Saturday 15:00: WAF m400

[gh]

1 36 Raquil Marc FRA
2 52 Francique Alleyne GRN
3 140 Rock Andrew USA
4 15 Kikaya Gary COD
5 149 Wariner Jeremy USA
6 135 Merritt LaShawn USA
7 152 Gaba Kamghe GER
8 57 Blackwood Michael JAM

[eldrick]

damn !

i went for a smoke & missed it !!!

jw 44.02
kikaya 44.10
lashawn 44.14

[Jacksf]

Seems like that would have been a great race to watch. Too bad JW didn't get under 44.
Meanwhile, Gary Kikaya has made remarkable progress this season after many years of competing. Who's his coach?

[eldrick]

no pb for jw, but huge pbs for next 2

this looks like a lightening track !

[pela2]

updated Average-10 best performances (after Stuttgart)

44.074 - Jeremy Wariner - 2006
44.145 - Quincy Watts - 1992
44.264 - Michael Johnson - 1996
44.264 - Michael Johnson - 1998 (only 9 performances)
44.335 - Danny Everett - 1988
44.343 - Michael Johnson - 1993
44.345 - Michael Johnson - 1995
44.401 - Harry Reynolds - 1987
44.403 - Steve Lewis - 1988
44.479 - Harry Reynolds - 1988
44.450 - Steve Lewis - 1992
44.515 - Innocent Egbunike - 1986
44.523 - Roberto Hernández - 1990
44.544 - Danny Everett - 1990
44.552 - Harry Reynolds - 1993
44.553 - Michael Johnson - 2000
44.574 - Gary Kikaya - 2006
44.582 - Tyree Washington - 1998
44.611 - Iwan Thomas - 1998
44.639 - Alvin Harrison - 2000
44.639 - Roberto Hernández - 1991
44.643 - Quincy Watts - 1993
44.651 - Roger Black - 1996
44.653 - Samson Kitur - 1992
44.655 - Mark Richardson - 1998
44.665 - Antonio Pettigrew - 1997
44.668 - Alvin Harrison - 1998
44.677 - Iwan Thomas - 1997

[Littlemac]

They finished in the order that they will be ranked at year's end:
JW
Kikaya
Merritt
Rock

Kikaya:
A first-year member of Sprint Capitol, Kikaya, whose homeland is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, specializes in the 400 meters – the event in which he won an NCAA championship in 2002, while a member of the University of Tennessee Volunteers. A teammate of Justin Gatlin while at Tennessee, Kikaya has been hoping to join Sprint Capitol for the past three years, but stayed in college to get his degree in Sociology first.

[Walt Murphy]

damn !

i went for a smoke & missed it !!!

jw 44.02
kikaya 44.10
lashawn 44.14

Fastest 3rd place since 1996 U.S. Trials? (Alvin Harrison ran 44.09)

[dhanesworth]

Non-American world record for Kikaya?

[tafnut]

jw 44.02
kikaya 44.10
lashawn 44.14

Finally! Some great depth in the event.

[Littlemac]

Non-American world record for Kikaya?

Yes.

[eldrick]

seen it now

kikaya lane 4, jw 5 & lashawn 6

jw chased down lashawn, & had a coupla meters lead into stretch ( kikaya about 1m down on jw )

lashawn had best stretch - i think the boy is experimenting to find the optimum pace judgement & is starting to work it out

physically, i never thought he was that big, but when hugging jw, he looked significantly taller & more muscular

give him 1 more year of maturing & refining tactics & i think he's going o run some monster times !

[tafnut]

give him 1 more year of maturing & refining tactics & i think he's going o run some monster times !

which, ironically, ALSO applies to JW. HE is still a babe in the woods too!

[eldrick]

give him 1 more year of maturing & refining tactics & i think he's going o run some monster times !

which, ironically, ALSO applies to JW. HE is still a babe in the woods too!

normally though, a 20y ole -> 21y coud be expected to mature/improve/etc more than a 22y ole -> 23y

[26mi235]

give him 1 more year of maturing & refining tactics & i think he's going o run some monster times !

which, ironically, ALSO applies to JW. HE is still a babe in the woods too!

By comparison with Merritt, JW is NOT a babe in the woods. This is his third complete season at the top of the world and he has pretty sophisticated coaching/mentoring. Merritt is only part way through is first real season at this level.

[dhanesworth]

I have kind of lost sight of Merritt this year with the exploits of Wariner. He was very average last year after his early 44.66 in kingston and coaching changes. This year he has been very consistant. He has only had one final above 45. The 44.14 is his 8 sub45 in a row. Top 3 in every race. He is barely 20 years old and has 20.10 200 speed. Next year should be great in the 400 with Merrit, X-man and Wariner all currently under 23.