Happy New Year to all! 2011 will be an amazing year in our sport. European Indoors in March in Paris and World Cross in March in Spain. The second Samsung Diamond League in 2011 and the World Outdoor Champs in Daegu, Korea! It will be track geek heaven!

In this column, Alfons Juck, our intrepid man about the world, looks back at 2010 and gives you his moments and big performances ( I will give you mine this coming weekend). I agree with the Juckster on many of his comments. The one we do completely agree is the 2.05m high jump AR for Chaunte Howard, and then, her 6.90m long jump! I have to admit I was worried that she would get hurt that day, but Chaunte proved me wrong! What a day!

How a sleeping bag became a major catalyst for Yaroslava Mahuchikh’s Paris win

Anna Cockrell’s Silver Lining

Cole Hocker and a powerful illustration of incredible self-belief in this new era of the men’s 1500m

Chaunte Howard, USA Outdoors, June 2010, photo by PhotoRun.net

LOOK BACK

TOP
EVENTS 2010

TOP EVENTS (as per
All-Athletics.com rankings): European Championships in Barcelona is the top multi days event of
2010. Best one day meeting is Weltklasse of Zurich, best indoor competition the
World Indoor Championships in Doha (best indoor
meeting is Birmingham), best combined events
competitions were in Barcelona
during European Championships (best CE meeting was Gotzis). Best special
meeting of 2010 was the indoor PedroÂ´s Cup in Bydgoszcz and best walking competition
Beijing IAAF Race Walking Challenge finals. Best marathon of 2010 was London and Abu Dhabi
Half-Marathon was the best in other road races.

TOP
RESULTS 2010

TOP RESULTS (outdoor as per
IAAF scoring tables): The overall best male result of the year is 58:23
half-marathon world record by Zersenay Tadese worth of 1303 points. On the
women side the 6823 by Jessica Ennis in heptathlon (1257 points). On the men
side best sprint result was the 9.78 at 100 m by Tyson Gay and Nesta Carter and 200 m 19.56 by Usain Bolt (1297 points). Best
middle distance mark the 1:41.01 world record at 800 m by David Rudisha
(1293), best long distance track race was 8:00.90 in steeple by Brimin Kipruto
(1258), best jumping mark is the 17.98 by Teddy Tamgho in triple jump (1262),
best throw 71.45 in
discus by Gerd Kanter (1267) and best walking is the 1:18:24 at 20 km by Alex Schwazer
(1229). In the women section in sprints best mark the 52.82 by Lashinda Demus
at 400 m
hurdles (1242), in the middle distances Anna Alminova 3:57.65 1500 m (1224), in long
distances on the track the 14:27.41 at 5000 m by Vivian Cheruiyot (1232), best road
race mark the 2:20:25 by Liliya Shobukhova in marathon (1234), best jumping
mark the 205 by Blanka Vlasic in high jump (1248), best throw the 20.95 of
Nadezhda Ostapchuk in shot put (1245) and walking top mark the 1:25:11 of Olga
Kaniskina (1224).

OTHER NEWS

LONDON
(GBR): Sports and Olympic Minister Hugh Robertson has been praised by Liz
Nicholl, the chief executive of UK Sport, for protecting the funding that she
claims means Britain
is on target to achieve its goal of finishing in the top four in the medals
table at London 2012. UK Sport’s Exchequer funding was cut by 28 per cent in
the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) in October but, thanks to a change in
the distribution of National Lottery money, it actually saw an increase in
funding in the run-up to the Olympics and Paralympics in London. Nicholl, who replaced John Steele as
chief executive after he left to take up the same role at the Rugby Football
Union, has now revealed in a blog written exclusively for insidethegames her
relief that they had largely escaped unaffectedd by the austerity measures
imposed by the Coalition Government.

AMSTERDAM
(NED): Dutch male athlete of the year 2010 is Barcelona
silver winner in decathlon Eelco Sintnicolaas and on the women side 800 m runner (also silver
holder from Barcelona)
Yvonne Hak. Best young athlete is world junior champion from Moncton in heptathlon Dafne Schippers.

PORT
OF SPAIN (TRI): Shot put national
record holder Cleopatra Borel-Brown was
named Sportswoman of the Year by the T&T Olympic Committee for the third
time in five years at its Annual Award Ceremony at the National Academy
for the Performing Arts. Local media are informing.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-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." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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