Week in Review: Can you say Wow?
Girma, Crouser, and Bol set world indoor records during stupendous five-day stretch
According to my calculations, this is the 40th Week in Review column I have posted since launching Track & Field Informed with Johnny O on March 7 of last year. However, for the first time the lead item in this week’s column will focus on the exploits of three different athletes rather than the accomplishments of one .
I felt that was only fair after a week in which Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia, Ryan Crouser of the U.S., and Femke Bol of the Netherlands each set world indoor records.
They were the first world records for Girma, who ran 7 minutes 23.81 seconds in the men’s 5,000, and Bol, who clocked 49.26 in the women’s 400, although the Dutchwoman had set a world best in the infrequently-run 500 meters on Feb. 4.
Crouser’s effort of 23.38 meters (76 feet 8½ inches) in the shot put marked the second time he has set a world record indoors to go along with his outdoor world mark of 23.37 (76-8¼) that he unleashed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2021.
In the interest of again being fair, I am going to write about the exploits of this terrific trio in the chronological order in which they occurred, which means I will start with Girma, followed by Crouser, and then Bol.
Girma, who turned 22 in November, entered last Wednesday’s Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin, France as a superb young talent who was coming off a year in which he won silver medals in the 3,000 meters in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia in March and in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the World outdoor meet in Eugene, Oregon in July.
In between those meets, he had become the second man in history to break 8 minutes in the steeplechase in three consecutive races while doing it in an unprecedented 10-day span from May 31-June 9.
He had run in Lievin – and run well – in each of the three previous years, and his affinity for the track and appreciation for a crowd that was always vocal led to his decision to make a concerted effort to break the world indoor record of 7:24.90 that Kenyan Daniel Komen had set in Budapest, Hungary in 1998.
With his training indicating he was in the best shape of his life, Girma followed the pacesetters through the first kilometer in a quick 2:28.49. He then moved into the lead shortly before passing 2,000 meters in 4:28.38.
That split projected to a final time of 7:27.57, but Girma picked up the pace over the final kilometer as he was trailed closely by Mohamed Katir of Spain.
Katir was only a stride back of Girma at the bell lap, but the young Ethiopian kept him at bay down the backstretch before pulling away from him around the final turn and down the home straightaway to slice a little more than a second off Komen’s mark.
The 24-year-old Katir, who ran 7:24.68, also bettered the previous world record while demolishing the European best of 7:30.82 set by fellow Spaniard Adel Mechaal last year.
Jacob Krop of Kenya ran a personal best of 7:31.35 to finish third, with Birhanu Balew of Bahrain placing fourth in 7:33.42 and American Grant Fisher finishing fifth in 7:35.82.
“I’m so happy with the result. I was talking about this world record attempt for the last three days,” Girma said in a World Athletics post. “My brother is my coach. He told me I had it in me and of course I believed him. I felt really good in training and it was my best form ever, plus the crowd was very supportive today. The pacers and the Wavelength were perfect – it all clicked. I have raced here several times in this meeting and the crowd never disappoint. I hope the record stays for a long time.”
Like the organizers of the meet in Lievin, the promoters of the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho in the U.S. told people that Crouser would be making a serious assault on the world record in men’s shot put in their meet. But the two-time Olympic and defending World champion was not so sure of his chances as his training had not gone particularly well since he opened the season with a top put of 22.58 (74-1) in the Millrose Games in New York City the previous week.
Nonetheless, he was excited when he stepped into the ring for his first put while competing in a special event for professional and collegiate performers that was being staged during an established high school meet.
The 6-foot-7 (2.01 meters) Crouser often produces his top throws during the middle or latter rounds of a competition, but he unleashed his 23.38 (76-8½) bomb on his first attempt in Pocatello. He then reached 22.48 (73-9) on his second effort before fouling his third attempt. He then hit 22.04 (72-3¾), 22.60 (74-1¾), and 22.26 (73-0½) on his final three efforts.
His winning put added more than half a meter to his previous indoor best of 22.82 (74-10½) that he set in 2021 and it was a centimeter further than his world record outdoors.
