This weekend I got a chance to watch the US Olympic Track and Field trials, and was blown away by a few races.
On Sunday at the US trials, Tyson Gay ran the 100m faster than any man has ever done. However, because the tail wind was about double the legal limit, his time of 9.68s will not go down as the World Record. This run, just a few weeks after Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran 9.72 to set the current record, definitely sets up an epic race in Beijing. But dont forget about previous record holder Asafa Powell, who until Bolt broke the record, had the 4 fastest times in history. It should be an unreal 100m final!
A couple other interesting stories from the weekend in track. In the Womens 10,000m on Friday, the two favorites were on their way to easy Top-3 finishes by the time the race was half over. However, a story was developing. The 3rd runner in the lead group needed the US "A" standard to ensure that she would get to go to Beijing. At the 5000m mark, she needed to run 15:35 to get the A standard. And her 2008 best was 15:46! So the runner in question, Amy Yoder-Begley, went to the front and pushed the pace. With three laps to go, she needed to average 72 seconds per lap to go to Beijing. She ran 73.9, 73.9, and then an incredible 67.3 second final lap to make the team by 1.4 seconds. Congrats to Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher (4th place in 2004 Trials) for getting their spots in the same race.
Canada's Olympic Track trials go this weekend. Full preview coming Friday!
More world records were set Sunday night, but in the pool at the US Swimming Trials. Michael Phelps broke the 400m IM World Record by .97 seconds, which is simply incredible. The main reason he said he swam so fast was he was actually being pushed by a rival, Ryan Lochte. He also broke the world record but still got beat by almost .7 seconds. Amazing race.
Not to be outdone, Katie Hoff set her own World Record in the Womens 400m IM. She had previously held the record, but an Australia broke the record in March. Hoff was well-behind the World Record pace (and in 2nd place) at 200m, but used an amazing breaststroke and freestyle to break the record by 0.3 seconds. And she's only 19. Wow. More on the swimming events can be found here.
These two world records bring the total to 40 world records set in the pool since February. Not coincidently, the Speedo LZR was introduced in February. Yep, the $550suit is revolutionizing the sport. And rival companies are forced to compete or lose their athletes. Mizuno, Tyr, Nike, and Adidas, who sponsor either individual swimmers or entire national teams, are either being forced to let their sponsored athletes wear the Speedo suit, or try and come up with a competitive suit themselves. Easier said than done, but it appears that Team Canada (and Team US) will be LZR-equipped in Bei in Beigjin. You can read more on the controversy here.
And just in time for the US Track and Field trials, the USATF group and the US Anti-Doping Agency have announced plans to start drug testing with the Intermediate (15-16 years old) division. Yep, if that's not a sign of the apocalypse, I'm not sure what is. But you do have to give them credit for trying to avoid another Marion Jones/Tim Montgomery/Justin Gatlin fiasco(or many more ex-champions who have failed doping tests).
One more doping note...the US Track and Swimming trials both are taking blood samples to try and detect doping. It's the first time either of these events have taken blood samples. Here's hoping we don't hear another word about blood samples and doping in relation to either of these great events!
Speaking of doping, this morning the Floyd Landis scandal came to an end. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport denied Landis's appeal and ordered Landis to pay WADA $100,000 in legal costs. Costly loss. So after 100 weeks, we can finally put an end to this saga. Landis originally tested positive just after winning the 2006 Tour de France, but over the past 23 months there has been a lengthy legal battle. The whole timeline can be seen here.
That's it...later
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