Week in Review: Andersen back on track
American produces second-best effort of career in Throws Festival after disappointing end to 2023 season
You have to give U.S. hammer thrower Brooke Andersen credit.
Nine months after the best season of her career was derailed by a shoulder injury at the most inopportune time, the 28-year-old athlete has come back with a vengeance this year.
That was evident in the USA Track & Field Throws Festival in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday when she dominated the competition while producing a top mark of 79.92 meters (262 feet 2 inches).
The throw was the farthest in the world this year, the second longest of her career, and left her nearly six meters ahead of Jie Zhao of China, who placed second at 74.10 (243-1).
She was followed by Americans Annette Echikunwoke at 73.80 (242-1), Rachel Tanczos at 73.53 (241-3), and Janee Kassanavoid at 73.00 (239-6).
Kassanavoid, the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships, had thrown a personal best of 78.00 (255-11) in winning the Throws Festival two years ago. But neither she nor anyone else in the field could challenge 2022 World champion Andersen at the University of Arizona’s Roy P. Drachman Stadium on Saturday.
After registering a foul on her first throw, Andersen took the lead for good with a 78.16 (256-5) effort on her second attempt. She followed that with a mark of 72.81 in the third round. Then, after the top eight throwers had been given another three throws, she concluded the fourth round with a 77.21 (253-3) effort, followed by a 77.35 (253-9) mark to end the fifth stanza.
She proceeded to uncork her best throw on the final attempt of the competition when her 79.92 (262-2) effort was the fourth-best throw in American history and a mark that only two other throwers have ever exceeded.
Andersen produced her personal best of 80.17 (263-0) in winning the Throws Festival last year while on her way to posting victories in nine of her first 10 meets heading into the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
However, disaster struck in the qualifying round of that meet as she fouled on her first two throws before registering a mark of 67.72 (222-2) on her third effort to end up 25th in a competition in which the top 12 finishers advanced to the final.
Not long thereafter she posted, “Not everyone knew, but since the beginning/middle of June I’ve been dealing with a very painful shoulder issue; this caused training to not be as intense and more of a take-it-day-by-day-case.”
Although she came back to compete in the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, on Nov. 1, she fouled on all three of her attempts in that competition that took place under rainy conditions.
She threw the 20-pound weight in two meets during the indoor season before opening her outdoor campaign with a best of 76.91 (252-4) in the Virginia Challenge in Charlottesville on April 20.
That mark was the longest throw in the world this year until Saturday when she topped that performance on four of her six efforts.
If she can stay healthy, it will be very interesting to see what Andersen accomplishes in the meets ahead.
Scaring the national record: Leonardo Fabbri of Italy, the surprise silver medalist in the men’s shot put in last year’s World Championships, became the eighth 75-foot performer in history when he raised his personal best to 22.88 (75-0¾) in a meet in the Italian city of Modena last Wednesday.
Reportedly competing in wet conditions, Fabbri’s effort crushed his previous best of 22.37 (74-3¾) that he had set in an indoor meet in Lievin, France, in February and moved him to seventh on the all-time performer list
It also puts him second on the all-time Italian list behind Alessandro Andrei, who set the national record of 22.91 (75-2) in 1987.
The 27-year-old Fabbri, who finished second to Ryan Crouser of the U.S. in the World Championships last August, fouled on his first attempt of the competition in Modena before recording marks of 21.27 (69-9½) and 21.39 (70-2¼), respectively, in the second and third rounds.
He improved further to 22.01 (72-2¼) in the fourth round before unleashing his 22.88 (75-0¾) best on his fifth effort. He then closed the competition with a put of 22.45 (73-8), the second best of his career, in the sixth round.
Compatriot Zane Weir placed second at 21.93 (71-11½), followed by South African Kyle Bignaut with a personal best of 21.26 (69-9).
In a Eurosport.it post, Fabbri said he had had a fever of 38 degrees Celsius (100-101 Fahrenheit) for two days and felt a “bit weak” before the competition.
In quotes translated from Italian to English, he said “having launched 22.88 without being 100% yet is confirmation of my potential. I know very well where I can go and I have always said how important 2024 was for me.
