Week in Review: What a debut!
O'Keeffe wins women's title in U.S. Olympic Team Trials for marathon in initial race at the distance; favored Mantz edges Young for men's championship
I will be very interested to see how Fiona O’Keeffe of the U.S. fares in the women’s marathon when that race will conclude the athletics competition of the Olympic Games in Paris on August 11.
The Stanford University graduate will be running in only her second marathon in the French capital, but her inexperience in the event did not seem to hinder her last Saturday when she won the U.S. Olympic Team Trials race in Orlando, Florida, while making her debut at the classic 42.195-kilometer/26-mile 385-yard distance.
O’Keeffe, who had qualified for the Trials based on her time of 1 hour 7 minutes 42 seconds in the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in January of 2022, ran 2:22:10 in less-than-optimum conditions while grabbing the first of three spots on the U.S. team.
Emily Sisson, the American record-holder at 2:18:29, finished second in 2:22:42, followed by unheralded Dakota Lindwurm, who placed third in 2:25:31.
O’Keeffe’s time bettered the previous Trials record of 2:25:38 that had been set by Shalane Flanagan in the 2012 Olympic qualifying race in Houston. It also moved her to 10th on the all-time U.S. performer list.
“It’s so meaningful,” O’Keefe said when Louis Johnson of NBC Sports asked her what it meant to make the Olympic team. “For the past couple of years, I’ve been clawing my way through things and I was not expecting this performance. I had to pinch myself with… eight miles to go, and be like, stay calm and don’t freak out.”
The 25-year-old O’Keeffe had won a combined three California state titles in cross country and track and field as a prep at Davis Senior High School in northern California before embarking on a collegiate career that saw her place third in the 5,000 meters in the NCAA indoor championships in 2019 and win the Pac-12 Conference cross country title that fall.
As a post-collegiate athlete, she placed sixth in the 5,000 in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in 2022 before lowering her personal best to 15:01.34 in the 5,000 in an indoor meet in February of 2023 and to 30:52.77 in the 10,000 in May.
However, an ankle infection — that eventually required surgery — prevented her from running in the national championships last July. In her most recent race prior to Saturday, she had placed 13th in 1:10:45 in the Boston Athletic Association Half Marathon in November.
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.
Although Molly Seidel, the Olympic bronze medalist in Tokyo in 2021, and Emma Bates, the fifth-place finisher in last year’s Boston Marathon with a time of 2:22:10, were not at the Trials due to injury woes, the race was still an exciting one to watch.
Former American-record-holder Keira D’Amato led a large lead pack through five miles in 27:03 before O’Keeffe was at the front of a group of 13 runners when she passed 10 miles in 54:27.
D’Amato, who would drop out of the race a little after 20 miles, was in front when she came through the halfway point in 1:11:43, but O’Keeffe was the official leader at 15 miles in 1:22:09 and she stayed in that position for the remainder of the race.
Sisson and 40-year-old super-vet Sara Hall were credited with the same time as O’Keeffe when they came through 18 miles in 1:38:16, but O’Keeffe had a five-second lead over Sisson, Hall, and Betsy Saina when she passed the 19-mile mark in 1:43:37.
She was 10 seconds ahead of second-place Sisson at 20 miles, and her lead was 22 seconds at 22 miles and 40 seconds at 25 miles.
After averaging 5:27 per mile for the first 19 miles of the race, her pace dropped to just under 5:21 per mile for the ensuing six miles and no one could hang with her.
The 32-year-old Sisson, who had placed 10th in the 10,000 meters in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, said she was worried early in the race because she was feeling more fatigued than she had expected. But she finished well in front of third-place Lindwurm, who had run 2:24:40 in placing 12th in the Chicago Marathon last October.
The 28-year-old had been in sixth place, eight seconds behind third-place Saina at 20 miles. But she was in fourth place at the 21-mile mark and was basically tied for third with Caroline Rotich at 22, 23, and 24 miles before opening up an 11-second lead on Rotich at 25 miles and leading fourth-place Jessica McClain by 26 seconds at 26 miles.
“I don’t know,” Lindwurm said when Johnson asked her how she had made the Olympic team as a relative unknown. “I just showed up every day. I was working really hard. I just had this undeniable belief in myself. I knew I could carry this flag on my shoulders and represent this country. And here we are.”
