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Best Early-Season Marks in 2008 (800m - 10000m)

Posted March 26th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Here are the world’s top 10 performances in the middle and long-distance track events so far for 2008, based on the % variance of those marks from the current world record. Six out of ten are in the men’s 800m, led by Cuba’s Yeimer López, who also competes in the 400m, perhaps in emulation of the great Alberto Juantorena (seen here outpacing Rick Wohlhuter and Ivo Van Damme of Belgium in the home stretch of the 1976 Olympic Games 800m final in Montreal).

A quick glance at the times reveals that none of them are bound to hold up as top 10 marks until the end of the season. In the men’s 800m, 23 men ran faster last year, led by Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA) who led the world with a time of 1:43.74. In the men’s 5000m, 34 men ran faster in 2007, led by Kenenisa Bekele’s 12:49.53. In the women’s 3000m steeplechase, 18 women ran faster in 2007, led by Russia’s Yekaterina Volkova who ran a time of 9:06.57.

Interestingly, though, McFarlane is over 4 seconds faster at this point in the season than she was in 2007. She ran a time of 9:34.21 on 3/10/2007. That time stood up as the world’s fastest until June.

López’ time would have held up until May of 2007, when Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei ran a 1:44.14, the 9th fastest time of the year.

Mottram’s time of 13:11.99 can’t be expected to hold up for very long in 2008. Last year, two men had run faster by April 13th in the Stanford Invitational. In that meet, Mexico’s Juan Luis Barrios ran a 13:11.37, outkicking Anthony Famiglietti, who ran a 13:11.93. Fellow Mexican David Galván ran a 13:12.18, almost as fast as Mottram’s time in 2008. All three men set PR’s in that race by at least 10 seconds. We can expect the men’s 5000m at Stanford to be quite competitive again this year, as it – along with the 10000m – will most likely be used as a tune-up race for the US Olympic Trials by many of the top Americans.

Here is the list of the top 10 early-season performances in the world for 2008 (as of 3/26/08) in the middle-distance and long-distance events:

1. 800m (Men) 1:45.00 [WR: 1:41.11, var: 3.85%] Yeimer López (CUB ) 3/13/2008
2. 800m (Men) 1:45.25 [WR: 1:41.11, var: 4.09%] Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA ) 2/22/2008
3. 800m (Men) 1:45.30 [WR: 1:41.11, var: 4.14%] Andy González (CUB ) 3/13/2008
4. 800m (Men) 1:45.49 [WR: 1:41.11, var: 4.33%] Samson Ngoepe (RSA ) 2/22/2008
5. 5000m (Men) 13:11.99 [WR: 12:37.35, var: 4.57%] Craig Mottram (AUS ) 2/21/2008
6. 800m (Men) 1:45.79 [WR: 1:41.11, var: 4.63%] Lachlan Renshaw (AUS ) 2/21/2008
7. 5000m (Men) 13:13.51 [WR: 12:37.35, var: 4.77%] Shadrack Kosgei (KEN ) 2/21/2008
8. 800m (Men) 1:46.38 [WR: 1:41.11, var: 5.21%] Warren Hendricks (RSA ) 2/22/2008
9. 3000mSC (Women) 9:29.93 [WR: 9:01.59, var: 5.23%] Donna MacFarlane (AUS ) 2/21/2008
10. 5000m (Men) 13:18.47 [WR: 12:37.35, var: 5.43%] Abreham Cherkos (ETH ) 2/21/2008