I think the pressure gets to him in the open causing him to stiffen up due to the way he runs. He needs to learn to run more relaxed. Per all-time athletics he has split 43.7 in the 4x4 last year for Georgia. I think at his fastest he can run 44.3 which at the right time can make the top 3 for the US.
It's not dancing. No points for style. Symonds and Manzano used every gift the had which should be admired.
Don't see that Manzano's form was ragged?
Looking at 2023 list, best US times were R Benjamin at 44.21 (unlikely to run open 400m), Deadmon at 44.22, Wille 44.25, Norwood 44.26, Q Hall 44.37, J Robinson 44.47,Bynum 44.49, Godwin 44.55, nine more under 45.00. I would not call this a weak event
It's now what they run but when they run it. It's cool to be able to run a 43.xx and 19.xx, but if you can't run those times during the trials or an actual WC/Olympics then you are shooting yourself in the foot.
re deferring to his brain trust, meh. take the Next Big Thing and in 3 years of college, 6 seasons, 2 titles. didn't make his first olympics, only world stage above U20 is a world indoors team as a relay guy. he didn't implode, he didn't soar either. his quirky GA choice didn't pay off.
to me, 400/LJ. in theory his "best" is 200, but he's kind of stuck at around 10 and 20 on the short sprints, we have several prime age pros under those. lyles and knighton is a rough deal at 200, you might be chasing 3rd your whole career. teach him how to pace the 400 better, he's already relay pool level, and then his PR is out there that would make a world event team in LJ. harrison is prime age but a lot of the old FL/jumper guard is ageing out of LJ, and it's a down ebb. to me it gets you on the team individually for a few world level events, it's a securer foothold than relay pool, maybe he gets into the european meets and can try sprint/jump doubles. it's either that or he needs to make a leap at 2/4.
to me the risk of the current seeming strategy is that he's not comfortably on the team. he hasn't made a global team top 3 yet. world relays team was pretty obviously a "B," as was world indoors. being an alternate for mile relay isn't a firm foot spot, as there is always another super fast kid coming up -- this time it's wilson. to me if he wants to be firmly a US guy and to run in europe, drop the 400 time a hair where you can make the open quarter by yourself, and do LJ.
i also think if he sees a niche in mixed mile relay the deal is if other teams start running gardiner and uibo then we either respond with the better runners -- ie not him not now -- or we cede those podium slots to keep that powder dry, and it's a less a hardware goldmine.
It's now what they run but when they run it. It's cool to be able to run a 43.xx and 19.xx, but if you can't run those times during the trials or an actual WC/Olympics then you are shooting yourself in the foot.
Yeah, imagine translating Boling’s huge indoor 200 time to outdoors at trials
re deferring to his brain trust, meh. take the Next Big Thing and in 3 years of college, 6 seasons, 2 titles. didn't make his first olympics, only world stage above U20 is a world indoors team as a relay guy. he didn't implode, he didn't soar either. his quirky GA choice didn't pay off.
to me, 400/LJ. in theory his "best" is 200, but he's kind of stuck at around 10 and 20 on the short sprints, we have several prime age pros under those. lyles and knighton is a rough deal at 200, you might be chasing 3rd your whole career. teach him how to pace the 400 better, he's already relay pool level, and then his PR is out there that would make a world event team in LJ. harrison is prime age but a lot of the old FL/jumper guard is ageing out of LJ, and it's a down ebb. to me it gets you on the team individually for a few world level events, it's a securer foothold than relay pool, maybe he gets into the european meets and can try sprint/jump doubles. it's either that or he needs to make a leap at 2/4.
to me the risk of the current seeming strategy is that he's not comfortably on the team. he hasn't made a global team top 3 yet. world relays team was pretty obviously a "B," as was world indoors. being an alternate for mile relay isn't a firm foot spot, as there is always another super fast kid coming up -- this time it's wilson. to me if he wants to be firmly a US guy and to run in europe, drop the 400 time a hair where you can make the open quarter by yourself, and do LJ.
Agree with your analysis. I think he stands a best chance in the LJ.
re deferring to his brain trust, meh. take the Next Big Thing and in 3 years of college, 6 seasons, 2 titles. didn't make his first olympics, only world stage above U20 is a world indoors team as a relay guy. he didn't implode, he didn't soar either. his quirky GA choice didn't pay off.
to me, 400/LJ. in theory his "best" is 200, but he's kind of stuck at around 10 and 20 on the short sprints, we have several prime age pros under those. lyles and knighton is a rough deal at 200, you might be chasing 3rd your whole career. teach him how to pace the 400 better, he's already relay pool level, and then his PR is out there that would make a world event team in LJ. harrison is prime age but a lot of the old FL/jumper guard is ageing out of LJ, and it's a down ebb. to me it gets you on the team individually for a few world level events, it's a securer foothold than relay pool, maybe he gets into the european meets and can try sprint/jump doubles. it's either that or he needs to make a leap at 2/4.
to me the risk of the current seeming strategy is that he's not comfortably on the team. he hasn't made a global team top 3 yet. world relays team was pretty obviously a "B," as was world indoors. being an alternate for mile relay isn't a firm foot spot, as there is always another super fast kid coming up -- this time it's wilson. to me if he wants to be firmly a US guy and to run in europe, drop the 400 time a hair where you can make the open quarter by yourself, and do LJ.
