Lame as heck: Justin Gatlin to skip 2018 USAs as "there is no real incentive" - Nor will Christian Coleman

I agree with it. He already beat CC last year and at the WC. Let the youngsters shine on their own and give them an opportunity. Now we can focus on Lyles vs CC.

I'm glad justin understands that, and is willing to step aside .....keep his body healthy and possibly give a run next year at the WC to defend his title.

And maybe Nike told him to step aside as well to make for the new generation.

anyway it goes, it's a good move.

Correction: didn't know CC was injured.....so i guess we can just focus on Lyles.

Let’s not forget about Trayvon bromell, I know he was injured but he’s gotta be on the comeback trail and considered a threat..

And definitively not forget the guy who can beat all of these guys having his beast season in Ronnie baker

You know, rojo, that the Diamond League champion in each event gets an automatic berth in next year's World Championship. Gatlin did that a few years ago which resulted in Team USA being able to send 4 sprinters to Beijing in the 100m. Focusing on this year's Diamond League makes more sense financially and is patriotic.

Am I supposed to believe what the real incentive is of a multi-time drug cheat?

does anyone really see the usa championships as anything other than trials to WC or OG? Otherwise who cares? I would rather watch stanford/sac/penn where at least you are getting a lot of runners chasing times vs a pointless win.

You must be new here wrote:

You know, rojo, that the Diamond League champion in each event gets an automatic berth in next year's World Championship. Gatlin did that a few years ago which resulted in Team USA being able to send 4 sprinters to Beijing in the 100m. Focusing on this year's Diamond League makes more sense financially and is patriotic.

The reigning World Champ also gets an auto berth to Worlds. Which the doper, Gatlin, is. Can't believe you didn't know that! Wow!

You must be even newer here... wrote:

You must be new here wrote:

You know, rojo, that the Diamond League champion in each event gets an automatic berth in next year's World Championship. Gatlin did that a few years ago which resulted in Team USA being able to send 4 sprinters to Beijing in the 100m. Focusing on this year's Diamond League makes more sense financially and is patriotic.

The reigning World Champ also gets an auto berth to Worlds. Which the doper, Gatlin, is. Can't believe you didn't know that! Wow!

Which makes a Gatlin appearance at US Nats even more unecessary.

The incentive is that it is always nice to add another US title to your bio.

Remember Wheating being in fantastic shape and skipping USATF in 2010?

He would have won that year.

I think Manzano or Lomong won that year.

Wheating never, ever did win a US title.

If the NFL randomly decided to have "non-championship" years where there was no Super Bowl, I'd expect that some players would bail on the playoffs.

If you want people to compete, give them something to compete for.

You posted this about 9 hours ago and got 10 replies. Take that as proof that there is no incentive.

I completely agree with the athletes about skipping the nationals. If you want them to come... pay! Say $100K for each champion - $50K for second 40-30-20-10-5-2.5 K for the rest of the top 8. Stop whining... stop the BS nationalism.

This is sad that US track is at the point where our national championship meet has so little meaning that top pros don't even bother to show up. Given that this is a non-World Championship year, this is the biggest championship outdoor track meet of the year for pros besides that World Cup event. Winning a US title should mean something and be an incentive in itself to show-up. Yeah Diamond League meets are more competitive in some events, but they're still not championships and USA's is the biggest championship on US soil this year. Pros owe it to the fans to at least show up and take pride in winning a national title. If I was the sponsor, I would require athletes on contract with my company to compete at USA's each year unless they were injured or had a health concern that made competing a bad idea.

At least he has the balls to say that. He’s right, and it’s not his fault that track is so lame that even some of its biggest competitions are meaningless.

Hayduke wrote:

does anyone really see the usa championships as anything other than trials to WC or OG? Otherwise who cares? I would rather watch stanford/sac/penn where at least you are getting a lot of runners chasing times vs a pointless win.

Exactly.

He’s probably trying to avoid Rojo and Wejo in the media room. You guys hit him with those awkward questions at point blank ?

In all reality, it’s tough that our sport really doesn’t have a World Champs every year. Is our sport so small time that we can’t put on a WCs every non-Olympic year? Never really understood the off year concept.

We need a WC or OLY every year

Star wrote:

The incentive is that it is always nice to add another US title to your bio.

Remember Wheating being in fantastic shape and skipping USATF in 2010?

He would have won that year.

I think Manzano or Lomong won that year.

Wheating never, ever did win a US title.

Exactly. Wheating was not a global star and a USATF title would have been his crowning achievement. Gatlin is a multi WC/OG medalist/winner who probably can't keep track of how many USATFs he has won.

See the difference?

Adding to your bio? The whole point of the bio is to GET INTO races that actually GET YOU SOMETHING, aka MONEY. Think a bit.

Do sponsors pay travel and hotel expenses?