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Gebrselassie Achieves First Sub-2:04 Marathon in Berlin
Posted September 28th, 2008 at 11:27 AM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Haile Gebrselassie became the first man in history to break the two hour and four minute barrier when he won today’s real,- Berlin Marathon, shattering his own world record set on the same course one year ago. The 35 year-old Ethiopian, who now owns the three fastest marathon times in history, clocked 2:03:59 under sunny skies accompanied by comfortably cool temperatures (10°C to 12°C).
“I’m so happy,” Gebrselassie told race organizers immediately after the race. “Everything was perfect, the weather, the pacemakers. Two weeks ago, I had a little problem, I ran 20-K 40 seconds faster than in my preparation last year. But I had some cramps, and missed a week’s training. I started again a week ago, and had some doubts today, but in the end, everything was fine. This really is my lucky city.”
It was Gebrselassie’s third victory at Berlin, and he won €130,000 in prize money and time bonuses (USD 190,000) in addition to an undisclosed appearance fee. He lowered his previous standard of 2:04:26 by nearly half a minute.
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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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5.03m World Pole Vault Record by Isinbayeva in Rome
Posted July 11th, 2008 at 5:39 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
In her first competition of the season, Yelena Isinbayeva broke her own world record in the pole vault clearing 5.03m (16.50 ft) at the Golden Gala AF Golden League meet in Rome.
Her mark, made on her second attempt, added two centimeters to the mark she set at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.
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Pending World Record for Tune in Ostrava
Posted June 12th, 2008 at 1:15 PM by David Monti
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Ethiopian Dire Tune backed up her surprise Boston Marathon victory with a pending world record in the rarely contested one hour run today in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Less than one month past her 23rd birthday, Tune made it around the track a little more than 46 times, covering 18,517 meters before the one hour time limit. That easily surpassed the 18,340 meters Kenya’s
Tegla Loroupe covered in Borgholzhausen, Germany, on August 8, 1998, the previous world record.
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The Week in the Rear View: Racing News June 2 - June 8
Posted June 10th, 2008 at 12:00 PM by Jay Hicks
Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Columns, Olympics, Drugs In Sports, 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.
This was a week that saw records drop. The Prefontaine Classic is one of the hallowed places in the United States to host a track and field meet. The standing ovation for Maria Mutola was griping. The track great won her 16th and final Pre Classic 800. One track expert I spoke with on the phone after the meet summed it up best saying, “The fans at Pre really get it. They really get the sport.”
Jeremy Wariner did more than “bounce back” from the rare loss to LaShawn Merritt in Berlin last week. The Olympic and World Champion ran 43.98 in the IAAF Golden League Meet in Oslo on Friday. Some of the pundits may have forgotten that Michael Johnson lost to Frankie Fredricks in the 200 after the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials and before going on to run 19.32 the Olympics Games.
Walker breaks AR, Mutola wins for 16th time at Nike Prefontaine Classic
Posted June 8th, 2008 at 11:34 PM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Meet records fell across all event groups, none bigger than Brad Walker’s American record in the pole vault, and Maria Mutola had a historic exit Sunday at the Nike Prefontaine Classic.
The fourth event of USATF’s Visa Championship Series, the Nike Prefontaine Classic drew a meet-record 14,221 fans to Hayward Field, site of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field June 27-July 6. They were treated to a formidable show, including no fewer than eight meet records and Walker’s AR.
The 2007 world champion, Walker looked magnificent throughout the competition. He had just one miss, at his opening height of 5.70m/18-8.25, then passed to 5.90m/19-4.25, which he cleared on his first attempt and which won the competition for him. Walker then elevated the bar to 6.04m/19-9.75. On his very first attempt, he cleared, brushing the bar just a bit, but leaving it up.
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Dibaba Smashes 5000m
World Record in Oslo
Posted June 6th, 2008 at 10:00 PM by Bob Ramsak
Section: News & Results, Announcements, Track & Field
Tirunesh Dibaba made her first outing of the summer a memorable one after breaking the world record in the 5000m at the ExxonMobil Bislett Games in the Norwegian capital.
