• Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home TV and Sports

US Championships: Coverage of Field Events Improves on Day 3, by Steve Ritchie, for RunBlogRun

RBR Adminby RBR Admin
June 24, 2017
0
0 0
0
SHARES
6
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Bartoletta_Tianna1-Lausanne16.jpgTianna Bartoletta, photo by PhotoRun.net

Kendricks_Sam1c-Pre17.jpgSam Kendricks, photo by PhotoRun.net

RelatedPosts

Free viewing of Monaco Diamond League on July 11 via You Tube, Facebook and X (from FloTrack)

How to watch Grand Slam Track around the world, 4-6 April 2025!

Grand Slam Track debuts in Kingston, Jamaica, Here’s the Official Start Lists!

Saunders_RavenQ-OlyGame16.jpgRaven Saunders, photo by PhotoRun.net

It is called American Track & Field, but many days, it should be American Field and Track. On Day 3, Steve Ritchie focuses on the increased coverage and quality of the field events, and provides some compliments plus some worthwhile critique.

Saturday at the U.S. Track & Field Championships was another day of marvelous performances, incredible drama and surprising finishes. The kind of day that reinforces our love for the sport.

It was also a pretty strong day for coverage of the events at Hornet Stadium, especially the streaming meet coverage on NBC Sports Gold.

In my post yesterday I vented about the poor coverage of the field events online, and how the impressive performances in the women’s high jump and men’s triple jump were largely ignored, even when the competing action on the track were devoid of drama and had little significance.

I can’t say why, but I am very happy to report that there seemed to be a big change overnight on NBC Sports Gold. The five field event finals on Saturday all gained substantial screen time, most of it live, on the streaming meet coverage.

The men’s discus final, which began at 10:15 am, was carried in its entirety, though without commentary apart from the stadium announcer. This was not a major problem because you could hear him clearly and there were enough on-screen graphics to provide context about distances and placing.

The action next moved to the men’s javelin. Even with track events beginning, coverage kept switching back to the javelin between first round heats of the 200. The javelin competition was held outside of Hornet Stadium and thus no PA announcer, so it was good to have the broadcasters – Tim Hutchings and Carrie Tollefson – providing commentary. There was little technical analysis, but they did carry on a relevant discussion about the financial challenges faced by post-collegiate field event athletes in America and how that translates into a relatively poor showing on the world stage in certain events (i.e., no American men currently have a world championship qualifying mark in the javelin).

In both the discus and javelin the camera angles were better than during the men’s hammer final on Thursday, allowing the viewer to easily get an idea of the distances being achieved. There were also more close-up views, so we got to see the second-place thrower, Cyrus Hostetler, energetically exhorting the crowd to get behind leader Riley Dolezal last attempts.

Following the javelin, there were three other field event finals underway. Despite that, the streaming coverage ended for about 15 minutes before starting again when the most important track races began.

Surprisingly, even with some enthralling track finals going on, the streaming coverage continued shifting back to the field events at every opportunity. First to the women’s shot and the men’s pole vault, and, later, to women’s long jump.

One of the live look-ins at the shot gave us the fifth round throw of 64-5 1/2 by Dani Bunch, a 1 1/2 foot PR which moved her into the lead. The dramatic winning throw of 64-10 by Raven Saunders, which was four feet further than her next best mark of the day, came in the sixth round; it wasn’t shown live, but was shown very soon after it happened and was followed by the last throws of the athletes she passed. A terrific competition, and viewers got a real taste of the drama there.

Similarly, there were enough live looks at the pole vault and long jump to know what was happening. And live views of Sam Kendricks’ clearing 6 meters and two of Tianna Bartoletta’s three jumps over 7 meters were a nice bonus.

I haven’t mentioned the NBC coverage because it was pretty much what we have grown to expect. Lots of time setting up the races, and replaying the shorter sprints and hurdles. Going to commercial break during the distance races over 1500 meters. Recapping each field event with one or two brief highlights of the top jumps and throws, usually showing no more than four attempts in each.

One thought that occurs to me is that if meet organizers would space out the track events just slightly more, it would allow for more live focus on the field events. I know TV likes a tight two-hour coverage window, and this would expand that. But the tradeoff is that viewers would get to see more of the meet.

And, really, who is tuning into to non-Olympic coverage of track and field? It sure isn’t the easily-bored casual viewer; it is much more likely to be the passionately interested fan of the sport. If paying to watch is, in fact, the future of track and field, then broadcasts will need to provide more than cursory coverage of field events.