In addition, the 30-year-old’s 22.60 effort in the fifth round was tied for the seventh-longest indoor put in history.
“It really surprised me with that first round throw,” he was quoted as saying in a post on arkansasrazorbacks.com. “I wasn’t expecting it. I opened really well at Millrose last week and since then training was a little bit down. So, I took an extra rest day coming into this meet. . . I’m super happy with today’s performance.”
Saturday’s meet marked the second time Crouser has produced a particularly memorable performance in the Simplot Games. The first came in the 2011 meet when he set a U.S. high school indoor record of 23.54 (77-2¾) while competing with the 12-pound prep implement during his senior year at Barlow High in Gresham, Oregon.
“It reminded me of 2011, when I was a little bit shorter and a lot skinnier,” he said in a post on the Simplot Games site. “I was having flashbacks—there was a lot of noise.”
He added that it was “fantastic to be back at such a fantastic meet. Professional meets don’t have an atmosphere like this. The high school athletes have such a passion for the sport, and Pocatello cares so much about the event. It’s an atmosphere that is unmatched anywhere in the world.”
Bol’s world record came in the fourth meet of an indoor season in which she has been on a tear.
She opened it by setting a world best of 1:05.63 in the 500 meters in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Brighton, Massachusetts on Feb. 4 before running national records of 49.96 in the 400 and 22.87 in the 200 in a meet in Metz, France a week later.
Then came a winning 50.20 effort in Lievin last Wednesday.
Her time there might have led some to assume that her run of superb performances was over, but they continued in the Dutch national championships on Sunday when her 49.26 clocking slashed seven tenths of a second off her previous national record and bettered the world record of 49.59 set by Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czechoslovakia in winning the 1982 European Championships in Milan, Italy.
Starting in the outermost lane on the six-lane track at the Omnisport, Bol was even with the typically fast-starting Lieke Klaver coming off the second turn of the first lap of the 200-meter track and she began to pull away from her after that.
Her first lap in 23.63 seconds was three tenths of a second faster that she had run for the first 200 in her 49.96 effort and she ran the second lap fourth tenths of a second faster this time around as Klaver finished second in a personal best of 50.34.
The end result was a time that bettered the 6-foot (1.83 meters) Bol’s outdoor best of 49.44 which she ran in winning the European title last August and lowered the longest standing indoor track event record on the books.
“I was hoping for a 49.5 here, but 49.26... I really have no words for this,” Bol said in a World Athletics post. “It is my first world record at a real distance. Could it be even faster? This was almost a perfect race.
"I was hoping to run the record, of course, but in life you hope for a lot of things and most of the time it does not happen. I am glad that I did not just get the record, but that I improved it by a big margin."
Like Girma and Crouser, she said an enthusiastic crowd helped propel her to her record.
“It was because of all the fans here that I ran this record,” Bol was quoted as saying in a post on the Athletics Weekly site. “Never have I ever seen that many people here. When I crossed the line I knew that the record was mine, because of the noise that the crowd made.”
Bol, who will turn 23 today (Thursday), was still on a cloud on Tuesday when she posted the following on Istagram. “WORLD RECORD 🌍🤯
It still feels unreal
THANK YOU to all the amazing people involved, we did this 🔥
The support from the crowd was craaaazy, couldn’t be happier to run this at home in front of you 🧡
For now I’m enjoying and cherishing this moment ☁️
Next up 🔜 European Indoors 🇳🇱
Dominance personified: Ryan Crouser’s dominance of the all-time world list in the men’s indoor shot put is something to behold.
After his performance in the Simplot Games, Crouser has the top three indoor puts in history, as well as 8 of the top 9, 14 of the top 17, and 17 of the top 21.
Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda and Beatrice Chebet of Kenya won the individual men’s and women’s titles in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships that were held at the Mount Panorama circuit near Bathurst, Australia last Saturday. You can click here for a detailed report on the five championship races, including the senior women’s event in which Chebet raced past a faltering Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia with less than 50 meters remaining.
