Week in Review: A magical meet in the 3,200 meters
The nine-minute barrier was broken by 69 boys in Arcadia Invitational
As some of the readers of this Substack know, I am a former sportswriter with the Los Angeles Times who worked for a regional edition of the newspaper from 1986-2004.
I had a variety of beats during my time with the Valley edition of the Times, but my two favorites were high school track and field and cross country. And one of my favorite prep track meets to cover was the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High School in the greater Los Angeles area.
The meet began in 1968 as a one-day affair that was designed to give the top performers in the San Gabriel Valley a chance to compete against each other. But it soon grew into something bigger and it is now a two-day competition that is the best in-season invitational in the nation and typically includes competitors from more than 30 states.
The list of athletes who competed in the meet during their prep days includes Noah Lyles, Michael Norman, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Allyson Felix, Ashton Eaton, Lashinda Demus, Carmelita Jeter, Marion Jones, Cathy Freeman, Gail Devers, Quincy Watts, Mike Marsh, Mike Powell, Steve Lewis, and Valerie Brisco-Hooks.
There are no distance runners in the above list of Arcadia alums who won at least one individual Olympic or World Championship title during their careers. However, outstanding distance running has become analogous with the Arcadia Invitational and the boys’ 3,200 meters has become the signature event of the meet that saw nearly 4,000 athletes from 37 states take part in it when it was held for the 56th time last Friday and Saturday.
There was a lot to report on from last week. Therefore, this column is on the long side. If this email appears clipped or truncated in your inbox, you should be able to click on “View entire message” to read it in its entirety.
I was privileged to witness a slew of standout performances at Arcadia when I was with the Times, but one of my most vivid memories occurred in 2002 when junior Chris Solinsky of Stevens Point High in Wisconsin won the boys’ 3,200 meters in 8 minutes 48.44 seconds.
The time by Solinsky turned out to be the fastest prep time in the nation that year and was particularly impressive to me because, if I recall correctly, he ran under 4:20 for the second half of the race. But what might have impressed me even more at that time was the fact that Solinsky, who would later become the first American to break 27 minutes in the 10,000 meters, was one of six runners who broke 9 minutes in that contest.
While that kind of depth was rare back then, an incredible 37 of the 38 runners who took part in the invitational race of the boys’ 3,200 in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night broke 9:00! And those performances came after 20 runners had bettered that barrier in the seeded race and 11 had done so in the rated race, both of which were held earlier in the evening. In addition, the winner of the third of three open races held on Friday night also broke 9:00 as a record 69 competitors recorded a sub-9:00 clocking during the meet.
That figure annihilated the previous high of 44 set in last year’s meet, which bettered the record of 32 sub-9:00 efforts from the 2022 edition.
Prior to that, the high had been 27 sub-9:00 efforts in the 2017 Arcadia Invitational.
The new carbon-plated track spikes have no doubt played a big role in the plethora of sub-9:00 clockings during the last three Arcadia Invitationals.
Based on what I have read about the benefits of the so-called super shoes, it sounds plausible that an 8:50 or 8:52 clocking of today would have been a 9-minute effort in 2019 before the advent of the high-tech spikes that are now readily available to prep runners.
Nonetheless, 30 boys ran 8:50.33 or faster in last weekend’s meet, including seven who ran under 8:40 and 14 who dipped under 8:42.
The top three finishers in the invitational boys’ race were seniors Daniel Simmons of American Fork High School in Utah, who ran 8:34.96, Nathan Neil of Bozeman, Montana, who clocked 8:35.32, and Drew Griffith of Butler, Pennsylvania, who timed 8:37.43.
The runners themselves deserve a ton of credit for all the sub-9:00 times produced in the Arcadia Invitational, but props should also be given to meet director Rich Gonzalez and whoever else works with him to get so many top performers to come to Arcadia.
An enthusiastic crowd, a knowledgeable public-address announcer, and the weather also factor into the equation as the invitational race of the boys’ 3,200 typically starts around 8:35 to 8:45 p.m. local time, when the sun has set, the air is still, and the temperature is often in the mid-60s Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius).
