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Kipsiele Koech Ambitious in Indoor 5000m Debut
Posted February 25th, 2009 at 3:03 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
In the men’s 5000m, Paul Kipsiele Koech is hoping to make his indoor debut over the distance an auspicious one. A 13:11.26 performer over the distance outdoors, the Kenyan steeplechase standout is aiming to become only the fourth man to dip under the 13-minute barrier indoors at the inaugral Meeting of World Record Holders this Thursday.
“This race will be very important for me,” said Kipsiele Koech, who has won both of his 3000m races this season and has the world leading time of 7:32.80. “If I can run under 13 minutes, I’ll be very happy.”
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Defar Captures 5000m World Indoor Record in Stockholm
Posted February 18th, 2009 at 6:19 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Meseret Defar, who lost her 5000m world record to Tirunesh Dibaba last summer, evened the score tonight at the GE Galan meeting at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, clocking a new world indoor record of 14:24.37. That eclipsed Dibaba’s 14:27.42 from the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in January, 2007.
Defar, 25, the reigning world 5000m champion, now holds both the world 3000m (8:23.72) and 5000m indoor records, and has also run the world’s best ever time for two miles indoors (9:10.50). The two-mile mark is not recognized by the IAAF as a world record distance.
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American and Collegiate Records for Rupp at Tyson Invitational
Posted February 15th, 2009 at 12:04 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
The University of Oregon’s Galen Rupp set an American and collegiate indoor record at last night’s Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., covering 5000m in 13:18.12. Rupp, a senior and the reigning NCAA cross country champion, finished second to Ethiopia’s Bekana Daba (13:17.89) and Liberty University’s Samuel Chelanga (13:19.79). Chelanga, a Kenyan, was also defeated by Rupp at last November’s NCAA Cross Country Championships.
Rupp’s time beat one of America’s most venerable indoor records, the 13:20.55 run by Doug Padilla on the wooden, 145m track in Madison Square Garden at the 1982 Millrose Games.
“The crowd was great,” Rupp told the Oregon sports information department. “Everyone got into it. Awesome atmosphere.”
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For Bernard Lagat, Double Ambitions Remain
Posted February 10th, 2009 at 5:32 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
When he effortlessly kicked past Ethiopian Abreham Cherkos to win the 3000m at last Saturday’s Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart, it was abundantly clear that this was not the same Bernard Lagat who struggled at last summer’s Olympic Games.
“Yeah, I have my speed back,” said Lagat, who was hoping to succeed Hicham El Guerrouj as the Olympic champion at both the 1500 and 5000m. But it wasn’t quite in the cards for the Kenyan-born American, who captured both world titles the year before in Osaka.
“It was unfortunate what happened in Beijing. I developed an injury training in my summer home here in Tübingen, and it was really hard for me to train hard. So everybody was in good shape at the Olympic, and I was not.”
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Dibaba Golden Again!
Posted August 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 AM by Jared Markowitz
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba has completed a rare distance double, winning the Women’s Olympic 5000m title tonight to add to the 10000m title she won last Friday. Dibaba stayed near the front throughout and used a punishing final kilometer to hold off 10000m silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey and fellow Ethiopian Meseret Defar, who took silver and bronze respectively. Kara Goucher was the top American in 9th place and was closely followed by 10000m bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan in 10th.
Few races in these Games have been surrounded with as much intrigue as this one. There was the great individual matchup between Dibaba and Defar, two rivals who have traded the World Record in recent years (Dibaba currently owns it at 14:11.15 but Defar has run 14:12.88).
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Lagat Cautiously Optimistic As Double Ambitions Begin
Posted August 15th, 2008 at 8:00 AM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
With the start of his quest to succeed Hicham El Guerrouj as the Olympic 1500 and 500m champion now just a day away, Bernard Lagat believes he is ready and indeed up for the daunting challenge.
“This is the one I’ve been looking forward to,” the reigning world champion over both distances said at a press conference. “My preparation has really been at the top.”
The first round of the men’s 1500m is scheduled for Friday evening, the first five races on the Kenyan-born American’s busy Beijing schedule. Lagat said that both distances will pose their unique challenges, but that it’s the 1500m that may pose the stiffest test.