Coming back strong: DeAnna Price of the U.S., one of two women in history to have thrown more than 80 meters in the hammer throw, set a pair of world bests in winning the 20-pound weight throw in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico last Friday.
Competing on the second day of the three-day meet at the Albuquerque Convention Center, the 2019 World hammer champion set a personal best of 24.86 (81-6¾) on her first throw before improving to 25.46 (83-6½) in the second round.
She then set her first world best on her third attempt when her 25.77 (84-6¾) throw bettered the previous best of 25.60 (84-0) first set by Gwen Berry of the U.S. in 2017 and then tied by fellow American Janeah Stewart earlier this year.
Price, 29, followed that effort with a throw of 25.21 (82-8½) in the fourth round before exploding to 26.02 (85-4¼) in the fifth stanza that added nearly eight inches to her previous world best. She intentionally fouled on her sixth – and final – attempt after getting off a lackluster toss.
Brooke Andersen, last year’s World champion in the hammer, finished second in Albuquerque with a best of 24.97 (81-11¼).
Although the weight throw is an event that is rarely contested in indoor track and field meets outside of the U.S. and Canada, Price’s performance would seem to indicate that she is on her way back from a challenging period during which she finished a disappointing eighth in the Olympic Games while competing with an injury, underwent extensive surgeries on her ankle and hip, and withdrew from the World Athletics Championships last July after an extended bout with COVID-19 had left her too weakened to compete at a high level.
She is coached by her husband, J.C. Lambert, who she thanked in a touching post on Instagram following her world-best performances. The post was as follows:
“To my amazing husband and coach @coachlambert16.
Thank you. It’s been a long journey and we have a long way to go. I just wanted to thank you for believing in me. Thank you for helping me through the hardest days of my existence as an athlete.
You mean the world to me and this record is because of you. The drive and dedication you put towards your team is undeniably the reason why I love you and this sport.
Thank you from my heart. ❤️”
Thriving as a professional: Anna Hall had a unique double in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships, winning the pentathlon with an American record of 5,004 points last Thursday and placing first in the 400 meters in a personal best of 51.03 seconds on Saturday.
Hall, who finished third in the seven-event heptathlon in the World Championships last July after winning the NCAA title for the University of Florida in June, fell just nine points short of the world record in the five-event pentathlon with the second-highest score in history.
Now competing as a professional, the 21-year-old Hall took advantage of the elevation of nearly 5,000 feet (1,525 meters) in Albuquerque while producing the best marks in every event of the pentathlon.
She was awarded 1,120 points after running 8.04 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and she earned 1,119 points for clearing 1.91 (6-3¼) in the high jump.
A best of 13.80 (45-3½) in the shot put gave her 781 points, and she followed that with marks of 6.34 (20-9¾) in the long jump and 2:05.70 in the 800 to earn 956 and 1,028 points, respectively.
She then ran 53.66 in a first-round heat of the 400 on Friday before clocking 51.03 in the final on Saturday to defeat second-place Na’asha Robinson (52.30) by more than a second.
While Hall would love to have topped the world record of 5,013 points in the pentathlon set in 2012 by 2008 Olympic heptathlon champion Nataliya Dobrynska of Ukraine, a post on Instagram made it clear she was ecstatic with her performance. The post was as follows: “✨5004✨
American Record !! & #2 in world history 🤯
and God said “not yet”
came heartbreakingly close to the world record today 💔
but couldn’t be happier with the fight i gave!!
highlight ➡️ 1.91 hj pb !!!! 🥹
thankful for my people @gatorstf @usatf and at home 🤍 having my back through it all. the best is yet to come!!
#Histiming
Significant jump: When Aleia Hobbs lowered her personal best in the 60-meter dash by four hundredths of a second in winning the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque on Saturday, she vaulted from a three-way tie for ninth to second on the all-time performer list.
Hobbs’ time, which was no doubt aided by the nearly 5,000 foot (1,525 meter) elevation where the Albuquerque Convention Center is located, is tied for the fourth fastest ever run and bettered the previous American record of 6.95 first set by Gail Devers in 1993 and equaled by Marion Jones in 1998.
