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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IAAF World Championships Event Reports/Previews
You can read up on all of the happenings in the World Indoor Championships by going to the IAAF’s Valencia ‘08 website. So far, gold medals have gone to Christian Cantwell (USA) in the men’s shot put, Angela Williams (US) in the women’s 60m dash, Tia Hellebaut (BEL) in the women’s pentathlon and Olusoji A. Fasuba (NIG) in the men’s 60m dash. Read more at: [IAAF WIC 08]
Coverage of World Championships on WCSN, VERSUS
You can catch the action from Valencia both online and on TV. Links to this coverage are available on Track & Field News’ home page (in section titled Latest Results).
Read more at: [Track & Field News]
Dwain Chambers Wins Silver Medal, Vows To “Do It Clean”
After his silver-medal-winning finish at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, Dwain Chambers has vowed to “put out a new script that you can do it clean.” He is getting the word out in an anti-drug campaign in which he will “start going into schools, use myself as an example to talk to kids to not go down the road I took.”
Read more at: [Times Online, UK]
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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]
New Balance Collegiate Invitational Producing Fast Times
The New Balance Collegiate Invitational, being held this weekend at the Armory in New York City, is producing some solid collegiate marks in the build-up to the NCAA Championships.
Read more at: [Google News][Results at Milesplit]
Bekele Going For 300m Indoor WR
Kenenisa Bekele, the current track and field distance king, is going for the 3000m World record in Valencia, Spain today. Stay tuned for the results of the Ethiopian great’s attempt.
Read more at: [IAAF][Google News]
A Peek At the 2008 Track & Field Season
A peek into the future reveals 51 world-class track meets: 6 Golden League meets, 5 Super Grand Prix events, 14 Grand Prix venues, 1 World Athletics Final, 25 Area Permit meets. The best track meet of the year isn’t on the list. It’s going to be held in a town in Eastern China.
Read more at: [IAAF]
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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!
Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!
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!
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