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2008 Beijing Olympic Preview: Men’s 5000 Meters
Posted August 12th, 2008 at 2:00 PM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Men’s 5000 Meters
The Schedule: heats, Wednesday Aug 20; finals, Saturday, Aug 23
The Americans:
#5 Bernard Lagat, Matt Tegenkamp, Ian Dobson
The Contenders: #1 Edwin Cheruyuiot Soi (KEN), #2 Tariku Bekele (ETH), #4 Kenenisa Bekele (ETH), #11 Craig Mottram (AUS), #13 Eliud Kipchoge (KEN), #14 Abraham Cherkos Feleke (ETH)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - K Bekele, Lagat, Kipchoge;
SI - Soi, T Bekele, Kipchoge
The Story: Who wins and who medals will depend very much on how the race plays out. A slow pace favors Lagat, who has far and away the best finishing speed, but it’s unlikely that all the other finalists will want to hand the race to him like they did last year in Osaka. A hard pace from the gun reverses that advantage/disadvantage situation but is even less likely. More expected is gamesmanship, surging, and a real race taking shape in the last eight or so laps.
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2008 Beijing Olympic Preview: Women’s 5000 Meters
Posted August 12th, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Women’s 5000 Meters
The Schedule: heats, Tuesday Aug 19; finals, Friday, Aug 22
The Americans: #6 Shalane Flanagan, #7 Kara Goucher, #12 Jen Rhines
The Contenders: #1 Meseret Defar (ETH), #2 Gulnara Samitova-Galkina (RUS) #3 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH), #4 Meselech Melkamu (ETH) #5 Sylvia Jebiwott Kibet (KEN), #8 Penina Chepchumba (KEN), #22 Liliya Shobukhova (RUS)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - Defar, T Dibaba, Melkamu; SI - T Dibaba, Defar, Jepleting
The Story: While everyone knows the men’s 100 and high hurdles will be great showdowns, this race has been getting short shrift. Too bad, because it’s going to be a great race.
Teammates Dibaba and Defar have owned the long distances for several years. They have not raced each other head-to-head this year, but did appear in separate 3k and 2-mile races in the Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Dibaba broke the 5k World Record in Oslo’s Bislett Games, running 14:11.15; later in the summer, Defar ran 14:12.88 in Stockholm. Both are strong and have withering kicks. It will be a war.
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Bekele and Dibaba to Double at Beijing Olympics
Posted July 15th, 2008 at 9:07 AM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics
Bernard Lagat’s ambitious goal to succeed Hicham El Guerrouj as the Olympic 1500m and 5000m champion might have gotten even more difficult with today’s team announcement by the Ethiopian Olympic Committee (EOC). Despite earlier indications that he would only defend his 10,000m Olympic title in Beijing, the EOC included Kenenisa Bekele on its 5000m roster as well.
Less than two months ago, Bekele told reporters in Hengelo, The Netherlands, that a double was out of the question.
“It’s very tough to run a double at the Olympics,” he said. “I ran many kilometers in a few days in Athens, and I lost a lot of power.”
Apparently Bekele has had a change of heart. The world record holder at both events and widely acknowledged as the finest distance runner of his generation, Bekele will be aiming to improve upon his showing over the shorter distance in Athens four years ago, where he finished runner-up to El Guerrouj.
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Goucher Kicks Past Flanagan and Rhines for 5,000m Victory
Posted July 5th, 2008 at 1:35 AM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Image details: U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials - Day Six served by picapp.com
The women’s 5000m final at the 2008 US Olympic Trials featured a rematch of the top two finishers in the 10,000m (Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher) as well as several other medal threats in the Beijing Games. The race did not disappoint as Goucher stormed past Flanagan and Jen Rhines to claim victory in the last lap.
The race began at a controlled pace as Renee Metivier Baille, Lauren Fleshman, and Molly Huddle took turns leading the pack in the first kilometer, which was reached in 3:08.36. Sensing that her chance at the A standard was slipping away, Stanford alum Arianna Lambie went to the front and led for several laps, reaching the 3k mark in 9:12.68. Her efforts led to a six-person breakaway with Flanagan, Rhines, Goucher, Fleshman, and Sara Slattery in that order. The group continued to click off laps without much rearrangement until American Record holder Shalane Flanagan asserted herself with 1200m to go, breaking up the pack almost instantly.
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