2017 Nitro Athletics: Melbourne

Nitro Athletics Day One Recap: Bolt Plus Weird Events Works

Nitro Athletics Day One Recap: Bolt Plus Weird Events Works

Usain Bolt and the format were the stars at day one of Nitro Athletics.

Feb 4, 2017 by Dennis Young
Nitro Athletics Day One Recap: Bolt Plus Weird Events Works
At the first day of Nitro Athletics in Melbourne, Australia, the balance between conventional and experimental events was heavily tipped towards the experimental--and it was pleasantly captivating. The Bolt-All Stars scored the most points on day one, going into day two on Thursday with a 1080-1050 lead over Australia.

We've all seen mixed-gender relays. But this meet took it a step further, with the order not being fixed. That meant that some teams alternated men and women, some teams went two women, then two men, and some teams went two men, then two women.

Usain Bolt's squad opted for two men, two women, and it worked--Bolt handed off to Jenna Prandini with an insurmountably huge lead. It also led to the spectacle of Usain Bolt racing against a 16-year-old girl.

COMPLETE RESULTS


Probably the most entertaining event was a devil takes the hindmost mile. Six runners started, and last place was eliminated after each of the first three laps, which in practice meant that the competitors jogged the first half of each lap before sprinting all-out for the last hundred meters or so. This is way more exciting than it sounds, as some of the runners were completely shot by the early sprinting that they couldn't keep up with what was a relatively pedestrian pace on the next lap. (Linden Hall won the women's mile in 4:36, and Matthew Ramsden won the men's in 4:09.)


Kyle Merber tweeted that "You want to reward people for running fast, not punish them for running slow." Well, maybe you do. 

What about rewarding them for just beating people? That was the idea behind the three-minute run, which Genevieve LaCaze and Luke Mathews won by covering 2,325 meters in their allotted three minutes each.

There were some kinks, for sure. The javelin was largely focused around accuracy instead of distance, which was a fun idea, but it was very difficult to see the target on the broadcast.

You can watch all race videos here, including Asafa Powell's 6.64 60m. The competition resumes on Thursday night in Australia, Thursday morning in the United States.