The 31-year-old McClain finished fourth in 2:25:46 while crushing her previous best of 2:29:25, followed by Hall in 2:26:06 and Rotich in 2:26:10. But it was O’Keeffe’s bold running that was the top story of the women’s race as she ran the second half of the contest a minute and 16 seconds faster than the first while dealing with rising temperatures that had hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) when she crossed the finish line.
“I’m so excited about this team,” she said. “I mean, Emily has been crushing it for years and years. I’m so honored. The way Dakota ran today was great. And I think we showed up in a little bit of tough conditions. So I think we’re going to be ready to rock and roll in Paris.”
Experienced runner: Emily Sisson of the U.S. will be competing in her first marathon in a global-title meet when the athletics competition of the Olympic Games is held in Paris in August. But she has plenty of competitive experience at the major meet level as she ran in the 10,000 meters in the 2017 and ’19 World Athletics Championships, as well as in the Olympic Games in 2021.
The 32-year-old Sisson placed ninth in the 2017 World Championships in London before finishing 10th in both the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, and in the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
In addition to holding the American record of 2:18:29 in the marathon, Sisson ranks eighth on the U.S. all-time performer list in the 10,000 at 30:49:57 and 20th in the 5,000 at 14:53.84.
Favorites roll: The men’s race of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in the marathon was in stark contrast to the women’s as the first- and second-place finishers were the two leading entrants in the event that was held in Orlando, Florida, last Saturday.
While Fiona O’Keeffe and Dakota Lindwurm had upset a lot of form charts with their first- and third-place finishes in the women’s race, first-place Conner Mantz and second-place Clayton Young had been many prognosticators’ picks to take the top two places in the men’s event.
The former BYU teammates and current training partners had been the top two American finishers in the Chicago Marathon last October when they ran personal bests of 2:07:47 and 2:08:00, respectively, while finishing in sixth and seventh place.
They were clearly the top two men in Orlando as Mantz placed first in 2:09:05, a second in front of runner-up Young at 2:09:06.
Leonard Korir placed third in 2:09:57 after finishing fourth in the Trials race in 2020. He was followed by Elkanah Kibet in 2:10:02, CJ Albertson in 2:10:07, and Zach Panning in 2:10:50.
Panning had run a bold race and was running stride for stride with Mantz and Young at 23 miles, but he dropped back of them shortly after that and slowed greatly during the last two-plus miles of the contest.
The race had begun at a rather pedestrian pace as John Flavin led a large lead pack through five miles in 25:05. But the next five miles were run in just over 24 minutes as Panning paced a group of 10 men through 10 miles in 49:07.
The lead pack was down to eight men when Panning went through the halfway mark in 1:04:07 and 15 miles in 1:13:17. It decreased to seven when Panning came through 17 miles in 1:22:48 and it was down to Panning, Mantz, and Young when he passed 19 miles in 1:32:31.
That trio ran together through the 23-mile mark in 1:52:34 as the pace slowed a little. But Panning began to drop back shortly after that. He had a 24-second lead over fourth-place Kibet at 24 miles, but his advantage had been reduced to three seconds a mile later and he was in sixth place by the time he passed 26 miles.
Young and Mantz, knowing they had Olympic team berths wrapped up short of anything unusual happening, were content to run together for the remainder of the race before the 30-year-old Young motioned for the 27-year-old Mantz to move in front of him 20 meters before the finish line.
The 37-year-old Korir was understandably ecstatic with his third-place finish, but he will not know until late May if his performance was good enough to qualify him for the Olympics. That’s because he has not met the automatic qualifying standard of 2:08:10, as Mantz and Young did with their performances in Chicago.
Therefore, a rankings system based on different criteria will be used to determine if he will be part of the men’s marathon field in Paris.
Big improvement: In what cannot be a comforting thought to the rest of the world’s elite male sprinters, Noah Lyles of the U.S. now ranks higher on the all-time world list in the 60-meter dash than he does in the 100.
That became a fact last Sunday when the defending World champion in the 100 and 200 meters clocked 6.44 seconds in winning the 60 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston.
