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Lead Stories: Thursday, August 28, 2008

Webb is Back, Back Again

Posted July 4th, 2008 at 12:31 AM by Stephanie Lowe

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Image details: U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials - Day Five served by picapp.com

The much-anticipated U.S. Olympic Trials men’s 1500 meters finally started today with three action-packed qualifying races.

Jordan McNamara of the University of Oregon led the first heat, with Steve Sherer close behind. McNamara stumbled in the third lap, but reacted quickly to hold his front position. However, he did not have enough gas left in the end as he ended up last. Sherer finished strongly in second-place (3:44.71) after Gabe Jennings‘ outstanding kick for first (3:44.39).

The second heat had Lopez Lomong (3:43.38) and Leonel Manzano (3:48.41), who finished first and second. The most exciting moment was Andrew Acosta’s fall. He fell hard, did a back flip and got back up to finish the last laps despite having no chance to catch the rest of the field.

In case you were worried, Webb is back. Alan Webb had a lot to prove after recent performances, but he did well tonight with a 3:41.27, the fastest time of the quarterfinals. Behind Webb were Said Ahmed (3:41.92) and Christopher Lukezic (3:42.10). Bernard Lagat, who already made the Olympic team in the 5000 meters, looked relaxed in the back for most of the race, but eventually finished fourth (3:42.11).
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American Record for Flanagan At Cardinal Invitational

Posted May 5th, 2008 at 12:30 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

She’d never run a 10,000m race before, but Shalane Flanagan can safely say that she’s already mastered the distance on only her first try at Sunday’s Peyton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. Helped by excellent pacemaking provided by Kenya’s Rose Kosgei and a spirited battle with New Zealand’s Kim Smith which went right to homestretch, the 26 year-old Olympian toppled Deena Kastor’s American record with a sparkling 30:34.49 clocking.

“Thanks to the New York Road Runners, they set me up with a rabbit and that gave me a cushion,” Flanagan told a clutch of reporters after the race. “It really worked out very well.”
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Men’s Olympic Middle & Long- Distance In the Modern Era

Posted March 27th, 2008 at 9:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics

The Modern Olympic Era

Of the 336 medals that have been awarded thus far in the men’s middle and long-distance track events during the Modern Olympic Era (1896-2004) here are some interesting statistics:

· A total of 42 Countries have won medals in these events.*
· Kenya (no surprise) has won the most medals, having won 43.
· USA is a close 2nd with 42.
· Finland (yes, Finland) is 3rd with 41.
· Great Britain is 4th, having won 35.
· Ethiopia rounds out the top 5 with 15 medals.**

· Finland can claim the most gold medals with 21. Kenya is 2nd with 15, followed closely by the USA and Great Britain with 13 each.
· In the silver-medal count, it’s Kenya (17), then United States (13), then Great Britain (12), then Finland (11). France rounds out the top 5 with a total of 9 medals.
· The top 5 in the bronze-medal count are: United States (16), Kenya (11), Great Britain (10), Finland (9) and Sweden (7).
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BIGgest Moments from Boston

Posted January 27th, 2008 at 8:09 PM by Jared Markowitz

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, College, High School

The 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games featured many exciting events on the track and in the field. As usual the meet attracted many of the world’s finest athletes- Olympic Medalists, World Champions, seasoned vets and rising stars. Each event at the Boston Indoor Games brought thrills to the crowd at the Reggie Lewis Center, but below we give our recaps and rankings (the latter being completely subjective) of the excitement delivered by each event:

1.) Women’s 2 Mile- Defar and Smith shatter previous WR

The Women’s 2 mile was a distance running clinic put on by two of the world’s finest distance runners, Meseret Defar (ETH) and Kim Smith (NZL). Defar’s goal in this race was to break the Women’s Indoor 2 Mile World Record of 9:23.38, set by disgraced American star Regina Jacobs.
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Reebok Boston Indoor Games: Start Lists

Posted January 25th, 2008 at 11:07 AM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Here are the start lists for the middle and long distance events for tomorrow’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Also, stay tuned for complete event recaps and analysis following tomorrow night’s event - right here at TheFinalSprint.com.

