New York Grand Prix 1500 - Wightman wins, Holt beats Kessler

I think tjs is a pretty decent assessment

We’re witnessing a movie, and it’s still the rising action. HOLTMANIA. Zzz Zzz Zzz. Keep sleeping.

Holt nearly got Wightman too.

I do think Hobbs' run is a little bit troubling

You've got to be kidding. Deserves? Sure, there's a lot of people nearby who can fill seats, but this organization can't even provide functional blocks. It was like a high-school meet with people standing on the blocks to keep them from slipping. The danger slipping blocks exposes these athlete to only a few days from the Olympic Trials is unforgivable and certainly doesn't make them deserving of anything but ridicule.

You're forgetting about the starting blocks in Eugene in 2022 that kept screwing up the reaction times. So it's not like Eugene is perfect.

By this logic Holt is in 3:47 shape right? I’d sure like to think so at least. Either way, holt is not a speed based guy really. He’s improved his kick a lot but I (and most I believe) view him as a strength based guy. This could be a really cool Cinderella story for the 4:00 guy out of SUNY Binghamton.

Not to mention that Randall's Island (where the stadium is) is near a wastewater treatment plant and smells foul 24/7.

Or maybe someone not in the testing pool decided, "What do I have to lose if i take a few pills for a few weeks?"

Based upon having watched him race locally when he was in high school, through the present, I can theoretically answer that.
This guy has zero "quit" in him. He takes failure and being told "you can't" and metabolizes it into motivation as well as anyone I've ever seen. Every time he 'crashes & burns' in a big race, he disappears for awhile, then comes back and starts dropping PR's again inching closer to the top tier guys.
Obviously you can't keep doing that forever. Maybe at 29 this last set is as good as it gets for him. But he's fun to watch, and he's good for the sport, so I'm definitely going to keep watching to see where it goes from here.

Maybe. Don't forget that there were a lot of Jamaican fans at Icahn just as there are at Penn Relays. Will those fans show up for a U.S. Olympic Trials in N.Y.?

If you did some research…. Holt was training extremely subpar (many would say idiotic) a few years out of college while working nights and long hours without many training partners, or a coach. It’s no surprise someone who was actually pretty talented to begin with dedicated their life to the sport with a bunch of other guys and a coaching staff that could care less what anybody thinks about them.

Looks like the Women’s 200 doesn't have a clear cut American favorite but Gabby has to be at the top of the list.

McKenzie Long has really come on and is the only one under 22 so far, but shes had a long college season.

I thought maybe Abby Steiner would slowly rev up to peak at Eugene but she seems to have disappeared with only a few weeks left.

So, id say Gabby is top American right now.

Expected a bit more from Kessler but this is hardly a bad effort.

I'd give him a Grade of B on this. All will come down to the Trials. If he makes the team (and he should), its a successful season. If not, clearly a failure.

to be fair, it wholly depends on the wind direction

The blocks were not a problem, it was the timing system by Seiko. The timing system is owned by WA, not Eugene/Nike.

He doesn't have to hope anything. The Trials strategy is simple. Call up Ritz and the OAC crew and say, I"ve got the first 700. Take the first 700 out no slower than 155 pace for 800. Nuguse will take it from there. Nuguse doesn't want it slow either.

hobbs was 4 meters off a 144 guy top 5 in world with so so position is a mid pace race.

this effort is something to build on.

if hobbs improves 4 m, he makes the team.

as coach i would be happy but not extatic.

Agree, that’s the smart way to play it. but they will never do that

It looked like there was a freeway running by the backstretch in New York

hayward field now looks like an empty nfl football stadium

why can’t America have classy and historic looking tracks like in Europe. The track in Oslo. The one they just had in Sweden. Looked incredible.