Week in Review: Robinson shocks in 400
Intermediate hurdler runs world-leading 44.15 in Tom Jones Memorial Invitational
I am not 100 percent certain of this, but I think there is a very strong chance that no one has ever accomplished what Chris Robinson of the U.S. did in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, last Saturday.
Robinson , the 2023 NCAA champion in the men’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles for the University of Alabama, entered the third section of the Olympic development 400 meters with a solid personal best of 45.54 seconds in the event. And he concluded it with a sparkling, yearly world-leading time of 44.15.
His effort came two races after Jacory Patterson of the U.S. had posted a yearly world-leading mark of 44.27 in winning the first section of the event.
Patterson’s time bettered his previous personal best of 44.81 from the 2021 season by a nice margin. However, I cannot recall a time during my 50-plus years as a track and field fan when anyone has dropped their best in the 400 from a mid-45 clocking to a low-44 mark in a single race.
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.
“It definitely felt surreal, but I also felt that it was a matter of time before I ran something like that,” Robinson said in a telephone interview on Friday. “I haven’t been able to run a real four since high school… because of the 400 hurdles so I really wanted to see what I could do.”
Wearing sunglasses, a light blue singlet, and black shorts, the 24-year-old Robinson trailed Matthew Boling of the U.S. for the first 200 or so meters of the race in Gainesville while running in lane six. But he had taken the lead midway through the second turn and he was a stride ahead of Boling, who was in lane seven, as he entered the home straightaway.
He then powered away from everyone as he held his form well down the stretch and leaned across the finish line to get the quickest time possible.
Boling finished second in 44.92 and Trevor Bassitt of the U.S., the bronze medalist in the intermediate hurdles in the 2022 World Athletics Championships, placed third in 45.50.
“It felt easier than just about any other race I’ve run in the 400,” Robinson said. “It almost felt like a 4 by 4. I was having fun out there and when I got to the last 100, I felt good, so I said, ‘Just go!’ ”
After a brief two-race indoor season in which he ran 1:17.90 for 600 meters and 45.95 in the 400, Robinson opened his outdoor season in the inaugural Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston, Jamaica, from April 4-6.
Competing in the long hurdles event category, he ran 49.21 to place sixth in the intermediate hurdles on the first day of the meet before finishing second in the 400 with a time of 45.54 two days later.
He had the lead entering the home straightaway of the 400, but Alison dos Santos of Brazil, the 2022 World champion in the intermediate hurdles, overtook him just before the finish line in a race in which the competitors had to contend with a headwind during the final 100-plus meters of the contest.
Despite the less than ideal conditions, Robinson’s time trimmed a hundredth of a second off his previous best of 45.55 that he had run in an indoor meet in 2023 and he was looking for a sub-45 clocking when he settled into the starting blocks in the Jones Memorial race at the University of Florida’s Percy Beard Track.
He also said he also wanted to better the 45.13 clocking that his training partner, Khaleb McRae, had run in winning the previous section of the 400.
McRae and Robinson train together at Georgia Tech University under the auspices of longtime Yellowjacket assistant coach Nat Page, and Robinson credits improved health and strength for his strong finish on Saturday and he hopes those assets propel him to a productive season in which he will drop his personal best in the intermediate hurdles from 47.95 to under 47 seconds.
Although Robinson improved his best from 48.12 to 47.95 during his senior season at Alabama last year, he dealt with left hip and sciatica issues during the early part of the season before he finished second to Caleb Dean of Texas Tech in the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon. He then placed fourth in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials three weeks later while running on the same Hayward Field track at the University of Oregon.
“It’s been more mind over matter this year,” Robinson said of a training regime that now includes intervals up to 800 meters in length and hill repeats that are longer than in previous seasons. “That’s allowed me to focus more on myself and be in my own bubble, focused on me personally.”
According to World Athletics’ scoring system, Robinson’s 44.15 clocking in the 400 rates higher than his 47.95 best in the intermediate hurdles, but he said he’s “definitely still focused on the 400 hurdles as my primary event for right now.”
