Zürich DL 2021

[bambam1729]

I do think it would be nice to see something like cycling where the world champion wears a distinctive jersey all year while they are reigning champ. Champs also wear rainbow stripes on their jersey sleeves for the rest of their career. Similarly national champions wear their national champ jersey while they are reigning champs. It breaks up the parade of trade team kit and for T&F would give a break from races full of the same Nike kit.

All former cycling world champions not only wear the rainbow stripes on their sleeves, but they may wear it on their neck collar on the cycling jersey and may wear cycling gloves with rainbow stripes.

[bambam1729]

in my small circle of track nut friends (4) we all share the same sentiment of dislike for the flag wrapping...it was tolerable when it was spontaneous but this scripted bs has gone on long enough

USOPC has training sessions for Olympians called "Managing Victory" in which they are given instructions on how they should act, what they should or should not do, and what to do with the flag. The instructions for it with the flag are very specific about how you are supposed to hold and what not to do with it.

[SoCal45]

Very harsh, Little moved up to 5th all-time this year, she just had a poor race at the trials. Her chances of success over the 400 flat aren’t greater than her chances over the hurdles

disagree...she has had a number of big races where she melted down in the stretch...why can't she perform in crunch time? and the 400 flat is a much weaker event right now for USA women than is the 400h.

[scottmitchell74]

Very harsh, Little moved up to 5th all-time this year, she just had a poor race at the trials. Her chances of success over the 400 flat aren’t greater than her chances over the hurdles

I wonder. If/when she has a bad hurdle her face shows major distress. She panics, I'd say. With the 400 she could just concentrate on speed and form with far fewer chances for things to cause her anxiety.

[treadwater1]

It was time for that switch long before now.

Very harsh, Little moved up to 5th all-time this year, she just had a poor race at the trials. Her chances of success over the 400 flat aren’t greater than her chances over the hurdles

[lonewolf]

For whatever reason, Kerley has become one of my most favorite active athletes.

[Atticus]

Fred Kerley is definitely my #1 in the event for the season.

He was definitely one of the great stories of this year. Everyone second-guessed his dalliance with shorter sprints, but he stuck to them and has some awesome PRs, a silver medal, and a DL Championship trophy, to show for it!

[gh]

Jacobs manager back when his withdrawal from Pre was announced:

“It is simply that Marcell has given so much this year, all he had, so to insist (on competing) would only mean risking an injury”

[Weights&Shoes]

What about McLaughlin, SMU and Gardiner? They 'disappeared'. Or were they just tired of training and racing?

Maybe it's just me being unfair and putting more expectation from the Olympic Champion in the crown jewel event of the whole OG's (though this year it was the Women's). If Elaine Thompson had done the same I probably wouldn't have questioned the move considering her injury history and how much she put her body through in Tokyo. Like someone mentioned its more the competitive side of my brain, you pulled off a shocking win (to the general public) now back that up, you scared? Sydney Mac, SMU and Gardiner we've seen in championship settings, LMJ we really didn't aside from Euro Indoors. He took advantage of the moment and his times leading into the final gave him an equal chance like the others.

I'm definitely being unfair, it just didn't sit right with me personally. Anyways, Fred Kerley is definitely my #1 in the event for the season.

[Tuariki]

Seriously they Gardiner did run after the Olympics I believe plus they other 2 had to travel back from the US and Bahamas. .Jacob’s had several meets close by on his continent with ample time to rest. He didn’t even have to run in Eugene. So he had like almost 2 weeks off before his first race back in Europe.

Athletes do not have to run just because you want them to. The pinnacle for Jacobs, McLaughlin and Miller-Uibo was Tokyo. After Tokyo they had nothing to prove, certainly not to someone who appears intent on trying to imply something "dark" about Jacobs, but conveniently comes up with excuses to make the same implications about McLaughlin and SMU.

For example, McLaughlin was in New Jersey. Could have easily have flown to Europe just like many California based athletes did. She didn't because, for whatever reason ,she didn't want to. And the same for Jacobs.

[Big Tusk]

I do think it would be nice to see something like cycling where the world champion wears a distinctive jersey all year while they are reigning champ. Champs also wear rainbow stripes on their jersey sleeves for the rest of their career. Similarly national champions wear their national champ jersey while they are reigning champs. It breaks up the parade of trade team kit and for T&F would give a break from races full of the same Nike kit.

Nike kind of does this; see Hassan's kit in Zurich. It would be nice if each sponsor had special kit for their reigning world champions. Another idea is that the current leader in the DL standings could have a special vest from their sponsor to indicate their DL status or even world ranking. Probably not very useful in the field events, but cool for the events on the track.

[ATK]

Jacobs literally just came out of nowhere. No one expected him to win.

It's true that the majority probably didn't expect him to win, but entering Tokyo, he ran 9.95, 9.99 and beat Bromell, De Grasse and Kerley in Monaco. So literally coming out of nowhere is a stretch in hindsight.

[ATK]

It was a great (or great-great) meet at the top end, with highlights galore.

But in looking at the overall results my gut reaction is that top to bottom this was one of the weakest DL Finals ever, with many-many medalists MIA.

One factor was probably that this was the first year the DL final was over a month after the end of the Global Championships in the same year, therefore a longer extension of the season.

2011 - Daegu ended Sep 4th (Zurich, Sep 8th + Brussels, Sep 16th)
2012 - London ended Aug 12th (Zurich, Aug 30th + Brussels, Sep 7th)
2013 - Moscow ended Aug 18th (Zurich, Aug 29th + Brussels Sep 6th)
2015 - Beijing ended Aug 30th (Zurich, Sep 3rd + Brussels, Sep 11th)
2016 - Rio ended Aug 21(Zurich, Sep 1st + Brussels, Sep 9th)
2017 - London ended Aug 13th (Zurich, Aug 24th + Brussels, Sep 1st)
2019 - Doha started Sep 27th (Zurich, Aug 29th + Brussels Sep 6th)
2021 - Tokyo ended Aug 8 (Zurich, Sep 9th)

So even in 2019 with worlds in October, it was still closer to the DL final than this year was. (Note Brussels was not a DL final this year). And with an early World's next year, probably an excuse to just shut things down.

[TrackFanSUI]

What about McLaughlin, SMU and Gardiner? They 'disappeared'. Or were they just tired of training and racing?

I guess we all knew what SMU and McLaughlin are capable of. They performed well over the last year(s). McLaughlin showed already in the Trials that she‘s in good form this season.
Jacobs literally just came out of nowhere. No one expected him to win.

But Gardiner? Didn‘t he run the the 200m in Lausanne?

[scottmitchell74]

One thing that yesterday made clear is that Hassan has no answer for Kipyegon.

And she gave it her all. That was one heck of a race.