In praise of Allyson Felix

Coffee with Larry, NCAA Div 1 is Hot after first day, Paris DL will feature BIG women’s 400m, Men’s steeple, Women’s 5,000m on June 9!

Coffee with Larry, NCAA outdoor Champs on ESPN 2, Paris DL on Peacock (June 9), Sydney McLaughlin racing 400 meters in Paris!

The Texas women bring it home from NCAA West Regionals to NCAA Finals…

Allyson Felix may have set the record now for the most covers in our seven various titles. We have had her as a high schooler, an Olympian, a World Champ qualifier, and now, as a professional athlete.
Allyson was an increadible athlete as a prep. On our old Caltrack.com/prep site, our former editor and Cal prep deity, Doug Speck, would write pages about her sprinting! She was queen of the California prep meet from her sophomore year on! Her under 20 records for 200 meters, the unratified 22.11 ( at the Old Stadio Olympico in Mexico City in 2003), and her ratified 22.18 for the best ever by a women under 20, in Athens in 2004, surpassed all before her.
Allyson is perfectly built to run 200 meters, and showed it again this season with her fine 22.18 at the adidas Track Classic on May 20. Alyson’s start is okay, but as she gains momentum, coming around the turn, her form is near perfect and her focus on the line is clear-she means business!
Her forays into the 100 meters and 400 meters this year have been exciting to watch. At Doha, she ran the 100 meters in 11.32 and 50.6, and won both! This was two days after jumping a plane first to London, then to Doha, after a Spanish final at USC! ” I took the final and slept on the planes, you just have to get down to business!” was the comment from Ms. Felix after her adidas triumph.
At the Reebok Grand Prix, Allyson took third in the 100 meters, running her personal best of 11.01, and then won the 400 meters, coming from behind, in 50.4!
At the AT&T Outdoor, Allyson will run the 100 meters and 200 meters. That should be something this weekend. But, the race I want to see is Sanya Richards and Alyson over 400 meters. Earlier this season, when I asked Alyson’s agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, he smiled and said, ” That will be a race!”

Author

Larry Eder

Larry Eder has had a 50-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."

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