The Meet

Fresh on the heels of a tremendous World Track & Field Championships in London where every session was sold out and the United States won a record 30 medals, British Athletics and USA Track & Field wisely looked to capitalize.  So, earlier this week, they announced the creation of "The Meet," a head-to-head showdown between the two nations back at the London Olympic Stadium on July 18, 2018.

This meet is such a tremendous idea on so many levels.  For starters, the United States and Great Britain are the top two track & field nations in the world right now.  Now, let's not kid ourselves, Great Britain isn't going to win.  But they're the only nation that has a chance of at least being competitive with the United States...especially in London.

Only a few details have been released other than the date and location.  There will be nine events (I'm assuming that means nine events each), which will be a combination of running, hurdling and jumping...and, of course, the relays, especially after that thrilling men's 4x100 where the British nipped the U.S. at the line for the gold.  And knowing that there are only nine events, they'll choose wisely.  It'll only be events where they top two Brits and top two Americans are on par, which still leaves plenty of choices.

Let's start with the obvious events.  The four relays will be included.  So will the women's 1500, where Laura Muir and Jenny Simpson always battle it out, and the men's long jump, where Greg Rutherford (Great Britain) and Jeff Henderson (United States) are the last two Olympic champions.  You can also expect to see both the 100/110 hurdles and 400 hurdles.  I'd also include the high jump as the second jumping event and the 800.  Lastly, I've got the 200.  Why the 200?  Because if you're having both relays, it doesn't make sense to have the individual 100 or 400, so we're meeting in the middle.

Scoring is also to be determined, but the organizers have already said every athlete will contribute to the team total.  That leads me to believe some sort of standard dual meet scoring will be used.  Maybe two athletes per country and a 5-3-2-1 scoring system for the individual events, with the relays going 5-2.

Who'll be in the meet is another one of those details that needs to be figured out.  2018 is the off year for Americans, meaning it's the one year in the cycle without an Olympics or World Championships.  So, they could still have a team to make at Nationals if a spot at The Meet was at stake for the top two.  Although, since they'll likely want to guarantee the biggest names, my guess is the teams will be invitational, which is also fine.  And getting the top Americans to participate would actually be pretty easy, since they'll already be in Europe for the Diamond League.

So, using the events I've selected and the assumption that each team will have two athletes in each individual event (and, obviously, four in the relays), here's what I think our lineup for the individual events at the inaugural edition of The Meet could look like, assuming the event lineup is the same for men & women:

200: Men-Daniel Talbot & Zharnel Hughes (GBR), Ameer Webb & Noah Lyles (USA); Women-Dina Asher-Smith & Shannon Hylton (GBR), Deajah Stevens & Kimberlyn Duncan (USA)
100/110 Hurdles: Men-Andrew Pozzi & David Omoregie (GBR), Aries Merritt & Devon Allen (USA); Women-Cindy Ofili & Tiffany Porter (GBR), Keni Harrison & Nia Ali (USA)
400 Hurdles: Men-Jack Green & Jacob Paul (GBR), Kerron Clement & Eric Futch (USA); Women-Elidih Doyle & Meghan Beesley (GBR), Dalilah Muhammad & Kori Carter (USA)
800: Men-Kyle Langford & Guy Learmonth (GBR), Donovan Brazier & Boris Berian (USA); Women-Lynsey Sharp & Adelle Tracey (GBR), Ajee Wilson & Brenda Martinez (USA)
1500: Men-Chris O'Hare & Jake Wightman (GBR), Matthew Centrowitz & Robby Andrews (USA); Women-Laura Muir & Laura Weightman (GBR), Jenny Simpson & Shannon Rowbury (USA)
Long Jump: Men-Greg Rutherford & Daniel Bramble (GBR), Jeff Henderson & Jarrion Lawson (USA); Women-Lorraine Ugen & Shara Proctor (GBR), Tianna Bartoletta & Brittney Reese (USA)
High Jump: Men-Robbie Grabarz & Tom Gale (GBR), Erik Kynard & Bryan McBride (USA); Women-Morgan Lake & Katarina Johnson-Thompson (GBR), Vashti Cunningham & Chaunte Lowe (USA)

With no World Championships or Olympics, The Meet stands to be one of the marquee events on the international track & field calendar in 2018 (especially since it'll be the only international meet involving Americans).  And hopefully it become an annual (or at least bi-annual) tradition, with the host alternating.  It brings you back to the old days (when there was a USA-USSR dual meet every year).  A head-to-head meet between the two best teams in the world.  Such a simple idea.  So crazy that it just might work.