Although Lyles’ time gave him a thin margin of victory over Akeem Blake of Jamaica, who placed second in 6.45, it crushed his previous best of 6.51 from last year and moved him into a three-way tie for 10th on the all-time performer list.
In comparison, his 100-meter best of 9.83, which he ran in winning the World title, puts him in a four-way tie for 15th on the all-time list.
That’s significant because Lyles’ far-from-great start has historically made him less potent in the 60 than in the 100, and less of a threat in the 100 than in the 200, where his superb top-end speed can benefit him most.
According to splits on the meet website, Lyles was in a tie for fifth place after the first 20 meters of the race at The TRACK at New Balance on Sunday. But he had moved into a three-way tie for third place by 30 meters and into second at 40 meters.
He was still a hundredth of a second behind Blake at 50 meters, but he overtook him in the final 10 meters of the race.
Not surprisingly, the always talkative Lyles was stoked shortly after the race. He pointed out to Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports that his 6.51 60-meter best in 2023 had preceded his triple gold medal performance in the World Athletics Championships when he won the 200 — his third title in a row in that event — and anchored the victorious 400 relay team after winning the 100.
“Now I’m looking at another major [personal record]. Guess what that means? We coming after everything. All the Olympic medals. I don’t care who wants it. It’s mine.”
He then added, “All that people talk about is my start isn’t good. My acceleration isn’t good. Well guess what? I just improved my 60 meters, the worst part of my race. It’s dangerous out here!”
The streak goes on: Grant Holloway of the U.S. was his usual dominant self in the men’s 60-meter hurdles in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
The defending World indoor champion got off to one of his typically great starts to beat all of his fellow competitors to the first of five hurdles before expanding his advantage during the remainder of the race.
His winning time of 6.35 seconds was a meet record and the fastest in the world this year while leaving him well ahead of fellow Americans Trey Cunningham and Daniel Roberts, who placed second and third with times of 6.49.
The time was tied for the sixth fastest of Holloway’s career as the 26-year-old athlete had now run 6.35 or faster nine times. Only two other hurdlers in history — Colin Jackson of Great Britain and Dayron Robles of Cuba — have combined to do that a total of three times.
It has now been more than 60 races since Holloway was last beaten in the 60 high hurdles as a high school sophomore in 2014, but he told Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports that he doesn’t give much thought to the streak.
“That’s for the media. That’s for you guys. Any given day. Any given Sunday… Anything can happen… My goal is to come out here, execute.”
Two for two: Marco Arop of Canada set his second national record of the indoor season when he won the men’s 1,000 meters in 2:14.74 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
The defending World outdoor champion in the 800, Arop was in the lead when he came through the first lap of the 200-meter track in 26.39 seconds and he was never seriously challenged after that. He passed through 400 meters in 52.84, 600 in 1:19.60, and 800 in 1:46.69 before running his final lap in 28.05.
Bryce Hoppel finished second in 2:16.91, followed by fellow American Sam Ellis in 2:17.10.
Arop’s time moved him to second on the all-time list in the infrequently-run event in which the world record of 2:14.20 was set by Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti in 2016.
The 25-year-old Arop had previously set a Canadian record of 1:45.50 in winning the 800 in the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Jan. 27.
Milestone win: Hobbs Kessler of the U.S. notched the biggest victory of his young career when he defeated 2022 World champion Jake Wightman of Great Britain in the men’s 1,500 meters in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
The 20-year-old Kessler had won the men’s mile — and set an official world road record of 3:56.13 to boot — in the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia, last October. But he had defeated a less-than-stellar field in that race,
Although Wightman missed all of last season while working his way back from a foot injury he sustained during a plyometric workout in January, he was regarded as the favorite entering Sunday’s race at The Track at New Balance.
Pace setter Abe Alvarado led the field through 400 meters in 55.93 seconds and past 700 meters in 1:39.10 before fellow American Vince Ciattei had the lead at the 800 mark in 1:53.85.
Ciattei was still in the lead when he passed through 1,100 meters in 2:39.33, but Kessler roared by him going around the first turn with Wightman in his wake. However, Kessler drew away from Wightman during the remainder of the lap and he had a solid 10-meter advantage on the Scotsman he came through 1,300 meters in 3:06.80.