He has big goals for the next four seasons as he wants to break the world record in the intermediate hurdles — which currently stands at 45.94 seconds — before or during the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He adds that he wants to accomplish that feat on “home soil” in the U.S.
“There’s no better place than home,” he said. “Especially running in front of a home crowd, in front of my family and friends, who love seeing me do what I do. That would be special.”
World leaders in the deuce: While Chris Robinson of the U.S. posted a yearly world-leading mark of 44.15 seconds in the 400 in the Tom Jones Memorial last Saturday, Julien Alfred of St. Lucia and Makanakaishe Charamba of Auburn University and Zimbabwe turned in global-leading performances in the women’s and men’s 200, respectively, on Friday.
Olympic 100 champion Alfred clocked 21.88 seconds to win the Olympic development section of the women’s 200 while finishing nearly half a second in front of second-place Favour Ofili of Nigeria, who ran 22.34. Tamari Davis of the U.S. placed third in 22.37.
Alfred was in the lead coming off the turn before she further expanded her advantage in the home straightway.
The time by the 23-year-old sprinter was only two hundredths of a second shy of her national record of 21.86 that she had set last year while finishing second to eventual Olympic champion Gabby Thomas of the U.S. in a Diamond League meet in London.
Charamba, a senior, won the invitational section of the men’s 200 in 19.99 to finish comfortably ahead of junior T’Mars McCallum of Tennessee, who placed second in 20.21.
Charamba, who has a personal best of 19.95, placed second in the 200 in the NCAA indoor championships in March after finishing fifth on the outdoor championships last June.
Upending the Olympic champions: Trey Cunningham and Grace Stark of the U.S. each ran a yearly world-leading time in winning the men’s 110-meter high hurdles and the women’s 100 hurdles, respectively, in the Tom Jones Memorial last Saturday.
The 25-year-old Cunningham clocked 13.09 in the high hurdles while finishing well clear of compatriot and reigning Olympic champion Grant Holloway, who placed second in 13.18 after winning the 60 high hurdles for the third consecutive time in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, four weeks earlier.
Cunningham’s victory came in his first outdoor final of the season and his time was his fastest since he ran 13.03 while finishing second in a Diamond League meet in Monaco in August of 2022.
He had run a personal best of 13.00 while winning the NCAA title for Florida State University in 2022 before finishing second to Holloway in the World championships in Eugene, Oregon. But he had been unable to regain that form the past two seasons, finishing fifth in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in 2023 and ninth in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials last year.
In contrast to Cunningham, the 23-year-old Stark is coming off the best season of her career that saw her win the NCAA title for the University of Florida last season before she finished third in the Olympic Trials and fifth in the Olympic Games in Paris.
After capping a very good undercover season with a fifth-place finish in the 60 hurdles in the World indoor championships, Stark won the final of the Jones Memorial in 12.59 after running a yearly world-leading time of 12.51 in a qualifying heat earlier in the day.
Her 12.59 clocking left her ahead of Olympic champion Masai Russell of the U.S., who placed second in 12.65.
Russell had been beaten in 13 of the 15 finals in which she ran last year, but her two victories had come in the Olympic Trials, when she ran a personal best of 12.25, and in the Olympic Games, when she clocked 12.33.
Picking up where she left off: Junior Aaliyah Butler of the University of Georgia ran away from a high-caliber collegiate field in winning the women’s 400 meters in the Tom Jones Memorial last Saturday.
The the runner-up in the NCAA indoor championships in March, as well as in last year’s Olympic Trials, Butler ran a personal best of 49.44 in the Jones Memorial to move to fifth on the all-time collegiate outdoor performer list.
Auburn senior Vimbayi Maisvorewa placed second in 50.25, and she was followed by Butler’s teammate and fellow junior Dejanea Oakley, who finished third in 50.35.
Tennessee junior Javonya Valcourt placed fourth in 50.68 and she was followed by the Arkansas tandem of sophomore Kaylyn Brown and senior Rosey Effiong, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in 51.00 and 51.03.