It’s a wonderful atmosphere for a personal best fest and I’m already looking forward to next year’s meet to see if 70 or more high school boys can break 9 minutes in the 3,200.
They came from near and far away: The 69 boys who broke 9 minutes in the 3,200 meters in last weekend’s Arcadia Invitational hailed from 60 high schools in 20 states.
California, paced by the 8:40.47 clocking of senior Emmanuel Perez of Cathedral High in Los Angeles, had the most sub-9:00 runners with 22, followed by Utah with nine, and Colorado, Florida, and Tennessee with four each.
American Fork High School in Utah tied a record of sorts when it had four runners break 9:00 during the meet.
Daniel Simmons led the American Fork charge by winning the invitational race in 8:34.96, with fellow senior Ben Jaster fifth in 8:38.34 and junior Kaden Evans 18th in 8:46.10. The team also received a sub-9:00 effort from senior Ben Bradshaw, who ran 8:58.26 to place fifth in the rated race.
Newbury Park High School of California previously had four runners break 9:00 in the invitational races of the Arcadia Invitational in 2021 and ’22.
In the 2021 meet, which only included competitors from California due to safety protocols in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Newbury Park junior Colin Sahlman and sophomore Lex Young had placed first and second in 8:43.42 and 8:43.71, respectively, with Leo Young, the twin of Lex, finishing sixth in 8:55.82, and junior teammate Daniel Appleford placing ninth in 8:56.77.
In 2022, Colin Sahlman and Lex Young again finished first and second, with clockings of 8:34.99 and 8:35.72, respectively.
Newbury Park’s other sub-9:00 runners were junior Aaron Sahlman, Colin’s younger brother, who placed eighth in 8:48.28, and Appleford, who finished 12th in 8:52.19.
The Panthers had expected to have five sub-9:00 finishers in that race, but Leo Young finished 26th in 9:02.28 while being slowed by bronchitis.
Different kind of win: Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High won her third consecutive title in the girls’ mile in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night, but this year’s victory was different from the previous two in that she had someone in front of her at the start of the final lap.
Engelhardt was in first place when she came through the first 440 yards in 67.48 seconds and the 880 in 2:17.65. But fellow junior Jane Hedengren of Timpview High in Provo, Utah, moved past her just before the start of the bell lap.
Hedengren had finished nearly five seconds behind Engelhardt when she ran 4:41.08 in last year’s race, but she led Engelhardt for the first 60 meters of the last lap before the Ventura runner went by her with authority with 340 meters to go.
“The improvement she’s making year over year is insane so I knew she’d be right with me,” Engelhardt said of Hedengren in a post-race interview on runnerspace.com.
She responded well to Hedengren’s challenge as she took control of the race down the backstretch and crossed the line in a personal best of 4:34.31 to move to third on the all-time national high school list.
Hedengren finished second in 4:37.17, followed by her sophomore teammate Lily Alder in 4:40.82.
Engelhardt ran her final 440 in 66.74, more than three seconds faster than her 70.14 split last year when she finished in 4:36.26.
“I have a lot of trust in my final 100 kick, not so much in my 400 or my 300,” Engelhardt said.
Sprinter on the rise: Keelan Wright of Chaparral High in Temecula, California, produced a pair of personal bests while winning the girls’ 100 and 200 meters in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night.
Sporting a hot pink kit, the junior’s first victory came in the 100 when she ran 11.54 seconds to finish well ahead of second-place Mayen Usoro of Cesar Chavez High in Laveen, Arizona, and third-place Nia Clayton of Oaks Christian in Westlake Village, California.
Usoro clocked 11.63 and defending California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State champion Clayton ran 11.67.
Wright’s margin of victory in the 200 was even larger than in the 100 as her 23.97 clocking left her well clear of second-place Usoro in 24.19.
“I would say right now. I'm in a good place,” Wright said in an interview on ca.milesplit.com after winning the 100. “I executed what I needed to. I came out and did what I wanted to.”
Rising star?: Long Beach Poly High School in California appears to have another standout sprinter in its midst as freshman Benjamin Harris came from behind to win the boys’ 100-meter dash in a wind-aided 10.38 seconds in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night.