Wightman, 29, trimmed a couple of meters off Kessler’s lead going down the backstretch and made up more ground on him around the turn and coming down the home straightaway, but it wasn’t enough to catch Kessler as he crossed the finish line in 3:33.66 to Wightman’s 3:34.06. Craig Engels of the U.S. finished third in 3:37.04.
Kessler’s time was the fastest in the world this year, smashed his previous indoor best of 3:41.17, and was the third fastest ever run by an American.
“I was just trying to stay as relaxed as possible,” Kessler said about the last lap when speaking with Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports. “Put my feet down… Just trying to be as smooth as possible even though the World champion has got me scoped.”
Disappointing run: You know you’re an immensely talented performer when you run the 15th-fastest time in history in your event and it’s considered a let-down.
Such is the life of Lamecha Girma, a 23-year-old Ethiopian who set world records in the men’s 3,000 meters indoors and the 3,000 steeplechase outdoors last year.
Girma set a meet record of 7:59.09 to win the 3,000 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, but his world-leading time fell well short of his world record of 7:23.81.
After pace setters led the field through the first kilometer in 2:29.35 and 1,600 meters in 3:58.59, Grima was nearly four seconds ahead of Edwin Kurgat of Kenya when he came through 2,000 meters in 4:58.44. But he was unable to pick up the pace during the final kilometer as he ran his final 800 meters in 2:00.94.
Kurgat finished second in 7:39.38 as he and the next four finishers set personal bests.
Brian Fay of Ireland placed third in 7:40.09, followed by Ben Flanagan of Canada in 7:40.19, Andrew Coscoran of Ireland in 7:40.36, and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot of Canada in 7:41.12.
Making her mark: Jessica Hull of Australia obliterated the Oceania record when she won the women’s 3,000 meters in a thrilling duel with Elle St. Pierre of the U.S. in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
After Izzy Thornton-Bott of Australia paced the field through the first kilometer in 2:47.87, Anna Camp-Bennett of the U.S. brought it through 1,600 in 4:29.83 before dropping out.
St. Pierre, who was running in her second race since giving birth to her son in March of last year, then took the field through 2,000 meters in 5:39.38, followed by Hull and the Ethiopian foursome of Melknat Wudu, Medina Eisa, Senayet Getachew, and Aynadis Mebratu.
St. Pierre and Hull had put a little separation between themselves and the Ethiopians when the American came through 2,400 meters in 6:48.14 and the gap had grown to more than five seconds over third-place Wudu when St. Pierre passed 2,800 meters in 7:54.55.
Hull was breathing down the American’s neck at that point, but St. Pierre had repelled the Australian’s attempt to take the lead just before the start of the bell lap and she did so again down the final backstretch.
However, she couldn’t hold off Hull in the home straightaway as the 27-year-old Aussie moved past her with 20 meters left in the race on the way to a 8:24.93 to 8:25.25 victory.
Wudu finished third in 8:32.34, followed by Eisa in 8:32.35, Getachew in 8:32.49, and Mebratu in 8:33.01.
Hull’s time was the fastest in the world this year, took more than 13 seconds off the Oceania record of 8:38.14 set by Kimberley Smith of New Zealand in 2007, and moved her to sixth on the all-time performer list behind five Ethiopians.
The 28-year-old St. Pierre moved to eighth on the all-time performer list while the 19-year-old Wudu bettered the world U20 (under 20) record of 8:33.56 set by Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba in 2004.
Eisa, 19, and Getachew, 18, also ran faster than the previous U20 best.
The top nine finishers all recorded personal bests, with two of them setting national records.
Moving up the list: Tia Jones defeated am extremely talented field in the women’s 60-meter hurdles in the New Balance Grand Prix.
The 23-year-old American ran 7.72 seconds to turn back second-place Tobi Amusan of Nigeria (7.75), third-place Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas (7.76), and fourth-place Masai Russell of the U.S. (7.84).
Jones trailed Charlton for the first four flights of hurdles, but she moved past her just before the fifth — and final — barrier and then distanced herself from Amusan and Charlton on the run-on to the finish line.
