Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

[jamal00005]

by Alfons Juck, EME News

LONDON (GBR): Spikes asked top hurdlers Sally Pearson and Eilidh Child which athletics rule they’d change if they had the chance, and both said that they should be jumping over bigger hurdles. Currently female sprint hurdlers clear barriers 83.8cm, while 400m hurdles are 76.2cm. This is compared to the men’s 110m hurdles of 107cm and 91.4cm (3ft) for the 400m hurdles. Sally Pearson, Australia, world and Olympic 100m hurdles champion: "This is a bit controversial… I’d like the women’s sprint hurdles to go up higher, to 91cm, to get rid of the sprinters, and keep the technicians in. And I think the women’s 400 hurdles need to go up a height, because they’re way too small.

[Daisy]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

Long overdue.

[mump boy]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

Absolutely

[cheetah69]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

I'm not surprised. A change that would benefit her.

[aaronk]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

Sounds like an okay idea.
Except for one small item......

It would completely DISCREDIT the ENTIRE RECORD BOOK of women's hurdles results!!!!

IMO, it would be akin to what happened to the 100 YARDS records and lists when the 100 METERS became de rigueur.
Or what happened to all the old javelin records and lists when they changed the jav's specifications!!

You'd have to start a whole new 100H and 400H record book and set of lists!!
The old lists and records would go the way of the old 100 yards lists and records!!
And all the ATHLETES who ran those times with the "old" heights would also be eradicated!!!

And Tim Hutchings is also suggesting they change the 3000SC for women back to 2000......because "the current crop" of female runners can't handle that distance!!
Huh?????
Hell, if they want to change the SC distance for women (AND men!!!!!).....how about LENGTHENING the race distance to FIVE thousand meters!!!!

[batonless relay]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

Utter and complete horseshit, Sally!

Though the event probably wouldn't be hurt by raising the hurdles 3" and most could agree on that, the "raise the hurdles" cry is a canard propagated mostly today by Europeans under the guise of "we're more technical - but the athletes of NACAC (North America the Caribbean and Mexico) are not." Think about this: Even Sally herself says, "...I’d like the women’s sprint hurdles to go up higher, to 91cm, to get rid of the sprinters..." But make no mistake, she's not talking about "sprinters" she's talking about the perceived "advantages" of NACAC. How do we know this? Because she'd be getting rid of herself! Someone needs to ask Sally of the 11.14 100m PB to name all of the 100m hurdlers who have run under 12.70 and have a PB faster than 11.15?

Dawn Harper? 11.90 at 21
Joanna Hayes? 11.41
Brianna Rollins? 23.04 for 200
Anjanette Kirkland? N/A
Michelle Perry? 11.34
Lolo Jones? 11.24
Queen Harrison? N/A
Damu Cherry? 11.53
BFH (JAM)? 11.17
Ginnie Crawford? 11.10
Perdita Felicien? 11.78
Danielle Carruthers? 11.43
PLS (CAN)? 11.44
DEL (JAM)? 11.77
Freeman? 11.32
Wells? 11.58
Ali? 23.90 for 200
Devers? 10.82

and that's just the ones under 12.53!!

Now look at Europe:
LUDMILA ENGQUIST: 11.04
SUSANNA KALLUR: 11.30
OLGA SHISHIGINA: 11.13
OLENA KRASOVSKA: 11.53
JOSEPHINE ONYIA: 11.37
SVETLA PISHTIKOVA: 23.10 for 200
PATRICIA GIRARD: 11.11

Newsflash: The w100h is a Sprint event! If they raise the hurdles 3", you'll see even FEWER European athletes in the finals of w100h!

[lexvid]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

Utter and complete horseshit, Sally!

Though the event probably wouldn't be hurt by raising the hurdles 3" and most could agree on that, the "raise the hurdles" cry is a canard propagated mostly today by Europeans under the guise of "we're more technical - but the athletes of NACAC (North America the Caribbean and Mexico) are not." Think about this: Even Sally herself says, "...I’d like the women’s sprint hurdles to go up higher, to 91cm, to get rid of the sprinters..." But make no mistake, she's not talking about "sprinters" she's talking about the perceived "advantages" of NACAC. How do we know this? Because she'd be getting rid of herself! Someone needs to ask Sally of the 11.14 100m PB to name all of the 100m hurdlers who have run under 12.70 and have a PB faster than 11.15?

Dawn Harper? 11.90 at 21
Joanna Hayes? 11.41
Brianna Rollins? 23.04 for 200
Anjanette Kirkland? N/A
Michelle Perry? 11.34
Lolo Jones? 11.24
Queen Harrison? N/A
Damu Cherry? 11.53
BFH (JAM)? 11.17
Ginnie Crawford? 11.10
Perdita Felicien? 11.78
Danielle Carruthers? 11.43
PLS (CAN)? 11.44
DEL (JAM)? 11.77
Freeman? 11.32
Wells? 11.58
Ali? 23.90 for 200
Devers? 10.82

and that's just the ones under 12.53!!

Now look at Europe:
LUDMILA ENGQUIST: 11.04
SUSANNA KALLUR: 11.30
OLGA SHISHIGINA: 11.13
OLENA KRASOVSKA: 11.53
JOSEPHINE ONYIA: 11.37
SVETLA PISHTIKOVA: 23.10 for 200
PATRICIA GIRARD: 11.11

Newsflash: The w100h is a Sprint event! If they raise the hurdles 3", you'll see even FEWER European athletes in the finals of w100h!