Harris was in no better than fourth or fifth place during the first 25 meters of the race, but he closed better than anyone over the second half of the contest to finish a hundredth of a second ahead of senior Dominick Corley of Mead High in Spokane, Washington. Freshman Demare Dezeurn of Alemany in Mission Hills, California, placed third in 10.43.
Five Poly sprinters have run between 10.36 and 10.44 in the 100 over the years, but Harris appears fully capable of bettering the school record of 10.36 that was set by Darrell Rideaux in 1998, for the wind reading in Saturday’s race was 2.1 meters-per-second, just over the allowable of 2.0 for record purposes.
Stirring anchor legs: Senior Brett Ephraim anchored San Clemente High in California to a pair of come-from-behind relay victories in the boys’ 4 x 800-meter and distance medley events in the Arcadia Invitational last weekend.
Ephraim, who led San Clemente to the Division I team title in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Cross Country Championships last November, brought the Tritons from fourth place to first in the 4 x 800 relay on Friday night with a 1:51.44 carry in which he edged past first-place Alden Morales of JSerra in San Juan Capistrano with about 40 meters to go before holding him off in the final 10 meters of the race.
Morales, a sophomore, had a slightly faster split — at 1:51.36 — than Ephraim on his leg. But he made a tactical error by moving into the outside of lane one after entering the final home straightaway. That made it possible for Ephraim to eventually move past Morales on the inside of the lane instead of having to go around him.
San Clemente’s time of 7:50.22 left it just in front of JSerra, which finished second in 7:50.28. Great Oak of Temecula, another team from California’s Southern Section, placed third in 7:51.54 after senior Gabriel Rodriguez ran 1:53.92 on his anchor leg.
While San Clemente had been three seconds out of the lead when Ephraim received the baton for his anchor leg in the 4 x 800, he was in seventh place, nearly five seconds behind first-place Great Oak when he began his final 1,600-meter leg of the distance medley relay on Saturday night.
However, he did not panic. He was still in seventh place after completing the first lap of his leg, but he had moved up to fifth with two laps to go after running 2:07.64 for the first half of his carry.
He was still in fifth place, three and a half seconds behind first-place Mira Costa of Redondo Beach at the start of the last lap. But he had plenty in reserve as he moved into fourth place midway down the backstretch and into third entering the final turn. He had positioned himself in second place with 130 meters to go before moving past Mira Costa’s Owen Franck with 80 meters left in the contest.
San Clemente’s winning time of 10:13.20 was the fastest in the nation this year, while Mira Costa placed second in 10:13.78 and Great Oak finished third in 10:15.05.
“I think running my race allowed me to gradually move up instead of making the sprint at the beginning and tiring myself out,” Ephraim said in an interview on runnerspace.com. “I think that allowed me to have my fitness in the last lap.”
Huge season opener: Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania moved into 10th on the all-time world performer list in the men’s discus with a throw of 71.39 meters (234 feet 2 inches) in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley, California, on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Alekna, who is redshirting what would have been his junior season at California in order to focus his training on the Olympic Games in Paris in August, unleashed his yearly world-leading throw in the third round while topping his previous best of 71.00 (232-11) that he had set in a dual meet against Stanford at the same Edwards Stadium facility last year.
The throw also solidified his hold on second on the all-time Lithuanian list behind his father, Virgilijus, a two-time Olympic and World champion who ranks second on the all-time world list with a best of 73.88 (242-5) from 2000.
In addition to his 71.39 effort, Alekna also had throws of 69.96 (229-6) in the fifth round, 69.82 (229-1) in the second, and 68.24 (223-11) in the fourth.
Alekna won the European title in August of 2022 after finishing second in the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July, but he did not have as good a season last year when he won a bronze medal in the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Alekna’s Instagram account included a photo of him with Cal throws coach Mo Saatara after Saturday’s meet and it included the following short and sweet understated text: Good opener. 71.39
Another world-leading throw: Discus thrower Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania was not the only athlete with ties to the California throwing program who recorded a yearly world-leading mark in their specialty in the Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley on Saturday.
Camryn Rogers of Canada did likewise when she won the women’s hammer throw with a mark of 76.87 (252-2).