“There couldn’t have been a better way to start the outdoor season. This year I threw further than the world record holder Crouser, but I know perfectly well that he will do a lot in the coming weeks. In Paris I want to bother him like I did in Budapest.”
He then added that “Being seventh in the world ever and third in Europe all-time is something incredible. Throwing the weight is what I enjoy doing most in life and I’m happy that the results are coming. I’ve always believed in it.”
Another seven-meter meet: Tara Davis-Woodhall of the U.S., who won the women’s long jump in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3, opened her outdoor season with a winning mark of 7.16 (23-6) in the Arkansas Twilight meet in Fayetteville last Friday.
It was the longest outdoor mark in the world this year and only two centimeters behind the 7.18 (23-6¾) personal best that she had leaped in winning the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in February.
It was also the third consecutive meet that she had jumped 7.07 (23-3 ½) or farther.
The 24-year-old Davis-Woodhall opened Friday’s competition with a foul before leaping 7.07 (23-2½) in the second round and 7.16 (23-6) in the third. The silver medalist in last year’s World outdoor meet then passed her final three attempts.
Triumphant return: Michael Norman of the U.S., the 2022 World champion in the men’s 400 meters, ran 44.21 seconds in winning that event in the Oxy Invitational at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California, on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Norman, who had an injury-marred 2023 season when he was trying to focus on the 100, finished well in front of Johnnie Blockburger of USC, who placed second in 45.20. Isaiah Jewitt of the U.S., stepping down from his usual specialty of the 800, placed third in 45.50.
Norman had been known as a 200-400 sprinter since his prep days at Vista Murrieta High School in Murrieta, California, where he ran 20.14 in the 200 and 45.19 in the 400. But prior to last season, he had decided to focus on the 100 and figured he contend for a medal in the World Championships because he had run a personal best of 9.86 in the event in 2020.
However, his season never got untracked. After finishing third in wind-aided 10.02 in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, in mid-April, he placed eighth in the 200 in 20.65 in a Diamond League meet in Doha, Qatar, in May.
Injuries prevented him from racing again until the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in early July and he was eliminated in the first round of the 100 when he clocked 10.31 to finish eighth in his heat.
As the defending champion in the 400, he had an automatic bye into last year’s World Championships in that event, but he ultimately decided not to run in that meet so he could focus on preparing for the 2024 season.
His time on Saturday was the second fastest in the world this year to the 44.10 clocking that Bayapo Ndori of Botswana ran in the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 20.
Notable double: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the U.S. won the women’s 100-meter hurdles and the 200 in the Oxy Invitational.
McLaughlin-Levrone, the defending Olympic champion in the 400 hurdles and an athlete who has set the last four world records in that event, clocked 12.71 seconds in the 100 hurdles while running into a slight breeze and she timed a wind-aided 22.38 in the 200.
She finished .15 seconds ahead of second-place Jasmine Jones of USC in the 100 hurdles and she was nearly a second in front of runner-up Morolake Akinosun (23.26) of the U.S. in the 200.
Those were the first two individual races of the year for the 24-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone, who opened her season by running the second leg on a 4 x 100 relay team that finished second in 42.93 in the Mt. SAC Relays on April 20.
McLaughlin-Levrone had run a personal best and yearly world-leading time of 48.74 in the 400 while focusing on that event last year, but she had pulled out of the World Championships in August with a knee issue.
She is scheduled to run the 400 hurdles in the USA Track & Field Los Angeles Grand Prix at UCLA on May 18.
It will be her first race in the event since she ran 51.68 in a meet in the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, in August of 2022. Prior to that, she had lowered the world record to a scintillating 50.68 in winning the World title in Eugene, Oregon.
Notable double II: Nico Young of Northern Arizona University, who has set collegiate records in the men’s 5,000 meters indoors and the 10,000 outdoors this year, posted winning times of 3:34.56 in the 1,500 and 13:36.58 in the 5,000 in the Oxy Invitational.
The Lumberjack junior’s time in the 1,500 slashed more than three seconds off his previous personal best of 3:37.75 and gave him a narrow victory over sophomore teammate Colin Sahlman, who ran 3:34.64.
