A most historic day!
Filled with high-flying men and fast women!
Track and Field fans worldwide will remember this day!
And here's why.
The King is dead; Long live the King!
Yes, Sergey Bubka is no longer the highest-flying PV'er in all of T&F history.
Renaud Lavillenie of France took flight in Donetsk, all the way up to 20-2.50 (or 6.16 metric), surpassing the living legendary wonder, Sergey Bubka, as the Indoor WR holder.
Bubka's best of 20-2 was 21 years old!
Bubka still has the Outdoor WR of 20-1.75, from 1999.
Lavillenie's mark moves him from 2nd to 1st on the World Indoor list.
He is now the Age 27 record holder, which was a 20-1 by Bubka.
He of course extends his own French National record.
This mark came mere minutes after Ethiopian speedster Genzebe Dibaba finished her WR 2 Mile in Birmingham, England!
Her time of 9:00.48 took care of Meseret Defar's 2009 WR of 9:06.26 by 5.78 seconds.
And she negative split the race, her miles in 4:31.7 and 4:28.8!
She was all alone the last half of the distance!
It's the Age 23 record and the Ethiopian record.
Hiwot Ayalew was 2nd in 9:21.59, good for 8th A-T in the World.
Stephanie Twell was next at 9:42.41.
Helen Clitheroe is Britain's Ageless Wonder, as her 9:50.65 gives her the Age 40 record!
(However, she missed the Age 40 record for 3000 enroute!)
There were a few other noteworthy marks at that meet.
I'll report them before we set off for New York! LOL
Eric Kynard HJ'ed a quarter-inch Indoor PR, his winning 7-8 jump enough to move him from 11th A-T US, where he was tied with 3 others, to another 3-way tie, this time in 7th A-T US!
James Dasaolu sprinted 60 meters in 6.47, moving him from a 7-way tie in 20th on the World Indoor list, to a tie at 16th with 4 others.
Jimmy Vicaut tied his 6.48 PR in 2nd.
Mohammed Aman ran a great Indoor 800, his 1:44.52 making him 3rd A-T Indoors!!
He was 15th.
It also is the Ethiopian record and the Age 20 record, breaking his own marks!
Second in the race was South African Andres Olivier, whose 1:44.99 is 15th A-T World, and a South African record.
(ERROR! Olivier did NOT break the SA record! That's still the 1:44.91 run by Mbulaeni Mulaudzi in 2008!)
Twenty year old Brit Laura Muir didn't get on the World list, but her 7 second PR of 4:05.32 is # 2 on the British A-T list, behind only Kelly Holmes!
And she won the race with a great kick!
The Millrose Games.
No WR's were broken, but once again American middle distance depth was on display for all the world to see.
Take away Dibaba's 3 WR's this year, and this meet pretty much rewrote several Indoor lists, following that incredible other US Indoor meet last week in Boston.
Bernard Lagat broke Steve Scott's Indoor 2000 meter AR of 4:58.6, which was 33 years old!!
His 4:54.74 cut the mark by 3.86 seconds!
Not bad for the iconic new Age 39 record holder!
And what followed Lagat was another parade of Americans--with one lonely Canadian thrown in.
That Canadian, NOP member Can Levins, set the Canadian record with his 4:55.35 in 2nd!
Then came, in order....
David Torrence in 4:56.99, # 2 A-T US
Andrew Bumbalough in 4:57.35, # 3 A-T US
Evan Jager in 4:57.56, # 4 A-T US!!
And that's not all!
Donn Cabral ran 5:00.18 for # 7 A-T US.
Then there was Dan Huling in 5:02.41, which gave him 9th A-T US!!
BTW, Lagat's mark gives him 5th place on the World Indoor list!
Torrence moves into 14th place, World.
Bumbalough is now 17th World, and Jager is 18th A-T World!
Levins is 7th on that list!
The Men's Wanamaker Mile gave 2nd placer Lawi Lalang the Collegiate Record, his 3:52.88 beating Chris O'Hare's 2013 mark by 0.10.
It's also the Senior Class record for Collegians!
Winner was Will Leer, his 3:52.47 moving him into 16th place on the World Indoor list.