The 24-year-old Rogers became the first Canadian to win a global title in the women’s hammer in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August after placing second in the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, following a career at Cal that included three NCAA championships and five collegiate records.
As usual, she was hyper-consistent during her season-opening meet in the Hamilton Invitational at Edwards Stadium on Saturday.
She threw 76.30 (250-4) in the first round before hitting 75.76 (248-7) in the second, 75.85 (248-10) in the third, and 76.49 (250-11) in the fourth. She then produced her best throw of 76.87 (252-2) in the fifth round before closing with a 76.08 (249-7) effort on her sixth attempt.
Breakout season in the making?: Matheus Lima of Brazil set a personal best in his second event of the season while producing his first yearly world-leading mark in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles in a meet in Braganca Paulista, Brazil, on Saturday.
The 20-year-old Lima won his qualifying heat of the 400 intermediates in 48.55 seconds to better his previous best of 49.10 that he had set last year.
Although he did not run in the final of the 400 hurdles on Sunday that was won by Mikael Antonio de Jesus of Portugal in 49.92, Lima had opened his season with a winning time of 44.52 in the 400 in a meet in Sao Paolo on March 2.
That time crushed his previous best of 45.74 from last year.
Here’s to a healthy season: Britton Wilson of the U.S. ran her first individual race of the year on Saturday when she won the women’s 400 meters in 51.07 seconds in the Miramar Invitational in Florida on Saturday.
Competing at the Ansin Sports Complex, the 23-year-old Wilson finished ahead of a field that included fellow American — and training partner — Shamier Little in second place in 51.41 and Canadian Zoe Sherar in third place in 51.63.
Wilson turned professional last July after completing her junior season at the University of Arkansas. She had set an American record of 49.48 in winning the women’s 400 in the NCAA indoor championships in March before embarking on a collegiate outdoor season that saw her lower the collegiate record to 49.13, run 49.64 or faster six times, and also clock 53.23 in the 400 hurdles.
However, she was upset by Rhasidat Adeleke of Texas in the 400 in the NCAA outdoor championships in June and finished seventh in the final of the 400 hurdles that was run approximately 25 minutes later.
She ran 49.79 in the 400 to finish second to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in early July, but she was eliminated in her first-round heat of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August when she placed eighth in 53.87 after dealing with shin issues for much of the season.
Solid opener: Christian Coleman of the U.S. placed second in the men’s 200 meters in the Miramar Invitational on Saturday.
The winner of the 60-meter dash in the World Athletics Indoor Championships on March 1, Coleman clocked 20.43 seconds while finishing behind fellow American — and Olympic silver medalist — Kenny Bednarek, who ran 20.35 in the race that was run into a breeze of 2.8 meters-per-second.
It was the first individual race of the outdoor season for the 28-year-old Coleman, who had run the second leg on a USA Red 400 relay team in the Florida Relays on March 30 that had failed finish the race when Kendal Williams and Noah Lyles were unable to connect on the final exchange.
Solid opener II: Chase Jackson (nee Ealey) of the U.S. opened her outdoor season with a winning effort of 19.88 (65-2¾) in the women’s shot put in the Miramar Invitational on Saturday.
The two-time defending World champion, Jackson hit her best effort on her first put of the competition and she also produced marks of 19.79 (64-11¼) in the fifth round and 19.10 (62-8) in the second. She fouled on her other three attempts, but still finished well ahead of second-place Maggie Ewen of the U.S., who had a best of 18.95 (62-2¼).
The 29-year-old Jackson had struggled for much of last of last year, but she closed the season with three consecutive 20-meter meets, topped by an American record of 20.76 (68-1½) in the Prefontaine Classic in September.
She competed in four meets during the indoor season, placing third in the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 1.
Pacing himself: I am guessing that decathlete Kyle Garland of the U.S. is figuring that fewer competitions during the course of this season will lead to a better performance in the biggest meet at the end, the Olympic Games in Paris in August.
That’s why I would not make too much of Garland’s solid — but far from spectacular — winning total of 8,261 points in the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida, last weekend.
It was the first competition of the year for Garland, who had competed in two heptathlons indoors and five decathlons outdoors last year, during which he completed his collegiate eligibility at the University of Georgia.
