Things We Learned from the Continental Cup

After nearly four months on the European circuit, we would think we would have a pretty refined, accurate view of the elites on the circuit. Still, when the format subtracts rabbits and inserts even bigger cash prizes based solely on place, in many cases it's like a monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix. Still, for many of the year's top performers like Janeth Jepkosgei and Bernard Lagat, the Continental Cup format provided an opportunity for coronation. Below are some of the things we learned from the Continental Cup:

Weekend Brussels and Rieti Wrap: The Perfect Storm

This weekend, track and field had the perfect storm. Non-Championship year? Check. Athletes chasing records and paydays? Check. High quality meets with top-notch facilities and meet directors servicing the athletes' every desire? Check. Below are my semi-organized thoughts on the athletes and events that made it a memorable weekend.

Kings of the Weekend:

Memorial Van Damme DL 1500 Cooldown Wrap

The subject of American 1500m running is unabashedly near and dear to my heart. Check out this column if you want see my thoughts from a few weeks ago on American medal prospects: http://viewfromlane9.blogspot.com/2010/08/generational-gap-american-1500m-running.html

Men's 1500m headliner: While the triumphant return of the best 1500 meter runner in the land, Asbel Kiprop, registered as no shock, a tantalizing stretch run by American Leonel Manzano to close off a one second personal best and obliterate the rest of the field was hardly anticipated. The diminutive American inexorably gained on the 2008 Olympic Champion Kiprop causing radical thoughts to crop into the minds of middle-distance fans everywhere. Could Manzano have done the unthinkable and beaten Kiprop had he kicked earlier?(I say no, read why at the bottom) Is Manzano a serious medal threat for years to come?(Yes, I believe, though I did so cautiously even before the race)

Berlin Wrap: Rudisha splits, Best of the Rest

Rudisha WR splits and Analysis, Men's 800m:
From the video (go to letsrun.com to see an embedded version), we can ascertain that David Rudisha's individual splits are 49.1, 1:14.54(25.44), 1:41.09(26.59). The 200 meter split is not visible in the video as the cameramen granted us a much-demanded closer look at the a slow-looking white guy running in last. It's not a reach to extrapolate from when they pan back to the actual race going on that Rudisha went through the half-lap mark in a shade under 24 seconds. Either way, Rudisha's splits were nearly perfect. They are very close to what Kipketer split for his record, and I believe a slight positive split is ideal for the 800 meters.

Weekend Cooldown Weltklasse Zurich Best of the Rest

Men's 400m: Former Olympic and World Champion Jeremy Wariner ran his best 400 of the year, a world-leading 44.14 in the first of a series of turn-back-the-clock performances from America's track veterans. Wariner edged old world-leader Jermaine Gonzales by a significant margin and cemented his status as the world's best 400m runner in 2010 with yet another Diamond League Victory:

Race Dynamics: Wariner again chose lane 3 as in Stockholm, and was able to see his Jamican rivals, Gonzales and Ricardo Chambers the entire race. Both Gonzales and Wariner made adjustments to what they did in Stockholm, however. At the outset, Wariner ran his first 100 meters significantly harder and faster than in Stockholm. He picked up a chunk of the stagger on Gonzales and ran even with the always fast-starting Chambers. Gonzales, on the other hand, took out the first 100 relatively slow before running extremely hard from 100 meters to 250 meters passing the early leader,

Weekend Cooldown: Weltklasse Zurich 5000m Wrap

Headliner- Men's 5000m:
Languishing in the shadow of the greatest distance runner of all-time would not be easy for any athlete, least of all a practitioner of the same disciplines. So, in a season where Tariku Bekele was afforded a fleeting chance to emerge out of the shadows and seize some of the spotlight from his renowned but injured brother, he has capitalized on the opportunity and made a name for himself. With a resounding victory over a stellar field, Tariku firmly stamped himself as a medal favorite for next year's World Championships.
Only a few seconds after Bekele put the finishing touches on his victory, British and American medal hopes were galvanized by the courageous runs of Chris Solinsky and Mo Farah. Solinsky nearly landed a knockout blow on the best 5,000 meter runner this year, Imane Merga, before succumbing to Merga's last $40,000 surge(a second place clinched the DL prize). Farah, on the other hand, earned a long sought and overdue PB shattering the British Record with a 12:57 that added further legitimacy to his status

Weekend Cooldown: London Wrap 800 up

Londoners love their distance and mid-distance races, and so do I. Without further ado:

Women's 5000m:
Before this race, I really thought Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot's ability to control the pace at the front and then run a 58-60 second last lap even off a quick pace was truly unbeatable. How foolishly I forgot that for years there's been someone doing that exact thing with similarly impressive results. The "Baby-faced Destroyer", Tirunesh Dibaba, made a triumphant return to the European circuit with a dominating 5000m win in 14:38.17(she ran 14:30s in Eugene for an easy victory a while back). The race alternated between 2:54 and 2:58 kilometers before Cheruiyot hit the front and began what she likely thought was her winning move. Defar lurked on her shoulder and passed by with 550 meters to go. From there, she slowly unleashed her unrivaled kick that has been the trademark of her global championships at the 5000m distance.

