TFCC Moment of the Week #3 and #4: July 21 -August 3

Boy, has it been an incredibly busy couple of weeks in my life! Between spending two weeks in Colorado getting a chance to run in some high altitudes to driving over to Eugene, Oregon, to watch the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships, I haven’t had an opportunity to catch my breath! Hopefully, that helps explain why I will be doing two TFCC Moments of the Week this week. It’s easy to fall behind with so much going on.

My TFCC Moment of the Week comes from neither Colorado or Eugene, but from Monaco. Yes, another Diamond League moment. Great track & field performances never fail to appear at Monaco, where fast times are to be had by all. There were several races and events that could have been named worthy of Track&FieldLife’s Moment of the Week. It could have been Molly Huddle’s breaking of her own American Record in the 5K with a time of 14:42.64, or it could have been an World Leading, Meet Recording-breaking 800m win by Nijel Amos of Botswana over “The King” David Rudisha with a time of 1:42.45, but it was neither of those.

The performance that really stuck out, to me, from the Herculis Meeting in Monaco, was an incredibly stacked men’s 1500m field where 7 men ran under a time of 3 minutes and 30 seconds and first through ninth place were all within 4 seconds of each other. To put things into perspective with how impressive this race really was, just keep reading. In this 1500m race, there was one World Lead mark, one Diamond League Record, one World Junior Record, one Area Record, three National Records, one Season Best time, and three Personal Best times all set by different men in this single event. With a World Leading and Diamond League Record-setting time of 3:27.64, Silas Kiplagat of Kenya  outclassed the rest of the stacked field to come home with the victory.

WATCH MONACO 1500m RACE HERE

The next TFCC Moment of the Week comes from the IAAF World Junior Championships held in TrackTown USA, Eugene, Oregon. An amazing meet where I had the opportunity to watch all of the outstanding performances in person. This was a meet where records were set, dreams came true, and a community of passionate track & field fans fueled the athletes to performances that some never thought they could reach. The Hayward Magic was truly made apparent for the entire 6 day meet. There will be many more performances from this meet making their mark in upcoming TFCC Moments, but for this week, my hat goes off to 19 year old Wilhelm Belocian of France who set a new World Junior Record in the men’s 110m hurdles. With a time of 12.99 seconds, Belocian  became the first Junior athlete to break below the 13 second barrier in the 110m hurdle race. It was truly a magnificent spectacle to behold as the Frenchman crossed the line, pure joy on his face, knowing that he had won the race. When his official time was posted on the screen, Wilhelm was at a loss for words and just amazed that he had made this mark on track & field history.

WATCH WILHELM BREAK THE WORLD JUNIOR RECORD HERE

Congratulations to this week’s TFCC Moments selections! These were some incredible races and meets to watch and follow!

Please continue to check back on Track&FieldLife for more Track & Field/Cross Country Moments of the Week!

Track & Field/Cross Country Moment of the Week #1: July 7-13

Hey there folks! Welcome to my first Track & Field/Cross Country (TFCC) Moment of the Week!

Every week from here on out, I will try to find an outstanding moment from recent track & field or cross country history to post on Track & Field Life. I cannot guarantee that every post will be from a super recent meet or a meet that happens the week of the post because, frankly, there are so many great track & field and cross country moments out there that the older ones still deserve their moment in the spot light! That being said, let’s get down to it.

Our TFCC Moment of the Week this week comes to us from Eugene, Oregon, Tracktown, USA. The USA Outdoor Junior Track & Field Championships were held at Historic Hayward field this last weekend on July 5-6, and there were so many great races, jumps, and throws to choose from in this meet that this surely was a difficult choice. Surely, though, one had to stand out above the others, and sure enough, one did.
The women’s 200m final at the USA Junior Championships is our standout TFCC Moment this week, and for good reason. Running in lane 6, after setting a new female high school best and fifth fastest American Junior time in 100m with a time of 11.10 seconds, Kaylin Whitney of Clermont, FL, stormed out of the blocks to take an immediate lead on the field as she rounded the curve seemingly tearing up track with every stride. As she shot into the straightaway, it was clear to see that she had the field beat and a record on hand. Whitney crossed the line in a blazing 200 meter time of 22.49 seconds! Whitney dropped to her knees and pumped her fists in excitement as she gazed upon the big green results screen at Hayward immediately after she finished her race. Kaylin had set a new World Youth (15-17) record time with her 22.49 second effort and, oh yeah, she is just a sophomore in high school. Let me type that again, A SOPHOMORE GIRL IN HIGH SCHOOL RAN A 22.49 SECOND 200 METER DASH! That is incredible.

After all of her accomplishments this past weekend, it is clear to see that Kaylin Whitney has earned her place as Track & Field Life’s first TFCC Moment of the Week!

To watch the video of Kaylin’s race click the picture or on USATF.TV

 Image courtesy: Oregon14