DL Rabat was on a no name CNBC and had awful coverage for US fans. Then, our American soil meet has something this egregious occur to arguably the most internationally dominant American in the sport (among the likes of Crouser et al).
Imagine that this is the first ever televised track meet a casual viewer watches. What would your initial take away be? Do better
or
Put this conversation about track AND FIELD being a viewership titan to bed where it belongs.
It's no longer speculation. It's official. Hurdle 5 in Sydney McLaughlin's 51.61 race today was placed about 5 meters too far away from hurdle 4. (Meaning that it was also about 5 meters too close to hurdle 6.)
Whoever set up the hurdles accidentally placed the 5th hurdles on the yellow triangle, which is the beginning of the passing zone for the 4x100. The yellow triangle has nothing to do with a women's 400H race.
About 5 meters before the yellow triangles, there is a small mark on the track (which is too small to be seen on the video) which is where the 5th hurdle for the women's' 400H should be placed.
So here is what most of the women in the race ended up doing:
15 steps - hurdle 3 to hurdle 4
17 steps - hurdle 4 to hurdle 5
13 steps - hurdle 5 to hurdle 6
15 steps - hurdle 6 to hurdle 7
Between hurdles 5 and 6, Sydney McLaughlin actually had to chop her steps to run 13 steps. If she hadn't chopped her steps, then she would have run only 12 steps, which is impossible for a women to do.
The hurdle placement error makes McLaughlin 51.61 even more impressive.
The crazy thing is that if McLaughlin hadn't chopped her steps on hurdle 9 and 10 (which were placed correctly) then she would have broken the world record.
Would that world record have counted? I don't know. She still would have run 400 meters and cleared 10 hurdles, and the mistake on the placement of hurdle 5 actually made her race more difficult, not easier.
This sport is a clown show. Imagine something like this happening in ANY other sport.
Alan
Right because MLB umpires aren’t constantly criticized. Or any referee getting questioned over every call.
This sport is a clown show. Imagine something like this happening in ANY other sport.
Alan
Right because MLB umpires aren’t constantly criticized. Or any referee getting questioned over every call.
That's totally different. Have you ever seen an umpire put second base in the wrong place?
Have you ever seen an NFL referee change the field from 100 yards to 95 yards?
Putting the hurdles in the wrong place is not the same as an umpire trying to call balls and strikes when the ball is going 100 miles per hour. The hurdles don't move. They are easy to double check to see if they are in the right place, and yet no one double checked.
Hate to break it to you, but Nike provides most of the track money in the United States. You might not like Nike as a company, but without their money professional track and field in the United States would be much worse off.
And here with in lies the problem. Nike is the best thing ever to happen to track & field and Nike is the worst thing to ever happen to track & field.
The fact that Nike controls so much is the fact that the USATF "leadership" has courted them for decades. Why does a shoe company have to be the sponsor of 80% of athletes? Blame the agents for being lazy, blame the federation for enriching themselves and blame anyone who supports this for being the problem with the sport. Nike is 83rd in global sales, that means 82 other companies should be using our athletes as walking, talking global billboards to promote our sport instead of Max Siegel making more per year than any US athlete. Is our sport about the athlete or is it about him?
Where are you getting that number from? There's no possible way Nike is 83rd in the world in running shoe sales, or athletic apparel sales, or in any other relevant category.
Sydney McLaughlin running at this meet had nothing to do with who her sponsor is. She likes running early season races at smaller meets because it's less pressure. It's her decision, not her sponsor's decision.
Good for her. She is only concerned about herself, and not the health of her sport which has given her all the fortune. There was a high caliber 400mH race in Hengelo, but she would rather race in a bush league because there is less pressure.
Can you imagine Iga Swiatek skipping a WTA Premier event because she likes to tune up for the French Open in a smaller tournament with less pressure?
At a high school meet this season, the girls had different heights on the 300m hurdles. Some were boys heights (36"). It also happened with a 100mH race. This kind of thing happens constantly at track meets. But putting them in the wrong place happens because all the different little marks are confusing.
At a high school meet this season, the girls had different heights on the 300m hurdles. Some were boys heights (36"). It also happened with a 100mH race. This kind of thing happens constantly at track meets. But putting them in the wrong place happens because all the different little marks are confusing.
The marks might be confusing to some high school or college kid helping out at a meet with the hurdle placement.