Matthew Centrowitz, the 2016 Olympic champion, finished third in 3:35.39, which was the fastest time he has run since he clocked 3:33.69 while finishing ninth in a semifinal of the Olympic Games in 2021.
Young’s time in the 1,500 moves him to third on the all-time collegiate performer list behind Eliud Kipsang of Alabama and Kenya, who ran 3:33.74 in 2022, and Sahlman, who clocked 3:33.96 in winning the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University in California on April 13.
Sahlman’s 3:34.64 effort is the fourth-fastest in collegiate history and came a week after he had lowered his 800 best to 1:45.63.
Young, who is a former teammate of Sahlman’s at Newbury Park High School in California, had run a collegiate indoor record of 12:57.14 in the 5,000 in February and a collegiate outdoor mark of 26:52.72 in the 10,000 on March 16 after winning the 3,000 and 5,000 in the NCAA indoor championships the previous weekend.
Star of relay stars: To the surprise of few, the U.S. dominated the proceedings in the World Athletics Relays meet in Nassau, Bahamas, over the weekend, winning four of the five finals contested on Sunday. But no sprinter stood out more to me than Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, who placed second in the 100 and third in the 200 in last year’s World Championships.
The top 14 finishers in each relay event in Nassau landed their country a spot in the Olympic Games in Paris in August.
The top two teams in each of four qualifying heats on Saturday gained berths in the Olympics, as well as in the finals on Sunday, with the other six berths being awarded to the top two finishers in each of three repechage heats on the final day of the two-day meet held at The Bahamas National Stadium.
The final two spots for the Olympic Games in each event will be awarded based on where a nation ranks on a global performance list at the end of the qualification period that began on Dec. 31 of last year and concludes on June 30 of this year.
While the U.S. turned in victorious performances in the men’s and women’s 4 x 100 relays, and in the women’s and mixed 4 x 400 races, the incredibly smooth-striding Tebogo produced legs of 43.49 and 43.72 seconds, respectively, for Botswanan quartets that won their qualifying heat of the men’s 4 x 400 relay in 2:59.73 on Saturday and the final in in a yearly world-leading time of 2:59.11 on Sunday.
On Saturday, the 20-year-old moved his team from seventh place to second on the second leg. And on Sunday, he began the second leg in third place and concluded it in first. Both Botswanan squads were anchored by Bayapo Ndori.
The yearly world leader in the 400 at 44.10, Ndori ran a 43.95 leg on Saturday as Botswana’s 2:59.73 effort edged second-place South Africa by three hundredths of a second. And on Sunday, his 44.13 anchor gave Botswana a 2:59.11 to 3:00.75 victory over a South African squad that did not include 400-meter world record-holder Wayde van Niekirk, who had run a 44.23 third leg in the heats.
A U.S. team of Jacory Patterson, Champion Allison, Christopher Bailey, and Bryce Deadmon won the first of three repechage heats in 2:59.95 on Sunday after the Americans had been disqualified after crossing the finish line first in their opening-round qualifying race on Saturday.
The U.S. squad of Patterson, Bailey, Allison, and Deadmon had ran 3:00.42 to finish ahead of second-place Japan, but the Japanese ended up winning the race in 3:00.98 because Allison had broken a rule when he re-positioned himself on the innermost part of the track after an official had placed him in the fourth position from the rail as the second-leg runners entered the home straightaway.
Allison did not interfere with any of the incoming runners with his actions, that are allowed at the collegiate level in the U.S., but international rules prohibit a relay runner from changing their position after an official has put them in a specific spot on the track to receive the baton from their teammate.
Fast time in the 4 x 1: Statistically speaking the U.S. men’s 4 x 100 relay team of Courtney Lindsey, Kenny Bednarek, Kyree King, and Noah Lyles turned in the best performance of the World Athletics Relays when it clocked 37.40 seconds in the final to finish well ahead of a Canadian foursome that ran 37.89.
The U.S. team, which had run 37.49 in winning its qualifying heat on Saturday, had three solid passes in the final as its winning time moved the squad into a three-way tie for 12th on the all-time performance list, and into a three-way tie for fourth on the all-time U.S. list.
