Here are the running and track & field events coming your way on TV and/or through online webcasts. All times EDT. If I’ve missed anything, put it in the comments section. Check your local listings and enjoy!
Bislett Games
ESPN Classic (live), 2:30-4:30 p.m. Friday
CBC, noon-1 p.m. Saturday
USATF.org (live), Friday, time TBA (probably around noon to 4 p.m.)
replays on ESPN Classic at 7 a.m. Saturday
The second stop on the IAAF’s Golden League series, this meet is known for its fabulous distance races, capped off by the legendary “Dream Mile”.
Prefontaine Classic
NBC (live), 4-6 p.m. Sunday
The year’s best domestic invitational promises to be as exciting as ever.
Meet website
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Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. Be sure to check every other Monday at http://nicksymmonds.thefinalsprint.com/ for Nick’s latest entry! For more information about Nick, also please visit: www.nicksymmonds.com
With the state of my physical and mental well being left to much interpretation in my last blog, I thought I would take this opportunity to update everyone on how things are going here in Eugene, Oregon. After getting my knee sliced open at the Adidas Track Classic I returned home panicked and not totally sure what was going to happen to my season. I slept very poorly that night, woke up, and throwing all rational thought aside, decided to run 8 miles on my freshly sewed up knee. Crazy thing was, I felt great. My knee felt numb but did not bother me on this jog and I thought things were going to be just fine. However, once I got back home my knee began to swell and ache and ooze due to all the stress I had put on it.
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Carrie Tollefson traveled a rough road to make the USA Olympic team for the 2004 Games in Athens, and it looks like her path to this year’s Beijing Olympics won’t be any smoother.
Tollefson, 31, made it to the 2004 Games in the 1500m when she won a four-way sprint at the USA Olympic Trials over Jen Toomey, Amy Rudolph and Jenelle Deatherage. Just 39/100ths of a second separated the top four women in a race Tollefson was essentially forced to run after finishing only sixth in the 5000m final, her primary event.
But things got even weirder after that. Not a single finisher in that 1500m final had achieved the Olympic Games “A” standard of 4:05.80. Suzy Favor Hamilton had the time and ran in the prelims, but a hamstring injury forced her to scratch from the final. That meant that Tollefson had to achieve at least the “B” standard of 4:08.20 to get herself on the team, and if she achieved the “A” standard she would bring Favor Hamilton along with her (for two or more athletes to compete in an Olympic Games discipline both must have the “A” standard; only one can compete with the “B” standard).
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Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of The Final Sprint’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Be sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry at http://jonrankin.thefinalsprint.com/
Every time I step on the track I ask my self this simple question: why? I ask my self again and again why I put my body and mind through all this trouble and pain. And before I know it I hear Coach Cruz yell ‘GO!’ and I’m off without a second thought or answer. I just start running. Occasionally I’ll hear the voice of a teammate as I run by or the sound of the wind howling past my ears as I put one leg in front of the other as fast as I can. All the while hoping I don’t cave in before they give out. And before I know it the workout is a blur or the race is over, my erratic heart beat has slowly subsided to a subdued pitter-patter and I come to eventually find that I’m still in one piece. And as I cool down I think back to the question that always plagues my mind before every race and every workout: why? And the only answer, in the midst of all the heavy breathing, drowned out voices and splits that have no meaning, which seems to unveil itself to me, is that running is the one thing I love most. And that’s why I’ll never stop.
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Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. Be sure to check every other Monday at http://nicksymmonds.thefinalsprint.com/ for Nick’s latest entry! For more information about Nick, also please visit: www.nicksymmonds.com
As I was hanging out with a few of my teammates this week we got to talking about dropping out in the middle of a race and how often it seems to happen in professional track and field. “You, know I have never DNF’ed (Did Not Finish) a race before,” I said to them proudly.
In hindsight, I was maybe setting myself up for something terrible to happen. I always felt that if you start a race you should finish it no matter how miserable you feel.
Up until this weekend I had stayed true to this belief, but it seemed that it wasn’t meant to be today at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. I went into this race frustrated with my most recent performance in the 1500m and was determined to crack 3:40 and take some major scalps. Despite the 95 degree weather I was pretty confident I could keep my cool (uh, huh….major pun) and position myself well for a lethal final lap.
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Organizers have secured great line-ups for Sunday’s adidas Track Classic at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., and that includes the middle and long distance events.
The men’s 1500m is shaping up to the the top event, led by double world champion and two-time Olympic medalist, Bernard Lagat. Commonwealth Games medalists Nick Willis of Australia and Nate Brannen of Canada are also in the field, along with perennial Canadia star Kevin Sullivan and former NCAA ace Lopez Lomong. Nick Symmonds will be moving up from his usual specialty, the 800m, while 5000m man Adam Goucher will be moving down for a speed workout.
