2021 mOG 4x1: you sure you wanna open this one?

[schigh]

We should really pick a relay team from the 4th-8th finishers in the OT 100 & 200. With no individual events, they can get a full 6+ weeks of relay practice before the OG. That team would probably be in the hunt for gold every single time. It can't be any worse.

I wouldn't mind if the NCAA 4x100 champs was the Olympic relay team or have the relays as a trials event.

[asindc]

If they have none in the individual event, they get to name whoever they want for the pool of 6.

If they have 1 or 2 in the individual, those 1 or 2 must be in the 6-name pool, and then the other 4 or 5 picked however they want.

It's a headcount thing. They don't want countries sending 3 + 6; it's 6 total for the individual event plus the corresponding relay.

That seems to be a slight disadvantage to those countries who send multiple entrants in individual sprint events.

[18.99s]

What happens if the country has no (or at least less than 3) entrants in the individual sprint events?

If they have none in the individual event, they get to name whoever they want for the pool of 6.

If they have 1 or 2 in the individual, those 1 or 2 must be in the 6-name pool, and then the other 4 or 5 picked however they want.

It's a headcount thing. They don't want countries sending 3 + 6; it's 6 total for the individual event plus the corresponding relay.

[ItalianFan]

What happens if the country has no (or at least less than 3) entrants in the individual sprint events?

if they have no entry in the 100m they can name 5 in the relay pool. If they have 2 in the individual 100m, they can name further 3 names in the relay pool. Etc.

For example Italy 5 entries in the relay pool were

Jacobs (entered also in the 100m)
Tortu (entered also in the 100m)
Patta
Polanco
Manenti

Desalu (and Infantino) was not entered in the 4x100 pool because he was entered in the 200m and so the 4x100 pool spots were used to bring extra alternates.

[asindc]

The Olympic rules don't allow selecting 4 relay-only athletes in addition to 3 in the individual event. The rules require anyone in the individual 100m and 400m to also be in the corresponding 6-name relay pool, so at best you can send 3 relay-only athletes in addition to the 3 individuals in the 100m/400m.

What happens if the country has no (or at least less than 3) entrants in the individual sprint events?

[cladthin]

CT, I think we both know how fragile the psyche of a sprinter can be. And they often go searching for explanations for success and failure. As to the injury status, I wish the coaches were more transparent about the reports on injuries. When the athletes report an injury it often comes across as "excuse-making" after the fact.
"Staying healthy" is a priority for all athletes, but especially for sprinters and hurdlers and jumpers.
Will be interesting to see how many US athletes are competing over the rest of the summer in Europe.
i wish Bromell well. And yourself likewise. Hope you and yours are healthy, safe and well!

I wonder if Bromell communicated any possible injury to the coaches. In addition to his lackluster 100m performances, he took nothing out of the field on his leadoff leg. I do have a tremendous amount of respect for him in that he has largely overcome an injury that is often a career ender with the achilles rupture. While I, at times, don't agree with Boldon's commentary and especially annoyed at his frequent "didn't I tell you......" he was correct that (paraphrasing) the U.S. legs were not really anything special. Like you, I agree that Kerley's was very good. The other legs, however, were not particularly good-especially Gillespie's anchor.

It was a COVID precaution (to limit amount of potential exposure in Japan) but USATF is going to need look long and hard at their supposed choice to bring in athletes just 1-3 days prior to the start of their events when jet lag was starting to hit them as they were trying to make it through the rounds and even qualify for finals.

[uakari]

A stupid pathetic unwarranted back seat driver comment saying he should be ashamed of himself.

A silver medal, losing gold by 0.01 (0.26%) is nothing to be ashamed of when you lost to someone who was marginally superior.

totally. i saw that he was crying and kilty (of all people!) was consoling him, trying to pick him up...

[uakari]

Su looked like he got the baton in a dead heat with the Brits and got smoked on the curve. Maybe he would have been better on the anchor?

yeah i checked and his 200 PR is not impressive (over 21) so i wonder why have him run the curve ...

[18.99s]

We should really pick a relay team from the 4th-8th finishers in the OT 100 & 200. With no individual events, they can get a full 6+ weeks of relay practice before the OG. That team would probably be in the hunt for gold every single time. It can't be any worse.

The Olympic rules don't allow selecting 4 relay-only athletes in addition to 3 in the individual event. The rules require anyone in the individual 100m and 400m to also be in the corresponding 6-name relay pool, so at best you can send 3 relay-only athletes in addition to the 3 individuals in the 100m/400m.

[cladthin]

Italy looked great in this round but wait until the finals, we have Lyles and Bednarek who will be well rested!

[scottmitchell74]

not that i follow japanese athletics, but i noticed a lot of the youngsters have not lived up to their early potential. not just sani brown, but also kiryu (who ran 10,00 in HS) or yamagata. shota izuka was a junior 200 m world champion l but hasn’t progressed and only ran in the heats here.

they really miss someone like asahara, who also knew how to run the anchor leg.

china (with 2 sub-10 runners) broke the area record but their anchor (wu, a 10.11 runner) couldn’t hold off degrasse. i wonder if having SBT on anchor would have helped.

Su looked like he got the baton in a dead heat with the Brits and got smoked on the curve. Maybe he would have been better on the anchor?

[uakari]

not that i follow japanese athletics, but i noticed a lot of the youngsters have not lived up to their early potential. not just sani brown, but also kiryu (who ran 10,00 in HS) or yamagata. shota izuka was a junior 200 m world champion l but hasn’t progressed and only ran in the heats here.

they really miss someone like asahara, who also knew how to run the anchor leg.

china (with 2 sub-10 runners) broke a national record but their anchor (wu, a 10.11 runner) couldn’t hold off degrasse. i wonder if having SBT on anchor would have helped.

[KevinR]

Earlier, I had suggested looking for opportunities for the short sprinters to practice together over the two years leading up to the Games/WC. Invite those with good credentials to attend 2-3 day "camps" during that time, and take advantage of the spring relay carnivals. Spreading it over that length of time would enable individuals to attend at least a few that would not interfere with their normal training/racing schedules. Not sure we should ignore the folks making the sprint teams altogether, but open up the aperture somewhat.

[Jaguarclaws]

I wished we had track clubs like Santa Monica and HSI but we don’t anymore. All these sprinters are individuals pretty much.

[cladthin]

Cladthin, Good to see you are still around. Travel, Covid, no crowd made for a unusual atmosphere. Bromell is very emphatic about crediting God for his recovery (which was necessitated by an injury sustained runing an anchor leg on a 4x1 relay) and I have no problem with that. I would point out, though, that when things don't go as well as planned, which happens for every sprinter, there is a psychological price to bear when you thinking leads to your believing God is no longer helping you as before. Not a confidence builder by any means.

sidebar: How about those 400H records!!!

DJG, good to re-connect!

I wonder, too, if the opposite issue could take place for TB in that he might too depend much on his faith to just get him through/take care of whatever is going on and being resigned to his fate in that manner. I think he had to carry an injury into these games with his mechanical issues as it oooks like he was guarding an injury and changing/altering his execution to reduce the risk of further aggravating something. To have lost over two tenths of performance says something dramatic happened over a few months time.