In terms of most anticipated non-championship track races in history, where does the women's 100 at Pre rank?

One of the most anticipated races of all time. My non running friends have been asking me who I think is gonna win and how they can watch. That has never happened before. Idk what it is about Shacarri but she definitely has mainstream appeal.

So Rojo and some dude’s imaginary friends are amped up. Sounds about right.

Shac HAS to win. Otherwise, it's nothing, and even then it's nothing. This isn't the Olympics.

My interest level has picked up with so many wanting/hoping/thinking Sha'Carri will win. I think she's way overrated and look for the Jamaican trio to beat her. Ta Lou might beat her. But it doesn't matter why one cares about this race. ShaCarri is polarizing. This is the most interested I've been in a non championship/olympic race since Bolt vs Gay in the 2008 Adidas Grand Prix. Wanted to see if Bolt was Legit. He was.

Will Sha' Carri show she is legit too? Anybody taking bets on this?

I have very little interest in this race. To me it is much ado about very little. It is nice that the women can sprint but it is really not compelling to me.

Everyone was looking forward to Gatlin v Powell in 2006, back when they were both running insane times and dodging each other...and then Gatlin got popped of course.

The old days wrote:

Everyone was looking forward to Gatlin v Powell in 2006, back when they were both running insane times and dodging each other...and then Gatlin got popped of course.

But the Olympics are what gets people's attention. It's an Olympic year. When did Powell ever do anything at the Olympics?

This reminds me a bit of Michael Johnson vs Donoavan Bailey at 150m. The hype started in the Olympic year. The difference was there was months of buildup to that, here just weeks.

Why does everything have to be so fragmented? Peacock won’t stream Friday’s events, I need a RunnersSpace sub to see it?!? WTF.

rojo wrote:

The old days wrote:

Everyone was looking forward to Gatlin v Powell in 2006, back when they were both running insane times and dodging each other...and then Gatlin got popped of course.

But the Olympics are what gets people's attention. It's an Olympic year. When did Powell ever do anything at the Olympics?

This reminds me a bit of Michael Johnson vs Donoavan Bailey at 150m. The hype started in the Olympic year. The difference was there was months of buildup to that, here just weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFcjJezL7lohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey%E2%80%93Johnson_150-metre_race

Powell may never have achieved anything in the Olympics, but in 2006, he didn't yet have a reputation as a serial choker, and Gatlin had won the previous World Championships in his absence. Gatlin was also fairly well liked at the time, and the remarkable consistency with which they were hitting 9.7/9.8 times kept the anticipation for a showdown in the news cycle.

Nothing matches the storm over Fraser-Pryce v Thompson-Herah v Richardson though. If you had asked most pundits who was the clear favourite in this matchup earlier in the year, Fraser-Pryce would probably have been the answer, with Richardson her closest challenger. Ever since the Olympics, the narrative has changed decisively.

It's a paycheck for the Jamaicans. I imagine it'll be tough to get mentally hyped after the incredible high they had at the olympics not long ago to all win a medal. Any race the same year as the olympics and AFTER the olympics shouldn't rank too high on this list.

Top 100

Marionjones wrote:

I have very little interest in this race. To me it is much ado about very little. It is nice that the women can sprint but it is really not compelling to me.

Yup. Richardson squandered intrigue by skipping Tokyo. Vast majority of casual fans were satisfied by the Oly races and won't be into the Pre race at all.

Holy cow, talk about hyperbole. It’s a 10 second race that may be affected by a misstep at the start. It isn’t a championship race, it carries no meaning other than Americans having a new flavor of the month. Way to pretend you like sprints.

Unless I misread, it’s a free livestream on Friday. Don’t tell anybody so the stream doesn’t crash.

…right behind the women 200m final at world juniors

Expect something out of this world

best events on friday wrote:

Why does everything have to be so fragmented? Peacock won’t stream Friday’s events, I need a RunnersSpace sub to see it?!? WTF.

Pay the $12.99 and stop whining. Use code "USATFPLUS16" and get 10% off.

If you can't spend 11 bucks and change to see it you aren't a true fan anyway.

bloviating wrote:

Unless I misread, it’s a free livestream on Friday. Don’t tell anybody so the stream doesn’t crash.

Wrong: "Distance Night in Eugene at the Prefontaine Classic will exclusively be broadcast live on USATF.TV on Friday, August 20. The worldwide broadcast will only be available to +PLUS subcribers."

Top 3 atleast

Jim Ryun vs Marty Liquori was huge. I remember my elementary school teacher telling the class to watch it. This wasn't a PE class. It was general class more than a thousand miles away from where the race would be run. Most of us already knew about the race and had discussed it for weeks.

The race itself more than lived up to the billing and was the lead sports story everywhere that weekend. Then everyone knew it would be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated the following Thursday. Those magazines were eagerly anticipated and always arrived on Thursday. Big outrage if an issue was a day late on Friday. The only question was the cover headline. I still remember it, "Liquori grins...and wins"