You might ask, Where is your report on the Birmingham DL?
And I would reply, Right HERE!!
But while the Birmingham meet was far better than the Stockholm affair, it really was fairly weak.
EXCEPT for 2 Two Mile races.
(I could easily say, but for ONE 2 Mile race, but more on that in a moment!)
To find the "other" Birmingham news, see the bottom of this post!
The TWO MILE RUN
Today's DL gave us TWO 2 Mile races, a Men's and a Women's.
Many people (especially the British!) would say Mo Farah's great run was the highlight of the entire meet.
And I agree, it WAS a great run, but it was NOT the highlight of the meet!
That accolade belongs to the WOMEN'S 2 Mile!!
And here's all the reasons why!
This one race rewrote my T&F Record Book's 2 Mile data in several ways.
Place Records
I keep Place Records for the 2 Mile from 2nd to 10th place.
All 9 of those Place Records date from 2014.
Only one of these came from the Prefontaine 2 Mile.
(Betsy Saina's 8th place mark from Pre.)
The other 8 are from today's race!
DDD's
For those not aware, my DDD's (Double Dandy Dozen) are my Top 24 All-Time Performers lists (World, US, Collegiate, HS).
SIX new names made my World DDD today in the Women's 2 Mile!
And 3 more were already on my World list, but got PR's today.
Fourteen (14!!) of my World Top 24 are from 2014!
And 8 of my USA Top 24 date from 2014!
Finally, to make 24th place on my World list USED to take a 9:38.39.
It now, post-Birmingham, takes a 9:33.47!
Now here's all the data, athlete by athlete!
Mercy Cherono won the race in 9:11.49.
(She passed 3000 meters in about 8:38 and change.
This is the Birmingham DL Meet Record.
It's the new National Record of Kenya.
She moves from 3rd A-T World up to 2nd.
(She doesn't get the Age 23 record, as that belongs to WR holder Meseret Defar!)
Viola Kibiwot finished 2nd in 9:12.59.
This is the best 2nd Place mark ever!
She also broke her own Age 30 record!
Irene Jelagat ran 9:12.90 for 3rd.
It's the best-ever 3rd Place mark.
She nabs the Age 25 record.
She remains in 4th A-T World!
Genzebe Dibaba ran "only" 9:14.28 for the best-ever 4th Place mark.
(Don't forget, she holds the INdoor 2 Mile record at 9:00.48!)
This makes her 7th A-T World.
Betsy Saina ran 9:16.95 for the best-ever 5th Place mark!
It's also the Age 26 record.
And it moves her from 15th A-T World up to 9th!
Alemitu Haroye ran 9:20.81 for 6th place.
It's the best-ever 6th Place mark.
She also gets the Age 19 record.
The old record belonged to Zola (Budd) Pieterse, dating from 1985!!
It makes her 12th A-T World.
Susan Kuijken's 9:23.52 is the best-ever 7th Place mark.
It's also the Netherlands National Record.
And it puts her in 17th A-T World.
Renata Plis ran 9:28.80.
It's the new National Record of Poland.
And it gets her 20th A-T World.
Clemence Calvin ran 9:30.39 for the best-ever 9th place mark.
It's the new National Record of France.
And it puts her 22nd A-T World.
Maryam Jamal ran 9:33.47 in 10th place.
She gets the best-ever 10th Place mark!
It also nails down 24th place on my World DDD list.
And let's not leave out Gabriele Grunewald, whose 9:41.76 in 11th makes her 7th A-T US.
(She was the only American in this race!)
(Hang in there, I'll get to Mo's race in a bit!)
I'm an advocate of the Bring Back the Mile campaign (to replace the 1600 in US HS's.
But I'm even MORE of an advocate to return the TWO Mile to its former glory.
Here's some "trivia" about my favorite distance.
(As a runner, I probably ran more 2 milers, in races and/or training, on a track than ANYbody!! I used to do 4 or 5 two milers in intervals! This was back in the days when tracks were 440 yards!)
In 1972, Lyudmila Bragina set a 3000 Meter WR of 8:53.0.
The current WR for the 218 meter-longer 2 Mile is 8:58.58!
