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: Saturday, November 22, 2008

Hyleas Fountain Sets Three Records in Heptathlon 100m

Posted June 27th, 2008 at 4:30 PM by thefinalsprint.com

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Hyleas Fountain’s time of 12.65 in the women’s heptathlon 100m, worth 1,178 points on scoring tables, broke three records Friday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field. Her time broke the following HEPTATHLON records:

• American record, heptathlon 100m (12.69, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1988, Seoul)
• Olympic Trials record, heptathlon 100m (12.71, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1988, Indianapolis)
• USA National Championship record, heptathlon 100m (12.77, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1991, NYC)

Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

U.S. Olympic Track Trials:
Day 1 Preview

Posted June 27th, 2008 at 3:00 PM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

TV coverage:
USA, midnight-1 a.m. Friday night / Saturday morning (available in HD format)

USA Today preview

Only two finals are on Friday; the women’s heptathlon (first day) leads off the entire meet, and the women’s 10k caps the day’s events.

I cannot say that I’ve followed the heptathlon as closely as other events, so I will have to defer to Track & Field News. They pick Hyleas Fountain to win, followed by 4time NCAA champ Jacquelyn Johnson and then Diana Pickler. Fountain, the defending national champion, has not competed in a multi this year and has only the third-best qualifying mark. But she took the dreaded fourth spot at the ’04 trials and has been waiting for this moment ever since. Johnson has had a full collegiate season, capped by winning the NCAA in Des Moines just two weeks ago, and cannot possibly be as rested and ready as Fountain.

In the women’s 10k, everyone’s favorite is Shalane Flanagan. She didn’t even consider running this event at the Trials until breaking the American Record in May. Her qualifying time is nearly a minute faster than anyone else’s, and she’s a proven ace both in cross country and shorter track distances. In other words, saving illness or injury, she’s essentially unbeatable.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 3/19/08

Posted March 19th, 2008 at 3:23 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Blue Collar High School Runner
Eugene, Oregon’s Register-Guard has a profile of high school speedster Luke Puskedra who describes himself as a blue-collar runner. Puskedra, who has signed a letter of intent to run at Oregon, has the fastest indoor mile time of 2008 for a high schooler, having run a 4:08.77.
Read more at: [Register-Guard]

Spotlight On MarathonWeb.com
New York’s Star Gazette features MarathonGuide.com in an article that covers a range of statistics found on the site including the average men’s time for a marathon (4:29:52), average women;s time (4:59:28) and the % of runners who broke 3 hours in 2007 (only 1.7%).
Read more at: [Star Gazette]

Carolina Klüft Will Not Defend Her Olympic Heptathlon Title
In an expected move, Carolina Klüft announced that she will not defend her Olympic Heptathlon title from Athens. Instead, she will focus on the jumps in Beijing.
Read more at: [IAAF]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 12/09/07

Posted December 9th, 2007 at 2:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Olympics, Drugs In Sports, TFS News Briefs

IOC Meets This Week To Determine Fate of Marion Jones’ Medals
The International Olympic Committee faces a tricky decision this week when they meet in Lausanne, Switzerland to determine the fate of Marion Jones’ 5 Olympic medals from the 2000 Sydney Games. They have to be careful not to strip one drug-tainted athlete of her medals only to award them to another dope-tainted athlete. Read more at: [International Herald Tribune]

Australian 400m Runner Steffenson Under Investigation for Verbal Assault
Australian 400m runner John Steffensen, apparently stilled peeved because he didn’t gain one of the coveted “automatic selection” slots for the Beijing Olympics, verbally assaulted track and field selection panel member Glynis Nunn-Cearns, winner of the 1984 Olympic gold medal in the heptathlon. He is now under investigation and could be charged with misconduct. Read more at: [The Australian]

Dallas White Rock Marathon
James Koskei overcame cold, windy and wet conditions to win the Dallas White Rock Marathon in 2:15:07. He won $35,000 in prize money – $10K for 1st place and $25K for winning the gender challenge, in which he overcame an 18 minute, 35 second head-start that was given to the women. Emily Samoei won the women’s race in 2:35:24. Read more at: [Google News][Complete Results]
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

TFS News Briefs: 12/05/07

Posted December 5th, 2007 at 11:54 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

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

Paula Radcliffe “disturbed and disappointed” by Ohuruogu’s admission
British marathon world-record holder Paula Radcliffe, known for her strong stance against doping, has said that she is “disturbed and disappointed” by sprinter Christine Ohuruogu’s recent statements about her failure to make a doping test. Read more at: [Citizen, South Africa]

Winning Streaks of World’s Best Athletes on the Line
With the new year right around the corner, we “trackies” can begin to get excited about the 2008 track & field season. Some of the best athletes in the world will be laying their winning streaks on the line as they begin their ‘08 campaigns that will culminate with the best track meet of them all: the Olympic Games. Among those laying it all on the line are pole vault star Yelena Isinbayeva, steeplechaser Saif Saaeed Shaheen and multi-event queen Carolina Klüft, each of whom has a winning streak of at least 15 competitions. Read more at: [IAAF]

Muggy Honolulu Marathon Expected
The weather forecast for Honolulu this Sunday, December 9th, 2007, looks grim for the 26,286 runners who have registered for the Honolulu Marathon. They can expect scattered showers, a high temperature of 81°F, 70% humidity and north winds of 10 MPH. The only good thing about this forecast is the rain. Read more at: [The Weather Channel]
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

7,032 Points for Carolina Klüft!