While the 23-year-old Garland fell only six points shy of the world record in the heptathlon when he won that multi-event with a 6,639-point total in the 2023 NCAA indoor championships in March of last year, his outdoor season concluded with a disappointing performance in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August when he dropped out of the competition after failing to clear a height in the pole vault.
In 2022, he had set a personal best — and then-collegiate record — of 8,720 points in finishing second in the USA Combined Events Championships in May before ending the season with an 11th-place score of 8,133 points in the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July.
He totaled 4,436 points on the first day of the Hurricane Alumni Invitational last Friday by running 10.80 seconds in the 100, spanning 7.60 (24-11¼) in the long jump, putting the shot 15.89 (52-1¾), clearing 2.06 (6-9) in the high jump, and clocking 48.87 in the 400.
He then scored 3,825 points on the second day by running 14.02 in the 110 high hurdles, throwing the discus 44.52 (146-1), clearing 4.90 (16-0 ¾) in the pole vault, throwing the javelin 53.28 (174-10), and clocking 4:56.73 in the 1,500.
A post on his Instagram account began with the following text: First meet of the season✅ feels great to be back in action, especially this year. The #roadtoparis is in full swing.
Here’s to a healthy season II: Abby Steiner of the U.S. won the women’s 400 meters in 51.58 seconds while running in her first race of the year in the Gamecock Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina, on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Steiner finished four tenths of a second in front of fellow American Karimah Davis, the runner-up in 51.98.
Steiner had won NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in the 200 in 2022 for the University of Kentucky and finished fifth in the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, later in the year. But she placed fourth in that event in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last year before ending her season so she could undergo surgery on her left heel to remove a bone spur that had been causing pain in her Achilles tendon.
She set a personal best of 21.77 in the 200 when she won the 2022 USA Track & Field Outdoor title and she also also run 10.90 in the 100 and 50.59 in the 400 (indoors).
New season begins: Lagi Tausaga-Collins of the U.S., who pulled off a huge upset victory in the women’s discus in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August, opened her season with a victory in the Triton Invitational in La Jolla, California, last Friday.
The 25-year-old thrower hit her best of 65.38 (214-6) on her sixth — and final — effort after registering marks of 63.22 (207-5) in the third round and 64.32 (211-0) in the fifth. She fouled on her other three attempts during the competition at the Triton Track & Field Stadium on the campus of UC San Diego.
Alida Van Daalen of the University of Florida and the Netherlands placed second at 62.23 (204-2).
Tausaga-Collins had turned in a stunning performance in last year’s World Championships as she entered the meet with a best of 65.46 (214-9) and had finished 12th in the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. She had also fouled on all three of her attempts in the final of the 2019 global title meet in Doha, Qatar.
She did not start well in Budapest as she fouled on her first throw of the final before getting off a paltry 52.28 (171-6) effort in the second round.
Sitting in 12th — and last — place as she entered the ring for her third throw, she unleashed a clutch 65.56 (215-1) personal best that moved her into fifth place and qualified her for another three attempts as one of the top-eight competitors in the standings after three rounds.
She then fouled on her fourth throw before adding nearly four meters to her personal best on her fifth attempt when her 69.49 (228-0) bomb pushed previous leader — and fellow American — Valarie Allman into second place at 69.23 (227-1) and moved Tausaga-Collins into second on the all-time U.S. performer list.
After Olympic champion Allman got off a throw of 64.60 (211-11) on her fifth attempt, she produced a 68.61 (225-1) effort as the second-to-last thrower in the sixth round. When it wasn’t enough to take back the lead, Tausaga-Collins produced the second-best throw of her career at 68.36 (224-3) to conclude the competition with one of the biggest upsets in the history of the World Championships that were first held in Helsinki in 1983.
“I had seen some things in practice, but it wasn’t steady enough,” Tausaga-Collins said when NBC Sports’ Lewis Johnson asked her about her winning throw. “And if you saw the first couple of rounds, I wasn’t going to make the final. Then I had one [foul] and my coach was like, at this point, we go guns blazing and see what happens. We see things in practice and it’s been hit or miss. And he’s like, maybe this is the time it hits, and it happened.”
