There aren’t too many athletes who would describe the fourth fastest performance in history as “disappointing”. But Olympic 5000m champion Meseret Defar is not your typical athlete.
After crushing a solid 3000m field by more than 11 seconds at tonight’s Sparkassen Cup in front of a raucous packed house, clocking 8:27.93 in the process, the 25-year-old Ethiopian sounded almost apologetic after her performance on the same track where she set the world record of 8:23.72 one year ago.
“I came here for the record,” she said, “and I’m a little disappointed. I’m in good shape, so I don’t know what happened. Maybe after the Boston race –it was very hard in Boston– I am a little bit tired.” A week ago at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, Defar chopped more than a dozen seconds from the previous world best over two miles, clocking 9:10.50.
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Antwon Hicks has been named USA Track & Field’s Athlete of the Week after winning the men’s 60-meter hurdles Saturday at the 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games at the Reggie Lewis Center.
The 2005 NCAA Outdoor 110m hurdle runner-up, Hicks out-leaned 2005 U.S. Indoor champion Joel Brown at the finish to win the Reebok men’s 60m hurdles in 7.59 seconds to Brown’s 7.61. For his victory, Hicks was named Team USA Athlete of the Meet, Presented by Visa.
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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.
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Hayward Field Face lift Almost Finished
The renovation of historic Hayward Field, the site of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, is nearly complete. Included in the $8 Million face lift are an improved infield and press area, a new hammer cage, dual high-jump and long-jump stations, new sound system and a $1.5 Million scoreboard.
Read more at: [ESPN]
Liu Xiang Elected to Communist Party Advising Council
110m Hurdle world-record holder, world champ and Olympic champ Liu Xiang has been elected to sit on an advisory council to the Chinese Communist Party. Now we’ve got even more reason to cheer U.S. hurdler Terrence Trammell this season as he tries to dethrone Xiang in Beijing.
Read more at: [Guardian Unlimited]
Impressive Wins by Defar, Mottram at Boston Indoor Games
Meseret Defar ran a world-best (it would be a world-record, but the IAAF doesn’t recognize this distance) time of 9:10.50 in the women’s two-mile at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Craig Mottram, not to be outdone, ran an all-comer’s (best time ever on U.S. soil, regardless of nationality) record of 7:34.50 in the men’s 3000m, surpassing Haile Gebrselassie’s previous record of 7:35.24 at the same meet in 2004.
Read more at: [IAAF]
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A world best by Meseret Defar, an all-comer’s record by Craig Mottram, and upset winners in both the men’s and women’s miles gave the sell-out crowd of over 4000 fans plenty to cheer about at the 13th Reebok Boston Indoor Games here tonight at the Reggie Lewis Center at Roxbury Community College.
Defar, of Ethiopia, the reigning Olympic and world champion at 5000m, made her seventh appearance at this meeting her best yet. Paced by Serbia’s Marina Muncan and pushed by New Zealand’s Kim Smith, Defar destroyed Regina Jacobs’s 2002 two mile world best by nearly 13 seconds. With Smith never more than a few steps back, Defar went through the first mile in four minutes and 38 seconds, and came back to run the second half in 4:33.5, breaking the tape in 9:10.50. Smith powered home right behind her, running the #2 indoor time ever in history: 9:13.94.
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TheFinalSprint.com is proud to be on the scene at the 2008 Reebok Boston Indoor Games.
Unfortunately, the race organizers have banned all media outlets from publishing online content during the the meet itself.
We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and promise to release our comprehensive race recaps, analysis and results as soon possible.
In addition, click here to watch the Pre-Race Show.
With three major international invitationals set for this weekend –Saturday’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games, Saturday’s Norwich Union International in Glasgow, and the Russian Winter meet in Moscow on Sunday– TPR begins its peak-season weekly previews. Some of the expected key highlights:
In the Sprints…
Thus far in 2008 the major news in the sprints has been off the track, beginning with the New Year’s Day announcement by the US Anti-Doping Agency that Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin would have to sit out a four-year ban. (How’s that for setting the tone for the year?) Gatlin is appealing the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. [For a recent interview Gatlin gave Reuters, please click here]
The most solid field of the weekend will be in Boston, where reigning world indoor champion Leonard Scott makes his ‘08 debut. Reigning US indoor champion DaBryan Blanton, and Leroy Dixon [Pictured], a 400m relay gold medallist last summer in Osaka, are also in the field.