Only Irina Privalova of Russia, who ran 6.92 in 1993 and ’95, and 6.93 in ’94, has run faster than Hobbs, who will turn 25 on Saturday.
“Unbelievable. It’s a long time coming,” an emotional Hobbs told NBC Sports’ Lewis Johnson when he asked her about her performance. “I’m just so thankful. So thankful.”
Hobbs, sixth in the 100 in the World Championships last year, looked very under control when she won her qualifying heat in 7.02 earlier in the day. In the final, she came out of the blocks as well as anyone in the eight-sprinter field and then used her superior top-end speed to power away from everyone.
World indoor championship bronze medalist Marybeth Sant Price finished second in 7.09, followed by Destiny Smith-Barnett in 7.11.
“I knew if I was going to get the record I had to get out of the blocks,” Hobbs said. “I knew I needed to get out and finish like I usually do.”
Racking up the frequent flyer miles: Katie Moon completed an interesting double of sorts when she won the women’s pole vault at a height of 4.80 (15-9) in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque on Saturday.
Three days earlier, the defending Olympic and World Champion had cleared a yearly world-leading height of 4.83 (15-10) in the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin, France.
In both meets, Moon missed three attempts at 4.90 (16-0¾) after clearing her winning height.
Consistent series: Defending Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece spanned a yearly world-leading mark of 8.41 (27-7¼) in winning the men’s long jump in the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin.
The mark added a centimeter to his previous yearly world-leading mark, but what was most impressive about his performance was the consistency he displayed.
I addition to his farthest mark, Tentoglou also leaped 8.37 (27-5½), 8.34 (27-4½), and 8.32 (27-3¾).
Dynamite relay duel: Oklahoma State University set a collegiate record in the men’s distance medley relay last Friday after edging the University of Washington in the Arkansas Qualifier meet at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
The Cowboys, who received a 3:52.83 1,600-meter anchor leg from junior Ryan Shoppe, clocked 9:16.40 to crush the previous collegiate record of 9:19.42 set by a Cooper Teare-anchored Oregon squad in 2021.
Washington finished second in 9:16.65 to finish well under the previous collegiate record, with third-place Arkansas (9:22.13) and fourth-place Virginia (9:23.71) also producing school records while recording the seventh- and 10th-fastest times in collegiate history.
Oklahoma State trailed after each of the first three legs, but the Cowboys were always close behind Washington.
Junior Joe Wascom, the defending NCAA champion in the 1,500, gave Washington a narrow lead when he clocked 2:49.41 for the opening 1,200-meter leg that OSU sophomore Fouad Messaoud covered in 2:49.48.
The Huskies extended their advantage to .52 seconds when junior Daniel Gaik ran 46.37 on his 400 leg while Cowboy senior DeJuana McArthur clocked 46.82.
Washington senior Cass Elliott ran 1:47.42 on his 800-meter leg, but OSU sophomore Hafez Mahadi’s 1:47.27 carry cut his team’s deficit to .37 seconds at the final handoff.
Senior Kieran Lumb kept Washington in front for a few more laps around the 200-meter track, but he was eventually passed by Shoppe, who repelled his late charge on the final lap of his 3:53.46 carry.