Posted August 26th, 2007 at 8:41 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Special Features, Live Race Coverage

In the final event of the Heptathlon competition, the 800m Run, Carolina Klüft (SWE) won the world championships gold medal for the third straight time, setting a new personal best and a European record by running a time of 2:12.56. Her mark is the 7th best point total of all time and makes her the second fastest Heptathlete of all time, surpassing the 7,007 points set by Larisa Nikitina (RUS) in 1989. Only the indomitable Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) has scored better, with point totals of 7,291, 7,215, 7,158, 7,148, 7,128 and 7,044.

Lyudmila Blonksa (UKR) smashed her national record of 6,733 with her time of 2:16.68, worth 869 points and giving her a final score of 6,832. That score earned her a silver medal.

Kelly Sotherton (GBR) ran a 2:11.58, worth 942 points and good enough to overtake Austra Skujyte (LTU) for the bronze medal.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Carolina Klüft Poised To Move Up On Alltime List

Posted August 26th, 2007 at 7:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Special Features, Live Race Coverage

Although she has a lifetime best of 50.96m (167′ 2.29921″) in the Javelin Throw, Carolina Klüft needed only a conservative 48m (157′ 5.76378″) throw to keep her on pace for a 7,050+ score in the Heptathlon competition at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics at Osaka, Japan. She threw the javelin 47.98m (157′ 4.97637″), then groaned and clutched her side in obvious pain. She laughed it off, however, saying, “it’s worth the pain.”

With only the 800m Run remaining, Klüft needs a time of just 2:14.80 to beat her lifetime best points total of 7,001 points. A time of 2:11.38 would give her 7,050 points. For those who enjoy wishful thinking, a time of 1:55.57 would give her 7,292 points, which would break Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s world record of 7,291 by one point. More likely, but probably still outside the realm of possibility, a time of 2:06.03 would give her a point total of 7,129, breaking Joyner-Kersee’s world championship record of 7,128 by one point. More realistically, tying her personal best of 2:08.89 would be worth 981 points for a final score of 7,086. That would be the 6th best performance of all time in the Heptathlon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Carolina Klüft On Track to Become 2nd Best Alltime Heptathlete

Posted August 26th, 2007 at 4:25 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Special Features, Live Race Coverage

The Heptathlon competition at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics at Osaka, Japan is on track to become one of the best of all time. Here are the details after the fifth event, the Long Jump:

• Lyudmila Blonska gained 10 points on Klüft by jumping 6.88m (22′ 6.86614″), a lifetime best worth 1132 points. Afterwards, she let out a joyful scream. She is on track to make the alltime top 10 list in the Heptathlon.
• Carolina Klüft jumped 6.85m (22′ 5.68503″) to set yet another season’s best, good enough for 1122 points. Barring a disaster in either the Javelin Throw or the 800m Run, she’s on track for a final score of 7,050+, which would make her the 2nd best Heptathlete of all time, passing the 7007 score of Russia’s Larisa Nikitina. The world record belongs to the great Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who scored 7,291 points to win the gold medal on September 24th, 1988 at the Seoul Olympics.
• Kelly Sotherton managed to post a 6.68m (21′ 10.9921″) jump, a personal best worth 1066 points.
• The competition began to slip away from Jessica Ennis with another disappointing effort in the Long Jump. She managed only a 6.33m (20′ 9.21259″), worth only 953 points.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink

Klüft: 2 PB’s, 2 SB’s in First 4 Events of Osaka Heptathlon

Posted August 25th, 2007 at 8:50 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Special Features, Live Race Coverage

The Women’s Heptathlon began today with the 100m hurdles, the first event of the two-day heptathlon. Right away, the Nagai Stadium track in Osaka, Japan lived up to its pre-race billing of being super-fast. Britain’s Jessica Ennis set a personal best of 12.97 seconds in winning Heat 1, beating her previous PB by 0.07 seconds. Carolina Klüft came in 2nd, tying her PB of 13.15 and Kelly Sotherton rounded out the top 3 in Heat 1 with a 13.21, also a PB.

Here are the points leaders after the first event of the Heptathlon, the 100m Hurdles:

1. Jessica Ennis (GBR) 1129
2. Carolina Klüft (SWE) 1102
3. Kelly Sotherton (GBR) 1093

The second event of the day, the High Jump, turned out to be the Carolina Klüft show. By the time she missed for the first time at 1.92m, most of the heptathletes were already out of the competition. She went on to jump a PB of 1.95m, making three decent attempts at 1.98m.
Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink