Best track Meet

[tracknut]

What have been the some of the all time best meets. This is not to say the longest running or the best run meet but what meet has had the best perfomances?

One of my picks:

Olympic trials 1988 (before we found out about the drug implications) which included Flo Jo's 10.49, the men's 100 with 7 dipping under 10.00 albeit windaided, Five men under the 48.00 barrier in the 400 hurdles, Willie Banks jumping 59+ in the TJ? "King" Carl jumping 28' 9" in the rain to snatch the victory from Larry Myrick's 28' 8.5"

This is my pick any otheres??

[Guest]

I would say 96 outdoor/olympic trials in ATL.
Johnson
Mitchell
Adkins
Gray
Kennedy etc

[BillCarr]

A lot of folks like 1964 Tokyo

Bob Hayes
Peter Snell
Bob Schul
Billy Mills
Bikila
Brumel vs. Thomas
Parry O'Brien's last stand
Josef Schmidt in the TJ
Wyomia Tyus
an intriguing young 17 year old from Poland named Irena Kirzenstein
Ann Packer
an famous Britist female long jumper whose name escapes me at the moment

[Conway]

If you're talking strictly performances tehn Mexico City 1968 has to be right there ... REcords broken left and right - starting in the rounds ... Sprints, hurdles, relays, and horizontal jumps were literally out of site ... REcords set that lasted for decades ...

Recurring events I would have to list the Modesto RElays ... Though not quite the event it used to be, it has always been class ... And up til the professional era one could go there every year and see the cream of the crop in the world ... And it too was a recrod breaking carnival for many many years ...

[Bob H]

>A lot of folks like 1964 Tokyo . . . .
a famous Britist female long jumper whose name escapes me at the moment<

Mary Rand

[trackstar]

Best high school meets: The 1985 Texas Relays and the 1985 Texas state championships. The sprinting was fabulous.

I think it was the Relays where I watched Roy Martin run his 20.13 national HS record, and that same meet was where Hawthorne HS (California) ran its 3:07.40 NR.

Check out these results from the state championships (hand-timed, but unofficial auto-times were also taken):

(Class 1A = tiny rural schools, Class 5A = urban megaschools)

100 meters
1A Stanley Kerr, Snook 10.1
4A 1st Byron Grant, Corsicana 10.1, 2nd Joe DeLoach, Bay City 10.2

200 meters
1A Kerr 20.4
3A Ricky Turner, Navasota 20.7
4A 1st DeLoach 20.5, Grant 20.8
5A Roy Martin, Dallas Roosevelt 20.0 (ahead of a pair of 20.8s; Derrick Florence was 4th in 21.4 -- the next year he set the still-standing national 100 record of 10.13)

4x1: Dallas Roosevelt (Martin anchor) 40.2
4x4: Dallas Roosevelt (Martin anchor) 3:09.4

If you look at the all-time top HS top 10 lists, you'll notice these 1985 marks. I might be wrong, but I think all or most of them were set at those two meets:

100
4. Martin 10.18 (No. 2 at the time)
5. DeLoach 10.21 (No. 3 at the time)

200
1. Martin 20.13
3. DeLoach 20.24

4x400
1. Hawthorne 3:07.40
8. Dallas Roosevelt 3:09.54 (No. 4 at the time)

[dl]

One day or multi-day championships? I'll only talk about the meets I've seen in person. The '93 Worlds in Stuttgart were amazing:

Christie 9.86
USA 4x4 WR (MJ sub-43 carry)
Jackson 110H WR
Gunnell 400H WR
USA 4x1 =WR
Chines Women
Geb-Tanui 10K
Kirui's amazing frontrunning 5K

As for one day meets, Zurich '97 is hard to beat:
Boit steeple WR
Geb-Komen 5K WR
Kipketer 800 WR1500-3 under 3:29.5 (9th was 3:32.15).

[gh]

It's a good rule of thumb that if anybody has been to the Olympics, they'll tell you that the best track meet they ever saw is their first Olympics. Likewise if they've been to a World Championships but not an OG.

For those who have been to both, the OG (surprise!) generally tends to trump the WC.

Personally, I'd probably rate the first WC (Helsinki '83) as No. 1. Great little city, stadium just oozing history, frantic--but incredibly well-informed--fans. All the great athletes of Olympic caliber but none of the political crap (or clogged streets) that goes with a Games.

But I'm not sure that the U.S. Olympic Trials (pick your year) doesn't top them all.

gh