Leave it to Rojo to call out Citius for having "the dumbest idea ever," while misspelling their name as "Citus" in the same sentence, in his own headline.
What a crazy idea, I think a lot of countries are doing it that way.
But not a country with the same depth as the US.
If you're a small country and you're lucky to qualify one person for an event, sure, don't hold a trial for 2 runners, but that's not the situation in the US. In 2016, Keni Harrison, the the world record holder, failed to make the women's 100m hurdle team and the US still swept the podium in Rio. The only fair way to pick when you have that depth of talent is to make them compete.
Burfoot’s idea was not particularly stupid. Malmo didn’t like it.
His idea was poison. It was epically stupid and contrary to the essence of the spirit of the sport.
Well I wasn’t a huge fan of his idea either, and especially when you could have an aging athlete who was selected due to his one last hurrah performance, especially if it is based on a year or more before the Olympics. And also because marathon courses and conditions vary so there could be too much subjectivity involved. But it was not the most absurd idea I have heard, as the competition for that is fierce.
She gathered so many points from the World Championships that if she runs three 2:00 races in 2026 she will lock in her place at Ultimate. Heck, even three 2:01s or 2:02s might be enough.
Sage Hurta-Klecker does not even need to step on the track again in 2026 and she will qualify for Ultimate. Three of her 5 scoring races are from Worlds last September and her 4th at Millrose/1st at Sound Running 100% locked her spot.
Prior to the World Champs, she only broke 1:59 twice in 12 races. 5th at Worlds? Guaranteed spot in Ultimate one year later. If she never breaks 2:00 in 2026, she will be on the start line in Budapest in September.
Thats the second dumbest idea ever. Amby Bufoot already has the dumbest idea locked up.
I don’t think calling out Amby Burfoot like this is either necessary or appropriate. He’s a living legend and incredibly well respected. Did he insult you in some way?
Thats the second dumbest idea ever. Amby Bufoot already has the dumbest idea locked up.
I don’t think calling out Amby Burfoot like this is either necessary or appropriate. He’s a living legend and incredibly well respected. Did he insult you in some way?
??? WTF? He insulted the very foundation of our sport. Competition and self-selection, without justification other than what me-me-me wants.
Someone remind me not to read their stuff for at least a month. They need to be put into a corner and have timeout for at least 30 days after coming up with an idea this dumb:
Citius wrote:
You could, for the sake of argument, view national governing bodies’ role in the process as more of a middleman with a frustrating tendency toward inconsistency. Rather than Team GB holding out developing athletes, shouldn’t it be up to World Athletics to say who’s invited? Instead of Kenya not announcing the Trials location until a couple weeks before, World Athletics would simply give the Kenyan federation a list of accepted names. In lieu of Australia hosting qualifying meets five months in advance, World Athletics could save them the trouble.
Rather than leave everything up to Seb Coe sitting alone in a room with a whiteboard and a telephone, WA could simply double- or triple-down on its touted world rankings system.
The top three ranked eligible athletes from each country are selected. Hard stop.
What's crazy is they compare their idea to the NFL system. It's a TERRIBLE analogy.
Citius wrote:
Every NFL team understands what needs to happen to play in the Super Bowl; each division doesn’t set its own playoff rules. Similarly, track and field could benefit from a lot more international consistency about “the rules” – and whether or not you think World Athletics should hold all the power, they have the ability to create a system that’s more streamlined for global championships to come.
They must not watch or understand sports.
Yes, comparing Olympics to Super Bowl is fine. We agree on that. But the playoffs are the US Trials. And to get to the Super Bowl, you have to do well in the playoffs.
Their (dumb) idea would be the equivalent of putting the top 2 teams from some sort of power rankings database (probably DVOA) without even holding playoffs or looking at their actual record.
I don't think you took the time to, or want to, understand the nuance of their argument. The idea was in reaction to Australia reversing a rightful DQ in order to send their top 1,500 runner to the Commonwealth Games. This is something that could happen at the US Olympic Trials.
Say Cole Hocker knocks down another runner in the finish stretch and gets, rightfully, DQd. Three Adidas athletes make the team. USATF (Nike) then could reverses the DQ so that Hocker makes the team. Citius' idea is to take that type of power out of the hands of the federations. The other part of their idea is to increase the world ranking value of the US Championships. In this case, the Adidas athletes get big bonus points for finishing top 3. Hocker doesn't get any but could jump ahead of them in the rankings if he performs well in other big meets during the season.
In a sense, this could align with your "we don't need more meets, we need more meet that matter." USAs would still be big, but the runners would also need to perform throughout the season. I'm not saying the CItius idea is better than the Olympic Trials, but it could be more fair and lead to better fields in the Olympics/World Champs.
I don’t think calling out Amby Burfoot like this is either necessary or appropriate. He’s a living legend and incredibly well respected. Did he insult you in some way?
??? WTF? He insulted the very foundation of our sport. Competition and self-selection, without justification other than what me-me-me wants.