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Seven of the top 10 women in the world over 100 meters - including the last three World champions - are expected to toe the starting line at the adidas Track Classic Sunday, May 18 organizers announced Wednesday.
The adidas Track Classic is the second stop on USA Track & Field’s 2008 Outdoor Visa Championship Series. It will begin at 12:30 p.m. on May 18 at The Home Depot Center, on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, and will be broadcast live on ESPN from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. PDT (4 p.m.-6 p.m. EDT).
The women’s 100m race will be a rematch of the top four finishers from the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, won in a photo finish by Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown over silver medalist Lauryn Williams and bronze medalist Carmelita Jeter. Williams is the 2005 World Champion.
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Politics Rears Its Ugly Head
Political friction between Qatar and Ethioipia has resulted in a boycott by the Ethiopian federation of the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix meet. Indoor world champions Deresse Mekonnen (1500m) and Tariku Bekele (3000m) had been scheduled to run.
More: PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
Instead…
of the Ethiopians, look for some superstars at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix meet. Jeremy Wariner will run the 200m, Allyson Felix will run the 400m and Blanca Vlasic will compete in the heptathlon. Just kidding, she’s sticking to what she knows - the high jump (with Wariner and Felix branching out from their usual events, I couldn’t resist!).
More: IHT
Where In The World Is…
Tuvalu? It’s a tiny island nation in Oceania located northeast of Australia. It boasts a population of 11,992 and a land area of 10 square miles. “So what?” you ask. Well, it is the newest member country of the IAAF, the world’s governing body of track & field, which now has a membership of 213.
More: Afrique en ligne, France
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As he sets out on his quest for double Olympic gold this summer, Bernard Lagat will have plenty of supporters. Among them is the man whose achievement he’ll be hoping to emulate in Beijing: world record holder and reigning double Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj.
“Bernard proved in Osaka, thanks to determination and passion, that he can do it,” El Guerrouj, the finest middle distance runner of his generation, said of his long-time rival, last fall.
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Breaux Greer has been named USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week after breaking his own American record Sunday at the adidas Track Classic at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
A seven-time U.S. champion, Greer opened his competition with a throw of 90.71 meters/297 feet 7 inches, to smash his previous American record of 87.68m/287-8 that was set in 2004. For his effort, Greer was named the Visa Athlete of the meet and became the ninth-best performer of all time globally.
Another notable performance at the adidas Track Classic was turned in by 2006 U.S. Outdoor champion Jenn Stuczynski, who surpassed the American record in the women’s pole vault with her clearance of 4.84m/15-10.5. The previous record of 4.83m/15-10 was set in 2004 by 2000 Olympic gold medalist Stacy Dragila.
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Anthony Famiglietti, the U.S. Olympian steeplechaser, already has big wins under his belt this season; winning the U.S.A. 15km Championship in Central Park and another impresive victory at the Mt. Sac Relays.
Famiglietti, Known to his fans as “Fam”, added another “W” at today’s adidas Track Classic; crossing the finish line of the 3,000m men’s race […]
America’s Michelle Perry was able to come out on top in what was an incredibly close 100m women’s hurdles at the adidas Track Classic.
Ginnie Powell finished second in 12:61 followed only a hundredth behind by Lola Jones.
Complete results:
1 MICHELLE PERRY […]
Three-time world champion and 2000 Olympic 100m gold medalist Maurice Greene this week was a late addition to the lineup for the adidas Track Classic, to be held Sunday as part of the Visa Championship Series. Among those he will compete against Sunday is #2 world-ranked Tyson Gay. The adidas Track Classic on Friday hosted […]
Jeremy Wariner, Allyson Felix, Xavier Carter, Allen Johnson, Stacy Dragila, Tyson Gay, Ginnie Powell and Reese Hoffa are just a few of the U.S. stars expected to compete Sunday at the adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif.
The second event of USA Track & Field’s 2007 Outdoor Visa Championship Series, the adidas Track Classic, will begin […]
Women’s pole vault legend Stacy Dragila will continue her comeback, while Olympic gold medalist Allen Johnson and new American Record-holder Dominique Arnold will lead a top-flight 110-meter hurdles field and a pair of world-beaters lead the women’s hurdles at the adidas Track Classic on May 20, organizers announced Thursday.
Part of USATF’s Visa Championship Series, the […]
Meseret Defar, the world record holder in the 5000m, will be looking to add the world best over the 2 Mile to her growing list of achievements at the adidas Track Classic in Carson, Calif., on May 20.
The Olympic 5000m champion, Defar, still just 23, will be chasing the 9:11.97 best set by Regina Jacobs […]
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