t-and-f: Whoaaaa!. Fast track in Gent

Coby Miller 6.49 (official) and Zhanna Block 7.10 (quick-time) . . . in the heats. They gotta be legal, because there was a False Start Seminar here this weekend. And soon-to-be-43-year-old Merlene won her heat in a 7.23 (quick-time). . . . and finally, Karin Mayr has the distinction of

t-and-f: Chemnitz results

8th ERDGAS MEETING Chemnitz, Germany 7 February 2003 RESULTS (all GER except as noted) MEN: 60 METRES: 1. Nkansah (GHA) 6.61; 2. Moke (CGO) and Powell (JAM) 6.63; 4. Lewis (USA) 6.65; 5. Chernovol (KZK) 6.67; 6. Gardener (GBR) 7.60 (cramped midway during race). Heat 1: 1. Lewis 6.60;

t-and-f: Jones and Charlie sighting

Too bad Charlie Jones has been moved off track broadcasts, seemingly permanently. Just imagine: He could interview both parts of his name. (I ask the trivia buffs if that would be unprecedented.) Well, it would be catchy once, and kitschy forever. No worse, however, than what the New Guard

t-and-f: A few items from the VanDamme press conference

Five athletes were tested for EPO at the hotel today. Names not released (obviously), but the draw was done by the IAAF. El G has asked for a pace faster than the 2:45.78 he ran for 1200 in Monaco. Kisulu and Lelei will do the chores. Krummenacker was asked to do the pacing earlier in the

t-and-f: European Championships

The European Championships has a bilingual (you can chose either English or German) website at www-leichtathletik-em-2002.de. You must use the de ending to get to the site, but you can then select English if German is not your favorite language. You can also click on Results and see exactly the

t-and-f: The Dick Pound thread, among others

Nothing like the mere scent of a drug topic to get the Track List mobilized. Does anyone need more evidence to explain why tabloids outsell the broadsheets? Scandals sel. Meanwhile there's a rather decent indoor season heating up out there, but no one is interested.

t-and-f: Nick Russi

Don't worry about Nick. He's a very capable, no-nonsense kind of person. Has a good background from his days with Sportinformation, a sports news agency in Switzerland.

t-and-f: Men's 1500 standard (and others) for Paris 2003

Seems like a real slam dunk regarding the two-year plan, since the qualification period extends over the next two seasons. With nothing really riding on the US nationals this year (except a World Cup slot for the winner), a healthy diet of European summer meets would seem all but obligatory,

t-and-f: A new record

I had my Euros at 12:03am, and successfully dodged dozens of fireworks throwers while heading back through the trenches to file the report. Not quite like the bulls in Pamplona, admittedly. Now to figure out what to do with this wad of DM still in my wallet . . .

t-and-f: Tragic end for US miler of bygone years

In a very obscure spot in Wednesday's LA Times--so obscure I missed it on my first time through--there was this notice: Former Olympic runner Paul Cummings drowned when his canoe overturned in choppy waters while he was fishing in a reservoir in Salt Lake City. He was 48. No other details

t-and-f: Dragila's post-Edmonton schedule

I believe that Dragila said in Edmonton that she would only do GWG and GP Final after the Worlds. Given that Zurich and Brussels had only men's vaults, there probably wasn't much reason to come back to Europe after Edmonton.

t-and-f: Note from Koenigs Wuesterhausen

Dominique Arnold ran a season-leading 13.14 (2.0) to win the hurdles at the small meeting on Tuesday evening in Koenigs Wusterhausen, near Berlin. Paul McMullen easily won the 1500 in a slow 3:48.06 (no pacemaker). The only reason he was running tonight was to get a wildcard into the 800 on

t-and-f: Syntax error (Koenigs Wusterhausen)

Poor wording in my description of Arnold's hurdle performance. The 13.14 is his best of the year, but of course, is not the world leading mark.

t-and-f: Borza-less Berlin

Considering the way in which the Goodwill Games got off the ground in 1986, it's not surprising that Borzakovskiy is most likely bypassing Berlin to head down under for the GWG and then the GP Final.

t-and-f: Regarding a recent AOY posting

Someone said that field events get no respect in AOY polls. If you haven't yet thrown away the current TFN Annual issue from the start of this year (I can never remember what month is printed on it!), take a look at who is on the cover.

