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.
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).
Read the rest of this entry »
2008 Beijing Olympic Preview: Women’s 10,000 Meters
Posted August 14th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Women’s 10,000 Meters
The Schedule: Friday, Aug 15
(live on NBC)
The Americans:
#5 Shalane Flanagan,
#8 Kara Goucher, Amy Begley
The Contenders: #1 Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH), #2 Lucy Kabuu Wangui (KEN), #10 Grace Kwamboka Momanyi (KEN) #12 Ejegayehu Dibaba (ETH), #13 Kim Smith (NZL), #16 Linet Chepkwemoi Masai (KEN), #21 Mestawet Tufa (ETH), Elvan Abeylegesse (TUR)
The Stats: Records, 2008 List, 2007 Worlds, 2004 Olympics
The Medal Picks: T&FN - T Dibaba, E Dibaba, Abeylegesse;
SI - Tufa, Jepleting, Kabuu
The Story: Six runners automatically get respect simply from their uniform: the trios from Ethiopia and Kenya. The northernmost of the two African neighbors has had significantly better results at international championships, winning five of the last nine major medals to Kenya’s none. One of those Ethiopians gets more respect than the other two combined, however: two-time World champ Dibaba, who also holds the 5k world record.
Read the rest of this entry »
Lagat Breaks 99 Year Gold Medal Drought for USA
Posted August 29th, 2007 at 1:30 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Special Features, Live Race Coverage
Competing in his first IAAF World Championships in Athletics for the United States, Bernard Lagat of Tucson, Ariz., brought home a gold medal in the 1500m, breaking a 99-year middle distance gold medal drought for his adopted nation. Not since Mel Sheppard won the Olympic title in London in 1908 has an American man won a world or Olympic 1500m title.
“This is the most important moment of my life today,” Lagat told the media at the post-race press conference while balancing his 19 month-old son, Mikka, on his knee. He added later, “This was a great win for me.”
Lagat, who already has Olympic silver and bronze medals to his name, executed the race plan coach James Li gave him to perfection. Coach Li had come to Lagat’s hotel room this morning with a video of his semi-final, and pointed out where the 32 year-old athlete had made mistakes during the race. Lagat said he listened carefully to his long-time coach, and kept the race plan he was given for tonight clearly in mind.
“He showed me the plan. I followed it and at the end, I was the winner,” Lagat summarized.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tirunesh Dibaba Outclasses Field in Tactical 10,000m
Posted August 25th, 2007 at 9:22 AM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Special Features, Live Race Coverage
In the women’s 10,000m Run, Belgian Nathalie De Vos took the early lead, taking the field through the first 3000m in 9:54.28 (3:27.75, 3:15.07, 3:11.46), on track for a 33:00 10,000m time. Kenya’s Evelyne Wambui Nganga took the field through 4000m in 13:10.58 (1000m split: 3:16.30), on pace for a 32:56 10,000m. De Vos regained the lead at the halfway mark, run in 16:29.24 (1000m split: 3:18.66).
At the 5,600m mark, Tirunesh Dibaba and Mestawet Tufa, both pre-race favorites, got tripped up along with Benita Johnson and fell. Tufa jumped up and quickly rejoined the pack. Dibaba lost 20m to the lead pack and took her time working her way back to the front. Tufa took the field through 6000m in 19:43.16 (1000m split: 3:13.92). Kayoko Fukushu of Japan led at 7000m in 22:58.16 (1000m split: 3:15.00). At this point, the pace was still too slow to break up the pack, consisting of 19 runners. Former Ethiopian Elvan Abeylegesse, now running for Turkey, took over at this point and led the race for the next 2000m (3:07.62, 3:02.45). Tufa, perhaps having taken too much out of herself in moving back up to the front too quickly after her fall, dropped out of the race.
At the bell lap, Dibaba kicked strongly and won by nearly 4 seconds in a time of 31:55.41. Abeylegesse finished second, winning the silver medal in a time of 31:59.40. Kara Goucher of the USA ran a smart tactical race, keeping herself in contention the entire race. She outkicked Britain’s Joanne Pavey and took the bronze in 32:02.05. Goucher’s bronze was the the first American medal on the world stage at 10,000m since Lynn Jennings took a bronze in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Here are the top 6:
1. Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH) 31:55.41
2. Elvan Abeylegesse (TUR) 31:59.40
3. Kara Goucher (USA) 32:02.05
4. Joanne Pavey (GBR) 32:03.84
5. Kimberley Smith (NZL) 32:06.89
6. Deena Kastor (USA) 32:24.58
Abeylegesse, Pollmacher take European Cup 10,000m titles
Posted April 7th, 2007 at 2:56 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results
Competing in warm and windy conditions, Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey and Germany’s André Pollmächer cruised to victory at the European Cup 10,000m in Ferrara, Italy, today.
Taking command over the final two kilometres, Abeylegesse produced an overwhelming victory in 31:25.15 to become the first woman to win back-to-back titles in this competition. In her debut over the distance, Ukraine’s Tetyana Holovchenko, the European cross country champion, was a distant second in 31:59.98, with Belgian record holder Nathalie De Vos (32:07.62) third.
Briton Jo Pavey, also making her track debut over 10,000m, was fourth in 32:21.19, missing both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ qualifying standards for next summer’s IAAF World Championships.
Read the rest of this entry »
Abeylegesse returns to defend European Cup 10,000m title
Posted April 6th, 2007 at 8:43 AM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results
Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey returns to defend her title to highlight the 11th European Cup 10,000m in Ferrara, Italy, on Saturday.
Competing on home turf in Antalya, Turkey, last year, the 24-year-old Abeylegesse produced an impressive 30:21.67 performance in a torrential downpour, to move up to the No. 4 spot all-time among Europeans, and breaking Paula Radcliffe’s meet record of 30:40.70 set in 1999. Her time was also the fastest in the world in 2006.
The Ethiopian-born Abeylegesse, who set a world record of 14:24.68 over 5000m at the 2004 Bislett Games in Bergen, Norway, was slowed by injury for much of the remainder of last season, but took the bronze in the 5000m at the European Championships last summer five days after dropping out of the 10,000.
Read the rest of this entry »
Who was America's most-valuable male runner in 2008?
Recent Comments
Page 2 Articles
The Final Sprint
On January 9, 2009
Vry Disgusted said:
Why are you flogging this junk? What will be next - first we have flavored water - now jazzed...