With both the European and African Athletics Championships coming up in the second week of August, many Americans are briefly returning home from the European track circuit. Some do so after posting some of the strongest performances by U.S. distance runners on the circuit in years.
Not surprisingly, two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat has had the biggest impact. The former Kenyan, who attained U.S. citizenship in 2004, joined a select group of runners who have defeated Kenenisa Bekele outdoors in recent years in winning the 5,000 meters at July 28′s Grand Prix meet in London. Lagat ran a 52-second last lap to chase down Bekele in the final straight and set a personal best of 12:59.22 minutes. Lagat also defeated Bekele in an indoor mile race at Madison Square Garden during the winter, and remains the only American to have beaten the world-record-holding Ethiopian.
Lagat’s time in London placed him second on the all-time U.S. list of 5,000m performers, behind Bob Kennedy. A few days before the London meet, Matt Tegenkamp moved to fourth on that list by running 13:04.90 in Stockholm, more than ten seconds faster than his previous personal best. To read Tegenkamp’s thoughts on his breakthrough performance, visit the KIMbia Web site.
The man who Tegenkamp pushed to fifth on the U.S. list, Adam Goucher, set a personal best of 13:10.00 in Heudsen, Belgium on July 22, but he didn’t have the best July in his family. His wife, Kara, first set a 5,000m personal best of 15:08.13 to place fifth in Liege, Belgium on July 19. That race served as her final tune-up before a 10,000m race on July 26 in Helsinki, where she placed third in 31:17.12. Goucher’s time, in only the second 10,000m race of her life, places her second on the all-time U.S. list; only Olympic marathon bronze medalist Deena Kastor has run faster.
Last but certainly not least, Dan Lincoln broke a 21-year-old American record on July 14 in Rome, where he placed fifth in the 3,000m steeplechase. Lincoln backed up his new personal best of 8:08.82 at the meet in Heusden, where he placed second in 8:11.96.