Lindsey, who is tied for the yearly world lead in the 200 at 19.71, gave the U.S. a commanding lead after the first leg, and when he and Bednarek connected without incident on their pass, the Americans were in great shape and were never seriously challenged for the lead after that.
Double trouble: The U.S. women turned in a pair of runaway victories in winning the 4 x 100- and 4 x 400-meter relays in the World Athletics Relays as the Americans posted respective yearly world-leading times of 41.85 and 3:21.70.
Gabby Thomas, the silver medalist in the 200 in last year’s World Championships, ran the second leg on both teams as a squad of Tamari Davis, Thomas, Celera Barnes, and Melissa Jefferson finished nine tenths of a second in front of second-place France in the 400 relay, and a quartet of Quanera Hayes, Thomas, Bailey Lear, and Alexis Holmes finished 3.01 seconds ahead of runner-up Poland in the 1,600 relay.
Splits of 49.58 from Thomas and 49.63 from Holmes were the second- and third-fastest recorded in the final of the 1,600 relay as Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek, the silver medalist in the 400 in the World Championships, ran 49.46 on her anchor leg.
Keeping Bol at bay: The mixed 4 x 400-meter relay was the closest finish of the meet in the World Athletics Relays as a U.S. squad of Matthew Boling, Lynna Irby-Jackson, Willington Wright, and Kendall Ellis set a meet record of 3:10.73 — the sixth-fastest time in history in the event that was first contested at the global-title level in 2019 — while turning back a Femke Bol-anchored Dutch team that placed second in 3:11.45.
A U.S. team anchored by Alexis Holmes had set a world record of 3:08.80 in winning the World Championships last year after Bol had fallen to the track in the final 10 meters of the race as she was trying to hold off the fast-closing Holmes.
However, Bol had bounced back from that mishap on the first day of the meet by winning the gold medal in the 400 hurdles and anchoring the Netherlands to a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the women’s 4 x 400 relay in the final event of the nine-day competition.
She continued her roll during the indoor season when she set a pair of world records in the 400, capped by a 49.17-second clocking in the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 2. She then opened her outdoor season with races over 100 and 150 meters on April 28 before coming to the World Relays.
The U.S. and Dutch teams were expected to battle for the title on Sunday after they had posted times of 3:11.52 and 3:12.16, respectively, in winning their qualifying heats on Saturday.
Boling gave the Americans the lead with an opening leg of 45.11.
Irby-Jackson followed with a solid 50.10 split for the U.S., but the team’s lead had been reduced to less than two tenths of a second over a surprising Ireland squad after Rhasidat Adelkeke ran a storming 48.45 for that country.
The Netherlands was 1.3 seconds out of first place at that point, despite getting a 49.80 carry from Lieke Klaver.
Wright expanded the Americans’ lead to a little more than a second over Ireland with a 45.18 split on his leg, while the Netherlands was in third, 1.4 seconds out of first place.
Bol reduced her team’s deficit to about 10 meters with 200 meters left in the race and she pulled to within a stride of Ellis with about 75 meters remaining. But the American had left something in her tank for late in the race and she began to pull away from Bol as the Dutch star had to fight off Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley for second place during the last 50 meters of the contest.
While Bol ran a fine 49.63 anchor leg, Ellis’ 50.34 split was more than enough to give the Americans the victory in the race in which Ireland finished third in a national record of 3:11.53.
