2022 women's AOY

[CD203]

Whenever there is a RWer being treated as equal to or better than athletes in other events, the collective fan base of the sport will lose it's mind and look for any rationale to denigrate the performance or event in a manner to make their preferred athlete or event seem superior. Start with the "ideal" outcome and work back with whatever random data can be found to show a clear path to the desired result. Classic insecurity fueled by ignorance. T&F's MAGA-like mindset.

facts honestly. I don't really like race walks that much; I find other events far more interesting, but I can recognize that in terms of performance at WCs, she is far and away the standout performer. She absolutely deserves to be considered one of the top 5 athletes of the year, regardless of how popular her event is among fans. Also, its worth noting that the WA vote is determined in part by fans liking/retweeting on Instagram and Twitter and Garcia León had some of the most engagement of all athletes on those platforms, likely because her country rallied behind her.

[DET59]

Whenever there is a RWer being treated as equal to or better than athletes in other events, the collective fan base of the sport will lose it's mind and look for any rationale to denigrate the performance or event in a manner to make their preferred athlete or event seem superior. Start with the "ideal" outcome and work back with whatever random data can be found to show a clear path to the desired result. Classic insecurity fueled by ignorance. T&F's MAGA-like mindset.

Wow, talk about racewalker insecurity : )

Discussing whether Garcia Leon is a legit top AOY 5, without being disrespectful of her discipline, is well within the ballpark of this topic. The real villain is GEICO who mocks racewalking with their new Chris Paul ad campaign. They didn't even real racewalker in cameo for the filming.

I think the "two golds" is awesome, but it is a bit overrated as it is the only WC discipline where one can get two golds on two different days/races (no prelims), which are also 9 days apart. The only other event remotely close to racewalking for potential double is the 100/200. The 10k/marathon isn't possible at worlds. Also the reduction from 50k to 35k seems like it would make the double "easier" than the 20/50 double. Still a great accomplishment but not earth shattering, would be well deserved to name her "athlete of the meet." She clearly knows how to peak at the right time.

The rest of her season found her finishing 8 races with only 1 first, 5 seconds, and a 3rd place finish. She also shut down after worlds, which in other events seems to be a big negative for many folks giving opinions ("Sydney-itis"). She didn't suffer from "Crouser-itis" (going 10-4, losing to the second best performer of all time and still putting more marks into the all-time top 10)

MJR, I read through the topic you started on the switch from 50k to 35k..... I still don't fully understand the switch but it does make the racewalking double "easier."?

Call me/us all the names you want, but please also share your knowledge. For example, how big a factor were conditions in Eugene (obviously less than optimal)? Are the 100 top all-time performance lists reliable with all the rule changes in racewalking and judging? How Does Garcia Leon rank, all things considered, with the events all-time greats in performance/times?

Make Athletics Great Again ?

[MJR]

Leon was nominated based upon her performance at the WC. WA has their own criteria, whatever it is. She's as deserving as anyone else up there. No way she wins, though.

Geico didn't make the commercial w/ Chris Paul, it is State Farm. Everyone in it is a legit RWer. Dave McGovern (9x USOT competitor) and Rachel Seaman (CAN Olympian) are the most notable.

No real important events after Eugene to attend and getting ready for Budapest is the priority, so time off and then building for 23 is the normal route during that time of year.

The move from 50 to 35 was based almost entirely on misogyny and ignorance. Long story. That said, more athletes will stay around competitively if they need to do 35k than 50k, as the training is easier and you can still almost live a normal life doing it. 50k meant being a hermit and living a stoic lifestyle to be successful.

The double is easier because of the primary energy substrate being the same at each distance. 35k ends before athletes "bonk" or hit the wall.

Weather & schedule in Eugene meant there'd be no top times produced. Plus, the turns were narrow and the course completely exposed to the sun. Too many top times come from suspect nations like Russia and China, so they should be essentially ignored as completely fraudulent. Remove ALL of those times from every list and you're closer to a clean history of the event.