Her meet-record time was the fastest in the world this year, bettered her previous best of 7.80, and moved her into a tie for fifth on the all-time performer list.
Amusan, the world-record-holder in the 100 hurdles outdoors at 12.12, lowered the African record for the second time this season while moving into a six-way tie for 14th on the all-time list.
Nipping at her heels: Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia opened up her indoor season with a win in the women’s 1,500 meters in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, but her margin of victory was much smaller than many had expected.
Tsegay had moved into first place shortly after pacesetter Aurora Rynda of Canada came through 800 meters in 2:06.07, but she was never able to separate herself from 18-year-old compatriot Birke Haylom.
Haylom was a tenth of a second behind Tsegay when her older countrywoman came through 1,000 meters in 2:38.19 and 1,200 in 3:11.05, and she was just two tenths down with a lap to go.
Tsegay, who had set a world record of 14:00.21 in the women’s 5,000 meters in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, last September in her final race of the 2023 season, widened her lead a little bit during the final half lap. But her yearly world-leading time of 3:58.11 was not far ahead of Haylom, whose 3:58.43 clocking took more than three seconds off the previous world U20 (under 20) record of 4:01.57 set by Ethiopian Lemlem Hailu in 2020.
Emily McKay of the U.S. finished third in a personal best of 4:05.04.
Toughing it out: Gabby Thomas of the U.S. won the women’s 300 meters in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, despite being at less than her best.
The 27-year-old was dealing with the after-effects of a stomach bug, but she still ran 35.75 seconds to turn back second-place Favour Ofili of Nigeria (35.99) and third-place Lynna Irby-Jackson (36.05) of the U.S.
The silver medalist in the 200 meters in the World Athletics Championships last August, Thomas trailed Ofili after the first 100 meters of the race, but she had taken the lead when she came through 200 in 22.82 and she doubled her advantage in the final 100 as her time was the second fastest of her career and the ninth-fastest in history.
It was Thomas’ first race since she had run the third leg on the U.S. team that won the 400 relay in the World Championships.
Strong start: Femke Bol of the Netherlands kicked off her indoor season with a pair of victories in the Metz Moselle Athleor meet in Metz, France, last Saturday.
First, she ran a yearly world-leading time of 49.69 seconds in the 400 meters. Then, roughly an hour later, she clocked 22.64 in the 200.
Her time in the 400 was the second fastest of her career — behind her 49.26 world record from last year — and tied for sixth on the all-time performance list. Her mark in the 200 was a Dutch record, lowering the previous best of 22.87 she set last year.
In her Instagram account, she linked to a post from World Athletics that read as follows: @femke_bol opens her season with a 49.69 over 400m and then follows it up with a PB of 22.64 over 200m.
Bring on @wicglasgow24 🔥
Double trouble: Julien Alfred of St. Lucia won the women’s 200 and 60 meters on consecutive days in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last weekend.
Alfred, who had finished fourth in the 200 in last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, clocked 22.16 seconds in that event on Friday.
She then won the 60-meter final in 7.04 on Saturday after having run 7.15 in her qualifying hear earlier in the day.
Alfred’s time in the 200 was the fastest in the world this year and puts it in three-way tie for seventh on the all-time indoor performance list. Her clocking in the 60 was tied for the fastest indoor time in the world this year.
Making progress: Leo Neugebauer of the University of Texas, the defending NCAA champion in the decathlon, added five points to his personal best in the indoor heptathlon when he totaled 6,219 points in winning the combined event in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last weekend.
Neugebauer began the first day of competition on Friday with a 6.96-second clocking in the 60 meters, before he spanned 7.75 meters (25 feet 5¼ inches) in the long jump, put the shot 16.77 (55-0¼), and cleared 2.05 (6-8¾) in the high jump.
The senior from Germany who finished fifth in the decathlon in last year’s World Championships then ran 8.25 in the 60 high hurdles in the first event on Saturday before clearing 4.80 (15-9) in the pole vault and running 2:46.10 in the 1,000 meters.
His 6,219-point total tightened his hold on fifth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Doubly good outing: Khaleb McRae of the University of Alabama produced a pair of personal bests in the 200 and 400 meters in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last weekend.
