2009 – End of Year Reviews – HURDLES

USA, December 31, 2009 – This event has a somewhat paradoxical structure. It has always been heavily dominated by the USA and 2009 was no exception in this way with the USA providing no less than 11 of the 15 runners dipping under 13.30 in legal wind. The paradox is that for the last five years they have despite this wealth of talent still not been able to claim the coveted No 1 position:

At the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 Liu Xiang of China won, in Helsinki 2005 Ladji Doucouré of France, in Osaka 2007 Liu Xiang again, in Beijing 2008 Dayron Robles of Cuba and now in Berlin 2009 – with both Liu and Robles injured – the USA still had to concede the gold medal. This time to Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados who just prevailed over Americans Terrence Trammell and David Payne.

For Trammell now age 30 there seems to have developed some kind of championship curse as this was his fifth silver medal in the last ten years at a global outdoor event (Olympics or Worlds)! One could, however, wonder if his choice not to compete at all between the US trials in late June and the Worlds in mid-August was the best preparation.

At least for the surprise champion Brathwaite the pattern was the complete opposite: Eight meets in the USA (collegiate season) in April and May, four meets at home in the Caribbean in June/July, five meets in Europe before Berlin and finally four meets in Europe after Berlin culminating in a triumph at the World Athletics Final.

Extensive competitive schedules have always been a tradition in this event and obviously Brathwaite has picked up on that although he, despite 22 meets in five months still wasn’t the most prolific racer: A couple of US runners competed even more frequently. One of those was Dexter Faulk who at age 25 really came alive as a world class athlete in 2009.