t-and-f: IAAF Rankings: A laugh a minute

Normally I don't spend much, if any, time looking at the IAAF Rankings. But for some reason, one of them jumped off the page at me last week during the Zurich meeting. Here I was, looking at the stellar accomplishments of 800-meter runner David Kiptoo of Kenya, who ran as David Singoei when a

t-and-f: Four discus world records in Rüdlingen on Saturday

First it was Frantz Kruger with a WR for about five minutes, then Dimitriy Shevchenko took over with three before the end of the competition. Jürgen Schult need not worry, however, as this was a competition involving the antique, or standing, discus throw. Kruger's opener of 31.96 broke

t-and-f: Ovett and his brethren

Not to take anything away from the natural wit of Steve Ovett (the one who broke the story about El G's piles several years ago, by the way), the pair that sent me howling with laughter continually were Hutchings and Cram when they were paired on Eurosport. Sadly, the beeb has broken up that

t-and-f: Edmonton accommodations--a cancellation

For anyone still looking for accommodation in Edmonton, I would like to mention a BB about 35 minutes west of Edmonton which I have had booked for a number of months, but which I am giving up in order to move closer to town, now that I see my work load during the ten days will be heavier than I

t-and-f: Irish team replay

I think that Coman, Nolan and Caulfield will most certainly be running the long relay. And since that would only leave three on the list for the short relay, I'm assuming all are on the 4x400, and not the 4x100 listed.

t-and-f: Russia--Days 2 3

Russia championship Tula (13-14.07) Men - 200 m (14) (-0.3): 1. Oleg Sergeyev 20,82 2. Sergey Bychkov 21,02 3. Denis Busovikov 21,08 4. Andrey Tkachenko 21,14 5. Aleksandr Okhin 21,30 6. Aleksandr Ryabov 21,31 7. Dmitriy Vasilyev 21,37 Sf 1

t-and-f: Russia--Day 1

Russia championship day 1 Tula (12.07) Men - 100 m (0.5): 1. Sergey Bychkov 10,40 2. Aleksandr Smirnov 10,49 3. Dmitriy Vasilyev 10,49 4. Aleksandr Ryabov 10,51 5. Sergey Blinov 10,56 6. Sergey Kononyuk 10,62 7. Denis Busovikov 10,64 8. Aleksandr

t-and-f: Russia--Day 4

Russia championship Tula (15.07) Men - 800 m: 1. Boris Kaveshnikov 1.45,82 2. Sergey Kozhevnikov 1.46,25 3. Artyom Mastrov 1.46,53 4. Ramil Aritkulov 1.46,93 5. Vladimir Bozhko 1.47,08 6. Vyacheslav Shabunin 1.47,17 7. Aleksandr Roslavets 1.49,76

t-and-f: Yekaterina Podkopayeva

Grab just about any ATFS Annual, look at the women's all-time list in the 1500, and then you'll know who she is. And note her age when she was running some of her best times.

t-and-f: Borzakovskiy top qualifier in 400 at U23 Euros

Yuriy Borzakovskiy, primarily known as a late-charging 800m runner, used similar tactics in the preliminaries of the 400 meters at the under-23 European Championships. The Russian ran easily for the first 200, and then went into finish mode coming off the final turn. Holding the lead in his

t-and-f: Lost in the fine print of L'Equipe

In the Saturday edition of L'Equipe, it was reported that five random EPO tests were done on middle distance runners at the Paris meeting. No more information was given. I don't recall seeing any information about this protocol in the very large, bulky press kit we were given. Knowing

t-and-f: Nasty start to Lausanne meet

Michelle Freeman, in the B-race of the 100H, hit the sixth hurdle hard--and I mean hard. She collapsed immediately to the track where medics went to her aid. You could see her shin bone protruding through the leg. Not a pleasant sight.

t-and-f: Male Dutch track stars

Rob Druppers of Holland won the silver medal in the Helsinki world championships. (Do you recall who won?) True, he didn't do much else in his career.

t-and-f: Thoughts on the five alive

The philosophy of the five alive procedure used in overly large vertical jump competitions is that a long period of inactivity between jumps is detrimental to the athlete. This format ensures that after a miss, an athlete will have exactly four attempts by other competitors before s/he takes

t-and-f: Webb's impressive race

Unfortunately I was still stuck in a stadium in Ingolstadt (why couldn't it have been Goetzis?) and wasn't able to see the EuroSport telecast of Pre (which was live here, by the way). It will be repeated on Tuesday morning, fortunately. Although the times would suggest that Sullivan was never

t-and-f: Tye Harvey rips hamstring

Tye Harvey, the world indoor silver medalist in Lisbon in March, strained his left hamstring in training in Germany shortly after arriving on Wednesday. On Friday, while warming up for a meeting in Recklinghausen, the leg muscle still was tender, but Harvey decided to jump anyway. According

t-and-f: Seconds ticking away for Borzakovskiy . . .

