Kirani takes Meritt

[Stonigut]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuiH792nnTo

[Historian]

And Shelly-Ann Takes No One!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuiH792nnTo

Great race as Kirani takes Merritt at the line!

Of course, our pocket-rocket Shelly-Ann took no one in her race! Shelly-Ann needs to take the rest of the year off and work on whatever issues are obviously bothering her. Placing last in yesterday’s 200-meter race is not to be taken lightly, IMO.

Novlene, on the other hand, is running very well this year, and not only because of yesterday’s 400-meter win. I still smile when I think back to how she ran past Sanya Richards on the second leg of the 4x400-m relay at last week’s IAAF World Relays. It’s a pity this isn’t a global championships year. It would be really heartwarming to see Novlene getting a gold medal before she retires (similar to how Brigitte Foster finally got her gold medal at the 2009 IAAF World Championships at the “ripe old age” of 34).

But that men’s 400-meter race yesterday is a classic, and the finish reminded me very much of the Gail Devers vs. Merlene Ottey 100-meter finish at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Also, the respect that James and Merritt have for each other is really heartwarming.

By the way, one day when I have more time to spare, I’m going to research the number of times Chris Brown has placed fourth in 400-meter races! Trust me, I will end up with a fairly long list of times!

[Stonigut]

Yes, Safp run was really strange, I can understand downplaying before the really big race and putting the psychological monkey on somebody else's back before the big race (no big race this year) but cannot understand what is happening now.

I think the one that really bothers me though is I wonder if we have seen the top of McPherson curve and what we will see is a plateau from henceforth.

Is there a way to strengthen her finish, she fades badly in the last fifty especially, I am not seeing any improvement there relative to what we saw last year.

My projection was that this year we would se a stronger, faster Mcp, but nothing as yet.

[Jangle]

SAFP taking the rest of the year off? That's a pretty drastic remedy. The season is long and the young lady needs to work. Whatever the situation is could be temporary. Let's not rush to judgement as this is her first loss individually since the start of the year.

[Bricktop]

she need to make some money...not gonna do it by being inconsistent on the circuit...

[Historian]

I Was Thinking The Same Thing

she need to make some money...not gonna do it by being inconsistent on the circuit...

After reading the post above yours, I was thinking exactly what you wrote. Two major let-downs (the IAAF World Relays and now the Prefontaine Classic) isn’t the type of performances meet organizers like to see or pay out big cash for.

I hope Shelly-Ann’s situation is just a temporary one and that she will be back on the circuit in fine style. But we’ll see.

And speaking of our women, while I fully understand the failure of the 4x100-meter team to win (that baton hand-off from Schillonie Calvert to Samantha Henry-Robinson was as awful as it gets), what the hell happened to our supposedly star-studded 4x200 relay team? That third place finish will have me puzzled for a long time.

By the way, the USA’s Tianna Madison-Bartolletta has emerged to become one of the fastest starters on the planet. I first began to notice this at the 2012 London Olympics.

[Stonigut]

Kirani versus Merrit sub 44 again.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-EDZRKDebes

[Jangle]

These guys running sub 45 for joke while our best prospect is a Schiller's busting his gut to fun 45.

[Stonigut]

Serious business, never seen anything like this level of rivalry in a non big title year or maybe any year. Merrit thought he conquered the upstart but 'him just a come' it look like.

[Jangle]

The good thing is that they don't hide from each other like the male sprinters.

[Gamma]

that win yesterday by kirani is an underlined bold statement. i think merrit will have an even harder time beating him as kirani has added some intelligent strategy to his race.

[Stonigut]

It is a psychological thing now, Merritt stepped up his game to meet the kirani challenge and destroyed him at the World Cup, anybody else would have disappeared after that beating, kirani took it up a notch and has now crushed Merritt psychologically with these two last wins with Merritt throwing everything into it, will be interesting o see where this goes, Merritt is full of pride, this is the sweetest rivalry around now much like Rosberg versus Hamilton which is very intense as well.

[myYout]

True dat!!