Felix, Tarmoh photo finish

From the USA Track and Field Twitter

This is the craziest thing I've seen.

Eaton WR, Lolo makes the team & Felix and Tarmoh tied for third

Ashton Eaton went into the final event of the decathlon needing about a 2 second personal best to get the world record. The gun went off and Eaton went right to the front behind Curtid Beach and Joe Detmer the two fastest in the field. Eaton was right on pace with 300 left and coming down the home stretch beach moved over and cheered Eaton to the win and the WR, in 4:14.48. Eaton ended up with a two day score of 9039 breaking the world record by 13 points, and only the second man to break the 9000 point barrier. What I thought was cool is that all the past US Olympic Decathlon Champions were in attendance to witness it. When Ashton was done he was greeted by the now former American Record holder and 1996 Olympic Champ Dan O'Brien, and the 1976 Olympic Champ Bruce Jenner. Trey Hardee finished in second with a point total of 8383 winning the discus on day 2.

Courtesy of Dan O'Brien's Twitter

The 100 hurdles was a GREAT race with the reigning Olympic Champ Dawn Harper winning in 12.73 into a -1.6m head wind.  In second place was 2011 US Champ Kellie Wells who four years ago tore her hamstring during the olympic trials. Finally in third place was Lolo Jones who is looking for redemption after hitting the 9th hurdle in Beijing. A lot of people wrote off Lolo including myself, she hasn't had a great year up to this point but she tured it up at the right time and gets a chance to redeem herself. 


The women's 100m has brought a lot of DRAMA! The first two places are set in stone with Carmelita Jeter winning in 10.91 and Tianna Madison finishing in second running another 10.96. But third place had to go down to a photo finish between training partners Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh. Originally Tarmoh was given the nod by .001s 11.068 to 11.069. But then after further review it was determined to be a dead tie at 11.068s. So who will get the spot Tarmoh or Felix? What are the tie braking rules for this situation? Should they have a run-off for the spot?

We will find out soon what will happen.

Day 2 Update

The semis for both the Women's 100 and 100 hurdles just finished and again there were no real surprises.

In the hurdles Kellie Wells won the first heat with Ginnie Crawford in second getting the other automatic place to the final. In the second heat Christina Manning won with Lolo Jones right behind her in second. in the third heat Dawn Harper ran the fastest time of all the final qualifiers with a 12.65 with Brianna Rollins in second. The next two that made it on time both came out of the second heat with Michelle Perry running a 12.80 and Nia Ali running a 12.84.

Finalists:
Dawn Harper
Brianna Rollins
Christina Manning
Kellie Wells
Lolo Jones
Ginnie Crawford
Michelle Perry
Nia Ali

In the 100 Tianna Madison ran a new PR of 10.96 to take the third heat with the fastest time. Carmelita Jeter won the first heat with Allyson Felix in second. the second heat was won by Alex Anderson with Bianca Knight in second. and behind Madison English Gardner and Jeneba Tarmoh both ran 11.10 with gardner getting the automatic qualifying spot to the finals. Tarmoh made the finals on time along with Lauryn Williams.

Finalists:
Tianna Madison
Carmelita Jeter
English Gardner
Jeneba Tarmoh
Alex Anderson
Bianca Knight
Lauryn Williams
Allyson Felix

In the decathlon Ashton Eaton has a healthy lead and looks to challenge the world record. Brian Clay was DQ'ed during the 110 hurdles for pushing a hurdle down. he still continued to compete even though he will not make the team.

Day 2 Finals Predictions

Today is the final day for the decathlon, and the finals of the women's 100 and 100 hurdles.

Decathlon:
1. Ashton Eaton 
2. Trey Hardee
3. Brian Clay

The decathlon will be a fight between Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee. Day two has more events that Hardee is better at, but with a 322 point lead Eaton may have enough to pull out the win. Hardee is a much better thrower and today has the discus and the javelin, they are pretty much equal in the hurdles an pole vault, and Eaton is a better 1500m runner. It is going to be an exciting finish with one of the best rivalries in USA track and field. Third place should be Brian Clay who should easily get the A standard if everything goes like it should.

Women's 100 hurdles:
1. Kellie Wells
2. Dawn Harper
3. Christina Manning/ Ginnie Crawford/ Kristi Castlin

This is one of the deepest fields in the world. A number of these women could potentially make the Olympic Final, but only 3 make the team. Kellie Wells has been the most consistent during the year so far, Harper is the reigning Olympic champ and has been running very well this year. The third spot is very open. Manning is the reigning NCAA indoor and outdoor hurdles champion and has been very consistent. Ginnie Crawford is the 2007 US champ and has looked very good. Castlin also has looked really good this year. Lolo Jones has not run very good this year, she barely made the semis only finishing third in her heat.

Women's 100:
1. Carmelita Jeter
2. Tianna Madison
3. Allyson Felix

These three have been the best this year over this distance. Jeter is the reigning world champ and knows when to peak for championships. Madison had a great indoor season, winning the US 60m title and finishing third at the world championships. Allyson Felix has decided to do the 100, 200 double saying it gives her the best chance to win a 200m gold medal. Felix has run a 10.92 this year in beating Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shelly-Ann Frasier-Pryce. The next best divers to try to challenge these three will be Jeneba Tarmoh, English Gardner, Bianca Knight and Alex Anderson.