After having the opportunity to watch all the action this past weekend, I once again am reminded how exciting high level track and field is to watch. Some thoughts:
- The men's shot put was by far the highlight of the meet. Those guys had the crowd on fire. As great as it was, I also have to register my dislike of the "flights" concept, as others have done. The second flight built to a tremendous peak, only to have the air let out during the break before the finals. Nelson's final throw was still electrifying, but round 4 and 5 were yawners, made so largely by the break. If we had to have some qualifying rounds on thursday with no spectators, it would be a worthy tradeoff to regain the continuity of the finals. -The men's 5K was among the most exciting of the running events, with plenty of lead changes in the last mile. It was great to see Luchini in the mix as well. The 1500m should have been exciting, but was perhaps more notable for who wasn't running than for who was. -I would have liked to see another Teter-Jacobs matchup at 1500m, but they were each dominating in the event they ran. - Once again Devers shines best with a negative wind, not that she's bad in any wind! That had to be one of the best quality fields in U.S. history with so many under 13. - Women's pole vault was perhaps less than expected, largely because Stacey is so much better than everyone else. Since she didn't have the early misses, there was no suspense. None of her WR attempts were really that close, although it does seem like she's waiting on the pole more this year than she has done in the past (or maybe she's using a longer pole, I couldn't tell), and eventually that will translate to more WR's. -Davis is going big places in the triple jump. He seems like he is very under control and could add a foot or two by Athens. - The open 100's are probably my least favorite event to watch live. Neverthless, both centuries promised and delivered superstar wins with the challengers at least reasonably close. It will be curious to see if Montgomery can continue to close the gap, which is surely smaller than it used to be. - Ed Parrot