For the second straight year, the Oslo meet played host to a new women’s standard in the event. This time around, it was Dibaba smashing the record that her compatriot Meseret Defar smashed last year.
This is a very joyous day for me today,” said Dibaba after her stunning 14:11.15 performance which eclipsed Defar’s performance by more than five-and-a-half seconds. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and this is a very special day for me.”
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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
Who had the more impressive Boston Marathon debut?
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Page 2 Articles
- 2008 Track & Field Previews & Predictions: Men’s Sprints
Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will continue their 100m rivalry in 2008. Powell has yet to prove that he has the head game to win a big meet, so that leaves the gold medal in Beijing to Gay unless Powell can work past that deficiency. One of the two should break Powell’s world record of […]
- Gold Medalists Defar & Dibaba to Both Race in Boston on Saturday
The gold medalists of the women’s 5000m and 10,000m at last summer’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Meseret Defar [Pictured] and Tirunesh Dibaba, will both compete at Saturday’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games (RBIG), organizers have confirmed. Although the two athletes will run similar distances, the two Ethiopian stars will not be running head-to-head; Defar […]
- Gebrselassie Oh So
Close in DubaiAs ING New York City Marathon director Mary Wittenberg once said: “You can’t script sport.”
Haile Gebrselassie’s world record attempt Friday at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon veered off plan when the great Ethiopian scorched the first half in 1:01:27, at least half a minute faster than he had intended. He had hoped to run […] - Gebrselassie Half-Way at Dubai Marathon in 1:01:27
Pat Butcher reports that Haile Gebrselassie has hit the half-way mark at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon in 1:01:27. He hit the half in 1:02:29 in Berlin last September when he set his 2:04:26 world record.
More later… - Gebrselassie Hoping for Perfect Race in Dubai
Setting a world record is never easy, but it’s particularly difficult in the marathon. Not only must an athlete spend three to four injury-free months training for a single competitive effort, he must have near-perfect conditions: a flat course, excellent pacemaking, ideal weather, and a well-marked and measured course. A little luck doesn’t […]
- Gebreselassie & Million Dollar Purse On the Line in Dubai
Both Haile Gebrselassie and a one million dollar prize money purse will be on the line for the 9th edition of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon set for Friday, January 18, in the United Arab Emirates.
Gebrselassie, who knocked down Paul Tergat’s marathon world record in Berlin last September to a previously unimagined 2:04:26, will be […] - Note on the News: El Guerrouj To Run French Road Race
Reuters French language service is reporting that Hicham El Guerrouj plans to participate in the Prom’ Classique 10-K road race in Nice next January 6. But don’t expect too much. The world record holder for both the 1500m and the mile says he’s only running 12 to 14 kilometers per week and expects […]
- Thrilling Finishes & Record- Breaking Performances Help World Marathon Majors Usher in Brand New Era
World, national and course records, thrilling finishes, more than 300,000 participants, and a championship race that went down to the final day highlighted the inaugural 2006-2007 World Marathon Majors Series, and ushered in a brand new era of growth and excitement in the sport.
After a six month break, the excitement will continue at the 2008 […] - TFS News Briefs: 12/05/07
Paula Radcliffe “disturbed and disappointed” by Ohuruogu’s admission
British marathon world-record holder Paula Radcliffe, known for her strong stance against doping, has said that she is “disturbed and disappointed” by sprinter Christine Ohuruogu’s recent statements about her failure to make a doping test. Read more at: [Citizen, South Africa]
Winning Streaks of World’s Best Athletes on […] - TFS News Briefs: 11/29/07
X-Man Moves to Gainesville To Train for Beijing
Xavier “X-Man” Carter, history’s 2nd alltime fastest 200m runner, has moved to Gainesville, FL to train with his coach Mike Holloway and to focus on qualifying for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Read more at: [Total Sports Management]
Asafa Powell To Begin 2008 Campaign in Australia
Enthused by the […]
The Final Sprint
On February 9, 2010
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