Two liners: Payton Otterdahl of the U.S. won his third competition of the season without a defeat when he took the men’s shot put with a mark of 22.41 meters (73 feet 6¼ inches) in the USA Track & Field Throws Festival in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday. Otterdahl had the five longest puts of the meet, including four efforts of 22.23 (72-11¼) or farther. . . . . Daniel Haugh of the U.S. won his second meet of the season without a loss when he threw the hammer 79.01 (259-2) in the USA Track & Field Throws Festival. Haugh also had a pair of 78.81 (258-6) efforts while defeating a field that included Denzel Comenentia of the Netherlands in second place at 77.75 (255-1) and American record-holder Rudy Winkler in third at 76.89 (252). . . . . Nikki Hiltz of the U.S., the runner-up in the women’s 1,500 meters in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 3, opened the outdoor season with wins in sections of the 400 and 800 meters in the Oxy Invitational at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, California, on Saturday. Hiltz ran 54.40 seconds in the 400 and 2:00.33 in the 800 during the afternoon before serving as a pacesetter in the 1,500 in the evening. . . . . DeAnna Price of the U.S., the 2019 World champion in the women’s hammer throw, upped her season best to 77.05 (252-9) in the Fighting Illini Tune-Up meet in Champaign, Illinois, on Saturday. Price, who holds the American record at 80.31 (263-6), also had throws of 77.02 (252-8), 76.44 (250-9), and 75.78 (248-7) in the meet at the University of Illinois. . . . . Frederik Ruppert of Germany ran a yearly world-leading time of 8:17.41 in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in a meet in Huelva, Spain, on April 30 (Tuesday). The next three finishers behind Ruppert ran personal bests as Belgians Tim Van De Velde and Remi Schyns clocked 8:18.68 and 8:18.95, respectively, and Milkesa Fikadu of Ethiopia ran 8:21.25. . . . . Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, the gold medalist in the women’s 200 in the last two World Championships, ran 11.03 in the 100 to win her first race of the year in the Jamaican capital of Kingston on Saturday. Jackson won silver medals in the 100 in the past two World Championships after winning a bronze medal in the event in the Olympic Games in 2021.
Defending champs will be in Paris: Eliud Kipchoge and Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, winners of the men’s and women’s marathon in the Olympic Games in 2021, will each get an opportunity to defend their titles when the athletics portion of this year’s Games are contested in Paris from August 1-11.
Kipchoge, 39, and Jepchirchir, 30, were two of six marathon runners that Athletics Kenya named to its Olympic team last week.
Benson Kipruto, 33, and Alexander Munyao, 27, were also named to the men’s squad, while 33-year-old Hellen Obiri and 30-year-old Brigid Kosgei were each selected to the women’s team.
Kipchoge stamped himself as the greatest men’s marathon runner in history after he won 15 of his first 17 marathons following a notable career on the track that included a pair of medals in the 5,000 meters in both the Olympic Games and World Championships. He is the second-fastest runner of all-time with a best of 2:01:09, as well as a two-time world record-setter in the event. However, he will enter Paris having been soundly beaten in two of his three previous races.
He had lowered his world record from 2:01:39 to 2:01:09 in the 2022 Berlin Marathon. But he finished sixth in his inaugural Boston Marathon last year and was 10th in the Tokyo Marathon in March of this year.
He did win his fifth Berlin Marathon title last September with a time of 2:02:42, but his loss in Tokyo, where he finished more than four and a half minutes behind first-place Kipruto’s 2:02:16 clocking, has left many fans to wonder if his incredible run at the top is over.
The hyper-consistent Kipruto has placed third or higher in his past seven marathons, and he was third in the Boston Marathon last year and second in Chicago in October.
Munyao is a relative newcomer at the elite marathon level, but he won the London Marathon in 2:04:01 last month after running a personal best of 2:03:11 to place second in the Valencia Marathon in Spain last December. He had previously won the Prague Marathon in May in 2:05:09.
Jepchirchir had followed her victory in the women’s race of the Olympic Games with marathon wins in New York City in November of 2021 and in Boston in April of 2022, but her training had been interrupted by injuries since then.
However, she placed third in a tight finish in the London Marathon last year before triumphing over a stellar field in this year’s race in which her winning time of 2:16:16 moved her to 11th on the all-time performer list and was the fastest ever in a women’s-only contest.
Obiri’s personal best of 2:21:38 in the marathon pales in comparison to those of Jepchirchir and Kosgei, who has run 2:14:04. But the two-time World champion in the 5,000 meters has won her last three marathons, with two of those victories coming in Boston.
Kosgei, the Olympic silver medalist behind Jepchirchir, set a world record with her 2:14:04 clocking in Chicago in 2019. She ran 2:16:02 to win the Tokyo Marathon in 2022, but she had dropped out of the London Marathon last year after sustaining a leg injury shortly before the race and she finished fourth in the New York City Marathon last November.
