TheFinalSprint.com | Premier Running Destination for Marathons, Track and Field, Race News, Podcasts, Training Advice and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Running Destination for Marathons, Track and Field, Race News, Podcasts, Training Advice and More!

Lead Stories: Friday, July 25, 2008

Lemoncello Carries British Hopes into World Cross

Posted March 28th, 2008 at 7:07 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Cross Country, Track & Field

It’s not often that a major world championship comes to Great Britain, seemingly a prime opportunity for the host country’s best athlete’s to shine. However, only a handful of Britain’s best have answered the call to run for Queen and country, and an athlete with an American father and a Scottish mother who works part-time at a restaurant in Flagstaff, Ariz., will be the U.K.’s top man when the gun sounds for the senior men’s 12 km race here on Sunday afternoon.

Andrew Lemoncello, a talented steeplechaser who starred at Florida State University and won the ACC indoor titles at 3000m and 5000m last year, is excited to compete in Holyrood Park. Rooming with Irishman Martin Fagan in high altitude Flagstaff where he is coached by American Greg McMillan, Lemoncello has come through a snowy winter with some solid training under his belt.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Nick Symmonds: World Indoor Championships 2008
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #8)

Posted March 11th, 2008 at 4:30 PM by Nick Symmonds

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Nick Symmonds

Welcome to the official blog of elite American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds. Make 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

I am currently sitting in a cafe in Oviedo, a small city in the north of Spain and I’m thinking I have the best job in the world. I get paid to travel to many foreign places doing what I love to do. Well, usually I love this job, but sometimes it challenges me with the most difficult experiences. I ran into a new challenge this past weekend in Valencia, Spain at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships.

After passing through the prelims and semi-finals with relative ease, I found myself preparing to race in my first World finals. I was about to compete against five of the fastest people on this planet. The prospect had me excited to say the least and I had no idea what to expect. Though this was my first final on the World level, I have been in many championship races. They are, especially in the 800m, impossible to predict.

I assumed that it would go out at a modest pace and eventually slow down leaving things perfectly set-up for me to unleash a 200m kick that would surely result in a top three finish … No such luck.
Read the rest of this entry »

5 comments, add yours | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 12/17/07

Posted December 17th, 2007 at 3:30 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Announcements, Marathons, Track & Field, TFS News Briefs, Masters

Rock Star Now Hooked on Running Instead of Drugs
Babyshambles front man Pete Doherty is reportedly going to run the 2008 London Marathon. The UK musician has embraced a healthy lifestyle after years of drug abuse. Read more at: [Google News]

15,696th Straight Day of Running for Legendary Ron Hill
Legendary British runner Ron Hill, known for his ultra-high-mileage training in years past, is featured in an Independent (UK) article in which he discusses his superb running streak of 15,696 straight days without missing a run. For those of you not interested in dividing that number by 365, Hill’s streak began on 12/20/1964!Read more at: [Independent, UK]

Runners in New England Have New Springtime Marathon Option
The Cox Providence Marathon, set to be launched on May 4th, 2008, is a new springtime marathon option for New England runners who are interested in having to deal with qualifying times or the hype associated with that other famous springtime marathon in New England. Read more at: [TheDay, CT]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Moscow To Host ‘08
European Indoor Cup

Posted November 17th, 2007 at 11:33 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The Russian capital city of Moscow has been awarded the right to host the 4th edition of the European Athletics Indoor Cup, which will be held on Saturday February 16, 2008.

It will be the first time Moscow has hosted a major athletics event since the successful IAAF World Indoor Championships took place in 2006, and will take place in the 5,000 seat CSKA Arena, which hosts the successful IAAF Indoor Meeting “Russian Winter” every January.

Eight teams will take part in each of the men’s and women’s competitions and will be led by the French men and the Russian women, who are the defending European Cup champions both indoors and outdoors.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

European Athletics Council discuss future Championships in Malta

Posted October 19th, 2007 at 8:27 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

The 118th meeting of the European Athletics Council, was held in Malta this week, to discuss and finalise plans for an additional European Athletics Championships, that would take place in an Olympic year, and to decide on the new concept for the European Athletics Team Championships.

Following this, President Hansjörg Wirz, updated the Presidents and General Secretaries of the 50 European Member Federations on these decisions.

Additional European Athletics Championships:

The additional championships are scheduled to take place one month before the Olympic Games commence in London, in five years time.
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

Europe raises the bar at the World Military Games

Posted October 18th, 2007 at 10:19 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

An all-European podium at the men’s High Jump event at the World Military Games in Hyderabad, India, saw Andrey Tereshin (RUS), Aleksander Walerianczyk (POL) and Viktor Shapoval (UKR) all match the Games record of 2.26m.

The record, held by Italy’s Ettore Ceresoli, has been in place since the first edition of the World Military Games in 1995. On count-back, top honours went to World Indoor and SPAR European Cup silver medallist, Tereshin, with Walerianczyk in second place, and Shapoval in third.

There was a second European sweep in the women’s 200m, where Poland’s Daria Korczynska, snatched the Sprint double title from Yelena Bolsun (RUS) who finished just 0.04 secs behind the Pole’s lifetime best of 23.44secs. While 20-year-old, former World Junior 200m bronze medallist Ewelina Klocek (POL) took bronze.

It was another Russian/ Polish combination that took gold and silver in the Decathlon, where Osaka fourth place finisher, Aleksey Drozdov (RUS), finished first with 7712 points and Poland’s, Marcin Drozdz, in second place with 7396.
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

Wins by Jamal, Sinclair the highlights in chilly Lausanne

Posted July 11th, 2007 at 7:55 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Running in chilly conditions that dipped below 50 degrees F (9 C.), Maryam Yusuf Jamal and Jamaican Kenia Sinclair produced the chief highlights at the Athletissima Super Grand Prix in Lausanne tonight.

After a dismal 13th place finish in Paris last Friday, Jamal was clearly trying to illustrate a point 1500. Running before a supportive hometown crowd –the 22-year-old Ethiopian-born Bahraini has been based in Lausanne since fleeing Ethiopia in 2002– Jamal cruised to a front-running victory in 4:03.61. Never seriously challenged –she had a near four second lead at the bell– Jamal easily held off the late race charge of Ukraine’s Iryna Lishchynska (4:04.27) and Russians Olga Yegorova (4:04.64) and two-time world champion Tatyana Tomashova (4:05.48).

U.S. champion Treniere Clement briefly followed Jamal and pacesetter Olga Komyagina’s solid tempo, but paid for it dearly 800 meters into the race. Fading badly over the final lap and a half, she finished 22nd in the 23 woman field.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

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 »

Comment on this post | Permalink

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 »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

Don Kern breaks record by running marathons on seven continents in 35 days

Posted March 22nd, 2007 at 9:57 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: News & Results, Marathons

On 18 February 2007, “Marathon” Don Kern completed his attempt to break the Guinness World Record “Marathon on each continent - Shortest duration to complete (Men)”.

He succeeded in this feat by running in organized marathons on each of the seven continents in 35 days. The attempt began on 11 February 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama.

The marathons included in the “world tour” were: Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham Alabama (North America), Egyptian International Marathon in Luxor, Egypt (Africa), Maraton Popular de Valencia in Valencia, Spain (Europe),
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink