2012 London Summer Olympics

Men's Side
Marathon is going to be absolutely epic!

2:03:42 man Wilson Kipsang, Double WC Gold Medalist Peter Kirui, and Moses Mosop who ran 2:03:03 (wind-aided) in Boston. Then you have the Ethiopian contigent, all who have recently run in the low 2:04's. Really that's crazy when you think about it as just two or three years ago 2:04 was an eye-popping time...now it's run relatively frequently.

Will also be interesting to see if the late Sammy Wanjiru's unbelievable Beijing run has redefined the way people attack the Olympic Marathon.

Men's 10K is gonna be sweet too, especially if Bekele rounds back into good form. Bekele v Farah? Hell yes! Then you have the ever improving Galen Rupp who could be a longshot to medal as he ran 26:48 last season and it's just a question of can he get a little bit stronger and be able to really kick with everyone at the bell.

5K could be awesome as well. Farah v Lagat (Presumably anyway, I can't imagine him not making it past the trials), Rupp could be there, maybe Lopez Lomong who did this just a few weeks ago. Going to be really interesting to see who the Kenyan squad ends up being this year

1500m could be one hell of a race too. Silas Kiplagat just ran 3:29 on Friday and it's EARLY in the season. Equally stunning in that same race was reigning WC and Olympic gold medalist Asbel Kiprop who finished just tenths of a second behind Kiprop despite getting tangled up and nearly falling right as he was coming into the back straight.

800m is pretty well setup for Rudisha to do his usual thing BUT there is Mohammed Aman who actually managed to beat Rudisha last season. We'll probably get a better idea of this matchup before the olympics though as they are scheduled to race each other soon

400m just got more interesting as Merritt just popped off a cool 44.19, meaning he could potentially be sub 44 shape come London. Obviously Kirani James is a huge threat despite looking off and being unable to win indoor WC's. Then there is Wariner...and who knows what to expect from him.

200m - Blake (19.26) v Bolt (19.19)...I don't even think I need to say more except that this is going to be awesome

100m - Same matchup. Bolt has run much faster than Blake in this event, but Blake hasn't been in peak 100m form since his stellar 200m breakthrough. He also has a slightly higher absolutely top end speed than Bolt. Thrown in the added pressure of Bolt messing up and false starting to get DQed from the 100m WC final last year in Daegu and things get VERY interesting.

Women's Side

Marathon - Sure looks set up for Mary Keitany to wreck face. She just ran 2:18:37 in London with THE fastest final 10k split in women's marathon history. She ran the last 10k in an unbelievable 31:36! If she can close the olympics anything like she did London earlier this year it's a done deal.

5k/10k - One word: Vivian Cheruiyot. I don't think anyone can stop her the way she is running right now. Last week despite a slow pace and dropping down in distance to 3K Cheruiyot still managed to outkick Ethiopan Meseret Defar. For her tp take down competition like Defar (Cheruiyot, Defar, and Tirunesh Dibaba are the dominant three) in here weaker event off a slow pace shows she is in absolutely dominant form at the minute.

1500m - Should be interesting as you have reigning WC gold medalist Jenny Simpson (who I regular see running on the trails here in Colorado!), Morgan Uceny (arguably the 1500m favorite last year in Daegu but got tangled up, tripped, and was out). There are a host of others out there with credentials right around 4:00 incuding Shannon Rowbury, Ekaterina Gorbunova, Maryam Jamal, and Kalkidan Gezahegne.

800m - Pamela Jelimo certainly looks to be the overwhelming favorite as she is healthy again and just ran a blistering 1:56.94. If she isn't peaking too soon I'm not sure I see anyone challenging that. Ethiopian teenager Fantu Magiso made a courageous move with 200m to go and blasted into the lead, but couldn't quite hold it but still establishes here name as a potential threat. Given Jelimo's time it really only leaves Caster Semenya and Mariya Savinova with realistic chances of thinking about Gold.