TheFinalSprint.com - Track & Field, Marathons, Racing News, Training Advice, Elite Athlete Blogs, Interviews, Podcasts, Videos and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Destination for Track & Field, Marathon, Cross Country, Olympic and Road Racing Enthusiasts.

Lead Stories: Thursday, August 28, 2008

TFS Running Podcast 142: German Fernandez on His Historic, Record-Setting Double

Posted June 10th, 2008 at 4:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts, High School

Today on Episode 142 I had a chance to speak with German Fernandez of Riverbank High School in Riverbank, California where he was preparing to run the 2 mile at the Nike Outdoor Nationals which will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina from June 19th through the 21st, 2008.

German recently broke Ryan Hall’s state record in the 1600m run by winning in 4 minutes, 0.29 seconds and then followed that by eclipsing Dathan Ritzenhein’s National High School Federation 3200m Record by winning in 8:34.23. He is headed to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where he will major in Criminal Justice and run track with Colby Lowe, another outstanding member of the class of 2008 runners.

In the interview German talks about Colby and fellow seniors Michael Fout, Luke Puskedra and Chris Derrick and compares them to the outstanding class of 2001 (Hall, Ritzenhein and Alan Webb). He explains why he decided not to run the 2 mile at the Prefontaine Classic. Download the podcast to hear German discuss these topics, as well as, his outstanding double, the type of training he does, his plans for the rest of 2008 and for the long-term, and to check out his answers to our rapid-fire questions segment.

TO DOWNLOAD: Right click here and select “Save As”

Host: Jimmie Markham | Guest: German Fernandez
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 10.7 MB | Length: 00:15:35

Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS Running Podcast 139: Gatorade XC Runner of the Year CHRIS DERRICK

Posted May 1st, 2008 at 1:30 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Track & Field, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts, High School

On Episode 139 of TheFinalSprint.com Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, I had the pleasure of being joined by Chris Derrick of Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois.

In January Derrick was named the 2007-2008 Gatorade National Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year. He also finished second behind TFS Elite Athlete Blogger Michael Fout at the national Foot Locker Cross Country Championships and most recently ran the fastest 5k ever (13:55:96) in a high school race at the Arcadia Invitational.

In the interview, Derrick talks about his recent successes and why he’ll head to Stanford this fall instead becoming an Illini. Download the podcast to hear Derrick discuss these topics, as well as, whether the current crop of elite high school runners (Derrick, Fout, Puskedra, Lowe, Fernandez, etc) could match the level of success already achieved by Hall, Webb, and Ritz, his answers to our new “Rapid Fire Questions” segment, and much more!

TO DOWNLOAD: Right click here and select “Save As”

Host: Adam Jacobs | Guest: Chris Derrick
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 13.6 MB | Length: 00:19:56

Episode Sponsored By: U.S. Army Special Forces

If your measure of success goes way beyond the mainstream, if you think limits are something to be pushed, if your greatest motivation is doing the impossible, we may have a career for you.

U.S. Army Special Forces.
Visit goarmy.com/specialforces.

There’s strong and then there’s Army Strong.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 2/12/08

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

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports, TFS News Briefs

UK Athletics Allows Chambers to Compete But Is Not Happy About It
UK Athletics, the governing body of British Track & Field will allow previously-banned sprinter Dwain Chambers to compete in the IAAF World Indoor Championships. The relented after Chambers threatened a lawsuit; however, they are not happy about it and have issued a strongly-worded statement expressing their displeasure.
Read more at: [Yorkshire Post, UK]

Hall Won’t Compete in World X-C Championships
Ryan Hall, in a phone call to the New York Track Writers Association, told them that he would not compete in the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships (Edinburgh, Scotland, March 30th) if he were to qualify, saying,” I don’t think I would go because I don’t think it would fit into my [London Marathon] buildup.” Since Hall was probably a shoe in, that leaves one extra slot for a determined runner who might not otherwise make the team.
Read more at: [NY Times]