Brown and Effiong had run 49.13 and 49.72 in finishing second and fourth in the NCAA outdoor championships last year.
Butler had first dipped under 50 seconds in the 400 indoors when she won the SEC title in 49.78 on March 1 before finishing second in the NCAA indoor championships with a time of 49.97 two weeks later.
Arkansas’ Bella Whittaker won the national title with her 49.24 clocking in the first section. That time was tied for the second fastest in history and moved her to second on the all-time performer list behind Femke Bol of the Netherlands, the world record-holder at 49.17.
Preview of things to come?: Savannah Sutherland of the University of Michigan, Rachel Glenn of Arkansas, and Akala Garrett of Texas, the second- through fourth-place finishers in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in last year’s NCAA championships, finished 1-2-3 in that event in the Tom Jones Memorial last Friday.
Sutherland, a senior from Canada who placed seventh in the Olympic Games last summer, trailed Glenn and Garrett as she entered the home straightaway, but she soon overtook Garrett before edging past Glenn just before the finish line.
Her winning time of 53.46 seconds was the No. 7 performance in collegiate history and Glenn’s personal best of 53.48 was the eight fastest ever run. It also moved her to sixth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Garrett’s third-place time of 53.73 bettered her previous best of 54.44 while moving her to 10th on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Two sub-10 victories: Kanyinsola Ajayi of Auburn University and Courtney Lindsey of the U.S. ran 9.96 seconds and 9.97, respectively, in winning their respective races of the men’s 100 meters in the Tom Jones Memorial last Saturday.
Ajayi, a sophomore from Nigeria who placed third in last year’s NCAA championships, won the first section of the invitational 100 while turning back a field that included second-place Jelani Watkins from LSU, who ran 10.03, and third-place J’Mars McCallum of Tennessee, who timed 10.04.
Four races later, Lindsey’s 9.97 clocking left him five hundredths of a second in front of compatriot Christian Miller, who placed second in 10.02. Christian Coleman of the U.S. finished third in 10.06 in a race in which the first six finishers clocked 10.08 or faster.
Lindsey’s performance came two weeks after he had placed fifth in the 100 in 10.25 and sixth in the 200 in 20.62 in the inaugural Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston, Jamaica.
He and Ajayi both benefitted from an aiding breeze of 1.9 meters per second in their respective performances in the Jones Memorial.
Impressive resume keeps growing: Sophomore Doris Lemngole of the University of Alabama set the third collegiate record of her career last Friday when she won the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:10.13 in the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
Her time broke the previous collegiate record of 9:15.24 that she ran while winning the event in last year’s NCAA championships. It also came a little more than four months after she had lowered the collegiate indoor record in the 5,000 to 14:52.57.
In addition, it was the fastest time in the world this year and moved her to 11th on the all-time Kenyan performer list.
Lemgole had a lead of six-plus seconds less than two minutes into the race and it was more than 15 seconds with four laps left in the contest.
Running her final four laps in 74.05, 75.29, 74.76, and 73.18 seconds, she finished nearly 18 seconds in front of second-place Sophie Novak of the U.S., who ran 9:27.97. Angelina Napoleon of North Carolina State finished third in 9:29.20.
In addition to her NCAA title in the steeplechase, Lemngole placed first in the women’s race of the NCAA cross country championships last November before winning the 5,000 in the indoor track and field championships in March.
Strong finish: Freshman Geoffrey Kirwa of the University of Louisville left his closest competitors well behind in the final third of the race while winning the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, a week ago last Wednesday.
Kirwa’s winning time of 8:13.79 was the fastest in the world this year, the third fastest in collegiate history, and it crushed his previous best of 8:22.54 set in 2023.
Junior Rob McManus of Montana State finished second in 8:26.83, followed by freshman Joash Kuto of Iowa State in 8:27.22.
The 23-year-old Kirwa followed pacesetter Gable Sieperda through 1,800 meters in 5:02.11 before running the final three 400-meter segments of the race in 64.77, 64.90, and 61.92 seconds.