The Crimson Tide senior won the third section of the 200 in 20.76 seconds on Friday before winning the first section of the 400 in 45.02 on Saturday. His time in the 400 left him well in front of second-place Brian Herron of Texas, who ran 45.54.
McRae’s 400 time was the fastest in the world this year and a tenth of a second better that his previous best that he had run in finishing sixth in the Southeastern Conference outdoor championships last year.
He had been eliminated in the semifinals of the NCAA meet, but he advanced to the final of the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships and finished eighth in 45.50.
Making progress: Bridget Williams of the U.S. raised her personal best to 4.81 (15-9¼) in winning the women’s pole vault in the Doc Hale Virginia Tech Meet in Blacksburg, Virginia, last Saturday.
Williams cleared 4.39 (14-4¾), 4.49 (14-8¾) 4.59 (15-0¾), and 4.69 (15-4½) before needing two tries to clear 4.81. She then missed all three of her attempts at 4.84 (15-0½).
The 4.81 height topped her previous best of 4.77 (15-7¾) from last year and moved her to sixth on the all-time U.S. performer list.
Gallant effort: Parker Wolfe of the University of North Carolina gave the collegiate record in the men’s 3,000 meters a scare in the Boston University Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational last Saturday.
The ninth-place finisher in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November, Wolfe was in second place when pace setter George Mills of Great Britain came through the first kilometer in 2:32.66 and 1,600 meters in 4:06.74 in the meet at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center.
However, Wolfe was essentially on his own after that as he was more than two and a half seconds up on his closest competitor when Mills stepped off the track after eight laps and he had a lead of more than four seconds over second-place Isaac Updike of the Under Armour Dark Sky Distance club when he passed 2,000 meters in 5:07.89.
Wolfe clocked 60.10 and 59.69 seconds for the next two 400-meter segments of the race before running the last lap in 29.73 as he crossed the finish line in 7:37.41.
His time crushed his previous best of 7:48.33 and moved him to third on the all-time collegiate list behind Drew Bosley of Northern Arizona, who ran 7:36.42 as a sophomore last year, and Dylan Jacobs of Tennessee, who clocked 7:36.89 as a senior last year.
Matthew Wilkinson of Under Armour Dark Sky Distance finished second in 7:42.08 and Austrian Sebastian Frey of OAC Europe also ran a personal best with his 7:44.67 clocking in third.
The roll continues: Olivia Markezich of the University of Notre Dame has only run two races during the 2023-24 indoor season, but they have both been winning performances in which she has crushed her personal bests.
Her latest effort came last Saturday when she ran 4:27.76 in the women’s mile in the Meyo Invitational at the Loftus Sports Center on the Notre Dame campus.
The Fighting Irish graduate student, who had placed third in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November, lowered her previous best of 4:34.00 that she had run while finishing second in the Meyo Invitational last year.
With the Loftus Center track measuring 352 yards in length, Markezich covered the first lap of the five-loop race in 52.91 seconds. She then ran the following four laps in 54.46 (1:47.36), 54.62 (2:41.98), 53.70 (3:35.68), and 52.09 (4:27.76). Junior teammate Sophie Novak finished second in 4:38.62.
Markezich’s time was the fastest in the NCAA this year and moved her to seventh on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Previously, she had run the second-fastest indoor time in collegiate history in the women’s 3,000 meters when she clocked 8:40.42 in the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Dec. 2.
Impressive double: Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High School in California had a productive two days in Boston last weekend.
First, the junior ran 2:41.00 to win the women’s 1,000 meters in the Boston University Bruce Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational on Saturday.
Then she clocked 4:34.45 to win the junior girls’ international mile race in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Sunday.
Her time in the 1,000 moved her to fourth on the all-time U.S. high school performer list and her clocking in the mile moved her to third on the all-time indoor performer list in that event.
Engelhardt, whose high school cross country season had ended with a disappointing 26th-place finish in the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, last December, was in second place when 25-year-old Canadian pace setter Jazz Shukla brought the field through 600 meters in 1:37.74 in the 1,000-meter race in the Lehane Scarlet and White Invitational.
She was then in the lead when she came through 800 meters in 2:09.83 before running the final lap in 31.17 seconds to finish well in front of second-place Amy Piccolo, who ran 2:45.23.
