Two facilities with tracks and meets that have reputations for producing top level marks are on tap for this weekend.
The Tyson Invitational kicks things off today with action in Fayetteville Arkansas. If you want a sneak peak at the NCAA Indoor meet, look no further as many of the nations top collegiate programs will have squads competing here. Florida, LSU, Texas Tech, Indiana, Oregon, Penn St., Florida St., Auburn, Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas St., and North Carolina are all top 25 teams. Throw in Kentucky, South Carolina and Mississippi and you also have a preview of the SEC Championships that will take place on the same track in a couple of weeks.
We should get a look at sprint leaders Jeff Demps (FL) & Rakieem Salaam (OK) going head to head. Also potentially a meeting between top milers Andrew Bayer (IN) & Ryan Foster (Penn St). The triple jump could produce a new collegiate leading mark with Will Claye (FL), Chritian Taylor (FL), and Tarik Bachelor (Ark) currently ranking 1, 2, 3. And with so many top programs in town look for some exciting 4x4’s!
On the other side of the pond in Karlsruhe Germany we’ll get a very early season look at two of the Big Three is hurdling – David Oliver v Liu Xiang. We’re a long way from the World Championships, but it’s always interesting to see how competitive dominant athletes can be even at this early point in the season – and these are two VERY competitive athletes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new world leading mark – which would end up being among the all time best marks ever.
Karlsruhe will also give us another look at rapidly rising high jumper Antonietta Di Martino (ITA). The 33 year old is having a breakthrough season indoors and could end up giving the women’s high jump a “Big Three”, joining Vlasic (CRO) and Howard-Lowe (US) in the high jump wars this year. Karlsruhe boasts several strong international fields and should produce some outstanding marks.
This should be the best weekend to date of the indoor season!
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