Two liners: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway ran a yearly world-leading mark of 3:32.38 in the men’s 1,500 meters in the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin, France on Wednesday. It was the first race of the season for the defending Olympic champion, who had been previously had his training hampered by a virus that affected him for about a month. . . . Ferdinand Omanyala of Kenya defeated World indoor champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy in the men’s 60 in Lievin. Omanyala ran 6.54 to Jacobs’ 6.57 in the final after winning his heat in 6.58. . . . Tara Davis Woodhall produced the top two marks in the world this year in winning the women’s long jump in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday. The sixth-place finisher in the Olympic Games in 2021 spanned 6.94 meters (22 feet 9¼ inches) on her second attempt before topping that with a 6.99 (22-11 ¼) effort in the fifth round. . . . Arizona State University junior Justin Robinson moved to third on the yearly world performer list in the men’s 400 meters when he ran a personal best of 45.40 to win the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships on Saturday. Robinson had set a world U18 (under 18) outdoor record of 44.84 while running in the 2019 Great Southwest Classic in Albuquerque following his junior year at Hazelwood (Missouri) High. . . . Britton Wilson of the University of Arkansas won the women’s 800 in 2:02.13 in the Arkansas Qualifier meet on Friday. The defending NCAA champion in the 400 hurdles had set a collegiate record of 1:25.16 in the 600 last month. . . . Kenyans Irine Jepchumba Kimais and Joyciline Jepkosgei moved to eighth and ninth on the all-time performer list in the women’s half marathon on Sunday when they ran 1 hour 4 minutes 37 seconds and 1:04:46 in a race in Barcelona. Their times make them the fourth and fifth fastest Kenyans of all time. . . . Hellen Obiri of Kenya defeated Gotytom Gebrseslase of Ethiopia in the women’s division of the Rhas Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the United Emirates on Sunday. Obiri, silver medalist in the 10,000 in the World Championships last year, ran 1:05:05 to World marathon champion Gebrseslase’s 1:05:49.
Interesting change: Michael Norman of the U.S. has earned the right to focus on whatever event he chooses. But I have to admit I was initially disappointed when I read last week that the defending World champion in the 400 meters hopes to compete in the 100 when the global title meet is held in Budapest, Hungary from August 19-27.
That’s because I feel Norman has the capability to become the first man in history to break 43 seconds in the 400.
Wayde van Niekirk of South Africa just missed breaking the magical 43-second barrier when he ran 43.03 in winning the 2016 Olympic title in Rio de Janiero, but the only sub-43.50 performances in the world since then have come from Norman, who ran 43.45 in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in April of 2019, and Stephen Gardiner of the Bahamas, who clocked 43.48 in winning the World title in Doha, Qatar in October of that year.
Norman also ran 43.56 and 43.60 in winning the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships and the Prefontaine Classic last year, which made me think that a sub-44.20 clocking in a breakthrough race was a possibility this year.
But alas, the lure of the 100, and the possibility of being called the fastest human on the planet, was a challenge that the 25-year-old Norman could not ignore.
“If you’re 400 world champion, you don’t get that coveted title of the world’s fastest man,” Norman said in a post on olympics.nbcsports.com. “[The 100] is the race that the world watches. . . I think the moment’s now.
“I feel like I’m reaching my prime.”
Norman ran a personal best of 9.86 in the 100 during the 2020 season that was very short and compacted due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. And because he is the defending World champion in the 400, he has an automatic bye into the World Championships in that event if he comes up short in his effort to make the U.S. team in the 100 when the national championships are held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon from July 6-9.
“In a world where things go absolutely terrible, then I will be defending my title in the 400,” he said, “but if things go the way that I plan it to go, then I’ll be fighting for a new title.”
Add Norman: One of the comments that caught my attention in the olympics.nbcsports.com post was when Norman said that his coach, Quincy Watts, had encouraged him to consider the 100 when they sat down for their end of the season review last year.
Watts, who is in his second year as the director of men’s and women’s track and field and women’s cross country at his alma mater of USC, set a pair of Olympic records in rolling to the gold medal in the 400 in the 1992 Games in Barcelona. But he was a 100-200 sprinter during his first three years at Taft High in Woodland Hills, California – winning the 100 and 200 in the state meet as a junior – before he started to run the open 400 as a senior in an effort to put less strain on a right hamstring he had injured earlier in the season.
He was still determined to be a 100-200 man when he came to USC, but after suffering a pair of hamstring injuries during both his freshman and sophomore years, and sustaining three injuries during the early part of his junior season, he gave into Trojan assistant coach Jim Bush’s entreaties to run the 400.
He placed second in the NCAA Championships that year before winning the title as a senior in 1992, placing third in the U.S. Olympic Trials, and dominating the field in the Olympics by running a then-Olympic record of 43.71 in the semifinals and topping that mark in the final with a 43.50 clocking that was the second-fastest time in history at that moment.