Her splits in the girls’ mile in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at The TRACK at New Balance were 65.91 for the first 440 yards, 2:15.00 at the 880, and 3:25.26 at the 1,320. She then ran her final quarter-mile in 69.20 to finish in 4:34.45, a little more that three seconds ahead of Allie Zealand (4:37.76), a senior home-schooled runner from Lynchburg, Virginia.
Two Liners: Wayne Pinnock of the University of Arkansas won the men’s long jump with a yearly world-leading mark of 8.34 meters (27 feet 4½ inches) in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last Saturday. The Jamaican who won the silver medal in last year’s World Championships only took three of his allotted six jumps in the competition while moving to 10th on the all-time collegiate performer list. . . . . Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the defending Olympic and World champion in the men’s long jump, opened his indoor season with a winning leap of 8.09 (26-6½) in the Ostrava World Indoor Tour meet in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, on Jan. 30. Tentoglou, the defending World indoor champion, had won last year’s World outdoor title on the final jump of the competition when he leaped 8.52 (27-11½). . . . . Christian Coleman of the U.S., the No. 2-ranked men’s 100-meter sprinter in the world by Track & Field News for 2023, opened his indoor season with a winning time of 20.67 seconds in the 200 meters in the South Carolina Invitational – Garnet last Saturday. Coleman finished fifth in the 100 in the last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, but he followed that disappointing performance with winning times of 9.83 in his last two meets of the season. . . . . Stephen Gardiner of the Bahamas, the defending Olympic champion in the men’s 400 meters, won his season-opening race when he clocked 31.78 seconds in the 300 meters in the South Carolina Invitational – Garnet last Friday. Gardiner posted a yearly world-leading time of 43.74 in the 400 last year, but he pulled up in his semifinal of the World Championships when he sustained what was later described as a “grade-one sprain of the tendon extending into his right knee from the right posterior thigh.”
A rising talent: Before any more time goes by, I need to report that Molly Caudery of Great Britain cleared a yearly world-leading mark of 4.83 (15-10) in the women’s pole vault in the Meeting de L’Eure in Val-de-Reuil, France, on Jan. 28.
The 23-year-old Caudery cleared the height on her second attempt to add eight centimeters to her personal best of 4.75 (15-7) that she had set in finishing in a tie for fifth in last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Caudery, the runner-up in the Commonwealth Games in 2022, moved into a three-way tie for eighth on the all-time European performer list with her performance and is now the second-highest British vaulter in history behind Holly Bradshaw at 4.90 (16-0¾).
Caudery has raised her personal best from 4.60 (15-1) to 4.83 (15-10) since May of 2022.
Rolling on: Daniel Ebenyo and Emmaculate Anyango, two Kenyans who are beginning to make a name for themselves in a country teeming with outstanding distance runners, won the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, in the Sirikwa Classic cross country meet in Eldoret, Kenya, last Saturday.
The meet was the 12th of 13 gold level events on World Athletics’ World Cross Country Tour calendar for the 2023-24 season.
Ebenyo, who had won a gold level race in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy, on Jan. 6, ran with countryman Ishmael Kipkirui for the first four laps of the five-loop course before breaking away from him on the final circuit.
The silver medalist in the 10,000 meters in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August, Ebenyo clocked 29:16 over the 10-kilometer course.
Kipkurui, winner of the men’s U20 (under 20) title in the World Cross Country Championships last year, finished second in 29:18, followed by Weldon Langat in 29:26.
“This win means my training is going on well,” Ebenyo said in a World Athletics post. “There is no magic in athletics; you must train well. The race was very good and the competition was fantastic – I respect Kipkurui.”
While the 28-year-old Ebenyo is coming off a year in which he ran 26:57.80 in the 10,000 and placed second in the half marathon in the inaugural World Road Running Championships and sixth in the senior race of the World Cross Country Championships, Anyango is more of a shooting star.
She had run personal bests of 15:22.80 in the 5,000 and 32:51.58 in the 10,000 during the 2023 track season before running 30:01 to finish second in the Urban Trail de Lille 10-kilometer road race in Lille, France, in November.
