2022 USATF Championships Prediction 'Contest'!

[Atticus]

It's Father's Day, yay! Nothing better to do that try and figure out what will happen this week in Eugene.
T&FN will certainly post a final Form-Chart and it will be a Hot Mess, unless they can read the minds of the bye athletes!

Our job is to out-guess them! I will post a top-3 version here and you can post your differences (top-3 and winner).. My (famously faulty) intuition thinks that

Coleman, N Lyles, Cherry, Brazier, Holloway, Taylor, Hays, and Muhammad will not contest the Final, while Kendricks, Kovacs, Ali, Ewen, Allman and Price will. But who knows!

Put on your Prognostication Porkpie and think about it. You can post early and edit up until 2pm PT (5pm ET) on Thursday. First event goes off at 4pm PT.

The prize, as always, is . . . your fellow prophets' undying admiration/enmity!

[ATK]

Coleman, N Lyles, Cherry, Brazier, Holloway, Taylor, Hays, and Muhammad will not contest the Final, while Holloway, Kovacs, Ali, Ewen, Allman and Price will. But who knows!

100% sure Lyles plans to run all rounds of the 200m.

You noted Holloway on both sides😂

[Mr Lover Lover]

Question w.r.t the trials. Why does the US Olympic trials last over a week but the World champs trials are for 4 days?

[Atticus]

100% sure Lyles plans to run all rounds of the 200m.

Would you be surprised if he threw down a big time in the semis and sat out the final?

[ATK]

Would you be surprised if he threw down a big time in the semis and sat out the final?

All I know is, direct from Lyles as of last week, his plan is to run all 3 rounds and I dont think that will change.

Coleman same situation, though he was more vague so it wouldn't surprise me to see him skip the 100m final.

[Atticus]

All I know is, direct from Lyles as of last week, his plan is to run all 3 rounds and I dont think that will change.

I saw that too, but have less faith than you! I think the impulse to blast the semi will be strong, and if it's a goodie, be happy to watch the Final from the stands. Same for Coleman.

[gh]

Question w.r.t the trials. Why does the US Olympic trials last over a week but the World champs trials are for 4 days?

because TV is willing to pay for 2 weekends when it comes to choosing Olympic teams.

[fasttrak85]

Abby Steiner makes the 200 and Felix makes the 400.

[aaronk]

This meet is sounding more and more like the uselessly horrible "prelims" the NCAA uses!
There has GOT to be a better way!

Why would anyone---serious OR average fan--pay to see something they have no idea what to expect!
Wild Card'ers jogging through or running just heats!
Who's declared for what---and let's be honest--the average fan does NOT know where to look for the list of declared athletes!
They're coming just to make the top 3---so won't run fast if they don't have to---leading to mostly "tactical" (i.e. boring) races!

The "positives" are the upsets---such as Kendra Harrison not making the team, then going on to break the WR!
Hoping for "favorites" to self-destruct is NOT the best reason to pay for a WC Trials meet!

I suggest---and I KNOW my suggestions will be ignored or shot to pieces---

1. Wild Cards MUST give honest effort AND complete their event!!
2. Even those who already have met the WC qualifying standards must reach those standards in the meet---with wind/illness/injury/other weather conditions being the only reasons the standards don't have to be met at the meet!
3. Allow for the "best" athletes to be named to the team after the meet should they fail!

For all the above reasons, I probably won't be making any predictions this year!
How can you predict anything when there are so many holes and question marks as to who's in what, and how much effort the wild cards are going to put out??

[gm]

Maybe you can just watch a great meet and enjoy it for what it is?
Or not.

[aaronk]

Maybe you can just watch a great meet and enjoy it for what it is?
Or not.

Oh, I'm a dedicated lifetime fan (or a masochist!!), so I'll be watching, closely studying the results (for my Record Book & blog).
But I'll be highly critical when I see a Christian Taylor fouling his only "effort", or see A, B, or C athlete cruise the heat, then DNS the final for no good reason!
I'm sure there will be tons of exciting and GREAT results!
A few bad apples don't spoil the whole barrel!
It's just too bad the powers that be can't create a better system!

[bad hammy]

Question w.r.t the trials. Why does the US Olympic trials last over a week but the World champs trials are for 4 days?

This was discussed as far back as 1945, if not earlier. (Note: this video was unearthed & translated in 2010, and be warned that Hitler has a bit of a potty mouth.)

[Atticus]

But I'll be highly critical when I see a Christian Taylor fouling his only "effort"

Whoa! That's big red line you may not cross!
There is NO criticism of Christian Taylor that will be tolerated!!

I do agree with 3. above. There are better ways to run this railroad.

[Retread]

aaronk - I do respect your opinions & enthusiasm, but life is too short to be so negative. Enjoy the sport. Except for injuries and disqualifications, unpredictability increases enjoyment. Obviously this year it is higher than usual. This makes prognosticating more of a challenge, but doing it makes the whole thing more fun if you are anonymous like most of us are and really have nothing to lose! So I will do a team if I can manage the time. Thanks Atticus for all of your input on this site and your enthusiasm! Also, btw, thanks to all the Admins who make this site first class!

[Retread]

One more thing, Christian Taylor deserves only respect and admiration!