Personally my two favorites are last year's Penn Relays 4xMile and the 1972 Olympic 800, what are yours?
Personally my two favorites are last year's Penn Relays 4xMile and the 1972 Olympic 800, what are yours?
It was just a few years ago, too lazy to look it up now, but the Florida relays 4x400 where Gino Hall split some 43.xx to catch some professionals from a long ways behind in an already incredibly fast heat (2:59.xx). At least half of the reason this video is my favorite is the flotrack guys comentary during the race.
The Mud-Lark / Arrogance Personified:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVxxaj1j9nE
The Rabbit that got away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28_WpclPgTo
Dave Wottle vs the Keeeenyans (obviously):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHid-nC45k
Sammy Wanjiru does the truffle shuffle to win Chicago (best ommentary too):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ3s9HRaDJ0
Steve Jones being a badass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ-_3Ug3wqU
Reindeer Milk in action:
Zatopek's Shadow.
rudisha 800 london
The race of the year wrote:
It was just a few years ago, too lazy to look it up now, but the Florida relays 4x400 where Gino Hall split some 43.xx to catch some professionals from a long ways behind in an already incredibly fast heat (2:59.xx). At least half of the reason this video is my favorite is the flotrack guys comentary during the race.
This one was epic, 2014 Florida Relays. Sub 3:00 4x400, one of my favorites also.
The 2011 NCAA 800 outdoor final where Charles Jock took it out in sub 50 and Robby Andrews comes from last to first in the final 150 meters.
Colors by Spike Lee is a pretty solid race video.
abdoujaparov wrote:
The Mud-Lark / Arrogance Personified:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVxxaj1j9nEThe Rabbit that got away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28_WpclPgToDave Wottle vs the Keeeenyans (obviously):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHid-nC45kSammy Wanjiru does the truffle shuffle to win Chicago (best ommentary too):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ3s9HRaDJ0Steve Jones being a badass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ-_3Ug3wqUReindeer Milk in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mglwnEG86Xs
What is the truffle shuffle?
Cacho's run at the Barcelona Olympics. Countryman winning and splitting 50.xx on the last lap in a 1500m.
AlPal wrote:
Personally my two favorites are last year's Penn Relays 4xMile and the 1972 Olympic 800, what are yours?
That's interesting, about 5 of my top-10 are from the Penn Relays. Perhaps my favorite race of all time was the 1979 College 4x4 COA won by Maryland, with Renaldo Nehemiah on anchor. Albeit I have never seen a video of this race, but I was there. 2014 Penn Relays Girls COA 4x800 when Oliva Baker got the baton in 4th about 30m down and won the race. John Muir from the mid-80s, Long Beach Poly from the late 90s and Eleanor Roosevelt from the mid-2000s - take your pick. 2 of my all time favorites are the 1988 Olympic Women's 4x1 and 4x4 both anchored by FloJo. Btw, the Russian and East Germans use to beat the USA women's during that time. The 2012 Olympics 10K with Rupp and Mo. The 1981 Dream MIle with Ovett, Scott, Cram and Walker -or the 1979 Dream Mile where Coe set the world record, Coe had set the 800m world record the week prior. The 1988 Olympics 100m dash with Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson. The 1984 Men's US Olympic 800m Trials with James Robinson, Don Paige, Earl Jones, Johnny Gray and John Marshall; the top-5 in that race ran 1:43x, in fact, there were a couple of 1:43s ran in the semis. To this day, that is the most competitive 800m ever ran on American soil. 1992 Barcelona Olympics epic long jump battle with Carl Lewis vs Mike Powell; this is one of the few times where the commentators forgot about the race on the track and focused on a field event. The 1984 Olympics women's marathon, this race was special for too many reasons to mention, but it was the last time an American women won an Olympic race in an event over 400 meters. I was told people in the stands were crying when Joan Beniot entered the stadium. That race was perhaps the most competitive women's marathon ever in terms of the participants. Allyson Felix's 200m victory at the 2012 Olympics, which is reguarded as the most competitive track race in Olympcics history in terms of the participants.
"Steve Ovett in 4th place, those blue eyes like chips of ice..."