MEN -
BostonNOW 800m:

Said Ahmed, USA
Andrew Ellerton, CAN
Sam Burley, USA
Nick Symmonds, USA
Khadevis Robinson, USA
Mike Pachella, USA
Larry Brooks, USA

Mile:

Boaz Cheboiywo, KEN
Rob Myers, USA
Chris Lukezic, USA
Max Smith, NZL
Galen Rupp, USA [Pictured]
Fumikazu Kobayashi, JPN
James Nolan, IRL
David Freeman, PUR
Jason Jabaut, USA
Pablo Solares, MEX
Moise Joseph, HAI (pace)
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Fast times take Webb, Robinson & Johnson to
U.S. Outdoor T&F Titles

Posted June 24th, 2007 at 7:00 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The air was warm and definitely sticky, but that didn’t prevent Alysia Johnson, Khadevis Robinson and Alan Webb from posting fast times as they each won their respective events on the final day of the AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the Michael A. Carroll Stadium at Indiana University-Purdue University.

Johnson, the University of California star who won the NCAA 800m title on June 9, needed to run nearly the same fast time here to beat back the challenges of Hazel Clark, three-time USA 800m champion, and Alice Schmidt, the 2006 USA indoor champion.
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AT&T USA Outdoor T&F Champs: Webb edges Lagat; breaks Scott’s meet record

Posted June 24th, 2007 at 6:09 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Alan Webb has long spoke about wanting to break Steve Scott’s records, and he got one of them Sunday in a thrilling Nike men’s 1,500m. Webb ran in the style that suits him best, taking the lead and pushing the pace. Webb towed the pack through quick splits of 57.56 for 400m and 1:56.23 for 800, when defending champion Bernard Lagat took the lead.

Webb and company stayed right with Lagat, however, with Said Ahmed, Chris Lukezic and Leonel Manzano also tailing the leader. Lagat passed 1,200 in 2:53.8 as the race continued to escalate. Coming off the final curve, Lagat, Webb, Lukezic and Manzano all were in the running, and it came down to a final sprint.
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Gay doubles at USA Champs, Takes 200M title on final day

Posted June 24th, 2007 at 4:15 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Former Hogs Tyson Gay and Wallace Spearmon, Jr. took first and second place, respectively, in the 200-meter finals on day four of competition at the AT&T USA Championships at Indianapolis’ Michael A. Carroll Stadium on the campus of IUPUI.

With a personal best and the fastest time run in the world this year, Gay won the event with a clocking of 19.62 into a headwind. The clocking moves him to No. 2 on the all-time list behind Michael Johnson’s 19.32. Before today’s race he sat at No. 5 with his former PR of 19.68.
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Lagat completes first half of double title defense

Posted June 23rd, 2007 at 12:11 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

After finishing second in the first heat of the 1500m preliminaries tonight, a reporter asked Bernard Lagat where he would be at 8:35 p.m. when the 5000m final would begin. Smiling mischievously, the 32 year-old from Tucson, Ariz. said simply, “We will see.”

A little more than two hours later, with the daylight in this Midwest city just beginning to fade, Lagat was standing on the 5000m starting line, and he was indeed ready to race.

“Every time I go on to the track I want to win,” he said later.

And win he did, using the kind of leg speed that only a two-time Olympic medalist can summon so late in the race. Running a distant second to Matt Tegenkamp at the bell, Lagat blasted down the backstraight after Adam Goucher launched a long kick 300m from home and tried to pass him. Lagat not only beat back Goucher’s challenge, but as he pulled away rounding turn three, he could see the gap to Tegenkamp was closing. Coming out of turn four, Lagat got past the tall redhead, and kept his speed to the line, breaking the tape in 13:30.73. Despite starting his kick fairly late, he still recorded a swift 56.1 second final lap.
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Bowerman Mile features fast field at Pre Classic

Posted June 4th, 2007 at 7:30 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Four of the world’s top ten men’s milers will toe the line June 10 at the 2007 Prefontaine Classic at the University of Oregon’s historic Hayward Field in Eugene.

The fourth event of USA Track & Field’s 2007 Outdoor Visa Championship Series, the Prefontaine Classic will be televised live on NBC, Sunday, June 10, from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

The field includes nine runners with lifetime mile bests under 4-minutes, which could jeopardize the Hayward Field and Prefontaine Classic record of 3 minutes 49.92 seconds set six years ago by Hicham El Guerrouj.

Americans leading the way include two-time Olympic medalist and defending Bowerman Mile champion Bernard Lagat, who ended the 2006 season ranked #3 in the world in the 1,500/mile by Track & Field News. Two-time U.S. Outdoor champion and reigning national indoor titlist Alan Webb returns to The Bowerman Mile, where he ran a 3:53.43 at the 2001 Pre Classic to set the national high school record.
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