Brussels DL m110H: Merritt runs... no way!

[18.99s]

I'm thinking it would take somebody really tall like 6'9 who can take TWO strides between hurdles

Gee, I have some vague memory of having heard that before . . .

Here? --> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41169

[Marlow]

:lol: Here? --> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41169

Zackel!

[mrbowie]

Which is the more impressive sprint WR now, the 100 meters of the 110 meter hurdles? I'm thinking the hurdles record may be better.

[ATK]

Which is the more impressive sprint WR now, the 100 meters of the 110 meter hurdles? I'm thinking the hurdles record may be better.

Until someone runs sub 9.2, the hurdles record will always be better IMO.

[rhymans]

The principal development over the last few years has been the athletes (both Robles and Merritt) taking 7 strides to the first hurdle (as compared with Nehemiah and Kingdom's 8). I suspect that this has made at least 0.10 difference.

[croflash]

Which is the more impressive sprint WR now, the 100 meters of the 110 meter hurdles? I'm thinking the hurdles record may be better.

Until someone runs sub 9.2, the hurdles record will always be better IMO.

Based on what?

[Ned Ryerson]

Kenyan Rudisha´s 800 m race avoided that London 2012 was the first Olympic Games without world records in real athletics, individual running and jumping.

What about LA84?

[toyracer]

Which is the more impressive sprint WR now, the 100 meters of the 110 meter hurdles? I'm thinking the hurdles record may be better.

A difficult choice to make.

Bolt's WR is 0.11 quicker than the next fastest men, yet "only" 0.05 quicker than his next fastest time. What used to be significant was that the next fastest man had needed the maximum legal wind to get within that 0.11, but not anymore. Of course, it did take Bolt three years after the WR to run his current next fastest time.

Merrit's WR is 0.07 quicker than the next fastest man. Merritt hasn't had opportunity after setting the WR to get close to it again, so only time will tell on that point.

When looking at the WR relative to the athlete's next best at the time of the WR, Bolt improved his (then) PB by 0.11 and Merritt improved his by 0.12

The 110mh is a technical event, so it has an inherit degree of difficulty not associated with the 100m.

For me it comes down to which one was the bigger "wow" when it happened. Because his 9.69 was done slowing-down-running-sideways-chest-slapping-with-shoe-lace-untied we all knew Bolt was actually much faster than the 9.69. On the other hand, Merritt has improved this year from a previous best of 13.12 and , for me, 12.80 was a bigger wow.

Both records are very impressive. I'd give the edge to Merritt.

[jazzcyclist]

What's the minimum amount of 100 speed that our hurdles experts feel it takes to run 12.80?

[Marlow]

Merritt has improved this year from a previous best of 13.12 and , for me, 12.80 was a bigger wow.
Both records are very impressive. I'd give the edge to Merritt.

Bolt preceded his 9.69 with a 9.72, so we saw that coming. We did not see the 9.58 in Berlin (we suspected he 'might could') coming.
Merritt preceded his 12.80 with a 12.92, but he 'only' dropped the WR by .07.

Bolt's 'numerical' accomplishment is greater, but then we have to consider the difficulty of dropping the 110H record by 'only' .07. I posit that it IS harder to hurdle faster than it is to sprint faster, but NOT just because of the obvious technical considerations. To run a hurdle race faster is not as simple as running faster because the added speed is actually a DETRIMENT to executing the proper technique. The hurdles come at you that much faster requiring a significant difference in HOW you hurdle.

Long-winded way of saying: "I agree, toyracer."

[Marlow]

What's the minimum amount of 100 speed that our hurdles experts feel it takes to run 12.80?

Asked and answered before with a compilation of some pretty 'slow' 100 PRs by top hurdlers. But then the question arose as to whether they ever trained to run a time near their potential. I'm guessing Aries is at least a 10.20 guy with practice (making his 2.6 differential (with 10 more meters) all the more incredible). If I could have run a 2.6 differential, I would have been a 13.6 guy. Instead I was well over a second slower!

[jazzcyclist]

What's the minimum amount of 100 speed that our hurdles experts feel it takes to run 12.80?

Asked and answered before with a compilation of some pretty 'slow' 100 PRs by top hurdlers.

Where might I find this compilation, if you don't mind?

But then the question arose as to whether they ever trained to run a time near their potential. I'm guessing Aries is at least a 10.20 guy with practice (making his 2.6 differential (with 10 more meters) all the more incredible). If I could have run a 2.6 differential, I would have been a 13.6 guy. Instead I was well over a second slower!

I guess the tricky part for hurdlers is the nature of their PR. For guys like Terrence Trammell, who ran the 100 regularly, his PR was probably a pretty good guage of his actual footspeed when in peak hurdling form. But for someone like Merritt, who may not have run a 100 in several years, at a time when he was a much slower hurdler, his 100 PR is no doubt a vast underestimate of his current footspeed. At one of his pre-Olympic, post-race interviews, a reporter asked Merritt what he attributed his improved 2012 form to, and he said that it was mostly due to increased power from his off-season training. If that's true, then it seems logical to me that this increased power also increased his flat 100 speed. Do you think it's possible that he currently possesses sub-10 speed?

[Marlow]

Asked and answered before with a compilation of some pretty 'slow' 100 PRs by top hurdlers.

Where might I find this compilation, if you don't mind?

It was right here about a month (?)ago, but it'll take someone with better search skills than I to dig it up again.

http://i49.tinypic.com/ny6yyv.jpg

[Fortius19]

minor quibble: During the obligatory photo-op with clock after the race, the clock did not have "WR". Just "12.80" top line and "110HH" bottom.

wait,

upon further searching, looks like someone else at the meet noticed this and Merritt went back after the fact with his warm-up suit on and took a photo with the clock, holding his DL trophy. The clock read: "New WR / 12.80"