USA performance of the year

1. Ritz 12:56

2. Tyson Gay- 9.69

3. Ritz HM (why do you have MEB over Ritz for the HM?)

HM- Dan Huling, Ritz 10k, Symmonds

I picked Ritz because well, it was big news...His AR to me was better then Gays because Gay owned the AR and it was steadily falling.

The field events might over shadow a couple of these, I am just not as familiar with those events.

AMRunner800 wrote:

1. Ritz 12:56

2. Tyson Gay- 9.69

3. Ritz HM (why do you have MEB over Ritz for the HM?)

I just C&Ped the T&FNews list. Ask gh.

Wait till after New York

wineturtle wrote:

I just C&Ped the T&FNews list. Ask gh.

You got to put Hall's Boston time in there above Meb's London as well. Probably in the honorable mention category.

I say:

12:56

9.69

Ritz Half

72-8 1/2

27:22

Hall Boston

Honorable mention to Symmonds 800, Huling steeple, and Hardee decathlon. They didn't rank quite as high internationally as the other performances, but were breakout performances for young athletes(though this is probably Symmonds last season of being given slack as a young up-and-comer).

Too easy.

Lagat and Rowbury - medalists in World Championships.

Also Tyson Gay.

First tier Honorable mentions:

Ritz 3rd place HM at Berlin and AR 5000m

Barringer AR Steeplechase, world champs finalist, and sub 4 1500m, numerous collegiate records.

Anna Willard 800m wins on the track and sub 4 1500m, World Champs. finalist.

Second tier Honorable mentions:

Christin Wurth-Thomas sub 4 1500m sub 2 800m World champs finalist.

Manzano and Lomong - finalists in 1500m World Champs.

Hall - Boston sub 2:10 performance

Tengencamp - sub 13 min 5000m on track.

Forgot Kara Goucher 3rd place NY marathon last year as another honorable mention.

I thought LR was the land where medals trump times. So wouldn't a gold from the World Champs be the performance of the year? So...

Merritt 400

Clement 400H

Hardee Dec

Cantwell SP

Phillips LJ

Mens 4x400

...would be the pool from which to pick the best performance.

Gay's 9.69

Second fastest 100m runner ever, easily trumps Ritz's run, who didn't even win the race, got pulled to his time.

No kidding, the unbelievable distance blinders of letsrun again overshadow the obvious top performances. 12:56 was very good but no way better than 9.69. The LJ and SP marks are amazing as well. Look at the marks in relation to all-time best, not US-best.

My vote goes to the 19' 1" pole vault by Jeremy Scott (unattached). He is the only one listed WITHOUT a sponsor or college to assist in his training and travel.

I'm going with Tyson Gay, or maybe even Trey Hardee's Gold in the WC Decathlon.

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that a "performance of the year" should involve actually winning the race or event in which said performance occurred. Record or no record.

"Rowbury - medalists in World Championships."

Please, making the finals very nice on her part. Medalling? Everyone was falling down, being DQ'd. Might as well have made her the winner of the Lakefront Marathon too.

I think Germans junior mark 3:55.02 was a damn high performance. But is Tyson 9.69 is crazy. Overall performance was Trey Hardee at the WCs. He came through in the clutch and delivered.

Another nominee beyond the medal winners would have to be Barringer. She had an incredible year.

Orbitboy,So if I ran 2:04:00 right behind Haile, you wouldn't consider that for USA performance of the year? My vote is for Tyson Gay. Historically, if he ran that time one year earlier, and if it were in the Olympics, we'd all say that was second best performance in the world behind Bolt, who I assume would have run faster with the competition. That said, Gay did it in a much smaller meet and the venue should play some part in ranking the performances.

orbitboy wrote:

I'm going with Tyson Gay, or maybe even Trey Hardee's Gold in the WC Decathlon.

Call me old-fashioned, but I believe that a "performance of the year" should involve actually winning the race or event in which said performance occurred. Record or no record.

Has to be Tyson Gay - AR and second fastest man ever is way way better than Ritz' AR and I'm guessing 30th fastest guy ever.

Rowbury for the medal... Barringer for HUGE, HUGE season...! Set incredible records all around, totally rewrote the NCAA recordbooks!

Tim Seaman's stirring 20K walk.

o.O wrote:

Wait till after New York

Exactly....

WDC Runner wrote:

Orbitboy,

So if I ran 2:04:00 right behind Haile, you wouldn't consider that for USA performance of the year?

Good question. Ask me when you or any other American runs 2:04:00. None of the American performances came anywhere close to the equivalent of that. Well, maybe Tyson Gay, who already got my vote anyway. Context in these situations matters a lot, and it's impossible to provide the sort of context that comes with watching the event happen.