Back in the running: Peter Bol of Australia, the fourth-place finisher in the men’s 800 meters in the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, had his provisional suspension by Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) dropped on Feb. 14 after a B sample of an out-of-competition urine sample he provided on Oct. 11 of last year showed “an Atypical Finding (ATF) for recombinant EPO).”
According to a press release from SIA, “an ATF is not the same as a negative test result. An ATF is a report from a WADA-accredited laboratory which requires further investigation as provided by the World Anti-Doping – International Standard for Laboratories 2021 or related Technical Documents.”
Nonetheless, an ATF does negate the positive result for EPO from an A sample that led to Bol’s provisional suspension last month.
EPO, which is short for erythropoietin, is a performance-enhancing substance that is also produced naturally in the human body as a hormone. Using a synthetic form of it is regarded as blood doping that can improve the endurance of someone taking it.
Bol, seventh in the 800 in the World Championships last July, wrote in an Instagram post last month that “It is critically important to convey with the strongest conviction that I am innocent and have not taken this substance as I am accused.”
Upon being informed of the ATF finding, he wrote on another Instagram post that his provisional suspension had been lifted by SIA and the relief he was feeling was “hard to describe.”
He added that he appreciated the support he had received from his family, his team, “and from so many people from Australia and around the world.”
Writing that the last month “has been nothing less than a nightmare,” Bol continued that he wished the results of his A sample had ever been leaked, but there was nothing he could do about that now. He then closed the post with the following sentence: “I have NEVER in my life purchased, researched, possessed, administered, or used synthetic EPO or any other Prohibited Substance, and never will.”
In memory: Greg Foster, the only man to have won three consecutive World championships in the 110-meter high hurdles, passed away on Sunday. He was 64.
The winner of the high hurdles in the first three World Championships held in Helsinki in 1983, in Rome in ’87, and in Tokyo in 1991, Foster had a rare disease – amyloidosis – that occurs when a protein called amyloid builds up in certain organs and inhibits their ability to function. In Foster’s case, his heart was affected and he had undergone heart transplant surgery, as well as chemotherapy, in 2020.
An Illinois native, Foster attended UCLA and won NCAA titles in the high hurdles in 1978 and ’80, as well as in the 200 in 1979.
As a freshman at UCLA in 1977, Foster was the No. 7-ranked high hurdler in the world by Track & Field News. He would be ranked among the top 10 performers in the world in 14 of the following 15 years, including No. 1 rankings in 1982, ’83, ’86, ’87, and ’91, and No. 2 rankings in 1978, ’80, ’81, ’84, and ’85.
He was the favorite in the high hurdles in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but finished second to U.S. teammate Roger Kingdom by three hundredths of a second.
A powerful hurdler who was 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters) and 195 pounds (88.5 kilograms) during his prime, Foster ran his personal best of 13.03 seconds in the 1981 Weltklasse meet in Zurich in which fellow American Renaldo Nehemiah became the first man in history to break 13 seconds when he clocked 12.93.
Foster was also an outstanding performer in the high hurdles indoors. He won the 1991 World indoor title in the 60-meter event and his personal best of 7.36, which he ran in 1987, puts him in a three-way tie for fourth on the all-time performer list.
In memory II: Tim Lobinger, the 2003 World indoor champion in the men’s pole vault for Germany, passed away last Thursday after a long battle with leukemia. He was 50.
Track & Field News ranked Lobinger among the top 10 pole vaulters in the world 11 times during a 12-year stretch from 1996-2007, with his highest rankings being No. 2 for the 2002, ’03, and ’05 seasons.
The German record-holder with a best of 6.00 (19-8¼), Lobinger also won a bronze medal in the 2006 World Indoor Championships.
He never medaled in a global title meet outdoors, but he did place among the top eight finishers five times, topped by a fourth-place effort in 1997. He was a four-time Olympian, with his highest finish coming in the 1996 Games in Atlanta, where he finished seventh.
He first underwent chemotherapy for an aggressive form of leukemia in 2017. He made a good recovery from the treatments, but the blood cancer returned last year.