Agree with your analysis. I think he stands a best chance in the LJ.
It has been obvious for years.
Regarding the idea of mixed relays, I don't like it. I would be down with it if the 4 represented the 2 best men and 2 best women from each country, so it was like the gender-specific 4x4's, i.e. the best of each country.
Although that may in fact be the case for some countries, it is not the case for all, and especially not the USA. As far as the USA is concerned, the event is completely artificial. It would be like putting together a relay of people who are precisely 5'8" tall.
otoh LJ is a real event, and one with great history. That 1991 battle was epic, the single best ongoing t&f battle I have ever seen. There have also been epic battles in the HJ, but I can't remember the athletes atm.
Boling has an actual shot--and like others pointed out, he could probably hop in all sorts of 400's or relays at events to which he was invited as a jumper.
Of course, if a real jumper came along he would get destroyed, but that doesn't seem to be happening. WTF the LJ, he should have struck while the iron was hot.
His time puts him at 22nd in the world at the moment, in mid-May. Even if by some miracle he made the team (there are currently 9 Americans ahead of him), he would never get anywhere at the OG. His only shot would be on the relay, where yes he would stand a good chance to medal, even gold.
But 9 Americans ahead of him right now include such household names as Auhmad Robinson, James Benson, Khaleb McRae, Judson Lincoln, and Johnnie Blockburger. Yeah, yeah, I know, they are peaked and he is in heavy training, etc etc etc etc. Like others have said, he won't deliver any big peaked performance at trials, when it counts.
He will not make the US men's team, he will not make the US men's relay, and he would only be named to the US mixed relay as a PR stunt, which would be an embarrassment.
btw I would love to eat my words. I just don't see it. WHY are we even talking about this guy in the 400m? Why aren't we talking about Johnnie Blockburger, et al? Not to mention Benjamin, etc.
Agree with your analysis. I think he stands a best chance in the LJ.
It has been obvious for years.
Regarding the idea of mixed relays, I don't like it. I would be down with it if the 4 represented the 2 best men and 2 best women from each country, so it was like the gender-specific 4x4's, i.e. the best of each country.
Although that may in fact be the case for some countries, it is not the case for all, and especially not the USA. As far as the USA is concerned, the event is completely artificial. It would be like putting together a relay of people who are precisely 5'8" tall.
otoh LJ is a real event, and one with great history. That 1991 battle was epic, the single best ongoing t&f battle I have ever seen. There have also been epic battles in the HJ, but I can't remember the athletes atm.
Boling has an actual shot--and like others pointed out, he could probably hop in all sorts of 400's or relays at events to which he was invited as a jumper.
Of course, if a real jumper came along he would get destroyed, but that doesn't seem to be happening. WTF the LJ, he should have struck while the iron was hot.
If memory serves, I believe one of the additional changes WA made to the mixed 4x4 is to only allow a maximum allowance of subs. I believe you can only have two subs that covers one change for one male and one female to make the playing field a little more equitable. or the USA could replace all 4 entrants for the final. I don't pay much attention to this event now, so I could certainly be wrong.
There isn't a current LJ prodigy akin to Hibbert in the triple. Boling could be right in the pack challenging for a medal, if he were to concentrate on it right now.
His time puts him at 22nd in the world at the moment, in mid-May. Even if by some miracle he made the team (there are currently 9 Americans ahead of him), he would never get anywhere at the OG. His only shot would be on the relay, where yes he would stand a good chance to medal, even gold.
But 9 Americans ahead of him right now include such household names as Auhmad Robinson, James Benson, Khaleb McRae, Judson Lincoln, and Johnnie Blockburger. Yeah, yeah, I know, they are peaked and he is in heavy training, etc etc etc etc. Like others have said, he won't deliver any big peaked performance at trials, when it counts.
He will not make the US men's team, he will not make the US men's relay, and he would only be named to the US mixed relay as a PR stunt, which would be an embarrassment.
btw I would love to eat my words. I just don't see it. WHY are we even talking about this guy in the 400m? Why aren't we talking about Johnnie Blockburger, et al? Not to mention Benjamin, etc.
