What Joe Waskom, Isaiah Harris, Kenneth Rooks, and Hana Moll need for their spots in Budapest...
 |
| Joe Waskom reacts after his second place finish in the 1500m at the USATF championships (Paul Merca photo) |
At the Toyota USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships last week in Eugene, Joe Waskom of the University of Washington, Isaiah Harris of the Brooks Beasts, Walla Walla native Kenneth Rooks of Brigham Young University, and Capital HS/Olympia graduate Hana Moll all finished in the top three in the men's 1500, men's 800, men's steeplechase, and women's pole vault.
Those four hope to join former Pullman resident Katie Moon, Nia Akins of the Brooks Beasts, and Washington State alum CJ Allen on Team USATF for the world championships in Budapest, Hungary that begins August 19th and runs until August 27th.
As of this writing Waskom, Harris, Rooks and Moll do not have the qualifying standard to compete in the world championships of 3:34.20 (1500), 1:44.70 (800), 8:15.00 (steeple), and 15-5.5 (4.71m) in the pole vault.
All four have until Sunday July 30th to attain the qualifying standard, or earn enough world ranking points to advance in the world rankings quota.
According to this document issued by USA Track & Field, "If, after the close of the Selection Event, there is a place or are places in an event(s) on the World Championships Team that have not been filled, USATF will enter an athlete(s) or designate an athlete as an alternate, based upon either their rank order of place finish at the Selection Event and by virtue of their inclusion on the World Rankings list to be published by World Athletics on August 2, 2023, or the next best by world rank accepted by World Athletics by August 5, 2023. These athletes are not required to achieve the corresponding entry standard."
For the world championships and next year's Olympics, those with the qualifying standards will get into the meet subject to per country quotas (for the Olympics, its three per country; the world championships it's three per country plus a wild card entry for the defending world champion or Diamond League winner).
Depending on the event, there is a quota of athletes needed to fill the field to properly contest the rounds, which in the case of the men's 1500, it's 56 athletes.
Using the men's 1500 as an example, 39 athletes currently have the qualifying standard, which means World Athletics will need to fill the field with 17 athletes.
According to the most recent world rankings in the men's 1500, Waskom is currently ranked 81st with 1160 points, while the number 56 runner has 1172 points (scroll down to find his name, then click his name. A pop up window will open with his current five-event score).
That said, the current rankings do not take into account his finish at the national championships where he ran 3:35.32, which on the World Athletics scoring table is worth 1170 points, plus 80 bonus points, for 1250 points, though it is supposed to update every Wednesday.
The ranking points take into account Waskom's five best scoring races: the USATF champs (1250); the Washington Invitational (1191); the Bryan Clay meet (1181); the Boston Last Chance meet (1171); and the finals of the NCAA 1500 (1148), giving him a five-race average of 1188 points, which is a significant increase in ranking points from his score of 1160 at the time of this post.
UPDATE (11:30 am, Wednesday): The latest Road to Budapest rankings have been released by World Athletics, and Joe Waskom's moved up from 81st to 52nd with a 5-meet average of 1190 points.
We originally said that his 5-meet average was 1188 points, not realizing that his race in the semifinals at the Toyota USATF championships counted towards his ranking average.
His time of 3:36.31 in the semis was worth 1157 points, which throws out the NCAA finals race, which was worth 1148 points.
No matter how you slice it, Waskom needs to run meets where he can get the standard and/or score high enough ranking points between now and the end of the month.
Sources close to the UW team told publisher Paul Merca that Waskom plans to go to Europe to race between now and the end of the month.
In the cases of Harris, Rooks and Moll, unless a significant number of athletes below them leapfrog them between now and the end of the month, they should safely be on their way to Budapest.
Harris is currently in the world rankings quota in 24th position (56 athletes needed in the 800) with 1258 points; Rooks is in 23rd position (36 needed in the steeple) with 1200 points, and Moll is 29th (36 needed in the pole vault) with 1135 points.
Moll's mark at the national championships of 15-1.5 (4.61m) is worth 1148 points, plus a B level bonus point score of 70 points, giving her 1218 points, and an updated five meet average of 1154 points, a gain of 19 points over her published score when this was posted.
For all four to either hit the standards or get enough ranking points, they have to compete in meets that are on the current World Athletics calendar, and not in pop-up meets. To count as a certified meet, the meet had to register with World Athletics and their national federation at least 60 days before the competition.
The key dates are: Sunday July 30th (end of qualifying period), and August 2nd (the date the final list of athletes eligible for entry into the world championships will be published).
The best way to keep track of all this is to check the current Road to Budapest rankings every Wednesday here (scroll the filter bars down to find the event you're looking for).
The explanation of the rankings are available here, while the point rankings tables can be downloaded here.
NOTE: USA Track & Field, and World Athletics contributed to this report.
paulmerca.blogspot.com may receive a commission for any purchases made from links clicked. Please support this site and our sponsors by clicking on the links.
Comments