Then came the real shocker; a 28:57 clocking to finish second in the 10K Valencia Ibercaja in Valencia, Spain, on Jan. 14 in a race in which winner and compatriot Agnes Jebet Ngetich ran 26:48 to crush the world road record of 29:14 that had been set by Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia in 2022.
The 23-year-old Anyango was heavily favored in Eldoret and she opened up a large lead over the rest of the field by the midway point of the race before clocking 32:55 over the 10-kilometer course.
Countrywomen Joyciline Jepkosgei and Catherine Amanang’ole finished second and third, respectively, with times of 33:10 and 33:18.
“The race was beautiful,” Anyango said in a World Athletics post. “I gave my best, although at some point I felt cold in my chest, but that was not a big problem. I promised myself to win and I did it.
“I like to run fast, that is it. For me it is one way: when I step on the course, I step on it. I am competitive, I go for it. If you run slow, someone else can beat you at the finish. So, first come, first served.”
Out of World Champs: Anna Hall of the U.S. announced on social media last week that she had undergone a “small knee procedure” earlier in January and would not be competing in the women’s pentathlon in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, from March 1-3.
The 23-year-old Hall wrote that everything went smoothly and she was “already well on the mend,” before adding that “this was something we needed to do now in order to focus on the Olympics.”
Hall had been favored to win the heptathlon in the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, last August after defending champion Nafi Thiam pulled out of the meet with Achilles issues. But she finished 20 points behind gold-medalist Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain.
Hall’s score of 6,720 points was the third-best of her career, but it was well short of the 6,988 points she had totaled in winning the Hypomeeting Gotzis in Gotzis, Austria, in May. That score moved her to fifth on the all-time performer list, but she had hyperextended a knee in early August and had contemplated not competing in Budapest.
In memory: Michel Jazy of France, a former world-record-holder in the men’s mile and the silver medalist in the 1,500 meters in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, died on Feb.1 in Dax, France. He was 87.
Jazy was an extremely versatile runner who set seven individual world records at four different distances during his career. He was also a member of two French teams that set world records in the 4 x 1,500 relay.
He won his Olympic silver medal when he ran 3:38.4 in a race in which Herb Elliott of Australia lowered his own world record to 3:35.6.
He placed fourth in the 5,000 in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo that was run on a muddy, rain-drenched track. He had a lead of 7-8 meters with 200 meters to go, but could not hold off Bob Schul of the U.S., Harold Norpoth of West Germany, and Bill Dellinger of the U.S. in the home straightaway.
He had a career-best year in 1965 when he set world records of 3:53.6 in the mile on June 9 and 8:22.6 in the two-mile two weeks later. He also passed 3,000 meters in 7:49.0 during that race to cut two tenths of a second off his previous world record.
Two days after that performance, he teamed up with Claude Nicolas, Gerard Vervoort, and Jean Wadoux on a French team that lowered the world record in the 4 x 1,500 relay to 14:49.0.
All of Jazy’s world records were run in France, with his final one coming in St.-Maur in 1966 when he ran 4:56.2 for 2,000 meters.
Jazy was ranked among the top 10 performers in the world in the 1,500/mile seven times by Track & Field News, which also ranked him fourth or higher in the 5,000 every year from 1963-66.
He was ranked second in the world in the 1,500/mile in 1960, as well as third in 1962 and ’65. He was ranked first in the 5,000 for the 1965 season, and was third for the 1963 and ’66 seasons.
Jazy’s world record in the mile came in a race in which some of his countryman paced him along the way. He was in fourth place when he went through 440 yards in 57.3 seconds and in third when he passed 880 yards in 1:56.6. He assumed the lead just before taking the bell lap at 2:57.5 and proceeded to clock 56.1 for his final 440 yards.
In the book, The Milers, Jazy was quoted as saying the following after the race.
“Naturally I am delighted at this record, but I believe I could have gone a full second faster if the race had been held at the start of the meet tonight. After an hour of running on the track it got churned up and definitely slowed down. Certainly 3:52 is not impossible. On the contrary, it is quite certain.”
Although Jazy never bettered his time from that night, 19-year-old Jim Ryun of the U.S. smashed his world record about 13 months later when he ran 3:51.3 in Berkeley, California.