If history serves as a reliable indicator, it's unlikely that all nine of them will be in contention come Trials. Perhaps one or two might make it through, but certainly not the entire group. So there is hope for Boling, yet. Plus, unless the stalwarts such as Quincy Hall, Norwood, Deadmon improve, the door is wide open for him.
His time puts him at 22nd in the world at the moment, in mid-May. Even if by some miracle he made the team (there are currently 9 Americans ahead of him), he would never get anywhere at the OG. His only shot would be on the relay, where yes he would stand a good chance to medal, even gold.
But 9 Americans ahead of him right now include such household names as Auhmad Robinson, James Benson, Khaleb McRae, Judson Lincoln, and Johnnie Blockburger. Yeah, yeah, I know, they are peaked and he is in heavy training, etc etc etc etc. Like others have said, he won't deliver any big peaked performance at trials, when it counts.
He will not make the US men's team, he will not make the US men's relay, and he would only be named to the US mixed relay as a PR stunt, which would be an embarrassment.
btw I would love to eat my words. I just don't see it. WHY are we even talking about this guy in the 400m? Why aren't we talking about Johnnie Blockburger, et al? Not to mention Benjamin, etc.
I believe we are discussing Boling because it's human to want to see the underdog succeed? Or perhaps the great white hope deliver one stellar performance?
Rai: I would like to see him beat the hell out of Warholm even if Dos Santos beat them both. Rai better do what he's going to do now as Dos Santos has both talent and youth on his side. I would like to see Rai win gold at Paris O. And barring a major problem, Rai will as usual the anchor the 4x4.
It's not dancing. No points for style. Symonds and Manzano used every gift the had which should be admired.
Don't see that Manzano's form was ragged?
Looking at 2023 list, best US times were R Benjamin at 44.21 (unlikely to run open 400m), Deadmon at 44.22, Wille 44.25, Norwood 44.26, Q Hall 44.37, J Robinson 44.47,Bynum 44.49, Godwin 44.55, nine more under 45.00. I would not call this a weak event
You have to look at this year, not last year. The 400 changes more than any other event each year because of the demands it puts on the body.
Quincy Hall is running damn near 46 flat in may, Justin Robinson is out injured, Ryan Willie is in his first year as a pro and is NOT looking good, Bynum just hasn't been there this year and has been dealing with injury since indoors, and Godwin is running 47. If there is a challenger, it's gonna be one of the collegiates from this year.
Michael Norman 44.2 - probably will be US champ this year
Bryce Deadmon 44.4 - looks very good
Rai Benjamin 44.4 - 400h
Johnnie Blockburger 44.5 - collegiate so its impossible to know how he will run past NCAAs.
Judson Lincoln 44.6 - same as above
Khaleb Mcrae 44.6 - same as above again
Vernon Norwood 44.7 - he's like, 35.
James Benson 44.8 - don't know anything about him
Auhmad Robinson 44.9 - consistently inconsistent. also, he's like 5'7 which does hurt at that level. also a collegiate.
Matthew Boling 44.9
He can totally make the relay. I dunno if he's gonna make the individual team though.
Looking at 2023 list, best US times were R Benjamin at 44.21 (unlikely to run open 400m), Deadmon at 44.22, Wille 44.25, Norwood 44.26, Q Hall 44.37, J Robinson 44.47,Bynum 44.49, Godwin 44.55, nine more under 45.00. I would not call this a weak event
You have to look at this year, not last year. The 400 changes more than any other event each year because of the demands it puts on the body.
Quincy Hall is running damn near 46 flat in may, Justin Robinson is out injured, Ryan Willie is in his first year as a pro and is NOT looking good, Bynum just hasn't been there this year and has been dealing with injury since indoors, and Godwin is running 47. If there is a challenger, it's gonna be one of the collegiates from this year.
Michael Norman 44.2 - probably will be US champ this year
Bryce Deadmon 44.4 - looks very good
Rai Benjamin 44.4 - 400h
Johnnie Blockburger 44.5 - collegiate so its impossible to know how he will run past NCAAs.
Judson Lincoln 44.6 - same as above
Khaleb Mcrae 44.6 - same as above again
Vernon Norwood 44.7 - he's like, 35.
James Benson 44.8 - don't know anything about him
Auhmad Robinson 44.9 - consistently inconsistent. also, he's like 5'7 which does hurt at that level. also a collegiate.
Matthew Boling 44.9
He can totally make the relay. I dunno if he's gonna make the individual team though.
The 400m top dog didn’t change much when Michael Johnson was running. Dude was a model of consistency in the 400m over a long time.