Only the late Henry Rono has run faster than Kirwa at the collegiate level as the fellow Kenyan clocked a hand-held time of 8:05.4 and a fully-automatic clocking of 8:12.39 during his sophomore year at Washington State in 1978.
The 8:05.4 clocking had lowered the world record of 8:08.0 set by Anders Garderud of Sweden in the 1976 Olympic Games and it was the second of four world records that Rono set that year.
His first global record occurred when he ran 13:08.4 for 5,000 meters in Berkeley, California, in April, and that was followed by his 8:05.4 time in the steeplechase in Seattle in May. Then came a 27:22.4 clocking in the 10,000 in Vienna on June 11 a 7:32.1 effort in the 3,000 in Oslo on June 27.
While Kirwa’s time might have come as a surprise to many, he said in an interview posted by Youth Runner magazine that his “expectation was to run sub-8:15,” as the qualifying standard for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from Sept. 13-21 is 8:15.00.
He added that becoming the second-fastest steeplechase runner in collegiate history behind Rono was very satisfying to him.
“I was happy, being number two all-time is a big deal.”
Disappointing record?: Is it possible to set a collegiate record and have your performance be considered a let-down?
It is if you’re Habtom Samuel of the University of New Mexico.
The sophomore from Eritrea set a collegiate outdoor record of 13:05.87 in the men’s 5,000 meters in winning the event in the Bryan Clay Invitational a week ago Thursday. However, that time was slower than one would have expected after New Mexico freshman Ishmael Kirui and Samuel had run 26:50.21 and 26:51.06, respectively, in finishing first and second in the 10,000 in The TEN meet in San Juan Capistrano, California, on March 29.
In an interview conducted after that race, New Mexico coach Darren Gauson said that Kirui and Samuel seemed capable of running in the mid-12:50 range if they got into the right race. But they fell well short of that kind of performance in the Clay Invitational as Kenyan Kirui finished second in 13:09.24 and Valentin Soca of Cal Baptist and Uruguay placed third in 13:13.10.
A runner would need to average 62 seconds per lap, or 31 seconds per 200, to run 12:55.00 for 5,000 meters. Therefore, Samuel and Kirui found themselves in a bit of a hole when Clement Duigou paced the field through the first kilometer on 2:37.95 and rabbit Theo Quax was in front until just before he passed 3,000 meters in 7:55.53.
A split of 7:45 would have projected to a final time of 12:55 for the 5,000. And when Samuel came through three kilometers in 7:55.13, his chances of running 12:55 were extremely remote as he would have had to run the final two kilometers in 5:00 — or an average of 60 seconds per lap — in order to do so.
As it was, he ran his final kilometer in 5:10.73 and his last lap in 59.60 seconds while bettering the previous collegiate outdoor record of 13:06.32 set by Abdi Nur of Northern Arizona in 2022.
The collegiate indoor record of 12:57.14 in the 5,000 was set by Nico Young of Northern Arizona last year and Samuel’s indoor best of 13:04.92 puts him fourth on the all-time collegiate short track list.
A barrier-breaking performance: On a night when freshman Pamela Kosgei of the University of New Mexico narrowly missed the collegiate record in the women’s 5,000 meters in the Clay Invitational, senior Jane Hedengren of Timpview High School in Provo, Utah, became the first prep girl in the U.S. to have run under 15 minutes in the event.
Kosgei’s winning time of 14:52.45 fell just shy of the collegiate outdoor record of 14:52.18 set by Parky Valby of Florida last year and runner-up Lexy Halladay-Lowry of BYU moved to third on the all-time list with her 14:52.93 clocking. But it was Hedengren’s 14:57.93 effort in third place that might have been the most talked-about performance of the race as it destroyed the U.S. U20 and national prep record of 15:13.26 that she had run in winning the Nike Indoor Nationals high school meet in New York City on March 13.
