:44. The race for the next two medals was close, though, as Catherine Ndereba edged out Zhou Chunxiu for the silver medal. Catherine was the only woman to medal that I had predicted before the race, as Paula Radcliffe fell apart and finished in 23^rd. (Deena was my other pick.)

The men’s 100m proved pretty interesting, as Tyson Gay failed to make the finals so he didn’t win the silver medal I thought he’d get. Usain Bolt ran away with it as expected, though, crossing the line in a world record 9.69 seconds despite showboating the last few steps.

The women’s 100m finals was very interesting, with 3 quarters of the field made up of Jamaicans and Americans. The Jamaicans swept, though, keeping every other country off of the medal stand.

On the 1500m front, Bernard Legat missed making the finals by 0.02 seconds. He didn’t even realize it until after he’d left the track.

And of course, last but not least, we go back to Friday and the women’s 10,000m, where Shelane Flanagan managed to set the American record in 32:22 to bring home the bronze medal.

I realize that I’m skipping over the women’s steeplechase, but I don’t want to know the results of that race until I find a video somewhere of the entire race.

It was not too long ago that Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 meters that any human has ever done. He had the assistance of a good tailwind, which will keep him out of the record books, but that is still impressive none the less.

Even so, he is stronger in the 200 meter distance than in the 100 meter distance, and was one of the favorites to challenge Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell at the Olympics. Unfortunately, he pulled his hamstring during the Trials and so he won’t be competing.

“Before I went out on the track I felt a little tightness in my hamstring. So I had kind of a bad feeling. When I came off the curve the first two steps were fine, and then I felt it, sort of a pull, about 40 meters in. Once I was on the ground it didn’t hurt as much as when it happened.”

If you haven’t seen Tyson Gay’s fall yet, here’s a video:
(Click here to continue reading…)

After falling halfway back into the field in the 4^th heat of the opening round in yesterday’s 100m Olympic Trials, Tyson Gay had a lot of ground to make up. He did well for 70 meters, but then started to slow down. Only a late surge in the last 7 to 10 meters got him into the top 4 of his heat to allow him to continue on to the quarter finals.

In the quarter finals, he did not disappoint. Gay ran his second attempt in 9.77 seconds, breaking Maurice Green’s American record of 9.79 seconds and Olympic Trials record of 9.91 seconds. His performance also broke the Hayworth Field record of 9.81 seconds.

Jeff Demps followed Gay to the finish line in 10.01 seconds, breaking the American Junior record of 10.06 seconds and the American high school record of 10.08 seconds. He also tied the world junior record.

In the second heat, Travis Padgett broke the American collegiate record of 9.90 by running 9.89 seconds.

So far there have been 7 men who have run under 10 seconds. The US is going to have a formidable sprint team to send to Beijing in a month.

Update: Tyson Gay ran a wind-assisted 9.68 seconds today. He had a 4.1 meters per second tailwind. That’s a world’s fastest when disregarding wind assists.

(More Info: USATF)

This week last year saw a varied range of topics on the site with a good mix of tips and news.

• I began the week by looking at dancing as an alternative exercise. Unfortunately for my wife and I, we haven’t been out dancing too often since she went to law school.
• The UCI came out with an anti-doping charter, and I felt that cyclists would be foolish to sign it. On the surface, anything to discourage doping is a good thing. I just felt that this particular measure took away too many of the athlete’s rights.
• In running news, the IAAF changed their stance on Oscar Pistorius so that he could compete until they decided if he had an advantage or not.
• On the track and in a headwind, Tyson Gay ran the 2^nd fastest all-time 200m race in 19.62 seconds, about 3-tenths of a second behind the 1996 mark set by Michael Johnson.
• I reviewed Trails.com and put together a video demonstration of what you get with the website.
• This week 2 years ago, I suggested that you never go to bed hungry. During the Western States 100 (which was unfortunately canceled this year), Brian Morrison was disqualified for receiving some help from the crowd near the end. I also discussed research about whether or not bonking during training was a worthwhile pursuit or not. Two years ago was centered on marathoning, such as a book review and a website review, my list of marathon candidates for Autumn, and my discovery that I was near meeting the requirements to join the 50 States Marathon Club. I also won the Literacy 5k, which I believe has since folded.

Usain Bolt has proven to be the first person to break Asafa Powell’s mark of 9.74 seconds in the 100 meter race on a track.

He was up against American sprinter Tyson Gay (9.85 seconds) this weekend at the Reebok Grand Prix, and was aided by a false start that wasn’t called back until the runners were 20 meters down the track.

“I was glad for the first false start,” Bolt said. “My first start wasn’t that good. I knew if I got Tyson on the start, I’d get him.”

Gay said he knew it was over after he saw Bolt push out.

The Olympics this year should provide some great competition, which is as it should be.

Bolt is normally a 200m/400m runner, but his recent successes almost guarantee that he is going to stick with the 100m as his signature race in Beijing.

(Photo Credit: Victah Sailer courtesy of Runner’s World – More Info: AP)

Update: I crunched a few numbers about how fast Bolt was moving:

Many fans and athletes are getting fed up with the seemingly constant stream of doping scandals that have been hurting the sport of Track & Field over the past few years. Tyson Gay wants to do something about it.

He has offered a guarantee that nobody will ever find any illegal substances in his body.

“One hundred percent guarantee,” he said. “Everything you do in the dark comes to light and I think a lot of people in this sport have really seen that. You can’t get away with that kind of thing, it’s going to come out no matter how hard you try to hide it.”

Tyson Gay wants to be the first double-gold medalist in the Olympic 100m and 200m since Carl Lewis did in back in 1984. He isn’t worried about the pollution in Beijing, and he hopes to better Asafa Powell’s mark of 9.74 seconds in the 100 meters. Holding Powell off will be no mean trick, though, and if it was a choice between a world record or a gold medal, he knows which he’d prefer.
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