Shalane Flanagan had an impressive solo win in Indianapolis. © www.photorun.net
Shalane Flanagan produced the best distance performance at the U.S. outdoor championships, which concluded yesterday in Indianapolis, and which also served as the trials for the World Championships, which will begin in Osaka, Japan at the end of August. Flanagan, who won the national 3,000m indoor title earlier this year, won the 5,000m in 14:51.75. She was well ahead of Jennifer Rhines (15:08.53) and Michelle Sikes (15:09.28), who just finished her college career and now runs for KIMbia.
Flanagan ran the race almost entirely alone, taking the lead after the first kilometer and challenged only by herself after that. “I was not that patient today,” Flanagan said after her victory. “But I know that I will have to run different in Osaka—it will be important to be strong in the last kilometere.” Flanagan is clearly the class of American middle-distance running at the moment. In addition to her two national titles so far this year, she has also set national records for 3,000m indoors (8:33) and 5,000m outdoors (14:44).
Two months after a disappointing Boston Marathon, Deena Kastor showed great form in the 10,000m and qualified for the World Championships. Kastor, who was successfully treated for skin cancer in May, won in 31:57.00, and announced she will contest the 10,000m in Osaka. In warm and humid weather conditions, similar to those expected in Osaka, Kastor left behind all her rivals after just three laps. Kara Goucher took second in 32:33.80, while Katie McGregor was third in 32:44.69. “It was great to come back to track racing and then winning instantly,” said Kastor, who also holds the U.S. record for 10,000m (30:50.32).
KIMbia’s Matt Tegenkamp Qualifies for World Championships
Bernard Lagat outsprinted Matt Tegenkamp for the 5,000m national title for the second year in a row. This time, Tegenkamp was still leading entering the home straight, but couldn’t hold off Lagat’s mile sprint speed after an easy opening pace (4:34 at 1,600m). The former Kenyan clocked 13:30.73, while Tegenkamp’s time was 13:31.31. Adam Goucher was third in 13:31.50.
“I knew that although I was in the lead there was no guarantee for victory,” said Tegenkamp, who still had every reason to celebrate, as Osaka will be his first world championships. “It is may goal to reach the finals in Osaka”, he said.
Amazingly, Lagat won the 5,000m just two hours after a qualifying round in the 1500m, which explains why he waited to the last moment with his attack in the 5,000. In the 1500m final on Sunday, Lagat finally showed that he’s not invincible. He and Alan Webb were side by side with less than 80 meters to go, but Lagat couldn’t respond when Webb made one last acceleration, and he wound up fading to third to Leonel Manzano. Webb’s winning time of 3:34.82 was a meet record.
Abdi Abdirahman won the 10,000 m race in 28:13.51. Galen Rupp was second (28:23.31) while Dathan Ritzenhein came in third (28:31.88). America’s new marathon star, Ryan Hall, who had clocked a remarkable 2:08:24 in London in his debut, ran with the leaders until dropping back to finish 7th in 28:51.77.
Top European Road Races in High Demand
Bib numbers for the Dam tot Damloop, the biggest running event in the Netherlands, are already sold out three months before the start. The limit of 35,000 participants has never been reached earlier in the race’s 23 years. The event will take place on September 23. The Dam tot Damloop is a point-to-point race of 10 or 4 miles, and the course leads from the city center of Amsterdam to a suburb. The course is a fast one—the 10-mile course records stand at 44:45 for Paul Koech (Kenya/1997) and 50:31 for Ingrid Kristiansen (Norway/1987).
Organizers of the Dresdner Kleinwort Frankfurt-Marathon, the oldest German city marathon, have also experienced much higher demand from runners than last year. At present the race, which will take place on October 28, has 15 percent more marathon entries than at the same time last year. In 2007 there was a record number of 11,000 marathon runners. Online entry is available at the race’s Web site.
