As I was putting together my team for the IAAF World Championships Fantasy League…I started to look through the IAAF lists to make sure I wasn’t missing anyone to put on my team.? As someone who doesn’t look at the world rankings list too often, the thing that really stood out to me was how amazing the Russian women are. They are AT LEAST as good and deep as our men’s and women’s sprint and shot put squads but they have less than half our population. Also, they excel over a MUCH wider range of events than us; but show particular dominance in the field events. To me, this shows they’re doing something right over there. To me, excellence in the field events is a proving ground for coaching systems. The field events unbelievable speed and power but ALSO technical mastery. With perhaps the exception of the long jump, you can’t just expect to excel in the field events with just talent alone…something which is somewhat possible in the sprints. Much respect to our former-cold war nemesis. Whatever they are doing, they are getting it done.