Based on the split given Mercy Cherono today (8:38+), the final 218 meters took her 33+ seconds.
When Sonia O'Sullivan set her 2 Mile WR of 9:19.56 in 1998 (It ranks her 10th A-T World now!), she took just 32.5 for her last 218 meters.
Thus, IF Cherono had continued for another 218 meters in her 8:21.14 (2nd place) run earlier this year, her Two Mile time might have been around 8:53 or 8:54!
(Helen Obiri's 8:20.68 might have gotten her an 8:52+!!)
Think where my DDD's would be if a couple more 2 Mile races were held this year (or next!), but with one featuring most or all of the greatest current American runners over the 1500-5000 spectrum!
Today, Gabe Grunewald did NOT have her best race.
She's capable of running 3000 in the high-8:30's or low-8:40's.
Based on that 32-33 second finish over the final 218 meters, this would make her a potential 9:10-9:12 Two Miler!
Add Jenny Simpson, Shannon Rowbury (With an 8:31+ PR, she can run about 9:03!!), Mary Cain, Emily Infeld, Kim Conley, Jordan Hasay (Her 8:46+ 3000 PR gives her an approximate 2 Mile of 9:18 or 9:19!), Molly Huddle, Abbey D'Agostino, Aisling Cuffe to your field, and you've got the makings of a MASSIVE overhaul of the US Top 24 list!!
(And that's just a FEW names off the top of my head! Heck, you could add HIGH SCHOOLERS to the field (a separate heat!!), and even THEY could make the list. It's a sad state of affairs that it takes HS girls to fill out my current Top 24 A-T US list!! All it takes is 10:05.61 to make the US Top 24!!)
Be it known that I'm talking of OUTdoor 2 Milers here, as I keep my lists for OUT and INdoor completely separate!!
The US record is 9:11.97 by Regina Jacobs
Francie Larrieu's 9:44.2 from 1972 (!!!) still ranks 10th A-T US!!
I strongly urge such distance-oriented American meets as the Mt SAC Relays, Payton Jordan, Portland Track Festival, USATF (formerly Oxy) High Performance, and yes, the Prefontaine DL, which held the first of the two fantastic Women's Two Milers this year, to add an elite Women's Two Mile race to their schedule!
And invite all the above named, plus 2 or 3 dozen others, to race a SERIOUS Two Mile!!
As noted MUCH earlier, the women weren't the only ones to race the 2 Mile distance at the Birmingham DL.
Mo Farah ran what technically should be called a time trial, winning easily in 8:07.85.
(No other times are really worth reporting, as none of them added to or changed the data in my Book!)
Farah's time is the National Record of Great Britain.
He broke the venerable Steve Ovett's time of 8:13.51, run in 1978---the year 400 man Chris Brown and American star Kara Goucher were born!!
It's also the Birmingham DL Meet Record.
He gets the Age 31 record.
And it ranks him 7th A-T World.
Shoved OFF my World DDD were 2 guys you might have heard about.
Ken Bekele ran his 8:13.51 in 2007.
And as noted, the Brit whose NR Farah broke, Mr Ovett, also got booted!!
There were 4 other Meet Records from the Birmingham DL.
Asbel Kiprop won the Mile in 3:51.89.
Fourteen guys broke 4:00!!
Mutaz Barshim won the HJ at 7-9.75 for the MR.
But Bogdan Bondarenko also jumped that height (losing on more misses), but should be credited with the Meet Record too.
Jairus Birech, despite having to use his hands to STRADDLE the final barrier (!!!), ran 8:07.80 for the MR in the 3000 Steeplechase.
And David Rudisha showed sparks of his London WR 800 form in a fast 600.
His time of 1:13.71 rates as 4th best A-T World.
And it's a Meet Record.
(I don't keep OUTdoor 600 records, so I had to look some of this stuff up!! LOL)
There's an old mark I somehow overlooked from a few weeks ago.
Krisztlan Pars threw the Hammer 271-3, moving him from 24th A-T World up to 19th!!
Well, Mary Cain's return to the track wars is scheduled for Zurich's DL, just 4 days from now.
I'll have her results, plus whatever else happens of note, from that meet immediately following its conclusion!
See you then!
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