Too spectacular to wait!

The Boston GP is supposed to be the BIG meet this week.
And it just might yet prove to be!
But the XL Galan meet in Stockholm produced a couple of times that were nothing short of SPECTACULAR!!
And yes, as the title of this post says, too spectacular to wait to report them!
So let's get after it!  (Thank you, Carrie Tollefson!)

Genzebe Dibaba is the younger sister of the Baby-Faced Destroyer, Tirunesh Dibaba.
Up until one week ago, that was primarily Genzabe's best known description.

Oh, she had produced some decent marks--3:57.77 and 8:26.95 among them.
But even those great times didn't prepare us for the EXPLOSION that took place in Karlsruhe last week, and in Stockholm today!
You already have all the details of her 3:55.17 1500.
(That is, if you read my post on it!)
Well, here's what she did today!

Genzebe Dibaba SHATTERED the Indoor World Record of fellow Ethiopian Meseret Defar (8:23.72 from 2007) by a mere 7.12 seconds with her time of 8:16.60.
Not only is this the new Indoor WR, but it's the ONLY sub-8:20 3K ever run.....unless you come from China!!

It's also (naturally!!) the new Ethiopian National Record.
And the new Age 22 record!!
(She turns 23 just 2 days from today, on February 8!!)

But that's not all!
She was officially timed enroute at 2000 meters in 5:34.25.
That's the 2nd fastest Indoor 2000 ever!!
It's faster than Mary Slaney's American record of 5:34.52.
And it's the new Ethiopian National Record for that distance, surpassing Defar's 5:34.74 from 2006!

She negative split the race, according to all reports.
Her approximate splits were 4:12 and 4:04 for each 1500.
Her final 1000 was 2:42.35.
Her last 400 was 64.90!

Also in Stockholm, Abeba Aregawi ran the 1500 in 3:57.91.
This HAD been planned as an assault on Yelena Soboleva's WR of 3:58.28.
However, someone named Dibaba spoiled those plans!
Instead, Aregawi gave it her all, and DID break Soboleva's mark (by 0.37).
But she's now # 2 A-T....behind Dibaba!
Still....a truly GREAT run!!

And she did get the Age 23 record for her effort.
And broke her own Swedish National record!

BTW, second to Genzebe was Helen Obiri, who ran a new Kenyan National Record time of 8:29.99!
This moves Obiri from 17th on the World Indoor list up to 9th!

Mohammed Aman didn't get a PR, but he ran a new Age 20 indoor record with his 1:45.08 800 in Stockholm.

Mariya Kuchina HJ'ed 6-7 today.
This moves her to 17th place on the World Indoor list, where she's tied with 6 others!!

In an outdoor meet in Cuba, 16 year old (!!) Lazaro Martinez smashed the Age 16 (and my book's 0-17) record in the TJ with his mark of 56-7!
This breaks, according to my records, the 0-17 mark of Will Claye (55-7 in 2009).
Claye was 17 at the time.
Ernesto Reve won the meet with his 57-5.

A couple of great American marks to report.

Keturah Orji  continues to impress.
Seems almost every time she jumps (TJ or LJ), she produces great marks.
At the Armory yesterday, she TJ'ed a tremendous 44-0.25.
This improved her indoor best from the 42-1.50 she'd opened her season with by almost two full feet!!
And it makes her # 2 A-T HS Indoors!
She'd been 11th with her season opener.
AND......her jump moves her to within 6 inches of reaching 24th place.....on the USA National Indoor list!!

Finally, Nick Lane set a Frosh Class (HS) record with his Weight Throw of 64-7.50.
This broke Ken Brinson's 2012 mark of 64-4.

Remember my blog about the 3 "missing" female runners?
Well, one of them was found!

Wesley Frazier appeared in the starting line-up of the 3000 in the Penn State meet.
But she didn't finish.
She seemed to be running well, following the pacer the first 2 or 3 laps of the 200 meter track.
Then she disappeared!
DNF'ed.
And she was NOT wearing the Duke uniform!!
So I still don't know what her status is.
Supposed to be the hottest frosh on the team, she ran just 1 XC race (in October), then didn't run anything until Penn State.

Is she ill?
Was she injured?
Is she redshirting?
Did she leave the team for some reason?
The mystery deepens!

In anticipation of their upcoming races, I must mention a workout Mary Cain and Jordan Hasay did AFTER their mile races where they ran 4:24.11 and 4:28.37, respectively.

They jogged over to Harvard's indoor track, where they proceeded to do the following:

Hasay ran a 4 mile (!) tempo in about 21:50.
Cain jumped in after Hasay's 1st mile, and ran 16:23 for her 3 miles.
Then they did some speed work.
A 600 in 1:46.
A 400 in 62.4
300 in 43.6.
And a 200 in 27.4.

Jordan is preparing for the 2 mile in the Millrose meet.
Cain is readying for the 1000 in the Boston GP, then the 1 mile at Millrose!

More.....and I'm sure it will be MUCH MUCH more......after the Boston meet on Saturday!