Rai Benjamin

Scattergories bordering on idiocy: too many track meets, and in 2024, only two matter

Scattergories bordering on idiocy: too many track meets, and in 2024, only two matter

Attention, track and field nerds. This past weekend featured:

1/ the LA Grand Prix, on Friday and Saturday, at UCLA

2/ another Continental Tour Gold meet, in Tokyo, Sunday

3/ a Diamond League meet in Marrakesh, Sunday

4/ the Atlanta City Games, Saturday

5/ World Athletics Combined Events Tour (decathlon, heptathlon) in Götzis, Austria, Sunday

6/ and for the true specialists, World Athletics Race Walk Tour Gold meet in La Coruna, Spain, Saturday

The purist may say, look at the robust nature of the sport.

Anyone else says, this is scattergories bordering on idiocy.

Track and field makes it so hard on itself. Why, why, why?

Track and field makes it so hard on itself. Why, why, why?

EUGENE, Oregon — On Sunday, the United States won nine medals, four of them gold, at the world track and field championships.

As track nerds knew and organizers helpfully reminded, this was statistically the greatest single-day haul by any nation in the nearly 40-year history of the championships.

On August 31, 1991, the Soviet Union won eight. The previous American best had been seven, on August 10, 1983. Kenya won seven medals on August 27, 2011. There have been 14 times a nation has won six.

The question is: does this nine/four performance move the needle when it comes to growing track and field in the United States? Nine and four are great, no question. But unless this meet kickstarts the sport, with an eye toward the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, then nine and four are just — nine and four. Numbers. Like those in that third paragraph. Stats. For freaks and nerds. Who are already on the I-love-track train.