Huge improvement: No matter how you look at it, Jaida Ross of the University of Oregon topped her previous best in the women’s shot put by a large amount in setting a collegiate record on the second day of the Triton Invitational on Saturday.
Ross, a junior, had finished second in the shot put in the NCAA indoor championships in March with a best of 18.47 (60-7¼). But she unleashed a 19.71 (64-8) effort in the third round on Saturday to top that mark by more than four feet and win the competition by more than five feet as Alida Van Daalen of the University of Florida and the Netherlands placed second at 18.10 (59-4¾).
Ross’ mark crushed her previous outdoor best of 18.49 (60-8) and also exceeded her indoor best of 18.84 (61-9¾) while topping the previous collegiate outdoor record of 19.64 (64-5¼) that had been set by Adelaide Aquilla of Ohio State in the 2022 NCAA championships. She also moved to ninth on the all-time U.S. performer list.
Ross followed her 19.71 shocker with a foul in the fourth round, but her efforts of 18.72 (61-5) and 18.66 (61-2¾) on her fifth and sixth efforts, respectively, were farther than her outdoor best entering the meet.
Ross, who had placed sixth in the discus on Friday with a best of 58.31 (191-3), posted a video of her big put on her Instagram account and the text with it was as follows:
NCAA Collegiate Record 19.71m/ 64’8 School record
#1 collegiate throw indoor or outdoor
#5 in the world
#9 All-time USA
So many emotions, just soaking it all in. Solid opener for a big outdoor season!! Go ducks baby
Major improvement: Her score was aided by a pair of wind-aided marks, but senior Timara Chapman of Texas A&M University topped her previous best in the heptathlon by nearly 500 points in the 44 Farms Team Invitational in College Station, Texas, last weekend.
The American’s score of 6,219 points was the highest in the world this year under any conditions and left her more than 300 points ahead of teammate Joniar Thomas, who finished second with 5,914 points.
Chapman, a senior who had finished 16th in last year’s NCAA championships while competing for North Carolina State, totaled 3,745 points on the first day of the competition when she ran 13.50 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, cleared 1.79 (5-10½) in the high jump, put the shot 13.63 (44-8¾), and ran the 200 in a wind-aided 24.22.
She then added another 2,474 points to her total on Saturday when she leaped a wind-aided 6.44 (21-1½) in the long jump, threw the javelin 42.96 (140-1), and ran the 800 in 2:24.63.
In a video montage on her Instagram account, she posted the following text: No. 1️⃣ heptathlon total in the nation y’all ‼️🇺🇸 6219 points later, better watch out 👀
Two liners: Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico won the women’s 100-meter hurdles in a wind-aided 12.69 seconds in her first race of the year in the South Florida Invitational in Tampa on Saturday. The defending Olympic champion and the silver medalist in last year’s World Athletics Championships, Camacho-Quinn finished well ahead of second-place Kayli Williams of Georgia State University, who ran 13.42 in the race that was aided by a breeze of 2.8 meters-per-second. . . . . Valarie Allman of the U.S. won her second meet of the year in the women’s discus with a throw of 67.17 meters (220 feet 4 inches) in Cameron Burrell Alumni Invitational in Houston on Saturday. The defending Olympic champion and silver medalist in last year’s World Championships, Allman had opened her season with a winning and yearly world-leading effort of 67.98 (223-0) in the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin on March 29. . . . . Fred Kerley of the U.S. posted his second victory of the outdoor season without a loss when he ran 10.11 in the men’s 100 meters in the Hurricane Alumni Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida, on Saturday. The 2022 World champion had previously run a winning 10.03 in the Hurricane Invitational at the same facility on March 16.
Ethiopian sweep: Mulugeta Uma and Mestawut Fikir of Ethiopia won the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, in the Paris Marathon on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Uma ran a personal best of 2:05:33 and the 24-year-old Fikir took the women’s race in 2:20:45 while making her marathon debut.
Uma was part of a large lead pack in the men’s race that went through 10 kilometers in 29:08 and the halfway mark in 1:02:09.
Kenyan Titus Kipruto then led a four-runner lead group through 30 kilometers in 1:28:27 and he was still pushing the pace at 35 kilometers. But he was unable to shake Uma, who overtook him with a few kilometers left in the race.
