GENZEBE!! DL Field Day

In the Lausanne Field & Track DL meet, there was just 1 Meet Record from the "Oval Office".
I wasn't joking calling this a "Field & Track" meet.
Let's face it, the field eventers had a (pun intended!) field day!!
Only question is, Who ruled the day?

I'll take the Triple Jump duel between Cuban PPPP (the new acronymous name for Pablo Pichardo) and Christian Taylor.

Pichardo led with a 17.99 non-PR jump.
That is, until Taylor burst open with a PR jump of 59-3 (18.06).

So we saw TWO Lausanne Meet Records in this one event!
PPPP's 17.99 became the first.
But the MR will stand as Taylor's.

He remains 2nd A-T US.
But he moves from 5th to 4th on the World list!
Oh yes, and he nabs the Age 25 record too!

Keshorn Walcott threw the Javelin out 295-9 (90.16) for the win, and the Lausanne Meet Record.
He also broke his own National Record of Trinidad.
He's 13th A-T World!

Two others went over 87 meters, but no Place marks were broken.

David Storl completed the Lausanne Field Day with another Meet Record.
His 72-10 PR in the Shot Put is also the Age 24 record.
He's 16th A-T World, tied with 1 other (who happens to be John Godina!).

Yes, the Field events saved the day in Lausanne, which, overall, wasn't the worst DL ever, but certainly wasn't one of the best either!

However, one race--no, one woman!--in a relatively minor meet in Barcelona---sent shockwaves around the world (of T&F) with less than four minutes of running time.

Her name is GENZEBE.
If she keeps producing spectacular times like these (either OUTdoors or INdoors), we might soon relegate older sister Tirunesh to relative obscurity.
At least for the past 18 months, Tirunesh is on the "back burner" of the Dibaba family stove.

Genzebe Dibaba ran the 1500 Meters in 3:54.11 in a minor meet in Barcelona.
The WAY she ran it makes it the best OUTdoor middle distance race of the 21st Century.

She ran VERY even splits.
(All splits courtesy of T&FN!)
The pacer took her through the first 700 meters.
Her first 400 was 61.1.
She then ran 64.2, for an 800 in 2:05.3.
But then she ran the next 200 in 31.8, for a 1000 time of 2:37.1.
Her next 200 was even faster--31.6..
So her 1200 was 3:08.7.
Her final 300 was 45.4, as part of a final 400 of 61.1---which matched her rabbit-paced opening 400!!

Here's my take on this amazing run.

1. If she continued at the same pace, her Mile time would be about 4:10.0, but no slower than 4:10.5.  A WR!
2. She had an 18 second (!!) margin of victory!  In her 3 INdoor WR's of 2014, her margins were 13 seconds in her 1500, 13 seconds in her 3000, and 21 seconds in the 2 Mile.  In her 14:18 INdoor WR 5000 from this year, she cleared the field by about one MINUTE!!
3. She actually ran FASTER without the rabbit in the race, as her final 800 (2:04.9) was faster than her first 800 (2:05.3), most of which was rabbited!

On the T&FN MB, I said Dibaba CAN (not WOULD!!) run the following times:
800--1:54 to 1:56
1000--2:28 to 2:30
1 Mile (4:10 to 4:12)
3000--8:10 to 8:12
2 Mile--8:44 to 8:48
5000--13:55 to 14:00
10000--29:00 to 29:20

Wait and see!
(First, she'd need to be in TOP shape!  Then, she'd have to make a SERIOUS attempt!)
She's just 24 years old.
Those Chinese "outliers" may not be long for this world!

Almost forgot!
Here's what she did to my T&F Record Book!

It's the Age 24 record.
It's the Ethiopia National Record.
She is now 9th A-T World.
But 3rd A-T if you eliminate the Chinese times from 1993 and 1997.
She improves her Combined Events status in 2 categories.
In the Combined 1500-3000, she becomes 7th A-T, with times of 3:54.11 and 8:26.21 adding to 12:20.32.
(This is for OUTdoor times only!)
In the Combined 1500-5000, she remains in 1st place, but her total time improves to 18:09.52 (3:54.11 and 14:15.41).

Before returning to Lausanne, there was one other mark of note from Spain.
Ayanleh Souleiman won a good 800 in 1:43.08.
(Two others dipped under 1:44!)
He breaks his own Djibouti National Record.
On my Combined Events tally for the 800-1500, he now ranks 9th.
His times of 1:43.08 and 3:29.58 add to 5:12.66.
But he misses my World DDD by 0.24 seconds!

Third in this 800 was Abdulleleh Balla of Qatar, whose 1:43.82 is his country's new National Record.

Sandra Perkovic lost another DT competition!
She hasn't been as perfect as Valerie Adams was (before her 1st loss last week after 56 straight wins!), but it seems that way.
This time, she lost to Yaimi Perez, 220-3 to 220-0.

The only Lausanne track event to break the MR was the Women's 3000SC.
And it wasn't Emma Coburn who broke it.
The record was relatively weak, but as I've often said, a Record's a Record!

That woman who began this season as a rabbit (!!) is now one of the more dominant Steeplers, and a definite medal threat in Beijing.
Virginia Nyambura's new MR is 9:16.99.
Coburn was 3rd in 9:20+.
(In her first Professional race, Colleen Quigley ran 9:42+, finishing way back.  Leah O'Connor didn't start.)

Jenny Simpson finished only 3rd in the 1500.
The times were slow, in the 4:02-4:04 range.

Shaunae Miller upset Sanya Richards-Ross in the 400.
But it was really no contest, not only between those 2, but between Miller and the entire field!
She PR'ed with her first sub-50 (49.92), with SRR ending in 51.12.
(SRR doubled back later in the 200 when Blessing Okagbare decided to withdraw from her 2nd event, after finishing just 4th in the Long Jump!)