It also came five days after Hedengren has set a national prep record of 9:34.12 in the girls’ two mile in the Arcadia Invitational, which was held about 10 miles away from Azusa Pacific.
Lucy Jenks had paced the field through the first kilometer in 2:59.46 in the Clay Invitational and she remained in the lead through the 2,600-meter mark before dropping out.
Hedengren then led a closely-packed group of six women through 3,000 meters in 9:00.16 before Kosgei, Hedengren, and Halladay-Lowry were in a three-way battle for first place when the Kenyan clocked 12:36.97 at 3,800 meters.
Halladay-Lowry and Kosgei were about a second ahead of the game Hedengren with a lap to go. And though each of them opened up a substantial distance between themselves and Hedengren during the final 400 meters, it did not diminish what the prep prodigy accomplished.
In an interview posted on flotrack.org, Hedengren said she awoke with a sore throat on Thursday morning, but it did not adversely affect her during the race.
“It was just a great opportunity to be out here,” she said. “I’m so glad that my body was able to pull through. And that I was able to feel decent today.”
In addition to the aforementioned national prep records, Hedengren had run a national high school record of 4:26.14 in the indoor mile three days after her 15:13.26 clocking in the 5,000 in the Nike Indoor Nationals.
She had also capped her cross country season by posting a 41-second margin of victory in the Nike Cross Nationals race in Portland, Oregon, on Dec. 7.
Strong start: Camryn Rogers of Canada, the defending World and Olympic champion in the women’s hammer throw, won that event with a best of 78.14 meters (256 feet 4 inches) in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays in Walnut, California, last Saturday.
The 25-year-old Rogers had one of her typically consistent series in her season-opening meet as she threw 75.52 (247-9) on her first throw before hitting 76.47 (250-10) in the second round, 75.25 (246-10) in the third, and 75.90 (249-0) in the fourth. She then threw 78.14 (256-4) in the fifth round before finishing up with another throw of 75.25 (246-10) in the sixth.
Her top throw was her best-ever in a season-opening meet and it puts her second on the yearly world performer list. In addition, the victory was her fourth in a row in the Mt. SAC Relays.
Tight competition: Beatrice Juskeviciute of Lithuania produced a yearly world-leading score of 6,295 points in edging senior Pippi Lotta Enok of the University of Oklahoma for the heptathlon title in the Mt. SAC Relays last week.
Juskeviciute had a 121-point lead over Enok after the first day of the competition before finishing 37 points ahead of the Estonian’s 6,258-point total after the second day.
Juskeviciute, who had finished second to Enok in the 2023 NCAA championships when she was a senior at Vanderbilt, had produced first-day marks of 13.32 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles, 1.66 (5-5½) in the high jump, 14.72 (48-½) in the shot put, and 23.96 in the 200 while building a solid lead.
However, Enok made up 69 points on Juskeviciute when she leaped 6.30 (20-8) to the Lithuanian’s 6.08 (19-11½) in the long jump in the first event of the second day, and she picked up an additional 26 points when she threw the javelin 47.32 (155-3) to her rival’s 45.94 (150-9). Alas, Juskeviciute outscored Enok by 11 points in the 800 when she ran 2:12.44 to the Estonian’s 2:13.19.
Enok’s 6,258-point total moved her to 11th on the all-time collegiate performer list and was only two points less than the yearly collegiate best of 6,260 set by freshman Sofia Yakushina of Texas A&M a week earlier.
Righting the ship: Fred Kerley of the U.S. bounced back from a pair of sub-par performances in the inaugural Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston, Jamaica on April 2-4 by winning the invitational section of the men’s 400 meters in the Mt. SAC Relays last Saturday.
Kerley, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 last summer, timed 44.73 seconds while edging Arizona State University sophomore Jayden Davis, who clocked a personal best of 44.84.
The victory was the second in four races for the 27-year-old Kerley during the outdoor season, as he had run a winning 10.23 in the 100 in the Trojan Invitational at USC before finishing seventh in the 100 in 10.30 and third in the 200 in 20.39 in the first Grand Slam Track meet of the year.