Weekend Cooldown: London Wrap Sprints/Brit Announcers

Before I begin the recap, a few words on the excellence of British announcers. Last week I commented on how difficult it is to comment on hurdle races and pick out the winner. Well, the Brit announcers, that you can hear in all their resplendent glory live or archived on selected events on universalsports.com, knocked it out of the pitch on this one. Sure, their knowledge of the events, the competitors, and the tactics are great and set them apart, but their sense of the moment and their authentic joy is what is striking compared to our bland domestic commentators. The accents don't hurt either. If you want to see what I mean go to: http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=c0264beb-9168-443a-b877-993c1f427f38.html?__source=newsletter&cid=. At :42 in might be the most awesome (sorry no better word) moment of all as the announcer declares in a deep, whispering tone

Luzern Wrap: Uceny, Carter and Dix Shine

The results from this Sunday's meet in Luzern are unlikely to lead Sportscenter, nonetheless, there were a few eye-opening results that bear mentioning.
The men's 100m marked the return of early-season headliner, American Walter Dix, in a duel against the overshadowed but consistent sub 10 threat, Jamaican Nesta Carter. Carter emerged with the victory in 9.86 over Dix's 9.88 in a close battle, but both will be happy as a cooperative wind (+1.0 mps) rewarded both with personal bests. It is nice to see that Dix, who withdrew from a matchup with Gay due to "financial difficulties", is still fit this season after his excellent 19.72 200m at the Prefontaine classic. As for Carter, he ran .11 faster than his countryman Usain Bolt did in his ballyhooed matchup versus Tyson Gay.

Someone you might have missed: It was nice to see former high school phenom and Arkansas Razorback, J-Mee Samuels, run 10.03 for a new personal best. Samuels had the high school record (10.08 I believe) for the event before NCAA Champion Jeffrey Demps took it down. At Arkansas and beyond, Samuels has struggled to live up to that exemplary high school performance, which it should be noted was an outlying performance for him at the time. It is always pleasant to see a talented guy who's stuck with it through some hard years reap some reward. Certainly, disgraced champion Justin Gatlin will receive a lot more press, but this is a comeback I personally prefer much to that.

The standout performer of the women's 800m was American Morgan Uceny.

Weekend Cooldown Stockholm Wrap: The Best of the Rest

Outside of the Bolt-Gay matchup that rightfully dominated headlines there was a ton of great racing. Check out some detailed Cooldown breakdowns of the Men's 800, Women's 1500, Men's 5000 for all of the action and tidbits you might have missed below:

Men's 800:

Quick Recap: Marcin Lewandowski backed up his European championship with a Diamond League victory in a surprising race(and it really was a race and not a glorified time trial). With Abubaber Kaki in the field and consistent pacemaker Khadevis Robinson, the expected outcome for most was a 1:42-1:43 victory for Kaki with a 50 second first 400. Instead, the pace was pedestrian at 400 with Kaki coming in around 51.6 and mysteriously electing not to follow closely or draft. Even with the slow pace, nearly all of the deferential field apparently gave Kaki the alpha-male treatment. Nearly all of them bunched behind him making no attempt to pass the presumptive heavy favorite even as the pace was slow. That would be all of them besides an aggressive rail-hugging Lewandowski. He surged from 250 out, defiantly pushed a slowing Robinson out of his way and into Kaki's at 200 meters to go. He held the lead to the finish line holding off a hard-closing Michael Rimmer(later Dq'ed), last week's European silver medalist. Kaki was a casualty of Lewandowski's shove as Robinson got pushed in front of him and he was subsequently spiked. Kaki's subsequent pulling-out of the race took out Andrew Wheating who came to a near-stop to avoide the carnage. All in all, a confounding, but entertaining race.

Weekend Cooldown: Stockholm 100m Wrap

Headliner: Tyson Gay Steals the Show
I think we can all admit it now. We didn't quite see that coming. In the biggest upset of the season, Tyson Gay shot out of the blocks in front of Usain Bolt, and then easily dispatched him in Bolt's usually dominant portion of the race: from 40 meters-80 meters. Bolt uncharacteristically, appeared to be straining and frantically trying to make up the early gap. The gregarious Jamaican's face was tensed up, his movement looked choppy, and he was gaining nothing on Tyson Gay.
From the outset of the race, his drive phase and his transition to an upright full sprint looked slow and unnatural. When Usain ran 9.58 running wire-to-wire for the win, he looked easy and smooth throughout. When he ran 9.97 yesterday having to come back against Gay, he looked forced and sloppy. Bolt admitted after the race that he is not working as hard as he should be and his strength is sub-par at the moment. Gay, humble and thoughtful as always, downplayed the victory saying, essentially, he has not seen the best nor the last of Bolt.