The Women's 200 had a GREAT field, but Allyson Felix had no problem winning.
Finishing hard, she JUST missed the 1995 Meet Record of Merlene Ottey by 0.02 seconds!
Felix ran 22.09, beating Dafne Schippers's 22.29.

The Men's 100 was supposed to be "controversial"--because 3 "drug cheats" were the favorites.
I don't see it that way.
They did the crime, and paid the time!
They WERE drug cheats!
Not NOW!

Anyway, Justin Gatlin also had no problem eating up Tyson Gay and Asefa Powell, both of whom ran 9.92's to Gatlin's 9.75.
Wind was legal.

But the 3rd section of the Women's "B" 100--a non-DL event, was VERY windy!
The first 2 sections had aiding winds of 2.2 and 0.8.
Then a gust hit the stadium.
That wind of plus-5.4 (!!) helped English Gardner to the win in 10.76.
(Probably worth close to 11.00 with legal wind.)
In 3rd came 17 year old HS PRO Kaylin Whitney, whose 11.01 translates to about 11.27, according to someone who knows these things from the T&FN Message Board!
Still, if she'd run 11.27, it would have been her 2015 PR.

Before the Lausanne meet, there were 3 other European meets where Americans got some business taken care of.

Top of that list belongs to USATF 3rd placer in the 1500, Kerri Gallagher of Oiselle.
Coming to Lignano, Italy, with a PR of 4:08.70 (her time in the semi at USATF!), she had to deal with cool and windy weather, as well as a resurgent Alexa Efrasimson and Bernard Lagat's little sister, Violah.

There's a funny story about Violah.
Alberto Stretti tweeted the results from the race, showing Viola KIBIWOT finishing 2nd in 4:04.10.
So Bernard tweeted a reply, saying there was a mistake, that Kibiwot didn't run there, his sister did!
Stretti tweeted back, "You mean it WASN'T Kibiwot, it was your sister?".
Lagat replied, "YES!  It was a mistake!  It was my sister Violah Lagat!".
(BTW, Kibiwot DID race this week, but she was in the Lausanne 1500, where she wasn't in the running, so to speak.)

Anyway, confusion set aside, Violah Lagat DID run 4:04.10 in 2nd, a PR for her.
In 3rd came Alexa Efraimson, who returned to form with her 2nd best ever time of 4:05.83.
Here's how the race went.

A rabbit took them through 800 in 2:10, with even 65 splits.
She departed at 900 meters, where Gallagher took the reins, followed closely by Lagat and Efraimson.
They came through 1100 in 2:59 (with the 2 in back maybe a second slower.).
With about 250 to go, Efraimson came into 2nd, close behind Gallagher's shoulder.
Then, at the end of the final curve, Efraimson came alongside her, just inching ahead.
That is, until Kerri put "pedal to the metal", and she was gone.

Her time of 4:03.56 gave her her needed Beijing Q.
It also makes her 21st A-T US.

Eric Jenkins won the 3000 in Lignano.
His time of 7:41.79 misses my US Top 24 list by 0.19 seconds!

In a meet in Hungary, Kaylin Whitney ran her fastest 100 of 2015 (See my Lausanne report above, about her wind-aided "best".).
She ran 11.37 in 6th place, with the winner being Veronica Campbell-Brown in 10.99.

In Cork (Ireland), in windy and cool weather, Abbey D'Agostino raced Mary Cain in what, in Cain's better days, might have been a whole different story.
As it was, they ran in a small pack (with Rachel Schneider) for the first 2000 of the 3000 meter race.
Surprisingly, after the rabbit dropped out at 1000, Cain took the lead, ending 2000 in 6:07, a much slower pace than expected.
Then Abbey D started her powerful finishing drive (reminiscent of Molly Huddle at her best!), ending the "race" with a final K of 2:51.
Her 8:58.39 is an OUTdoor PR.
But considering her INdoor best is 8:51 and change, and she just ran a 5000 in 15:06, she has a lot more in the tank for this distance.
Schneider passed the fading Cain, their times being 9:05.08 and 9:05.68.

It might have been a good time for Cain---IF she hadn't had those sensational years in 2012 and 2013 (and INdoors in 2014).

In other news, Kenneth Mungara is making a habit of breaking my Age 40 (and over) record by just 2 seconds in the Marathon.
He first ran 2:08:44, reducing the previous record of 2:08:46.
This time, he ran 2:08:42.

Isaac Makwala is becoming a MAJOR contender for Gold in Beijing AND Rio!
His latest shocker came in the 400, as he smashed his previous best (and Botswana National Record) of 44.01 with a great time of 43.72.
This happens to be 2015's fastest thus far!
He moves from 12th to 5th on the A-T World list.
And he moves from 5th to 3rd on my Combined Events list for the 100-200-400.
His times of 10.20, 19.96, and 43.72 add to 1:13.88.

Finishing behind Makwala was Abdelleleh Haroun, whose 44.27 set the new National Record of Qatar.

Two other National Records fell.

Henricho Bruntjes ran a South Africa NR in the 100 with a time of 9.97.

And Steve Gardiner took care of the Bahamas Icon Chris Brown's 400 NR of 44.40 with his 44.27.
Brown's time dated from 2008.

Finally, Adam Kelly slightly improved his HT distance, hitting 241-11.
But he remains 9th A-T HS.

Not sure when my next post will be.
Could be soon, as there's a few meets ongoing this week.
The next DL meet is Monaco, on July 17th.

See you then, if not before!