He also moves from 22nd A-T US all the way up to 7th place!
Nick Willis's 3:53.02 makes him 22nd A-T World, but just missed John Walker's venerable NZ record of 3:52.8, dating from 1981.
Kim Conley continued her hot running, winning the 3000 in 8:48.35.
This places her 13th A-T US!
Betsy Saina followed Conley in 8:50.60.
Then once again, a deep field of Americans (and a trio of foreigners) followed, running some list-making times.
Abbey D'Agostino proved again she's the top female Collegian in the 1500-5000 range of events.
She ran a great time of 8:51.91, which makes her 4th fastest ever Collegian Indoors!
She'd been 17th before.
It also makes her 17th All-Time US.
Another Collegian, Kate Avery of Iona, ran 8:56.20 for 6th A-T on the Indoor Collegiate list.
Between these fell...
Italy's Margherita Magnani, who flew all the way over to finish 3rd with a time of 8:51.81, just 0.10 ahead of a young lady with another Italian name! LOL
Gabrielle Grunewald returned to form with her 8:53.87, good for 20th A-T US.
Lucy Van Dalen of NZ ran 8:53.95.
Then came Avery, followed by Nicole Schappert in 9:00.84, and Brie Felnagle in 9:01.57.
Think I'd forget Mary Cain??
Think again!
After all, how can anyone forget this 17 year old charmer AND sensational talent, who just happened to beat a VERY deep America field of milers?
And she didn't even break any records in doing so!!!
Here's the list of finishers.
1. Mary Cain. She won in 4:27.73, her 2nd fastest time.
2. Treniere Moser. She's back! Her 4:28.86 improves her 4:29.93 from 2006, moving her from 19th A-T US Indoors up to 15th!
3. Canadian Nicole Sifuentes ran 4:28.97.
4. Sarah Brown missed her 4:29.62 PR, but ran a solid 4:30.13.
5. Emma Coburn was next, with her 4:32.01.
(I'm going to skip the 6th placer for now. But hang on, because SHE made NEWS!!!)
7. Morgan Uceny ran decently, time of 4:32.23.
8th through 12th were...
Emily Lipari in 4:35.24.
Amanda Winslow, slowing quite a bit from her 4:26, down to 4:35.58
Lauren Penney in 4:35.71.
Rachel Schneider in 4:36.42.
And Cory McGee in 4:37.32.
That 6th placer?
None other than the second fastest EVER High School girl in history--indoors or outdoors--Alexa Efraimson!
She ran a great time of 4:32.15, moving her to within 8.04 seconds of Mary Cain!!
I don't have the 1500 splits yet, but she most likely PR'd there too, which makes her easily # 2 on the Indoor list!
She probably ran around 4:14.5 to 4:15.5.
I hope to have the 1500 times soon.
(ADDED 1 day later--Official 1500 splits are now known. Efraimson's 1500 was 4:15.65, which makes her # 2 A-T Indoors. Ir's also 0.35 faster than her outdoor PR of 4:16.00. Also, Cain's 1500 was 4:11.56. Compare this to her 4:11.72 from last year's Millrose, when her mile time was 4:28.25. This made her 2014 finish--final 109 meters--16.17, as compared to "just" 16.53 in 2013!! Efraimson's last 109 meters was comparable, it being 16.50!! In Cain's 4:32.78 from 2013, she split 16.67 for her last 109 meters. And in her 4:24.11, she ran "only" 17.48!!)
The pace was slower than expected.
But Cain said in a post-race interview that she wanted to practice running in a pack, rather than gunning for the American Record!
Disappointing to those who were hoping to see ANOTHER Cain record, but it made the RACE more exciting (and suspenseful!) to watch!
The pack, with Cain near the front, hit 440 yards in 71, 880 in 2:19, then 1320 in 3:27.
Cain sprinted (or cruised??!!) the last 400 in 60 seconds!
And she WON!
Without being labeled the "youngest"!!
That honor went to a girl named Alexa.
I'm going to end this post now.
But there's still more to report from the Millrose meet, as well as many other notable marks, mostly from the Collegiate and High School categories.
I'll do a second post ASAP...probably later this evening.
Watch for it!
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