This ^^

[26mi235]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

If it aint' broke, don't fix it. The 100h is widely thought of as the most interesting/competitive event in the sport, year-in, year-out. If you make the hurdles taller you will lose a non-trivial share of the athletes. And, by-and-large, those athletes are not fast enough to make it in the flat sprints.

There are a number of women who want womens college XC to be lengthened from 6km to 8km or even 10km (of course, this is the 10,000m runners). I think it is a mistake because the current length allows the very good 1500m runners (Reid, for instance) to be very competitive and you would lose that and have a much less interesting with athletes strung out over a very long distance. At 6km, the womens race is about as spread out as the mens 10km because the difference in depth.

[drdan]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

Ambivalent about the 100h, but the 400h? Definitely!

[tm71]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

by Alfons Juck, EME News

LONDON (GBR): Spikes asked top hurdlers Sally Pearson and Eilidh Child which athletics rule they’d change if they had the chance, and both said that they should be jumping over bigger hurdles. Currently female sprint hurdlers clear barriers 83.8cm, while 400m hurdles are 76.2cm. This is compared to the men’s 110m hurdles of 107cm and 91.4cm (3ft) for the 400m hurdles. Sally Pearson, Australia, world and Olympic 100m hurdles champion: "This is a bit controversial… I’d like the women’s sprint hurdles to go up higher, to 91cm, to get rid of the sprinters, and keep the technicians in. And I think the women’s 400 hurdles need to go up a height, because they’re way too small.

going to 88 or 90 cm might not be such a bad idea. while they are at it change the hepta to deca since so many women are pole vaulting very well now. keep the steeple at 3k. dont change the implement weights in the throws.

[jamal00005]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

I say leave things just as they are ....changing things now will only cause a chain reaction and then other athletes will want other things in particular events to change

[batonless relay]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

I am with Sally on this. This event should test both speed and hurdling ability. Raising the hurdle height will put more emphasis on the hurdle component, which, I believe, is what a hurdle race should do. Sally Pearson is both a sprinter and a hurdle technician. It is not either/or ;It is both/and. The event should test both.

question: do you go to 110 distance with the same spacing as the men's?

As for the old records being discredited, they are just made permanent, they are still records for the old heights.

You would be.

But, if either of you bothered to look at the top-20 hurdlers from NACAC versus the top-20 from EAA then it would be obvious that the faster hurdlers -NACAC- are ALSO better technically.

[cheetah69]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

Utter and complete horseshit, Sally!

Though the event probably wouldn't be hurt by raising the hurdles 3" and most could agree on that, the "raise the hurdles" cry is a canard propagated mostly today by Europeans under the guise of "we're more technical - but the athletes of NACAC (North America the Caribbean and Mexico) are not." Think about this: Even Sally herself says, "...I’d like the women’s sprint hurdles to go up higher, to 91cm, to get rid of the sprinters..." But make no mistake, she's not talking about "sprinters" she's talking about the perceived "advantages" of NACAC. How do we know this? Because she'd be getting rid of herself! Someone needs to ask Sally of the 11.14 100m PB to name all of the 100m hurdlers who have run under 12.70 and have a PB faster than 11.15?

Dawn Harper? 11.90 at 21
Joanna Hayes? 11.41
Brianna Rollins? 23.04 for 200
Anjanette Kirkland? N/A
Michelle Perry? 11.34
Lolo Jones? 11.24
Queen Harrison? N/A
Damu Cherry? 11.53
BFH (JAM)? 11.17
Ginnie Crawford? 11.10
Perdita Felicien? 11.78
Danielle Carruthers? 11.43
PLS (CAN)? 11.44
DEL (JAM)? 11.77
Freeman? 11.32
Wells? 11.58
Ali? 23.90 for 200
Devers? 10.82

and that's just the ones under 12.53!!

Now look at Europe:
LUDMILA ENGQUIST: 11.04
SUSANNA KALLUR: 11.30
OLGA SHISHIGINA: 11.13
OLENA KRASOVSKA: 11.53
JOSEPHINE ONYIA: 11.37
SVETLA PISHTIKOVA: 23.10 for 200
PATRICIA GIRARD: 11.11

Newsflash: The w100h is a Sprint event! If they raise the hurdles 3", you'll see even FEWER European athletes in the finals of w100h!

Thank You!!!

[user4]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

...Raising the hurdle height will put more emphasis on the hurdle component, which...

question: do you go to 110 distance with the same spacing as the men's?

Maybe it is time to raise the mens hurdles too.

[Smoke]

Re: Sally Pearson wants sprint hurdles to go higher !!

This is not new news. 99% of all hurdlers and coaches have been crying for this change for decades. The women's hurdles heights are laughable.
The 4h women get away with technical murder, solely due to the LACK of proper hurdle technique required by the mini hurdles.
The thoughts around hurdles is sometimes baffling. I just watched the WYC and the young men run over 36" hurdles in the 110!!!! Why? I know all of the USA boys only run 36" in the intermediates and spend their lives running 39". Some train over 42" in preparation for the collegiate level. So why drop the hurdles for kids that are over 6 feet tall???
As for the women, we know from studies they jump high enough to clear a 36" hurdle right now, even though their hurdles are 33. So the argument that it is too demanding is not proven. The facts speak to the opposite. It is time the race require more technical expertise. Many of these women are very good hurdlers, but due to the hurdle height they are not required to execute. So we see lazy trail legs, and "sprinters" get away with murder and still run fast. Unlike the men's race where there is a consequence to having poor technique.
Now there is a valid question of can you raise them, and keep the same distance in between in the shorter hurdles?