The penalty lane has little to do with top performers, it just keeps mid to back of the pack athletes in the race longer so people can whine less about DQs that should happen. Judging is only an issue with people who aren't educated about the how and why, or refuse to listen to both. The races are fair and the outliers, who commit fouls while competing, are properly addressed as they should be.

[DET59]

MJR, thanks for awesome response!

[DET59]

seems like the current spike tech aids longer races more than shorter ones. 100H (use to be?) is generally more of a prestige event than the 400h, so it makes sense that that record would be closer to whatever the current view of limits might be. And, I forget, is performance considered "one meet" or "one heat"? T.A. went under the record twice in a row as part of the same competition/event, which is pretty dang cool.

I think the best way to evaluate Sydney's 400IH time is to compare it to Koch's open 400, and see that the "ratio" is pretty similar to the men's 400/400IH times. In other words, she's pretty much running the 400IH at the "Koch level" of speed . Koch''s 400 is arguably the most difficult of all the track running WR's to break (though one could argue 800, or Flo Jo's 100/200). Denkova's 12.21 from the same era had been approached numerous times until Kendra Harrison shaved it down and Tori put it away. Tori's record run was impressive, but for me not as much as a 50 point something 400IH.

[Wiederganger]

The rest of her season found her finishing 8 races with only 1 first, 5 seconds, and a 3rd place finish.

And therein lies the issue with her being in the top 5, in my very humble opinion. It's nothing to do with her being a race walker, it's her win/loss record. It's piss poor. She won 3 out of 9 races as you say, with 2nd being her most consistent placing. For this reason, I don't believe she should be in the top 5.

Amusan didn't have an amazing win/loss record either, but she did win 17 of her 25 races over 100mh, and then she had six 2nd places. A much better % than Garcia Leon, in an event that has become so competitive in the last few years.

[LuckySpikes]

Whilst I agree that Kimberly Garcia shouldn't win AOY I'm all for a race walker being in the final 5! They get little enough recognition as it is.

A couple of inspiring aspects to her story ...
a) She had major knee surgery in September 2019
b) Not only was it a historic achievement for her nation but also for South American Women's race walking - the first WCh medals of any colour in RW for a South American woman (though Sandra Arenas won silver at Tokyo last year). Until 15 years ago women's race walking in South America was virtually nowhere - the best they could point to then was a couple of high-teens WCh placings by Bolivia. Since then it's been steady progress to the point where 4 nations are now a force in women's race walking

Should things like this influence the voting? That's for each person to decide for themselves.

[Wiederganger]

Should things like this influence the voting? That's for each person to decide for themselves.

In my personal opinion, no. Otherwise it becomes Sports Personality of the year. Whilst I totally agree her story is interesting & somewhat inspiring, my own view is AOY should be athletic achievement only. But I can appreciate the impact she has had.

[Atticus]

Yesterday's news. Syd and Noah are USATF's AOYs.

https://www.usatf.org/news/2022/usatf-announces-2022-end-of-year-awards

[noone]

Leon was nominated based upon her performance at the WC. WA has their own criteria, whatever it is. She's as deserving as anyone else up there. No way she wins, though.

The move from 50 to 35 was based almost entirely on misogyny and ignorance. Long story. That said, more athletes will stay around competitively if they need to do 35k than 50k, as the training is easier and you can still almost live a normal life doing it. 50k meant being a hermit and living a stoic lifestyle to be.

I beg to differ. The reason is that the 50k takes too long. The casual fan isn’t going to watch for four hours. I think the IAAF plans to discontinue the 20k at major championships and to have just a 35k for both genders.

[dupontred]

Tonight’s the night. Will be interesting to see what happens.

[Conor Dary]

There it is ... a good choice.

https://mobile.twitter.com/WorldAthletics/status/1599867345945919488

[Juicy News]

Is there even a ceremony or is everything done virtually? I don't know think Syd is in Monaco.

[Juicy News]

Is there even a ceremony or is everything done virtually? I don't know think Syd is in Monaco.

Just saw some of the pics posted on WA's instagram.

[Conor Dary]

Great moment.