But the marks aren't confusing to trained meet officials whose job is to ensure that all the hurdles are the correct height and in the correct place.
In this case the meet officials didn't even bother to check the hurdles.
At the 2011 Region IV track meet in Anchorage, AK, a terrible mistake was made when the officials setup before the Boys 110m finals. The 6th hurdle was plac...
Sydney McLaughlin running at this meet had nothing to do with who her sponsor is. She likes running early season races at smaller meets because it's less pressure. It's her decision, not her sponsor's decision.
Good for her. She is only concerned about herself, and not the health of her sport which has given her all the fortune. There was a high caliber 400mH race in Hengelo, but she would rather race in a bush league because there is less pressure.
Can you imagine Iga Swiatek skipping a WTA Premier event because she likes to tune up for the French Open in a smaller tournament with less pressure?
I think having the world's biggest track star at a smaller meet IS better for the sport than only sequestering yourself away at the super elite meets. I wish MORE professionals would run in some meets and road races where the young and up and coming can see top level athletes in person.
It happens, and has almost happened at some of the most important meets in the world.
- Beijing Olympic Games 110h. Just prior to the race there was a medal ceremony on the infield. The hurdle crew set up the hurdles and the officials checked them. Then they had to move one flight of hurdles that were directly in front of the medal podium. After the ceremony no one noticed that the flight of hurdles was in the wrong place. I was sitting in the stands watching to see if anyone was going to do anything.....nothing. Fortunately the Chief International Technical Official (ITO) was walking by my seat and informed him.. Everyone scrambled.
- It happened at the World Juniors in Moncton with the flight #10 of the 400h. Again, fortunately we caught it just before the gun was fired.
- Over a decade ago there was a elite competition in California on a municipal track (can't remember the name) that was measured and painted to have the common finish line on either side of the track in addition to sprints/hurdles in both directions. I worked that meet and had difficulty quickly identifying the marks so I measured all of the marks and placed my own tape marks down. The following year I didn't attend the meet and unfortunately at least one flight of hurdles was misplaced.
It is now standard practice at our National Championships and Olympic Trials to have at least two sets of eyes check the hurdles in addition to the hurdle crew and officials.
Given the amount of debate it took for non-casual viewers to establish that the hurdle was in the wrong spot, I imagine the casual viewer's initial takeaway would be, "damn, she's fast."
Sydney McLaughlin running at this meet had nothing to do with who her sponsor is. She likes running early season races at smaller meets because it's less pressure. It's her decision, not her sponsor's decision.
Good for her. She is only concerned about herself, and not the health of her sport which has given her all the fortune. There was a high caliber 400mH race in Hengelo, but she would rather race in a bush league because there is less pressure.
Can you imagine Iga Swiatek skipping a WTA Premier event because she likes to tune up for the French Open in a smaller tournament with less pressure?
The race she was in had an equal, if not better, quality field. Also, she is getting ready for the nationals and the WC meet in the US. Why would she travel 8 hours away to run a race with less talent than the USATF?
Why doesn't Femke travel to the US to race against the best in the world? Is she ducking the competition to beat up on really weak European runners?
The race she was in had an equal, if not better, quality field. Also, she is getting ready for the nationals and the WC meet in the US. Why would she travel 8 hours away to run a race with less talent than the USATF?
Why doesn't Femke travel to the US to race against the best in the world? Is she ducking the competition to beat up on really weak European runners?
53.39, 53.70, 54.01, 54.20, 55.53, 56.00 in Nashville (excluding McLaughlin).
Equal, if not better field? Less talent than USATF? Aside from Little (who was in Hengelo) and Muhammad (who has a bye to WC), who in the USATF field runs sub-53?
53.39, 53.70, 54.01, 54.20, 55.53, 56.00 in Nashville (excluding McLaughlin).
Equal, if not better field? Less talent than USATF? Aside from Little (who was in Hengelo) and Muhammad (who has a bye to WC), who in the USATF field runs sub-53?
Those fields don't look that much different, and neither pose any challenge SM. Bol was over 2 seconds slower than McLaughlin and the rest of the field was over 4 seconds slower. She is in a completely different class than any of the runners in Hengelo, including Bol. There is nothing to be gained by flying to Europe in June of a wc year to run at this crapy little race.
Track is such a bush league dumpster fire. Could you imagine an NFL game being played with a field that was only 95 yards long? T&F should have the same level of standard.