Track Coach you listed some good ones
The Colombia and Olivia Baker 2014 4x4 was one of the better races I have ever seen.
I enjoy the 1991 Tokyo WC LJ competition
2007 Penn HS Boys 4x4 -
St. Jago and Long Beach Poly - The whole weekend everyone knew this was going to be special. The race lived up to the hype.
Secretariat 1973 Preakness - first turn was damn impressive -
2003 World Championship Steeple -
2008 Beijing Mens Marathon
2014 great north run, bekele, geb and mo going at it.
A goonies joke based on the fact he was supposed to be several kilos overweight for this race. It's bad form on my part to joke about his demons given what happened to him.
What is the truffle shuffle?
Solinsky's sub 27, Mo's 10k at Prefontaine last year, 2012 Olympic 10k, Lagat's 5k at Millrose from 2011 I think, Lagat's 3:26.34 race with Hicham, Seb Coe's 1500m golds, Bill Rodgers 1979 Boston win, Alan Webb's 3:30 1500m in Paris from 2007, etc.
Any video showing Mary Decker's 1500/3000 double at the 1983 WC. I was starting my senior year of hs after that summer and she truly inspired me, I had a fantastic running year that year. Perhaps she was a drug cheat late in her career but you can't take that accomplishment away from her or from the other women like me who wanted to run like Mary when we were young. At one point she held every American record from the 800 to 10000 meters. She alone made running cool for young women!
supermary wrote:
Any video showing Mary Decker's 1500/3000 double at the 1983 WC. I was starting my senior year of hs after that summer and she truly inspired me, I had a fantastic running year that year. Perhaps she was a drug cheat late in her career but you can't take that accomplishment away from her or from the other women like me who wanted to run like Mary when we were young. At one point she held every American record from the 800 to 10000 meters. She alone made running cool for young women!
Sometimes I forget how big track and field was, that race was shown in prime time and Mary was the lead sports story even in the NY Times.
Cassidy vs Walton 1972 Southeastern Relays. So here, you've got the world record holder taking a vacation in Florida thinking he's gonna beat up on a bunch of chumps. There are a couple NCAA medalists in the race, I think Baker was 4th in XC in 71, and this little known guy who I can't remember ever seeing a sub 4 from in t&f news. Its insane, Walton kicks from at least 500 out, and looks perfect, if the first couple laps had been faster, world record for sure, but Cassidy outkicks him to the line. It was the fastest last lap of a mile probably until Seb Coe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4
The 72 Olympic 1500 final was pretty good too. Kickers race again, if it would have been 109 meters longer, Cassidy would have won.
TrackCoach wrote:
Sometimes I forget how big track and field was, that race was shown in prime time and Mary was the lead sports story even in the NY Times.
We didn't realize how good we track fans had it back then.
I am not even an American, but I love Solinsky's 10K US record. The commentating is excellent especially how amazed he gets: 'Look at this gap, it's growing ... Oh my God!'
This is a great example of an athlete experiencing a flow state and producing a peak performance.
Solinsky: "Entering the event, there was talk of Galen Rupp going after the American record. This being my first-ever 10k, I was obviously a bit unsure whether or not I was quite that fit. It helped that I had raced Rupp many times before and regularly beaten him, so I told myself that if he could run [an American record], I definitely could.
As the race started, I settled in midpack and tried to shut off mentally. I was able to just fall asleep, stay relaxed and cover the moves until about midway, when I picked up a side stitch. I dealt with the cramp for about four laps until it faded. Once it did I began to enter the state of flow. The pace picked up to splits that would normally intimidate me, but in that state I did not even think about it. I was able to respond to every surge because I was focused on doing whatever it took to beat Rupp. With just more than a mile to go, I knew I was going to win; in fact, I was literally licking my chops. I decided I was going to make a move around 800 meters to go. I intended to not only make a move, but to make a statement. As I closed in on the finish line, I had no clue how fast I was running or that I was even close to 27 minutes until about 150 meters to go.
As I took my spikes off, I discovered a blister on my foot the size of a softball. I did not even realize it was there until then."