Curtis Beach 49.87 400h. Did he wait a month too late to pick his event?

Eszter Balázs wrote:

Berknee wrote:

That said, I'd love to see the Decathlon 1500 do a staggered start based on points from the first nine events. The 1500 is usually anti-climactic as the winner is somewhere in the middle, and you really don't know who is in what place until points are tallied. So, have the top 8 or 10 in the final heat: The points leader goes first, then each subsequent athlete goes off based on how much time he'd need to make up to win, so first across the line wins.

AWESOME IDEA!

It's not a terrible idea, it'd make it fun to watch but the runners behind would have the clear advantage. Way easier to run a fast 1500 chasing someone.

I see tons of upside to CB in the 400 hurdles . Friday he was quite a bit heavier than the comp . Shed that muscle trying to do weight events for the decathlon and I see low 48 maybe 47

Hounddogharrier wrote:

I see tons of upside to CB in the 400 hurdles . Friday he was quite a bit heavier than the comp . Shed that muscle trying to do weight events for the decathlon and I see low 48 maybe 47

True. And Eaton didn't break 50 when he first started.

For A Few Dollars Hoar wrote:

The year he did the 400H, Eaton ran 48.69, but I recall him starting just under 50 as well.

No he didn't.

Hounddogharrier wrote:

I see tons of upside to CB in the 400 hurdles . Friday he was quite a bit heavier than the comp . Shed that muscle trying to do weight events for the decathlon and I see low 48 maybe 47

This.

My first thought after watching the race was "And if he just trained for this, he'd immediately drop at least ten pounds".

Who knows what his ultimate upside is - all we know for sure is that he can run 49.87. But I'd like to see him give it a shot.

The $ is in the 100m Mile/1500m Marathon and the Deca/Multi-Events$$

Here are Eaton's 400m Hurdles from 2014:

Date Meet Place Time

April 19 Walnut Mt. SAC Relays 4 50.01

April 26 La Jolla UCSD Triton Invitational 1 50.01

May 23 San Marcos American Track League 2 49.69

June 8 Hengelo FBK Games 2 49.07

June 11 Oslo ExxonMobil Bislett Games 1 49.16

June 17 Ostrava Golden Spike 3 48.94

July 5 Paris Meeting AREVA 6 49.58

July 11 Glasgow British Athletics Grand Prix 2 48.69

Sasuke wrote:

Curtis Beach was clearly not in shape at trials, he didn't have one good events on 10. However, he is surely gifted as a 400/800 runner (1.47 800m while training for the decathlon). Since he doesn't seem to be able to improve his poor throws maybe he should drop decathlon and focus on 400hs/800. This time is very good for his first experience.

I believe he had Tommy John surgery a year or two ago, which would explain the poor performance and lack of improvement in the throws, particularly the javelin. And because the javelin is the most affected by this injury out of all the throwing events, it also explains why he's better at the indoor hep than the outdoor dec.

Academy fan wrote:

Sasuke wrote:

Curtis Beach was clearly not in shape at trials, he didn't have one good events on 10. However, he is surely gifted as a 400/800 runner (1.47 800m while training for the decathlon). Since he doesn't seem to be able to improve his poor throws maybe he should drop decathlon and focus on 400hs/800. This time is very good for his first experience.

I believe he had Tommy John surgery a year or two ago, which would explain the poor performance and lack of improvement in the throws, particularly the javelin. And because the javelin is the most affected by this injury out of all the throwing events, it also explains why he's better at the indoor hep than the outdoor dec.

Again, nobody has commented on how his rhythm/step pattern looked in the race. Without looking at this any argument re: his potential is pointless.

Ashton running 48 mid makes sense because Ashton is a 45 mid open 400 runner. Ashton being the brilliant athlete and technician that he is was able to master the rhythm of the event in a matter of months when it takes years for others. That transition from 50-pt to 48.69 was the learning curve.

I think you are being overly optimistic about this weight drop. 400 hurdlers are not string beans. Take a look at your current Olympic squad:

Kerron Clement- 6'2" 190 lbs.

Byron Robinson- 5'9" 165 lbs.

Michael Tinsley- 5'11" 180 lbs.

Curtis Beach is 6'0" 165 lbs.

hurdlesjack wrote:

Again, nobody has commented on how his rhythm/step pattern looked in the race. Without looking at this any argument re: his potential is pointless.

Ashton running 48 mid makes sense because Ashton is a 45 mid open 400 runner. Ashton being the brilliant athlete and technician that he is was able to master the rhythm of the event in a matter of months when it takes years for others. That transition from 50-pt to 48.69 was the learning curve.

I think you are being overly optimistic about this weight drop. 400 hurdlers are not string beans. Take a look at your current Olympic squad:

Kerron Clement- 6'2" 190 lbs.

Byron Robinson- 5'9" 165 lbs.

Michael Tinsley- 5'11" 180 lbs.

Curtis Beach is 6'0" 165 lbs.

Not buying the 165 lb after watching him for two days at the trials this year. He's definitely heavier this season than in past years.

0.02 off. Well EXCUUUUUUSSE ME!

Baby on Boards wrote:

For A Few Dollars Hoar wrote:

The year he did the 400H, Eaton ran 48.69, but I recall him starting just under 50 as well.

No he didn't.

That said, I'd love to see the Decathlon 1500 do a staggered start based on points from the first nine events. The 1500 is usually anti-climactic as the winner is somewhere in the middle, and you really don't know who is in what place until points are tallied. So, have the top 8 or 10 in the final heat: The points leader goes first, then each subsequent athlete goes off based on how much time he'd need to make up to win, so first across the line wins.

Wouldn't work right now, the points in the 1500 (or any event, actually), aren't linear. So the difference between a 4:00 and a 4:10 is more points than the difference between a 5:00 and a 5:10. Making the points linear would just skew the 1500 to making it even less important (by removing the bonus from a particularly good run), so that's not really an option....

uh-uh wrote:

hurdlesjack wrote:

Again, nobody has commented on how his rhythm/step pattern looked in the race. Without looking at this any argument re: his potential is pointless.

Ashton running 48 mid makes sense because Ashton is a 45 mid open 400 runner. Ashton being the brilliant athlete and technician that he is was able to master the rhythm of the event in a matter of months when it takes years for others. That transition from 50-pt to 48.69 was the learning curve.

I think you are being overly optimistic about this weight drop. 400 hurdlers are not string beans. Take a look at your current Olympic squad:

Kerron Clement- 6'2" 190 lbs.

Byron Robinson- 5'9" 165 lbs.

Michael Tinsley- 5'11" 180 lbs.

Curtis Beach is 6'0" 165 lbs.

Not buying the 165 lb after watching him for two days at the trials this year. He's definitely heavier this season than in past years.

Fine. Add 10 pounds. Hell, add 20. It would still put him in line with most top intermediate hurdles today.