While Uma cut 34 seconds off his previous best with his 2:05:33 clocking, Kipruto finished second in 2:05:48 and compatriot Elisha Rotich placed third in 2:06:54.
The women’s race was run at a more even pace than the men’s as a lead pack of roughly 10 women passed 10 klilometers in 33:23 before Rahma Tusa of Ethiopia led a group of six through the halfway mark in 1:10:11.
Tusa led a group of five through 30 kilometers, but Fikir and compatriot Enatnesh Tirusew soon made a break.
They ran together for most of the remainder of the race before Fikir, a 1:06:44 performer in the half marathon, broke away to cross the finish line three seconds ahead of Tirusew.
Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya, who had fallen well back of the lead pack at 30 kilometers, placed third in 2:21:46.
Quick turnaround: Sabastian Sawe of Kenya set a personal best of 58:24 in winning the men’s division of the Prague Half Marathon on Saturday a week after finishing seventh in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
The 29-year-old Sawe trimmed five seconds off her previous best while moving to 12th on the all-time performer list and finishing well in front of compatriot Geofry Toroitich Kipchumba, who finished second in 1:00:01.
Sawe’s course-record performance followed what many regarded as disappointing finish in Belgrade as many had considered him to be a medal contender in that race after he had won the Kenyan Cross Country Championships four weeks earlier.
Sawe led a lead group through five kilometers in 13:48 in Prague before clocking 27:32 at 10 kilometers when he was nine seconds in front his closest competitor. His advantage had ballooned to 45 seconds when he passed the 15-kilometer point in 41:25 while on his way to his fourth victory in his past five half marathons.
The women’s race was much closer than the men’s as Ethiopia’s Gete Alemayehu placed first in 1:08:10, three seconds ahead of Kenya’s Jesca Chelangat.
The two of then waged a back-and-forth affair as they were together when they came through five kilometers in 15:43, but Chelangat had an 11-second lead over Alemayehu when she and a pacemaker came through 10 kilometers in 31:26.
Alemayehu moved past Chelangat around the 15-kilometer mark, but the Kenyan was soon back in the lead before Alemayehu took over for good during the latter stages of the race.
Victorious in Paris: Ethiopians Likina Amebaw and Jemal Yimer won the women’s and men’s 10-kilometer titles, respectively, in the Festival of Running Asics Speed Race event in Paris last Friday.
Racing on the streets of the French capital at night, the 26-year-old Likina ran 29:56 to finish a second ahead of Loice Chemnung of Kenya as those two became the 16th and 17th women in history to have run under 30 minutes in a 10k road race.
The 27-year-old Yimer clocked 27:43 in the men’s race to turn back Kenyans Hillary Kipkoech, who placed second in 27:44, and Vincent Kibet, who finished third in 27:48.
It was Yimer’s third victory of the year without a loss as he won the Houston Half Marathon in 1:00:42 in January before winning the Seoul Marathon in South Korea in a personal best of 2:06:08 in March.
Bouncing back: Perseus Karlstrom of Sweden and Kimberly Garcia of Peru won the men’s and women’s titles in the Podebrady Walking meet in the Czech Republic city of Podebrady on Saturday.
Their victories over the 20-kilometer distance followed disappointing outings last month when they had each dropped out their respective races in Taicang, China, and Dudince, Slovakia.
The 33-year-old Karlstrom, who won the silver medal in last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, clocked 1:18:22 in Podebrady, followed by second-place Evan Dunfee of Canada in 1:18:41 and third-place Caio Bonfim of Brazil in 1:18:50.
Dunfee placed fourth in both the 20- and 35-kilometer races in Budapest and Bonfim finished third in the 20k, eight seconds behind Karlstrom.
The 30-year-old Garcia, who won gold medals in both the 20k and 35k walks in the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, timed 1:27:08 on Saturday. She was followed by Glenda Morejon of Ecuador, who finished second in 1:27:21, and Antonella Palmisano of Italy, who placed third in 1:27:27.
Morejon had placed sixth in the 20k in last year’s World Championships and Palmisano had won the bronze medal while finishing six seconds ahead of fourth-place Garcia.