Weak/Stong Events

[mdzleosnoba]

Curious about everyone's thoughts about relatively weak/strong events this year on the world stage.
It seems to me that Men's 100H is very strong, of the 48 men who have ever run 13.20 or under, 17 are active now. And obviously the top 3. Men's 100 is probably similar, any other thoughts? Weak events?

[Marlow]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Weak events?

m400,m400H, mLJ, mHT . . .

[mdzleosnoba]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Speaking of mLJ, why does the US consistently produce so many 7.8,7.9,8.0 jumpers, but very few 8.2+ jumpers?

[Marlow]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Speaking of mLJ, why does the US consistently produce so many 7.8,7.9,8.0 jumpers, but very few 8.2+ jumpers?

The EPA puts a governor on our athletes' throttles so their jet-blast doesn't pollute the atmosphere.

[Powell]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

why does the US consistently produce so many 7.8,7.9,8.0 jumpers, but very few 8.2+ jumpers?

That's because it's a lot harder to jump 8.20 than 7.80 :P

[mdzleosnoba]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Haha good stuff...but seriously why does a country like Australia ~23million have more 8.20+ LJers than the US ~313 million. Not the case in the sprints.

[26mi235]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

The US loses a number of the best athletes for this event to the pro sports of basketball and football.

[mdzleosnoba]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

True, but shouldn't the same be true for sprints? The US has no problem having many many A standard athletes in the 100 and 200. To me, it seems like football and basketball would be drawing from that pool as well. The wTJ is another place the US seems weak considering

[Powell]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Haha good stuff...but seriously

I AM serious. Looking at the 2011 world list on the IAAF site, of the 137 LJers at the 7.85+ level, 18 came from the US, which is 13.1%. At the 8.20+ level, there were 3 Americans out of the total of 21, i.e. 14.1%. So it's simply not true that the US has a lot of depth but not enough quality at the top.

[26mi235]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

True, but shouldn't the same be true for sprints? The US has no problem having many many A standard athletes in the 100 and 200. To me, it seems like football and basketball would be drawing from that pool as well. The wTJ is another place the US seems weak considering

Basketball draws off almost no top sprinters but the 'hops' importance of the sport means that a number of otherwise fast (but not always blinding fast), athletic athletes with jumping ability go into BB.

[Marlow]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

True, but shouldn't the same be true for sprints? The US has no problem having many many A standard athletes in the 100 and 200. To me, it seems like football and basketball would be drawing from that pool as well. The wTJ is another place the US seems weak considering

Basketball draws off almost no top sprinters but the 'hops' importance of the sport means that a number of otherwise fast (but not always blinding fast), athletic athletes with jumping ability go into BB.

I really do think that if I could choose any 20 NBAers that I wanted and trained them for ONE month, I could have FIVE over 26'3 (8.00). Get a Dick Booth and 6 months? Five over 27' (8.23).

[norunner]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Why has there never been a female american worldclass triple jumper? It's strange that the US would have such a weakness in a jumping event. Plenty of excellent long jumpers over the years but not a single triple jumper.

[Marlow]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Why has there never been a female american worldclass triple jumper?

Funny (not really!) you should ask - we've been arguing that since 2003, when this place was born. Consensus is that we don't have the coaching, but I don't buy that. I simply think we don't 'encourage' the event very well in college. Girls who COULD TJ well are too busy hurdling and LJing and HJing or just plain sprinting. Take 10 collegians in the 11.30 - 11.50 range, give them to one of your better college TJ coaches and you'll get at least one 47-48 footer inside two years.
Speed kills - add in some weight work and plyos and BAM, you've got yourself a world-class TJer. Adding technique is not THAT hard. If you look at the top women in the world you'll see some pretty funky differences. Speed + leg strength = Distance.

[Riff80]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

Why has there never been a female american worldclass triple jumper?

Funny (not really!) you should ask - we've been arguing that since 2003, when this place was born. Consensus is that we don't have the coaching, but I don't buy that. I simply think we don't 'encourage' the event very well in college. Girls who COULD TJ well are too busy hurdling and LJing and HJing or just plain sprinting. Take 10 collegians in the 11.30 - 11.50 range, give them to one of your better college TJ coaches and you'll get at least one 47-48 footer inside two years.
Speed kills - add in some weight work and plyos and BAM, you've got yourself a world-class TJer. Adding technique is not THAT hard. If you look at the top women in the world you'll see some pretty funky differences. Speed + leg strength = Distance.

Also don't forget you have States where they do not have the TJ during the school competitions. You might be missing out on many kids who do not get to try it for the first time, and they might not compete in summer track and field.

[Vault-emort]

Re: Weak/Stong Events

The US loses a number of the best athletes for this event to the pro sports of basketball and football.

Oz loses most of its' best athletes to Australian Rules Football, Rugby League, Cricket, Rugby Union, Netball etc etc