Into the top 10: Kaylin Edwards of Long Beach Wilson High School edged fellow senior and Californian Morgan Herbst of Carlsbad by a hundredth of a second when she won the girls’ 300-meter hurdles in 40.56 seconds in the Mt. SAC Relays last Friday.
Edwards had run a season best of 41.70 in finishing fourth in the Arcadia Invitational a week earlier, but her time at Mt. SAC bettered her previous best of 41.57 that she had run while winning the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championships in 2023.
It also moved her to third on the yearly national performer list and to ninth on the all-time California list while making her the third Wilson performer to rank among the top 10.
The others are No. 3-ranked Lashinda Demus, who had run a then-national high school record of 39.98 in 2001, and No. 4-ranked Ebony Collins, who ran 40.10 in 2005.
Oh so close: Long Beach Poly High School’s boys’ 4 x 400-meter relay team came within five hundredths of a second of the school record set in 2007 when the Jackrabbits ran 3:09.94 to win a deep race in the Mt. SAC Relays last Saturday.
The Poly quartet of seniors Gus Armstrong and Jarrius Hill, sophomore Darieon Shufford, and junior Noah MJ Smith had a solid margin of victory in a race in which Culver City finished second in 3:10.77, followed by Central of El Centro in 3:11.39, Long Beach Wilson in 3:12.30, and Cathedral of Los Angeles in 3:13.07.
Poly’s time puts it third on the yearly national list, with Culver City at fifth, Central at seventh, and Wilson at 10th.
Doubles complete: The boys team from Servite High School in Anaheim and the girls squad from Rosary Academy in Fullerton completed a double of sorts when they won their respective races in the 4 x 100-meter relay in the Mt. SAC Relays last Saturday.
The Servite quartet of freshman Jorden Wells, sophomore Benjamin Harris, freshman Jaelen Hunter, and sophomore Robert Gardener ran 40.15 while finishing well ahead of second-place Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, which ran 41.12.
The 40.15 clocking was the third fastest in state history and came a week after Servite had lowered the state record to 40.00 in winning the Arcadia Invitational. That time is also the fastest prep time in the nation this year.
Unlike the boys’ invitational 400 relay at Mt. SAC, the girls’ race was quite competitive as a Rosary squad of freshman Tra’Via Flournoy, juniors Justine Wilson and Jada Faison, and freshman Maliyah Collins clocked 45.21 to defeat second-place Long Beach Poly, which ran 45.29. Calabasas finished third in 45.82.
Rosary’s time bettered its winning mark of 45.47 from the Arcadia Invitational and ranks seventh on the yearly national list. Poly’s 45.29 clocking ranks eighth.
Two liners: Noah Lyles of the U.S., the Olympic champion in the men’s 100 meters, ran 45.87 seconds to place fifth in the first section of the Olympic development 400 in the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Gainesville, Florida, last Friday. It was the first individual outdoor race of the season for Lyles, who had teamed up with Christian Coleman, Pjai Austin, and Erriyon Knighton to win the 4 x 100 relay in 37.90 earlier in the meet. . . . . . . Annette Echikunwoke of the U.S., the Olympic silver medalist in the women’s hammer throw, won that event with a best of 72.40 meters (237 feet 6 inches) in the Tom Jones Memorial last Friday. Echikunwoke had capped a brief two-meet undercover season with a fourth-place finish in the 20-pound weight throw in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in February. . . . . . . Seniors Victoria Bossong of Harvard and Gladys Chepngetich of Clemson had moved to eighth and 10th, respectively, on the all-time collegiate outdoor performer list in the women’s 800 when they finished second and third in the event in the Tom Jones Memorial last Saturday. Bossong ran 1:59.48 and Chepngetich clocked 1:59.68 while finishing behind first-place Shafiqua Maloney of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who timed 1:59.23. . . . . . . Sophomore Will Floyd of the University of Georgia, the NCAA indoor champion in the men’s 400, ran a personal best of 44.93 in winning the invitational section of that event in the Tom Jones Memorial last Saturday. Floyd’s time left him .26 seconds in front of Ohio State freshman Edidiong Udo, the runner-up in 45.19, and it also bettered his previous best of 45.24 that he had run in placing second