Matthew Boling 20.53 Indoor 200 1/29

2nd fastest 200M ran this year

Bombed the 60m it seems

He ran 6.74 to qualify for final, hardly bombing

What a shiitshow

6.70 for 5th place in the 60m final.

That's bombing by his standards/expectations

Yes. And the meet only included 8 schools.

Wasn't good.

Anyone see the race?

Great time the day before, so maybe a bit off, and the winner is a great 60 indoor runner.

Yet, based on earlier performances, I was expecting sub 6.60, not 6.70.

It seems he is turning into specifically a 200/400 guy

..or just not a 60 meter guy. 60 is different from 100.

sub 6.6 60m is need to be a good 100m guy you can't win just on top end speed even if your bolt.Even with amazing speed getting under 10 with 6.64 is very difficult, he has plenty of time to improve his first half of the race though.

If he races someone with a similar top speed but a 6.54 60m it will be impossible to win.

The first half is longer and easier to improve so most big improvements the 100m happen in the acceleration phase(improvements after you have been sprinting For years). You don't have to be very strong to have a high top speed but most younger, and less physically developed, sprinters don't have the strength to accelerate well.

He's ranked 8/2/2 in the 60/200/400 respectively as a sophomore. I think he's doing just fine.

Who wants fine? People were hoping for Lyles type stuff.

Ducks quack wrote:

Who wants fine? People were hoping for Lyles type stuff.

Lyles start is STILL basically trash. So....he's doing a fairly good Lyles imitation.

For what its worth, I could see Boling being a kind of poor man's Lyles, but I don't think his ceiling is as high as Lyles on the 100/200. Keep in mind, of course, that Lyles is a sub 19.4/19.3 threat, already a world champ, and may still prove to be a viable 100 guy. So if Boling ended up maxed out as a 19.7/19.6 guy at his peak (which I could see as possible), that's pretty damn good. But it's not up to Lyles level.

One key difference is that Lyles 400 capabilities are mostly theoretical because even when he shied away from the 100, he still wasn't playing around with the 400. Boling, on the other hand already has a strong history in the 400. So it's easy to just say Boling is a 2/4 guy because he's a known quantity on a certain level in the 400.

I'd like to see him pursue the 100, but his 60s this weekend prove he certainly is going to have a battle trying to hammer out his acceleration issues, at least in relation to the 100 big guns/legit sub 10 aspirations. He may well be a 2/4 guy, but I hop he still gives the 100 a chance to grow despite his acceleration issues.

This stupid infatuation that people have with range is only really useful in high school. Who cares if somebody is the 20th best American in 5 events unless they are a decathlete? I don't care if Bolt was a 52 second 400 guy.

Ducks quack wrote:

This stupid infatuation that people have with range is only really useful in high school. Who cares if somebody is the 20th best American in 5 events unless they are a decathlete? I don't care if Bolt was a 52 second 400 guy.

I don't particularly care about "range" but skill sets interest me. If Boling is a psuedo Lyles, is Micha Williams a psuedo Coleman? In a 60, we clearly see who wins that matchup. In a 200, we probably k ow who wons that matchup equally emphatically (Boling). So, over 100, how does that play out?

I wonder if we might have a budding rivalry here, if Boling and William's continue to show out and thrive in there stronger distances. In 2019 I think Boling was clearly the better 100 guy in high school, but William's is a year younger, and didnt get to have his senior track season, so his development might be altering that assumed terain that Boling can beat him over 100 despite the disparity over 60 meters.

Lindsey is better than Boling in the 60 and 200. Where does that leave Boling?

Boling will likely shoot for 200m, or long jump. Although 400m may become his best event it may take a sub 44 to make the US team and the 400m event is the deepest it ever been.Their have been a few 10.1 juniors like boling and some many good 100m for the US in the 100, like the 400m will be hard to medal in. But even if Norman races the 200m this time its still the weakest event.( its probably harder to get a gold in the 200m, but easier to get bronze than any other)

Ducks quack wrote:

Lindsey is better than Boling in the 60 and 200. Where does that leave Boling?

Lindsey appears likely to be pretty clearly better over 60 right now. The 200 would be more of an open question as I feel like we need a little more data, a 20.53 vs a 20.45 in different locations and circumstances may not be enough to hang a hat on, but certain the numbers say one is better than the other, so we can go with that for now. The same can be said for Lindsey vs. William's over 60: an opener of 6.56 by William's would appear to say that he's the superior of Lindsey already, but it's only one race so it may not be the final word on that yet.

Its possible of the three, it's William's is the beat 60 guy, Lindsey the beat 200 guy, and Boling the beat 400 guy. That's for indoor RIGHT now. What does that translate to 100s and 200s outdoors? Hard to say. Could be a good matchup for all three of them over 200. I would like to see what Boling and Lindsey do over 200 over the next few weeks and how they progress; that may tell a lot for what they are apt to do by end of indoor.

I'm pretty high on William's over 60 already, though. His history indicates of the three, he's superior over 60, but we need more than one race to confirm that.

Don't think we can base too much on one subpar 60m race