USA - the first 3 days

Not too many good stories for American fans.

A great 1-2 in the w100

Solid show by Adam Nelson

and that's ... about ... it.

Hope for the rest of the week:
w200
m400 - three finalists, could sweep
m200
w400h - Glover had a good semi
m400h, mPV, mLJ,wHJ - will be interesting and some potential medalist there (esp. LJers), but who really knows?

DEC - Pappas is a stud
w100h - tough semis coming up
m110h - AJ is the king
m800 - Krumm?
w1500 - Regina?
all 4 relays ... will be interesting

m/w5000, m/wMAR,wLJ,wHT, etc. ... not much hope

Re: USA - the first 3 days

Yes, very bad. Seems to get worse every year. Maybe a record low - hopefully not. Is there anyone to blame? I can only think of one individual who can be held somewhat accountable for the state of USTAF.

[Randy Treadway]

Re: USA - the first 3 days

>Is there anyone to blame? I can only think of one individual who can be held somewhat accountable for the state of USTAF.

Yes, and in spite of Garry we all still subscribe to T&FN, right?!

Re: USA - the first 3 days

If it wasn't for Garry I don't know if TAF would still be a sport in the US. Maybe the sky really is falling.

[lagsun]

Re: USA - the first 3 days

I know it's still early, but maybe this a blessing in disguise and will send a message to our blue-blazered officials at USATF to hold our selection trials closer to the championships and not 2+ months before.

Other than Slattery in the steeple and Glover in 400H semis, has any US athlete set a PB or SB at these Championships so far?

Re: USA - the first 3 days

I'm not really trying to be negative in a long-term sense ... after all, we did GREAT at world indoors several months ago.

I'm just noting there were several areas where we had high, or fairly high hopes the first 3 days and about 3/4 of them have been at least mild bummers.

I've also appreciated the great performances by Kluft, Bekele, Adere, etc., but I'm also always fired up about a great USA performance, particularly if it's someone who isn't necessarily already a superstar. With folks like Carl, Michael and JJK, you came to expect it. And, to be sure, Godina, Greene and Stacy have given us an awful lot in the past.

A few guys, like Neito or maybe Bell, you didn't really expect higher. There's been some injury or other-related dropouts (Suzy, Walter Davis), and some events we're just weak in right now.

But 5-6 in the 100 and no women's 400 finalists, that's a bummer, and so on.

Hmmm... maybe we can GRADE some of the events by how US did.

Re: USA - the first 3 days

You guys should be glad you're not Brits. We really suck this year.

[MJR]

Re: USA - the first 3 days

Other than Slattery in
>the steeple and Glover in 400H semis, has any US
>athlete set a PB or SB at these Championships so
>far?

Kevin Eastler in the 20km RW set a PR by about 1:00 and achieved the IAAF A Standard. He is the only US RWer with one so far going into Athens. We should get 2 in the 50km by then and maybe 1 more for the men at 20km. We could possibly have 4 women get an A in 2004 for 20km as well.

[abinferno]

Re: USA - the first 3 days

walking doesn't count

Re: USA - the first 3 days

Maybe Jason Lunn can save the day.

Re: USA - the first 3 days

I don't have the heart to break the news to annoying bastard - someone else please do it. Maybe bastard should have duel US/Spain citizenship - they managed to get 3 to the finals!
Sorry, man.

Re: USA - the first 3 days

No, Jason Lunn is out--not even close in the semi-final.I agree with lagsun: If we are going to help our top athletes be competitive on the internatioanl level we need to hold our trials closer to the big meets...with in a month. It's just too difficult to peak twice in one season. We've been giving ourselves this disadvantage for a long time...remember the 1956 Olimpic year: compare the times, distances and heights of our athletes in that fabulous Olympic trials meet to the Olympics in Melbourne months later. We did well in the medal count only because in those days we dominated most of track and field--all but the distances.