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Lead Stories: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Hall puts on stunning display, Wins Olympic Trials in men’s marathon

Posted November 3rd, 2007 at 3:27 PM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics

All the chatter about the resurgence of American distance running came to fruition in powerful fashion Saturday, with Ryan Hall leading Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell onto the 2008 Olympic Team. Competing at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Men’s Marathon in Central Park, Hall tamed what had been thought of as a slow and very difficult course, breaking the Olympic Trials record with his winning time of 2:09:02. Ritzenhein was second in a personal-best time of 2:11:06, with Sell third in 2:11:40.

A 25-year-old Californian, Hall has been looked to as a future star since he was a national cross country champion in high school, and in 2007 he broke the American record in the half-marathon (59:43) and posted the fastest American debut marathon in history in placing eighth at the Flora London Marathon (2:08:24).

But Hall on Saturday served notice to the world that he is not just a star of American distance running, he has the capacity to be a major player on the global scene. After leisurely opening miles in which the main pack came through 2 miles in 11:00, the pack finally caught up with earlier leader Michael Wardian at 7 miles, after a 5:19 mile split. From that point on, however, the hammer was down, and Hall made it look frighteningly easy.
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