Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

[gh]

With his 12.95-12.98 win over Jason Richardson in Brum today, Aries Merritt is now No. 2 on the all-time list of most sub-13s in one year:

Legal Sub-13s in one year:
7-Dayron Robles ’08
6-Aries Merritt ’12
5-David Oliver ’10
3-Colin Jackson ’93
3-Allen Johnson ’96
3-Jason Richardson ’12
2-Roger Kingdom ’88
2-Colin Jackson ’94
2-Allen Johnson ’97
2-Xiang Liu ’06
2-Xiang Liu ’07
2-Terrence Trammell ’07
2-David Oliver ’08

[tm71]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Hopefully next will be sub 12.9 too

[MightyBurner]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Unfortunate that he was disqualified in Lausanne.

[aaronk]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

There are 2 more DL's and about 5 or 6 more Euro circuit meets left.
Assuming Merritt gets his 7th sub-13 at Zurich, then all he has to do is jump in one of the remaining meets, run a 12.99 or better, and VOILA!!

So the question is: Does he WANT that distinction??

And yes, if he'd NOT DQ'ed in Lausanne, he'd have TIED the record today!!

[26mi235]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

And this one was into a breeze -- in fact Richardson tied his PR with that handicap (yes, I am aware about the differences between sprints and hurdles as regards wind).

[The Klingon]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Forget the sub-13s record. I like the fact that Merritt and Richardson are not ducking each other.

[croflash]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Forget the sub-13s record. I like the fact that Merritt and Richardson are not ducking each other.

Fortunately, hurdlers are different than flat sprinters in that regard. Robles and Oliver were racing each other quite often as well when they dominated the event a couple of years ago.

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Forget the sub-13s record. I like the fact that Merritt and Richardson are not ducking each other.

That's just economics.

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Fortunately, hurdlers are different than flat sprinters in that regard. Robles and Oliver were racing each other quite often as well when they dominated the event a couple of years ago.

I don't remember it that way. Robles' dominant year was 2008, and he was 3-2 against Oliver that year. Oliver's dominant year was 2010, and his only race (and victory) against Robles came in May. Robles was having a very good year in 2011 and beat Oliver in all of the five races they met except for the World Championship final for obvious reasons. In fact, out of 11 international class races, Oliver had just two victories in 2011 (the Daegu meeting in May and Prefontaine). Both of them were subpar in 2009. Looking back at it, 2008 is the season that most closely resembles that scenario, but even then, after his opening season loss to Oliver in Berlin, Robles broke the world record, and the two only met four other times that year (and only once before the Olympics) with Robles winning three out of those four contests.

[croflash]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Fortunately, hurdlers are different than flat sprinters in that regard. Robles and Oliver were racing each other quite often as well when they dominated the event a couple of years ago.

I don't remember it that way. Robles' dominant year was 2008, and he was 3-2 against Oliver that year. Oliver's dominant year was 2010, and his only race (and victory) against Robles came in May. Robles was having a very good year in 2011 and beat Oliver in all of the five races they met except for the World Championship final for obvious reasons. In fact, out of 11 international class races, Oliver had just two victories in 2011 (the Daegu meeting in May and Prefontaine). Both of them were subpar in 2009. Looking back at it, 2008 is the season that most closely resembles that scenario, but even then, after his opening season loss to Oliver in Berlin, Robles broke the world record, and the two only met four other times that year (and only once before the Olympics) with Robles winning three out of those four contests.

Well, compare that ratio to Gay/Powell at their peak, Bolt/Powell, Bolt/Gay, Bolt/Blake...

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Well, compare that ratio to Gay/Powell at their peak, Bolt/Powell, Bolt/Gay, Bolt/Blake...

Again, it's money. It's going to be cheaper to get every high hurdler with his salt into one race (probably twice over) than it would be (or would have been) to get one of those match ups to take place.

[croflash]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Well, compare that ratio to Gay/Powell at their peak, Bolt/Powell, Bolt/Gay, Bolt/Blake...

Again, it's money. It's going to be cheaper to get every high hurdler with his salt into one race (probably twice over) than it would be (or would have been) to get one of those match ups to take place.

Sometimes it comes down to the budget, but there have also been occasions when both of the athletes were in the same meet and didn't want to compete against each other. That's not benefical for the sport and can indeed be considered ducking.

The high end meets have enough cash to get all of these guys, the question then becomes if they actually want the competition. Right now, unless they are forced due to the nature of the event (National and World Championships), they simply refuse to. This is as much about ego and politics as it is about the money.

[Ned Ryerson]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Sometimes it comes down to the budget, but there have also been occasions when both of the athletes were in the same meet and didn't want to compete against each other. That's not benefical for the sport and can indeed be considered ducking.

The high end meets have enough cash to get all of these guys, the question then becomes if they actually want the competition. Right now, unless they are forced due to the nature of the event (National and World Championships), they simply refuse to. This is as much about ego and politics as it is about the money.

But that is all about the budget. Bolt and Blake are in different races on Thursday, but if Zurich offered Bolt a lot of money, like $5,000,000 in appearance money, you don't think he'd be in that 100m on Thursday?

[croflash]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

Sometimes it comes down to the budget, but there have also been occasions when both of the athletes were in the same meet and didn't want to compete against each other. That's not benefical for the sport and can indeed be considered ducking.

The high end meets have enough cash to get all of these guys, the question then becomes if they actually want the competition. Right now, unless they are forced due to the nature of the event (National and World Championships), they simply refuse to. This is as much about ego and politics as it is about the money.

But that is all about the budget. Bolt and Blake are in different races on Thursday, but if Zurich offered Bolt a lot of money, like $5,000,000 in appearance money, you don't think he'd be in that 100m on Thursday?

If that is what it takes to convince the Mills/Simms/Bolt/Blake camp, then that's simply being unreasonable. Of course, if you have the main guy under contract, I would try to avoid any potential damage too which not winning/losing a race would undoubtedly be. Protecting the invincible superhero image is paramount for them.

[Dave]

Re: Merritt closing in on sub-13s record

And this one was into a breeze -- in fact Richardson tied his PR with that handicap (yes, I am aware about the differences between sprints and hurdles as regards wind).

How much of a difference would a favorable wind have made? Like you, I get that a tail wind isn't necessarily a pure advantage for hurdlers.