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Welcome to the official blog of U.S. middle-distance runner Sara Hall. Sara’s list of running accolades include being a former NCAA All- American at Stanford, the 2006 USA 5K road champion, 5th place finisher in the 1500m at the 2007 USA Track & Field Championships and the 2006 champion at the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile. Check back every other Friday for her latest entry!
Hello from Philly! I am staying out here in between east coast competitions for the next couple weeks with my training partners Jen Rhines and Kassi Anderson. Tomorrow we head to Boston for the Reebok Indoor Games, and then Jen and I will return before Millrose the following weekend. It has been fun getting to know the running community here in Philly and being reminded how running brings people together socially. I had this same impression in Flagstaff, Arizona prior to coming to the east coast. The running community in Flagstaff is made up of all kinds of people. From working the night shift at a pharmacy to taking a break from practicing law to recently graduating from college, all the runners come from different places, yet are brought together by this common passion.
These experiences, as well as some others I have had recently, have reiterated to me how life is all about relationships. It is so easy to get tunnel-vision as a professional athlete, and become so fixated on the goals you have in front of you and where you are in the process that it becomes all-consuming (especially in an Olympic year!).
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Reese Hoffa, Jenn Stuczynski, Dwight Phillips, Adam Nelson, Khadevis Robinson , Angela Daigle-Bowen and Galen Rupp headline a top international field that includes Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar for this Saturday’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the second event of the 2008 Indoor Visa Championship Series.
Track fans around the country will have limitless opportunities to catch all the action from Boston. ESPN2 will broadcast the meet, hosted at the Reggie Lewis Center, from 3-5 Eastern Time on Sunday. Beginning Tuesday morning, the meet will be available via Webcast, linked from www.usatf.org.
Men’s shot put leads the way
The world’s top three men’s shot putters will battle it out in what promises to be a memorable competition. Hoffa [Pictured] enters the event #1 world ranked as the reigning world indoor and outdoor champion.
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Here are the start lists for the middle and long distance events for tomorrow’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games. Also, stay tuned for complete event recaps and analysis following tomorrow night’s event - right here at TheFinalSprint.com.
MEN -
BostonNOW 800m:
Said Ahmed, USA
Andrew Ellerton, CAN
Sam Burley, USA
Nick Symmonds, USA
Khadevis Robinson, USA
Mike Pachella, USA
Larry Brooks, USA
Mile:
Boaz Cheboiywo, KEN
Rob Myers, USA
Chris Lukezic, USA
Max Smith, NZL
Galen Rupp, USA [Pictured]
Fumikazu Kobayashi, JPN
James Nolan, IRL
David Freeman, PUR
Jason Jabaut, USA
Pablo Solares, MEX
Moise Joseph, HAI (pace)
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American Alan Webb continued his domination, but Shayne Culpepper was upset by Australia’s Sarah Jamieson in the 1 mile races at tonight’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games.
Webb, who The Final Sprint will be interviewing on Monday, was able to secure the big win in a time of 3:55.18; a new indoor P.R. Canadian […]
It will be Craig v. Cragg at 3000 meters in the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 27 when Craig Mottram, the 2005 World Championships bronze medalist, faces off against Alistair Cragg, the 2005 European Indoor Champion at 3000 meters, organizers announced today.
Both athletes have a history here. Mottram, the first non-African to win a […]
Reigning Olympic gold medalists Meseret Defar and Joanna Hayes have been added to a star-studded lineup for the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 27 that already includes Tirunesh Dibaba, the double World Champion; Australian Steve Hooker, the world’s top pole vaulter; and American miler Alan Webb.
Hometown favorite Shalane Flanagan, a 2004 Olympian and the […]
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