When the second half of the U.S. Olympic Trials begins on Thursday in Eugene, Oregon, it’s hard to imagine the meet topping the excitement of its first half. But it sure will be fun to watch and find out.
From the spectators’ perspective, certainly the highlight of the meet so far was the men’s 800m final. The three men in the eight-man field with Oregon connections laid off the ambitious early pace set by Khadevis Robinson, who flew past the 200-meter mark in 23.6. Boxed in, in fifth place, with less than 200 meters to go, Oregon Track Club’s Nick Symmonds somehow squeezed through on the inside to take the lead just past the head of the final straightaway. He then sprinted away to win by more than a second and set a personal best of 1:44.10. Behind him, Andrew Wheating, a sophomore at the University of Oregon, closed quickly in an outside lane and was a clear second. Oregon Track Club’s Christian Smith was side by side with Robinson in the final few meters and literally dove for the finish. When he was announced as the third finisher, the already roaring crowd erupted. The stadium itself seemed to be shaking.
Soon after came the final of the men’s 5,000m. After a cautious early pace (8:17 at 3,000m), things picked up in the last mile. With just more than a kilometer to go, KIMbia’s Chris Solinsky took the lead and started running sub-4:00 mile pace. Soon the pack was down to him and four others, including his training partner Matt Tegenkamp and reigning world champion Bernard Lagat. Solinsky kept the lead until the final turn, when Lagat moved easily into the lead. Tegenkamp latched on, and the two finished in that position for the third consecutive national championship. Solinsky tied up badly, allowing Ian Dobson to kick past on the outside and secure the third spot. Solinsky faded to fifth. He later explained that Tegenkamp was supposed to take the lead with two laps to go. Tegenkamp countered that he got a side stitch 15 minutes before the race, was hanging on for dear life the entire way and was in no position to help his training partner (who was the best man at his wedding). The courageous Solinsky definitely won the evening’s heartbreak award.
In the first final of the meet, Amy Yoder Begley experienced the other end of the emotional spectrum. Lacking the Olympic A standard of 31:45, she latched on to Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher when Flanagan moved to the front after an opening 5K of 16:10. National record holder Flanagan and world championship medalist Goucher continued clicking off 75-second laps, and Begley was soon adrift. It looked like Katie McGregor, in fourth place and possessing the A standard, would wind up displacing Begley. With one lap to go, Begley needed to run a sub-70 last lap. On the backstretch, the standard looked out of reach. But as Flanagan sprinted away from Goucher for the eventual win, Begley went into overdrive. Covering the last lap in 67.8, she eased under the Olympic A standard by 1.4 seconds. When the results were posted on the stadium screen, Begley and her training partner Goucher began leaping so excitedly that they probably could have placed in the high jump.