in the Southeastern Conference indoor championships on March 1. . . . . . . Senior Jenoah McKiver of the University of Florida ran a 45.25-second anchor leg on a Gator foursome that ran 3:01.52 while finishing second in the men’s 4 x 400 relay in the Tom Jones Memorial last Saturday. It was the first meet of the outdoor season for McKiver, whose indoor season had been cut short by a back injury after he had clocked 45.19 in the 400 and a world best of 1:05.75 in the 600-yard run. . . . . . . Sophomore Salma Elbadra of the University of South Carolina moved to sixth on the all-time collegiate performer list in the women’s 1,500 when she ran 4:05.85 to win the invitational race of the Wake Forest Invitational in Winston Salem, North Carolina, last Friday. It was the third personal best of the year in the 1,500 for Elbadra, as she ended 2024 with a best of 4:14.03. . . . . . . Junior Chloe Foerster of the University of Washington moved to fifth on the all-time collegiate performer list in the women’s 1,500 when she ran 4:05.75 to win the event in the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, last Friday. Foerster is one of three women who have dipped under 4:06 during the outdoor season and the next four fastest runners have posted times of 4:06.58, 4:07.17, 4:07.23, and 4:07.31. . . . . . . Sophomore Jordan Anthony of the University of Arkansas, the winner of the men’s 60 in the NCAA indoor championships in March, won the 100 in 9.98 in the Mt. San Antonio College Relays last Saturday. That time bettered Anthony’s previous best of 10.16 from 2023 and came in his first 100-meter race of the season.
Looking ahead: Olympic champions Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands are expected to contend for the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, when the London Marathon is held on Sunday.
The men’s field is very deep as it also includes defending champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya, defending Berlin Marathon champion Milkesa Mengesha of Ethiopia, defending New York City winner Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, defending Valencia champion Sabastian Sawe of Kenya, and compatriot Timothy Kiplangat, who ran 2 hours 2 minutes 55 seconds while finishing second in the Tokyo Marathon last year.
Sawe ran a superb 2:02:05 in his marathon debut in Valencia in Spain last December to move to fifth on the all-time performer list. But he will be the second-fastest entrant in the field as compatriot and former world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge has a best of 2:01:09 from the 2022 Berlin Marathon.
The 40-year-old Kipchoge will be regarded as an underdog in London after finishing 10th in the Tokyo Marathon in March of last year and dropping out of the Olympic Games in Paris in August. But the 2016 and 2021 Olympic champion did run 2:02:42 in winning his fifth Berlin Marathon title in 2023 after he had placed sixth in the Boston Marathon earlier in the year.
Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda is another runner to watch as the two-time defending World cross country champion will be making his eagerly-anticipated marathon debut after slashing a whopping 48 seconds off the world record in the half marathon when he ran 56:42 in Barcelona in February.
The women’s race will include Hassan and former world record-holder Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, who staged a stirring duel in the final stages of the Olympic marathon in Paris before Hassan emerged victorious.
They are also the second- and third-fastest women in history as Assefa has run 2:11:53 and Hassan has clocked 2:13:44.
Assefa placed second in the London Marathon last year prior to her silver-winning performance in Paris.
Two of the other top entrants are Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya, who ran 2:16:24 to place third in London last year, and Megertu Alemu of Ethiopia, who finished fourth in 2:16:34.
The women’s race suffered two big losses in the last couple of weeks when Kenyans Ruth Chepngetich and Peres Jepchirchir withdrew due to health issues.
Chepngetich had crushed Assefa’s world record when she ran 2:09:56 in the Chicago Marathon last October and 2021 Olympic champion Jepchirchir had run 2:16:16 in winning in London last year.
Subscribers to Flotrack can watch the event, with the livestream starting at 3:45 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, on Sunday.