{"id":80619,"date":"2022-03-09T15:35:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T23:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/?post_type=article&p=80619"},"modified":"2022-03-09T15:35:22","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T23:35:22","slug":"from-the-editor-usatfs-split-nationals-is-a-good-thing-03-22","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/article\/from-the-editor-usatfs-split-nationals-is-a-good-thing-03-22\/","title":{"rendered":"FROM THE EDITOR \u2014 USATF\u2019s Split Nationals Is A Good Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"THIS YEAR\u2019S USATF CHAMPIONSHIPS (the outdoor version, that is) will be missing 6 events. Sorta. As noted in \u201cLast Lap<\/a>,\u201d when things unfold at the WC Trials meet in Eugene in June, the program won\u2019t have any 10,000s, 20K walks or multi-events, men or women.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s a good thing. A thing I\u2019ve been lobbying for for years.<\/p>\n

Primarily, it\u2019s a good thing for the athletes involved in those disciplines. Although there are different trains of thought on how long a break between major meets (like this summer\u2019s USATF and the World Championships) is optimal, there seemed to be pretty much a consensus that this year\u2019s gap between the two Eugene meets was too short for some events. And thus it is that the three pairs of events will be held separately.<\/p>\n

For the 10K runners comes the added benefit of being able to attempt 5\/10 doubles with greater ease. Sure, through the years many runners took a shot at both, and even quite a few were successful. But many \u2014 too many \u2014 have felt compelled to take the discretion-is-the-better-part-of-valor route.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the coin, obviously, is that spectators who are big fans of the split-off events will have to make separate plans if they wish to see them live. But all things considered, I see this as a positive move simply because the athletes need to come first.<\/p>\n

So long as USATF is in a purging mode, here\u2019s an important question that should be asked: should the Junior meet be split off permanently?<\/p>\n

This elitist fan never misses the kids when they\u2019re not there, as in the Olympic Trials years. I could well be wrong, but my take is that the ticket-buying public is pretty much there for the pro performers, with the kids\u2019 audience pretty much being restricted to friends and family.<\/p>\n

You might well ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the problem with having the Juniors if the timetables between the two meets \u2014 particularly down the road when the multis aren\u2019t in play \u2014 don\u2019t impinge on each other?\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the Mr. Field & Track in me kicks in. In a 4-day meet without multis and Juniors to contend with the rings and pits would be compromised far less of the time and the meet could go back to international style and stage proper qualifying rounds in the jumps and throws.<\/p>\n

As it is, fans are subjected to the abomination that is the flights system, which drags on forever and sucks the life out of much of the competition. Warmup, flight 1 competes; warmup, flight 2 competes; warmup, and after an eternity the leaders at long last get their final attempts.<\/p>\n

(The NCAA uses the same setup but with its \u201cseparate\u201d men\u2019s and women\u2019s days appears wedded to the concept, so I won\u2019t waste keystrokes yelling at them here.)<\/p>\n

Speaking of final attempts, I\u2019m glad that the Diamond League came to its senses on its \u201cfinal 3\u201d protocol (\u201cLast Lap,\u201d January). It was a noble effort to bring more excitement to the throws and horizontal jumps, but athletes and fans alike seemed united in their disdain for it in the two years it was tried.<\/p>\n

To refresh your memory, that system gave attempt No. 6 only to the top 3 in the standings and final placing was completely dependent on that last effort. We never signed off on it in our World Rankings, assigning places in the standard way.<\/p>\n

For the \u201922 DL, once again the top 3 are the only ones who will get try No. 6, but like the old days, marks from all rounds will be considered for ultimate placings. What will be new (only for the DL \u2014 not the World Champs, I hasten to clarify) is that rather than the traditional method of jumping\/throwing in placing order, the 3 will perform from best to worst.<\/p>\n

One practical effect \u2014 with both the athlete and fan juries obviously being out on whether it\u2019s good or bad \u2014 is that the day\u2019s top performer after 5 rounds will be \u201cforced\u201d to take a sixth attempt instead of passing. In theory, at least, that should increase the excitement level, although I must admit I\u2019m concerned about athletes who are nursing an injury feeling compelled to compete when they shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But the bottom line is kudos for governing-body attempts to improve our sport. \u25fb\ufe0e<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THIS YEAR\u2019S USATF CHAMPIONSHIPS (the outdoor version, that is) will be missing 6 events. Sorta. As noted in \u201cLast Lap,\u201d… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13524,"menu_order":1762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"issuem_issue":[951],"issuem_issue_categories":[52,31],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"class_list":["post-80619","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","issuem_issue-march-2022","issuem_issue_categories-departments","issuem_issue_categories-from-the-editor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFROM THE EDITOR \u2014 USATF\u2019s Split Nationals Is A Good Thing - Track & Field News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/article\/from-the-editor-usatfs-split-nationals-is-a-good-thing-03-22\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FROM THE EDITOR \u2014 USATF\u2019s Split Nationals Is A Good Thing - Track & Field News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THIS YEAR\u2019S USATF CHAMPIONSHIPS (the outdoor version, that is) will be missing 6 events. 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