London GP men's 400

[bad hammy]

angelo/lashawn need to find a "basic" low-altitude/non-greased lightening track, 43.4 strategy, to even think about the win...

If JW is healthy when he toes the line for the final, no one else has a chance.

[jeremyp]

JW is obviously Clyde Hart's athlete.

Hart believes--and will tell anyone who asks--that having aerobic strength and a race strategy aimed at relatively even splits are the keys to success in the 400.

Sanya Richards is also "Clyde Hart's athlete." At Osaka, she'll be viewing the 400 as a spectator.

There have been many "Clyde Hart's athlete[s]." One of them, Williamson, ran today in the M400. Not exactly overwheming.

Hart can't run the races. JW does that. Give Wariner credit.

Wariner listens to Hart. Apart from his obvious talent he is a very "coachable" athlete, and Hart is the best at 400. Richards has shown a tendency to not "listen" and it has cost her (Helsinki 05, and possibly Indianaopilis 07). Williamson I don't know about! Wariner seems very disciplined, and rarely makes mistakes, which helps when surrounded by "better" talent.

[dakota]

Merritt is ahead of where Wariner was in 2004.

Clement and Carter should join the fray by 2009.

[paulthefan]

wariner will hit the ceiling at 43.4.

goodness that is one freaking high ceiling to be hitting!

Wariner listens to Hart. Apart from his obvious talent he is a very "coachable" athlete, and Hart is the best at 400. Richards has shown a tendency to not "listen" and it has cost her (Helsinki 05, and possibly Indianaopilis 07). Williamson I don't know about! Wariner seems very disciplined, and rarely makes mistakes, which helps when surrounded by "better" talent.

Wariner is surrounded by "better" talent?... is that possible?

[tm71]

finally a good competition and a fast race. usually he have seen JW beat everyone by 0.5 - 0.7 sec, but LM pushed him to the line. Merritt run it as expected and took it out fast, but he faded somewhat in the last 50.

[proofs in the pudd'in]

I am not worried one bit about LM or AT. Just look at when they ran thier PB's of 44.05 & 44.06. Talk about straining for the finnish line - Then look at ALL of JW 's races - never seen anyhting close to that. SMOOTH BABY SMOOTH!!!

IF pushed JW will find another gear - just remember the X-MAN.

[Mennisco]

wariner will hit the ceiling at 43.4.

goodness that is one freaking high ceiling to be hitting!

Wariner listens to Hart. Apart from his obvious talent he is a very "coachable" athlete, and Hart is the best at 400. Richards has shown a tendency to not "listen" and it has cost her (Helsinki 05, and possibly Indianaopilis 07). Williamson I don't know about! Wariner seems very disciplined, and rarely makes mistakes, which helps when surrounded by "better" talent.

Wariner is surrounded by "better" talent?... is that possible?

He must mean Sanya. :P

You're right Paul, we should all pity poor Jeremy, who'll top out at 43.4, when he hits the structure parallel to the floor.

[jeremyp]

Wariner is surrounded by "better" talent?... is that possible?

Carter, Merritt, Clement seem to be "on paper" more talented as far as 200 skills and youth go. Wariner, as we have seen in the 200, is no speed merchant, but has great strength and savvy.

[George P.]

[You're right Paul, we should all pity poor Jeremy, who'll top out at 43.4, when he hits the structure parallel to the floor.

Anyway, "we" know JW is really an 800 guy, struggling -- against nature and the odds -- to race a respectable one-lap. We know that, right? :wink:

Edit - jeremyp seems to know that :roll:

[Mennisco]

[You're right Paul, we should all pity poor Jeremy, who'll top out at 43.4, when he hits the structure parallel to the floor.

Anyway, "we" know JW is really an 800 guy, struggling -- against nature and the odds -- to race a respectable one-lap. We know that, right? :wink:

Where's Zat0pek? :wink:

[Mennisco]

Wariner is surrounded by "better" talent?... is that possible?

Carter, Merritt, Clement seem to be "on paper" more talented as far as 200 skills and youth go. Wariner, as we have seen in the 200, is no speed merchant, but has great strength and savvy.

If he's a no-speed merchant, I need to place an order immediately.

[speed101]

JW is obviously Clyde Hart's athlete.

Hart believes--and will tell anyone who asks--that having aerobic strength and a race strategy aimed at relatively even splits are the keys to success in the 400.

I remember an interview with him not long ago in which he discussed how he and MJ had developed that strategy together during the latter's career, and pointed out that--even during MJ's world record in Seville--a number of people in the 400 field actually ran a substantially faster first 200 than MJ did.

Hart obviously regarded opening that fast as a stupid strategy, and he said so. His remark was "You will never defeat Michael Johnson in a 400 by beating him to the 200 meter mark."

Which is true. MJ's jets always came on in the turn. When you consider the kind of 200 meter speed he had, you really realize how slow an opening 21.00+ must have felt to him.

JW doesn't have MJ's jets, but he does seem to have MJ's strength. I don't imagine JW worries much about where the other runners are until somewhere around 325.

He may ultimately run into another athlete who can beat him by blazing a hard first 200-300 and then hanging on. But I doubt Merritt has that kind of blazing ability.

^^^^^^^
maybe perhaps wallace spearmon or x-man with a bit of 400m training?

[Mennisco]

maybe perhaps wallace spearmon or x-man with a bit of 400m training?

http://www.mensa.org/

http://www.fakecrap.com/densa.html

You might try "detritus" as an answer. :P

[az2004]

taylor was fantastic at indy, all the rounds, and in the finals merritt and he had a great head to head struggle...


interesting if anyone knows what taylor has been doing, as his indy form hsn't been replicated...

laying low for osaka??

wariner, clearly is building, with more yet to come....merritt has a ton of fast times, but i wonder if he's got MORE faster oners for osaka..

right now, i'd go wariner, taylor, merritt...

[BYU grad]

I have the feeling that if Merritt trained as hard a Wariner that he'd be running 43.4 to 43.8...because he has more speed, and more natural talent.

Wariner has more natural talent in the 400m than Merritt.
You are confusing your races. Merritt has more 200m speed and talent than Wariner.

Yes, that's a valid point, but isn't there another point that a different kind/intensity/ volume of training could make it possible for Merritt to run stronger down the stretch?