It has been a banner year for teenagers in American track and field. High school students including Kate Murphy, Sydney McLaughlin, Vashti Cunningham, Michael Norman, Candace Hill, Christina Aragon, Noah Lyles, and Josephus Lyles and 19-year-old college freshmen including Donavan Brazier and Alexa Efraimson (who, like Hill, turned pro after her junior year of high school) have all automatically qualified for the Olympic Trials. The Trials begin next Friday in Eugene, Oregon and it seems likely that at least one person who won't hit their 20th birthday until at least 2017 will make the U.S. team for the Olympic Games in Rio.
But a few of those callow contenders are electing to make a far less glamorous stop first: the USATF Junior Championships begin on Friday in Clovis, California. At least four teenagers with a real shot at making the Olympic team are hedging their bet--and perhaps tiring out their legs--by going for a Juniors/Trials double. Brazier is the 2016 U.S. leader in the men's 800m, Hill is seventh on the women's 100m qualifying list (just 0.06 out of third), McLaughlin is seventh on the women's 400m hurdles qualifying list (just 0.44 out of third), and Efraimson is fourth on the women's 1500m qualifying list. All four are entered in the Juniors and the Trials.
Murphy, Norman, Aragon, and others are running U.S. Juniors and the Trials, but for that group of athletes, the decision to prioritize the first meet is a no-brainer. That group includes credible contenders for medals at world juniors--held next month in Bydgoszcz, Poland--but none who have any chance of making the American Olympic team.
For Brazier, Efraimson, McLaughlin, and Hill, though, the calculus isn't so simple. Brazier and McLaughlin are the world junior leaders in their events, Hill is the No. 3 100m junior of 2016 so far, and Efraimson is ranked No. 2 among juniors in the 1500m. (Notably, Kaylin Whitney is the world junior leader in the 100m but only running at the Trials.) All four could win legitimately win gold in Poland in July. The question is--is running a meet to qualify for potential world junior gold worth tiring yourself out for potential Olympic qualifying?
Our own Ryan Fenton has argued persuasively that the Olympics are a special financial opportunity that can't be jeopardized when an athlete is running at her best. But though the Olympics come every four years, the chance at world junior gold expires permanently for life after an athlete hits her age-20 year. How do you balance one against the other?
For Efraimson and Hill, who have been pro since at least last year, the answer is probably that they can afford to run both. Neither has had to run college or prep meets for her team all season; they've had ample time to plan for this double. Two meets in two weekends won't kill their relatively fresh legs. For Brazier and McLaughlin, though, it's a roll of the dice. They've been running a ton of meets since January, with both serving as 4x400m legs for their respective squads. By my count, U.S. juniors will be McLaughlin's 12th meet of 2016 and Brazier's 17th.
These two aren't precisely peaked professionals--Brazier just decided this week to get paid for his labors and McLaughlin is still in eleventh grade. They're teenagers who have been trying to help their teams win for six months rather than make a team. The only thing saving their legs may be that they're so much better than their junior competition that they'll be able to cruise to easy qualification in Clovis.
But a few of those callow contenders are electing to make a far less glamorous stop first: the USATF Junior Championships begin on Friday in Clovis, California. At least four teenagers with a real shot at making the Olympic team are hedging their bet--and perhaps tiring out their legs--by going for a Juniors/Trials double. Brazier is the 2016 U.S. leader in the men's 800m, Hill is seventh on the women's 100m qualifying list (just 0.06 out of third), McLaughlin is seventh on the women's 400m hurdles qualifying list (just 0.44 out of third), and Efraimson is fourth on the women's 1500m qualifying list. All four are entered in the Juniors and the Trials.
Murphy, Norman, Aragon, and others are running U.S. Juniors and the Trials, but for that group of athletes, the decision to prioritize the first meet is a no-brainer. That group includes credible contenders for medals at world juniors--held next month in Bydgoszcz, Poland--but none who have any chance of making the American Olympic team.
For Brazier, Efraimson, McLaughlin, and Hill, though, the calculus isn't so simple. Brazier and McLaughlin are the world junior leaders in their events, Hill is the No. 3 100m junior of 2016 so far, and Efraimson is ranked No. 2 among juniors in the 1500m. (Notably, Kaylin Whitney is the world junior leader in the 100m but only running at the Trials.) All four could win legitimately win gold in Poland in July. The question is--is running a meet to qualify for potential world junior gold worth tiring yourself out for potential Olympic qualifying?
Our own Ryan Fenton has argued persuasively that the Olympics are a special financial opportunity that can't be jeopardized when an athlete is running at her best. But though the Olympics come every four years, the chance at world junior gold expires permanently for life after an athlete hits her age-20 year. How do you balance one against the other?
For Efraimson and Hill, who have been pro since at least last year, the answer is probably that they can afford to run both. Neither has had to run college or prep meets for her team all season; they've had ample time to plan for this double. Two meets in two weekends won't kill their relatively fresh legs. For Brazier and McLaughlin, though, it's a roll of the dice. They've been running a ton of meets since January, with both serving as 4x400m legs for their respective squads. By my count, U.S. juniors will be McLaughlin's 12th meet of 2016 and Brazier's 17th.
These two aren't precisely peaked professionals--Brazier just decided this week to get paid for his labors and McLaughlin is still in eleventh grade. They're teenagers who have been trying to help their teams win for six months rather than make a team. The only thing saving their legs may be that they're so much better than their junior competition that they'll be able to cruise to easy qualification in Clovis.