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.
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Robles Fails To Advance Past 1st Round
Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles, who owns 8 out of the 10 fastest times in the world this year, failed to advance past the first round of the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. Robles had thought Liu Xiang had false-started.
Read more at: [IAAF]
Marion Jones Reports To Prison
Federal Inmate Number 84868-054, aka Marion Jones, has begun serving her six-month sentence at the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, TX. Jones is serving time for perjury relating to her use of steroids and for a check-fraud scam.
Read more at: [Bleacher Report, CA]
Defar Wins 3000m At Worlds
Ethiopia’s incomparable Meseret Defar handily won the women’s 3000m event at the World Indoor Championships with a time of 8:38.79, well off her world indoor record of 8:27.93. Fellow Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu placed 2nd in 8:41.50, just ahead of Moroccan Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, who won the bronze medal with a time of 8:41.66.
Read more at: [IAAF]
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Valencia Boasts 159-Nation Roster
The 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships, to be held in Valencia, Spain from March 7th through March 9th, 2008 will be the biggest ever by a huge margin. The previous largest nation count was 139.
Read more at: [IAAF WIC08]
Mottram Scorches Last 400 of Australian Championships 3000m with 54.0
Craig Mottram sent a loud message to the other World Indoor Championships qualifiers that he is the man to beat by running a 7:48.26 in the Australian Championships 3000m. He scorched the last 400m in 54 seconds to win by nearly 5 ½ seconds.
Read more at: [IAAF]
MastersTrack.com Interview With Speedster Alisa Harvey
Ken Stone over at Masterstrack.com got a chance to interview 42-year-old Alisa Harvey, who has provisionally qualified for the US Olympic Trials, having run a 2:05.75 at the AT&T US Indoor Championships.
Read more at: [Masterstrack.com]
Wanjiru Wins Spanish Half-Marathon in 59:26,
Sets Sites on London, Beijing
Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru won the 21st Mitja Marató (half-marathon) de Granollers near Barcelona, Spain with a time of 59:26. proving that he is fit and ready for the Flora London Marathon this April. He also has his sites set on the Beijing Olympic Marathon this summer.
Read more at: [IAAF]
Maurice Greene Reaches “Journey’s End”
Former Olympic and world 100m champion Maurice Greene announced his retirement after unsuccessful battles with nagging injuries. Read more about this story at: [IAAF] Read more about Greene at: [Wikipedia]
Field Events Dominate Governor’s Cup Indoor Meet in Samara, Russia
A sellout crowd at the Governor’s Cup Indoor Meet in Samara, Russia was treated to world-class performances in the field events by a top-notch international field of athletes from 17 countries.
Read more at: [European Athletics]
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On the second day of the third World Conference on Doping in Sport organised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which is taking place in Madrid, Spain, IAAF President Lamine Diack made the following speech addressing the IAAF’s position with regard to the revision of the World Anti-Doping Code :
The occasion of this third World Anti-Doping Conference, and a first revision of the World Anti-Doping Code, marks a new chapter in the modern day fight against doping and is an appropriate time to reflect not only upon what has been achieved since the introduction of the Code four years ago but also to examine some of the key areas which still need to be addressed.
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Final preparations are underway for the Third World Conference on Doping in Sport organised by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which will open in Madrid tomorrow, Thursday 15 November, and run until the 17 November. The official IAAF delegation will be led by IAAF President Lamine Diack and IAAF Council Member Abby Hoffman.
The chief topic of discussion will be the revision of the World Anti-Doping Code (Code) - the core document adopted in 2003 by the Sport Movement and Governments of the world as the framework for the global harmonised fight against doping in sport, and the document upon which the IAAF bases it’s own Anti-Doping Rules.
The process of revising the Code is intended to fine-tune its provisions based on the experience gained to date and to strengthen global efforts against doping in sport. The draft revised Code will be presented to WADA’s Foundation Board for approval on 17 November 2007
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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),
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Episode 30 of The Final Sprint Podcast features my follow-up interview with Don Kern; an avid adventure runner and race director for the Grand Rapids Marathons, who just completed an incredible, around-the-world marathon journey.
By completing his quest in a mere 35 days, Don was able set a new Guinness World Record for running a marathon on each continent in the shortest duration of time. The previous record was 99 days.
Don is now back home in Michigan after running more than 183 miles and traveling on a plane for over 84 hours (not to mention all of the time he spent in airports and traveling within each country). Fresh off setting a new WR, Don will hit another milestone in April when he runs the Boston Marathon; marking the 50th consecutive month that he will run race of at least marathon distance!
Download the podcast to hear Don describe his adventure, the physical wear-and-tear of the feat, eating “raw fish and beer” the night before his final marathon in South Korea, the warm reception by fans around the world, and some possibilities for future, endurance running adventures!
Listen In
[PLAY] (To Download: Right click and select “save as”)
[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to youHost: Adam Jacobs
Guest: Don Kern
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 11.7 MB
Length: 00:17:10
Check out every episode of TFS’s Podcast in iTunes!
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Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing Don Kern; the adventure marathon runner who is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for running a marathon on each continent in the shortest duration of time. The current record is 99 days and he hopes to shatter it by completing the feat in a mere 35 days.
Don, who is also the race director of the Grand Rapids Marathon, ran the Mercedes Marathon today in Birmingham, Alabama; the first of the seven marathons he intends to complete. His “world tour” will also include marathons in Egypt, Spain, Antarctica, Argentine, Australia and South Korea.
Download the podcast to hear Don discuss his record-breaking feat, the affiliated charities, his past adventures (such as running in the inaugural marathon on the South Pole with Dean Karnazes) and much more!
Listen In
[MP3] Direct Download (Right click, select “save as”).
[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to youHost: Adam Jacobs
Guest: Don Kern
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 14.8MB
Length: 00:21:38
Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!
Ethiopia’s Abebe Dinkesa and Wude Ayalew Yimer won the men’s (10.6km) and women’s (6.4km) races at today’s 27th Cross Internacional de Venta de Baños. They both claimed victories amidst frigid weather in Spain; where temperatures dipped as low as 1ºC.
Dinkesa won a close race; being challenged to the very end by Hosea Macharinyang. Dinkesa ultimately captured to win with a time of 31:30 and Macharinyang crossed the finish a mere seconds later. Both Dinkesa and Macharinyang benefited from a conservative start as they allowed European 10,000m silver medallist Chema Martínez and three other Spanish competitors set the pace. However, after 20 minutes Dinkesa took off and only Machrinyang was able to maintain his pace for any considerable amount of time. Ultimately, Dinkesa pulled off the impressive win.
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