As I write, Yuriy Borzakovskiy has less than thirty minutes of "teenagerhood" remaining. He turns 20 on Thursday. I suppose that means no one will gawk at him quite so much for his achievements in the future. I usually don't take notice of things of this nature, except in this case. April 12

t-and-f: Ridin' shotgun, NCAA style

No wonder the Clemson women won their section of the 4x400 relay at the NCAA indoor. When your last two runners are named "Smith" and "Weston", no one is going to be stupid enough to get within range . . .

t-and-f: Untimely threads

Here we are, less than three days away from what should be the two of the biggest events of the winter track season for netters--the NCAA indoor and the World Indoor--and virtually all of the talk on the list is about drugs and testing. (And I don't mean innoculation of cattle and testing for

t-and-f: Lievin results

MEETING GAZ DE FRANCE Lievin, France 25 February 2001 MEN 60 METERS: 1. Aliu (NGR) 6.55; 2. Saddler (USA) 6.56; 3. Miller (USA) 6.59; 4. Theodoridis (GRE) 6.61; 5. Cali (FRA) 6.71. Did not finish:

t-and-f: Gent results

FLANDERS INDOORS Ghent, Belgium 23 February 2001 MEN 60 METERS: 1. Montgomery (USA) 6.53; 2. Aliu (NGR) 6.54; 3. Saddler (USA) 6.55; 4. Miller (USA) 6.56; 5. Myles-Mills (GHA) 6.57; 6. Malcolm (GBR)

t-and-f: Foreign eligibility (re football)

To comment about a posting earlier today regarding foreigners playing NCAA-level football, I don't think collegiate football is in any danger of being tainted to any extent by any foreign players, especially those from Europe (and where else would foreign football players come from). If you've

t-and-f: Stuttgart results

SPARKASSEN CUP Stuttgart, Germany 4 February 2001 (all GER except as noted) MEN 60 METERS: Final: 1. C Williams (JAM) 6.63; 2. Aliu (NGR) 6.64; 3. Goebel 6.69; 4. Mitchell (USA) 6.70; 5.

t-and-f: Gabriela meets Kofi

There was it was on replay Diamond Vision for all in Stuttgart's Schleyer Halle to see again and again. Kofi Prah, charging down the long jump runway, eyes on the tartan, totally unaware of a 95-pound blonde walking into his path. Wham! Full force into Gabriela Szabo, who was leaving the track

t-and-f: Just in case NBC doesn't show it . . .

Good, lengthy coverage of Thursday night's swimming finals on Aussie TV. Krayzelburg won the 200 back. Great hooplah because an Aussie got a bronze. Miscellaneous shots of the crowd right after the finish. One fairly lengthy one of Chelsea Clinton, and someone vaguely familiar sitting next

t-and-f: ISTAF web site--caveat emptor

It's now Friday, the day of the ISTAF meet, and I again logged into their site. Couldn't have included less information even if they had tried. A really lame effort. Even the instructions for the "student races"--which are limited to the schools in Berlin and Brandenburg--are in English!!

t-and-f: Reynolds: I'm not dead [retired] yet

Spoke with Reynolds in the hotel in Koenigs Wusterhausen (that's track-speak for a teeny village outside of Berlin). He is on the start list--and undoubtedly hundreds of villagers will pack the "Friendship Stadium" [not all GDR names have been changed] to get a glimpse of the former world-record

t-and-f: Yawn

Will some strong-armed list manager please declare the discussion of "the system" immediately closed. The best Golden League meet of the year is going on as I type, and no one seems to notice.

t-and-f: Trammell's first race as a pro

Having just read John Blackburn's posting of the AP article regarding Terrence Trammel's decision to turn pro, I can report on his first professional race just two minutes ago in Linz: 13.41 for third place in a heat (winner was Allen Johnson in 13.25).

t-and-f: Linz: Balakhonova 4.56 (Euro record) and still jumping

In Linz tonight, Anzhela Balaknonova jumped a new European record of 4.56. She is still competing at this transmission, attempting 4.64. Her record jump came on only her fourth jump of the evening. Prior to 4.56, she cleared 4.30 on her 2nd, and 4.50 on her first.

t-and-f: Dyslexic fingers (i.e., Linz correction)

Mark Block informed me that I had the time for his wife incorrectly posted. It should be 11.10, and not whatever I had written. The next two finishers, Tanya Lawrence and Myriam Mani, ran 11.12.

t-and-f: A mistake that American TV would NEVER make

This morning (Sunday) while watching the Eurosport replay of yesterday's London meet, I got a look at Voronin's 2.40 jump--the best HJ performance since March 1995. The director showed the jump twice, and it looked like Voronin was nowhere close to touching the bar. I was praying for a

t-and-f: Heusden: Rogers 13:18; Lunn 3:36.85

Details later.