She then surprised many by running — and winning — the Abu Dhabi Marathon in 2:19:15 six weeks later before she finished fifth in 2:19:02 in the London Marathon last month.
Compatriot Sharon Lokedi, who placed second behind Obiri in the Boston Marathon last month after finishing first and third, respectively, in the New York City Marathon in 2022 and ’23, had been regarded by some as a logical third pick for the Kenyan team. But Kosgei got the nod over Lokedi, perhaps because she had won the silver medal behind Jepchirchir in the Olympics.
Ethiopia names squad: Sisay Lemma and Tigst Assefa topped the list of marathoners who were named to what is expected to be a powerful Ethiopian contingent for the Olympic Games in Paris in August.
The 33-year-old Lemma, who won the Boston Marathon last month, will be joined by 41-year-old Kenenisa Bekele and 32-year-old Tamirat Tola on the men’s squad that was selected by the Ethiopian Federation of Athletics.
The 27-year-old Assefa, the women’s world record-holder at 2:11:53, will be part of a women’s trio that will also include Amane Beriso, 32, and Gotytom Gebreslase, 29.
Lemma had dropped out of three of his six previous marathons entering the Valencia Marathon in Spain last December. But he set a course record of 2:01:48 in that race to move to fourth on the all-time performer list before breaking away from the lead pack during the first 10 kilometers of the Boston Marathon last month and building a lead of nearly three minutes before winning by 41 seconds.
Bekele, who won three Olympic and five World titles in either the 5,000 or 10,000 meters on the track, had come within two seconds of the world record in the marathon when he ran 2:01:41 in Berlin in 2019. But he had finished third in Berlin and sixth in New York City in 2021 before finishing fifth in London in 2022.
He dropped out of the London Marathon last year, but ran a world masters (age 40 and older) record of 2:04:19 to finish fourth in the Valencia Marathon in Spain last December before lowering that mark by four seconds while finishing second in London last month.
Tola’s recent performances have been down and up as he dropped out of the London Marathon last month after setting a course record of 2:04:59 in winning the New York City Marathon last November. He also dropped out of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in August of last year, but finished third in London before that. In addition, he won the World title in Eugene, Oregon, in 2022.
Assefa finished six seconds behind first-place Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya in the London Marathon last month after she had taken more than three and a half minutes off her best time when she ran a stunning 2:11:53 in Berlin last year that cut more than two minutes off the women’s world record of 2:14:04 that was set by Brigid Kosgei of Kenya in Chicago in 2019.
Beriso had finished third in the Tokyo Marathon in March after winning the World title last August and placing second to Kenyan Olympic-team selection Hellen Obiri in the Boston Marathon four months before then. That followed her surprising 2:14:58 clocking in the Valencia Marathon in December of 2022 that left her nearly two minutes in front of favored compatriot Letesenbet Gidey.
Gebreslase ran a disappointing 2:21:19 to place third in the Hamburg Marathon last month, but she had finished second to Beriso in last year’s World Championships after winning the title in 2022.
No U.S. Olympic Trials for Coburn: Emma Coburn of the U.S., the 2017 World champion in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, announced last week that she had suffered a broken right ankle while running in a Diamond League meet in Suzhou, China, on April 27.
Coburn, 33, wrote in her social media post that she had sustained the injury, which forced her to drop out of the race, while contesting a water jump. She added that medical images “showed torn ligaments, damaged cartilage, and a fracture in my medial malleolus. I had surgery yesterday and got a screw in my ankle for the fracture and got the cartilage cleaned up. If all goes well, I can start jogging again in 6 weeks.”
Coburn, a 10-time national champion in the steeplechase, also won a silver medal in the 2019 World Championships, as well as a bronze medal in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
During her career, she has competed in the finals of eight global title meets in the steeplechase. In addition, her personal best of 9:02.35 in the event ranks 15th on the all-time performer list and makes her the second-fastest American in history behind Courtney Frerichs, who lowered her U.S. record to 8:57.77 in 2021.
On a personal note: I will be taking some time off starting today and do not expect my next post to appear until the week of May 20.
I hope you’ll be able to take some time to enjoy the plethora of track and field action scheduled to be held between now and then.