2015: A Year in Review (Part One)

This article will take a look back at the 2015 outdoor season for the sprint hurdling events, with a focus on the World Championships that took place in Beijing in August. It was an exciting year in the hurdles, with a lot of new faces taking on old faces, a lot of big letdowns and a lot of big victories. Let’s take a look at women’s 100m hurdles and the men’s 110m hurdles, focusing on the major story lines and the World Championship results.

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Women’s 100 Meter Hurdles:

This event was by far the most exciting of 2015 when it comes to the hurdles. It seems that the women’s sprint hurdles has more competitors who are racing at a very high level than any other event in track and field. The major story lines would include the following:

• The fall of Sally Pearson. When she fell and broke her wrist in a meet early in the outdoor season, that served as a brutal reminder to all hurdlers of all ages and genders and ability levels that a major fall can occur no matter how advanced you are. Pearson’s fall wasn’t horrifying in and of itself, but she landed in such a way that her wrist took on all of the impact. With Pearson forced into a rehab situation for the rest of the season, that meant that one of the prime contenders for a gold medal at Worlds was out of the picture.

Pearson in agony after breaking her wrist.

• The rise of a new crop of American hurdlers. While we’ve grown accustomed to the elite performances of Dawn Harper-Nelson, Queen Harrison, and Briana Rollins, a trio of fresh-out-of-college stars also took center stage: Sharika Nelvis, Kendra Harrison, and Jasmin Stowers. Stowers ran a couple sub-12.40’s early in the summer, Nelvis was looking dominant in several big races, and Harrison followed up an NCAA victory by finishing second to Harper-Nelson at the US Trials. So, heading into the 2016 Olympic year, it’s looking like the battle to make the US team will be fierce, with all six of the hurdlers mentioned above capable of running 12.50 or even better. Not to mention Lolo Jones and Kristi Castlin might still be in the mix, as well as any rising stars who may still be in the college ranks.

Sharika Nelvis, the new kid in town.

• The fall of American hurdlers at Worlds. For all of the high expectations heading into Worlds, and the very real possibility of an American sweep with Pearson injured, the fact that no Americans earned a medal was highly disappointing. The reasons were varied. Harrison was disqualified for a false start in her semi-final race. Her reaction to the gun was under the legal minimum, although she is adamant that she did not false start. Harper-Nelson, the most tried and true warrior in the event, fell over the second hurdle in her semi-final heat, and that was that. Rollins, who still hasn’t recaptured her dominant level of performance from 2013, had a decent race in the finals, but missed the medal stand by .01.

The look on Harrison’s face says it all.

• The no-name new-names. None of the World Championship medalists were on my radar prior to the meet, but they all are now. Danielle Williams of Jamaica won the gold in 12.57, Cindy Roleder of Germany won the silver in 12.59, and Alina Talay set a Belaruss national record of 12.66 in finishing third. Much respect and congratulations to all three of these women.

World Champion Danielle Williams

Men’s 110 Meter Hurdles:

Though the surprises in this event weren’t as shocking as the ones in the women’s race, we did see some unexpected happenings in the 110’s. Let’s go ahead and break down the major story lines in this event:

• The rise of Sergey Shubenkov. While the 23-year-old Russian has been no stranger to major international competition the past couple years, not until 2015 did he truly have what could be considered a break-out season. And it happened on the world’s biggest stage – the World Championship final – before carrying into the final month of the season in September. His 12.98 in the World Championship final was a personal best, and he proved to be the class of a very strong field. As I mentioned in an article last month, there is a lot I like about Shubenkov’s technique, especially his lean, but I’d like to see him eliminate the lead leg kick and the extra duck-down of his head.

Shubenkov and Parchment finish 1-2 at Worlds.

• The Aries Merritt kidney ailment. Merritt became nothing less than an heroic figure this past summer when he revealed that he had been battling a kidney disease for over a year. He said that his bronze at the World Championships was even more gratifying than his gold medal in the 2012 Olympics, considering all that he had to endure to achieve it. And I believe it.

Merritt, on the left, celebrates his bronze medal with Shubenkov and Parchment. A couple days later, Merritt underwent a kidney transplant.

• American disappointment at Worlds. Yes, Merritt was heroic and remains so in battling his illness, but for the US to come away from Worlds with only one medal, and a bronze at that, was disappointing to say the least. Aleec Harris, who was perhaps not quite yet ready for the prime time, didn’t make it out of his semi-final heat. David Oliver, who had been having another outstanding season and was looking sharp through the rounds, had a plain old bad race in the final. After a good start, he had a serious mis-step somewhere around the third or fourth step, which put him too far away for a good take-off distance into hurdle one. He smacked the hurdle hard, and never recovered.

D.O. couldn’t find the magic this time around that he’d found in 2013.

• The rise and disappearance of Orlando Ortega. The Cuban who won a couple big Diamond League meets and was looking like one of the favorites heading into the World Championships, ended up ineligible to compete at the WC’s, as he is in the process of transferring his citizenship to Spain. Look for Ortega to be a major player in 2016.

Ortega on his way to victory at the Diamond League meet in Birmingham.

• A mediocre season from Pascal Martinot-Lagarde. In 2014, the young Frenchman looked like a hurdling monster, but he seemed to lose his mojo in 2015. His races were sloppier, he seemed more mistake-prone. All of which goes to show that it’s not easy to stay at the top in such a demanding event.

Will Lagarde return to form in 2016? We shall see.

• Who’s got next? Heading into 2016, there’s no clear-cut favorite as to who will rise to the top in Rio at next summer’s Olympic Games. I’m sure that old vets like Oliver and Merritt will be priming to make a big push. Shubenkov, I’d assume, will head into 2016 as the man to beat, since he’s finally reached the top and has proven himself capable of coming up big in major international competition. Besides those names and others mentioned in this article, we can’t forget Hansle Parchment, Garfield Darien, Omar Mcleod, and Dmitri Bascou. There is talent all over the world in this event. The days of one or two hurdlers reigining supreme are on hold for a while. Back in the day you knew who your handful of favorites were. The final was going to come down to Liu Xiang, Dayron Robles, Allen Johnson, and you always had to consider Terrence Trammell. Those days are gone. While you still don’t see many guys running under 13 (only four did so this year – Shubenkov, Mcleod, Oliver, and Ortega), you’re seeing more and more guys running sub-13.20 and sub-13.10, which means it’s getting crowded at the top.

In next month’s issue, we’ll take a look back at the long hurdles in 2015. See you then.

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