END

Author

  • RBR Admin

    View all posts
Previous Post

Why They Run the Races: Heat, Injuries, and other competitors spoil Centrowitz vs Murphy Showdown

Next Post

2017 HOKA ONE ONE Postal Nationals Summer Cross Country Training Program, Week 1, Day 7, Getting back into the habit

RBR Admin

RBR Admin

Similar Post

Monaco Herculis Diamond League Meeting, the intro
Diamond League

Monaco always delivers

July 15, 2025
Denise Lewis is the new President of  UK Athletics
Interviews

Hannah England on commentary

July 15, 2025
Donavan Brazier’s Long Way Back to running Fast
Cross Country

2025 Summer Mileage Program, July 14, 2025, Week Two , Day One, some thoughts on Donavan Brazier

July 15, 2025
FARAH SAYS SUNDAY’S LONDON MARATHON WILL BE HIS LAST
Athletic History

This Day in Track & Field History, July 13, Jim Thorpe Wins Olympic Decathlon (3 Day event), 1912, Dave Bedford breaks 10,000m WR (1973), written and compiled by Walt Murphy

July 14, 2025
Ten Questions to Eilidh Doyle…(from the RBR Archives 2021)
Interviews

Ten Questions to Eilidh Doyle…(from the RBR Archives 2021)

July 14, 2025
Eilidh Doyle-Passing the Baton, A Documentary Film Edited and Filmed by Urbane Media for Scottish Athletics
Interviews

Eilidh Doyle-Passing the Baton, A Documentary Film Edited and Filmed by Urbane Media for Scottish Athletics

July 14, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Subscribe to RunBlogRun's Global News Feed

Wake up to RunBlogRun’s news in your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll keep you informed about the Sport you love.

*we hate spam as much as you do

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Clyde Hart’s Guide to 400 meter training (from 1996 Super Clinic Notes/World Coaches Notes)

Clyde Hart’s Guide to 400 meter training (from 1996 Super Clinic Notes/World Coaches Notes)

April 5, 2023
2023 Nike Pre Classic: Two Amazing Days of Track & Field!

Noah Lyles, The Clock Doesn’t Lie

March 7, 2024
Grand Slam Track’s Kingston Slam Comes to a Close with 12 Slam Champions

2025 Spring Racing/Training Program, April 11, 2025, week 4, day 5, fourth week of year, Friday is an easy day!

April 12, 2025
USATF / Day Four:  USA’s Assembled Team Is Ready!

Abby Steiner replies via twitter, on the curiosity about her new professional running contract

February 6, 2025
Mondo Duplantis and the Jump that made him the greatest of all time

Mondo Duplantis and the Jump that made him the greatest of all time

8
What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

What happened to the crowd at Eugene?

7
My Five Biggest Takeaways from the Men’s Olympic Trials Marathon, by Oliver Hinson

My Five Biggest Takeaways from the Men’s Olympic Trials Marathon, by Oliver Hinson

7
Asafa Powell, Considering Longevity in Sprinting

The RunBlogrun Interview: Asafa Powell

5
Monaco Herculis Diamond League Meeting, the intro

Monaco always delivers

July 15, 2025
Denise Lewis is the new President of  UK Athletics

Hannah England on commentary

July 15, 2025
Donavan Brazier’s Long Way Back to running Fast

2025 Summer Mileage Program, July 14, 2025, Week Two , Day One, some thoughts on Donavan Brazier

July 15, 2025
FARAH SAYS SUNDAY’S LONDON MARATHON WILL BE HIS LAST

This Day in Track & Field History, July 13, Jim Thorpe Wins Olympic Decathlon (3 Day event), 1912, Dave Bedford breaks 10,000m WR (1973), written and compiled by Walt Murphy

July 14, 2025

Popular Stories

  • Clyde Hart’s Guide to 400 meter training (from 1996 Super Clinic Notes/World Coaches Notes)

    Clyde Hart’s Guide to 400 meter training (from 1996 Super Clinic Notes/World Coaches Notes)

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Noah Lyles, The Clock Doesn’t Lie

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 2025 Spring Racing/Training Program, April 11, 2025, week 4, day 5, fourth week of year, Friday is an easy day!

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Abby Steiner replies via twitter, on the curiosity about her new professional running contract

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • An epic pole vault competition

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Monaco Herculis Diamond League Meeting, the intro
Diamond League

Monaco always delivers

July 15, 2025
Denise Lewis is the new President of  UK Athletics
Interviews

Hannah England on commentary

July 15, 2025
Donavan Brazier’s Long Way Back to running Fast
Cross Country

2025 Summer Mileage Program, July 14, 2025, Week Two , Day One, some thoughts on Donavan Brazier

July 15, 2025
FARAH SAYS SUNDAY’S LONDON MARATHON WILL BE HIS LAST
Athletic History

This Day in Track & Field History, July 13, Jim Thorpe Wins Olympic Decathlon (3 Day event), 1912, Dave Bedford breaks 10,000m WR (1973), written and compiled by Walt Murphy

July 14, 2025

Recent Tweets

Next Post

2017 HOKA ONE ONE Postal Nationals Summer Cross Country Training Program, Week 1, Day 7, Getting back into the habit

runblogrun

RunBlogRun comments on the global world of athletics, sports & ethics, and the Olympic movement. @runblogrun

Browse by Category

Newsletter

Subscribe to our mailing list to receives daily updates direct to your inbox!

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Contact Us

© 2022 Run Blog Run - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Home page
  • My Account
  • Sample Page

© 2022 Run Blog Run - All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

Select a password for yourself. (minimum length of 8)

Paste here the user biography.

Provide here the twitter screen name. i.e. @RunBlogRun

Provide here the instagram screen name. i.e. @RunBlogRun

Provide here the facebook profile URL. i.e. http://www.facebook.com/RunBlogRun

Provide here the linkedin profile URL. i.e. https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-eder-5497253

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

No Result
View All Result
  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Home page
  • My Account
  • Sample Page

© 2022 Run Blog Run - All Rights Reserved