WCSN Has Impressive 2008 Schedule
WCSN has an impressive lineup of track & field and cross-country events, including the IAAF World Track & Field Indoor Championships (3/7-3/9 in Valencia, Spain), the IAAF World Cross Country Championships (3/30 in Edinburgh, Scotland) and a host of IAAF Super Grand Prix, Grand Prix and Permit meetings throughout the year.
Read more at: [WCSN]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS Podcast 125: High School Running Phenom Colby Lowe

Posted February 5th, 2008 at 2:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts, High School

Episode 125 of TheFinalSprint.com Podcast features my interview with Colby Lowe, who recently ran in the prestigious Reebok Boston Indoor Games’ Boys’ Junior Invitational Mile, finishing 2nd with a time of 4:08.99, just 0.22 seconds behind Luke Puskedra. Colby’s long list of accomplishments in his young career include:

Colby’s impressive accomplishments in his young career include being only the 5th boy in Texas high school history to win back-to-back Class 5A state titles in cross country and winning back-to-back 3200m Texas State 5A Cross Country Championships in 2006 and 2007. He also doubled as the 2007 1600m state champion.

In the interview, Colby talks about how the race in Boston played out, what his goals are for the 2008 (including running a 4:05 mile and a sub 8:50 2 mile), the reasons behind his decision to commit to OSU and his future goals for running, his college major and his future career.

Download the podcast to hear Colby discuss his current training leading into the 2008 season, what meets he will be running, what he does in his spare time and much, much more!

Listen In
[PLAY] (To Download: Right click and select “save as”)

[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to you

Host: Jimmie R. Markham | Guest: Colby Lowe
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt, Darnell Perkins
File Size: 13.8 MB | Length: 20:08 MIN

Episode Sponsored By: Nike +

Long Live Running!
Nike Plus will improve the way you run. Get feedback from your iPod on pace, time, distance and calories burned.

Log into Nikeplus.com to track your progress,
set goals and challenge friends.

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

Read the rest of this entry »

3 comments, add yours | Permalink

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 12/07/07

Posted December 7th, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, TFS News Briefs

High School X-C Runner Gets Rock-Star Treatment
The Foot Locker High-School National Cross-Country Championships will be held tomorrow in San Diego, CA. One of the favorites going into the race is German Fernandez from Riverbank (CA) High School. The heavily-recruited senior “signs autographs on dollar bills, has a Wikipedia entry and is the topic of debate on running Web sites across the nation.” Read more at: [Modesto Bee, CA]

CT Harrier Comes in From the Cold to Try and Win Nationals
Donn Cabral of Glastonbury (CT) High School has gone to San Diego, CA a day early to acclimate himself to the 60° heat (it’s 30° in CT). He is shooting to become the first boy from CT to win the Foot Locker High-School National Cross-Country Championships. Read more at: [Hartford Courant]

Texas Teammates Seek Foot Locker Title
Southlake Carroll High School Teammates Colby Low and C.J. Brown will be vying for the Foot Locker High-School National Cross-Country Championship title tomorrow. Lowe has the fastest regional qualifying time (14:45 for 5k at the South Regionals) going in to the race while Brown finished 3rd in 15:00. Read more at: [Fort Worth Star Telegram]
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

On the Road & Around the Track:
TFS News Briefs 9/20/07

Posted September 20th, 2007 at 1:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, TFS News Briefs

World Athletics Final Middle- and Long-Distance Preview
In the latest WAF preview there are speculations about who will run the middle- and long-distance events this late in the season and why they will do it. Runners to watch (men): Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (800m), Daniel Kipchirchir Komen (1500m), Craig Mottram (3000m), Paul Kipsiele Koech (3000m SC), Sileshi Sihine (5000m). Women: Janeth Jepkosgei (800m), Maryam Yusuf Jamal and Yelena Soboleva (1500m), Yekaterina Volkova (3000m SC), Meseret Defar (pictured at right, 5000m). Also, an explanation of the WAF points system and the current standings. Read more at: [IAAF WAF2007]

World Marathon Majors Conference Call with Race Directors
Race Directors Dave Bedford (London), Carey Pinkowski (Chicago), Mark Milde (Berlin), Mary Wittenberg (New York City) and Guy Morse (Boston) talk about a range of questions regarding their races and the sport in general. Read the complete transcript at: [Track & Field News]
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink