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Switching Roles, Kiprop & Kamel Prevail in Lausanne
Posted September 2nd, 2008 at 8:19 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Trying their hands at alternate distances, Olympic 1500m silver medalist Asbel Kiprop and 800m finalist Yusuf Saad Kamel traded places to take impressive victories at the Athletissima Super Grand Prix here tonight.
For Kiprop, the tall Kenyan who chased Rashid Ramzi to the line in Beijing, it wasn’t so much a case of moving down in distance, but more of a move back to where the 19-year-old began his breakout season. Battling with Olympic champion Wilfred Bungei heading off the final turn, he passed his compatriot with about 50 meters to go to take a convincing victory in 1:44.71, a personal best.
Just behind Kiprop, Alfred Kirwa Yego (1:44.77) and then Ugandan Abraham Chepkirwok (1:45.00) overtook Bungei, who faded badly down the homestretch to finish fourth (1:45.31).
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Video: Usain Bolt’s 100 Meter World Record (9.69)
Posted August 17th, 2008 at 1:13 PM by Adam Jacobs
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Usain Bolt rewrote the record books again and captured his first Olympic gold medal Saturday, running the 100-meter dash in a stunning 9.69 seconds for a blowout win that could have been even worse.
Bolt Amazes with 9.69 100m World Record in Beijing
Posted August 16th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics
Underscoring the world record performance that thrust him into the sprint spotlight late last spring, Usain Bolt did himself even one better in Beijing, cruising to a 9.69 world record to demolish the field in the final of the men’s 100 meters on the second day of action at the National Stadium.
“My aim was just to be the Olympic champion,” said Bolt, who lowered the 9.72 mark he set in New York City on May 31. “I wasn’t thinking about a world record.”
With a performance that defied the imagination, Bolt’s assessment seemed to be quite on target. Clearly ahead of Trinidad’s Richard Thompson 40 meters into the race, he then forged onward to build a lead so massive that some 75 meters into the race, he began to look side to side, dropping his arms and gesturing as if to ask, ‘Where is everybody?’
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The Week in the Rear View: Racing News June 9 - June 15
Posted June 16th, 2008 at 4:11 PM by Jay Hicks
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Columns, College, Week in Rear View
The Week In the Rear View is a weekly column wrapping up the week’s events in running and track & field. I am normally found at PreraceJitters.com, writing about the fast life of track and field.
The week in track and field was a wild and exciting one. The NCAA Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa provided a sneak peek of the next set of runners who just forged their name into the history books of this sport and hope to achieve the same kind of success at the next level.
Is LSU ready to be crowned the new collegiate sprint capital? Both the women’s and men’s 100-meter champions hail from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Richard Thompson (10.04) and Kelly-Ann Baptiste (11.20) scored major points for the Tigers this past weekend.
Things certainly did not go as planned for Florida State University’s Walter Dix, but he still found a moment to shine. After a disappointing fourth place finish in the 100-meters, Dix looked like he was shot out of a cannon as he won (20.04) the men’s 200 over Richard Thompson. The Seminole now has his eyes laid squarely on the monumental task of the making the Olympic Team.
Leonel Manzano (Pictured) of the University of Texas showed that Bernard Lagat is not the only 1500 meter runner with a vicious kick. Manzano led wire to wire in wearing out the field in his NCAA championship run while showing incredible heart.
World Points Standings:
Men’s Sprints
Posted June 11th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Rankings, World Standings
My rankings are being run on a pilot program this summer and I’m sharing them with the track community via The Final Sprint. Last year I did a trial run on just the men’s 100 meters and it correctly predicted the World Championships medalists in order, and then by the end of the summer readjusted to match Track & Field News’ world rankings nearly exactly.
The system is based on that of the IAAF’s World Athletics Tour standings, but with a few twists–most importantly, all kinds of meets are included in the standings and athletes can earn bonus points for fast times. At this early time in the season, athletes are given points for the results of their best four meets (one of which can be in a different event).
100 meters
1. Usain Bolt 46
2. Nesta Carter 42
2. Olusoji Fasuba 42
4. Kim Collins 38
4. Mike Rodgers 38
6. Darrel Brown 34
6. Tyson Gay 34
8. Derrick Atkins 32
8. Michael Frater 32
10. Ivory Williams 30
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World Records and Doping Suspicions
Posted June 10th, 2008 at 10:00 AM by Jesse Squire
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Drugs In Sports
We get a fantastic world record in the 100 meters, and one of the first questions is about drugs. From the New York Times:
When Usain Bolt of Jamaica set a world record of 9.72 seconds at 100 meters Saturday night, two questions became urgent:
Was the supporting tailwind legal?
Was Bolt himself legal?
Track and field has become so compromised by doping that any startling performance brings immediate suspicion. Even before the race at the Reebok Grand Prix meet on Randall’s Island, Bolt and his top challenger, the 2007 world champion Tyson Gay, faced inevitable questions from reporters about performance-enhancing drugs. The pre-race inquiries have become as routine as the postrace drug screens.
The purists and the pollyannas alike bemoan this state of affairs. And while the comedians and cartoonists have (rightly) turned their doping jokes towards baseball instead of track, they still don’t get the same treatment. Manny Ramirez smacked his 500th career home run this week and did not have to answer these kind of questions.
Will track ever be rid of this suspicion? I say not any time soon, and maybe never.
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TFS News Briefs: 6/04/2008
Posted June 4th, 2008 at 11:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Columns, Olympics, Drugs In Sports, TFS News Briefs
Sebastian Coe: Real Damage to Track & Field Inflicted By Americans
British Middle-Distance Great Sebastian Coe has written a scathing indictment of America’s role in the doping scandal in track & field and our attitude toward the sport. Perhaps most telling are his words, “American athletes who remain anonymous in their own towns are lauded in the Golden League in Europe.”
More: Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
Lagat Remains a Student Of the Sport
The Guardian has posted a profile of Beijing 1500m favorite Bernard Lagat who, after all of his experience and success, remains a careful student of the sport who learns something every day.
More: guardian.co.uk, UK
Bolt Undecided About Olympic Double
Having only run five 100m races in his entire life, world-record holder Usain Bolt is still not sure whether or not he will attempt a 100m/200m double in Beijing. He said he would run the 200m “for sure” but that he would leave the decision about the 100m up to his coach, Glen Mills.
More: CBC
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The Week in the Rear View: Racing News May 26 – June 1
Posted June 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 AM by Jay Hicks
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Columns, Week in Rear View
The Week In the Rear View is a weekly column wrapping up the week’s events in running and track & field. I am normally found at PreraceJitters.com, writing about the fast life of track and field.
Everyone in the track world is talking about Usain “Lightening” Bolt. He shut ‘em down—literally! Bolt quieted his critics with a 9.72 seconds World Record performance with World Champion Tyson Gay in the race. Tyson Gay looked in good shape for this time of season running 9.85, which was good enough for second. Doesn’t that sound crazy? Bolt is now the favorite in Beijing, but two months is certainly a long time from now.
You could call it the law of averages. The Jeremy Wariner vs. LaShawn Merritt race in Berlin resulted in the end of Wariner’s winning streak that dates back to 2005. Merritt was superb. He executed a perfect race strategy to deliver the win. Before the media writes the early demise of Wariner, it should be noted that he isn’t in top shape, not yet—that will be in Beijing.
Distance Races Also Thrill At Reebok Grand Prix
Posted June 1st, 2008 at 3:46 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
It is true that most of the 6,000-plus spectators who filled Ichan Stadium here, especially the 1,000 or so Jamaicans, came to see explosive sprinters like Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix. Their cheers, deafening during the sprints, were largely lacking during the distance events, despite the entreaties of RRW’s favorite meet announcer Scott Davis.
However, some exciting sprint finishes in the longer races did get the crowds on their feet, in particular the finish of the men’s 5000m where Shadrack Kosgei of Kenya and Ali Abdosh of Ethiopia duked it out on the final 100m, the first race after a 45 minute delay caused by a heavy thunderstorm. The pair were running close to 13-flat pace throughout the race, and it took a 56-second final 400m by Kosgei to lock down the win by just 4/100ths of a second, 13:14.46 to 13:14.50. Abdosh was sprinting so fast in the final meters he nearly fell as he crossed the finish line.
“I thought the sprint was fantastic,” said a beaming Kosgei. “I was really strong.”
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Video Of Usain Bolt’s 100m World Record (9.72!)
Posted June 1st, 2008 at 12:35 PM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
What is your favorite running movie or documentary?
Recent Comments
Page 2 Articles
- Gay shines in 200m quarter-finals; Continues path to 100/200m double
Tyson Gay, who already earned a gold medal in the men’s 100m final, has only competed in the 200m three times this year. However, Gay dominated each of these contests and went undefeated in the event.
In today’s 200m quarter-finals Gay once again demonstrated why Michael Johnson has called him “today’s Carl Lewis” and continued […] - Hoffa reaches 22.43 (73-7.25) and Gay, Wariner and Richards dominate in London
Shot Putter Resse Hoffa stole the spotlight from the sprinters at the Norwich Union London Grand Prix tonight.
The U.S. champion won the event with a mammoth 22.43 (73-7.25) effort in the final round to wrestle the victory and the 2007 world lead from compatriot Christian Cantwell. It was a massive personal best for the 29-year-old, […]
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On September 6, 2008
Brenda said:
I would like to participate in the 200 mile relay. Brenda