33 MORE Records!

No, not 33 more WORLD Records, silly!
We just got TWO more of those!!
I'm talking all kinds of Records---World, US, Age, Meet, National!
Add them up, since I reported on the Women's Marathon in my previous report, there have been a total of 33 Records broken!
In basically 2 days of the Olympic Games!
(After it's over, I'll do a count of all the Records broken!  My guess is, there's going to be well over ONE HUNDRED of them!!)
So, taking up where I left off......!!

The only "big" fails in the Men's HJ Q round were two Americans--Ricky Robertson and Brad Adkins.
Everyone else of note moved on to the final!

The Women's 400 semi's saw 3 fast races.
Phyllis Francis took the 1st in 50.31.
Stephanie McPherson ran 50.69 in 2nd.
Christine Ohuruogu and Kemi Adekoya didn't move on!
Shericka Jackson PR'ed in 49.83 to take semi 2 from the 49.90 of Natasha Hastings.
And in semi 3, Allyson Felix sped a 49.67 to take care of Shaunae Miller's 49.91.
(A preview of the final??)
Christina Day failed to move on!!

In the very first jump of the Women's Triple Jump final, Keturah Orji smashed her own American Record--and the 48 foot barrier!!--with a fantastic 48-3.25!!
This improved her previous AR by 7.25 inches!!
She missed my World DDD by 11.25 inches, but she remains number one on the US list!
She actually LED after the first round!!
Then things wound up a bit!

In round 2, Caterine Ibarguen--the Queen of the Hop (Step & Jump), so to speak, hit the sand at 49-3.75, and it appeared to be over & done!
But Yulimar Rojas--who has a bouncy (Sorry for this run on puns!!  LOL) personality, reached 49-1.75, to give Ibarguen a little extra motivation for her next rounds!
We didn't have to wait very long.
In that same round, Ibarguen went out to 49-9.25 to basically close the deal!
Rojas came back with 49-0.75 in the 6th, but it wasn't enough!
Olga Rypakova had edged ahead of Orji by 1.25 inches, and Keturah couldn't answer, as her next best was "just" 47-7!
Still, to ALMOST get Bronze as a 20 year old Soph at the University of Georgia, with this being BY FAR the biggest stage she'd ever seen, is worthy of a standing ovation!!
In 5th, Patricia Mamona's 48-0.75 broke her own National Record of Portugal!

The Men's 100 semi's saw all 3 races led by times in the 9's!
Jimmy Vicaut's 9.95 took the first.
Ben Meite's 9.97 in 2nd broke his own National Record of the Ivory Coast.
Akini Simbine's 9.98 was 3rd.
Marvin Bracy and Nickel Ashmeade struck out!
MISTER Bolt ripped a 9.86 in semi 2, and that was enough to hold off the 9.92 PR of Andre De Grasse.
Trayvon Bromell made the final, but ran only 10.01.
Kim Collins's 10.12 failed to move this Old Man down the line!
Justin Gatlin's 9.94 ran down Yohan Blake's 10.01 in the third semi.
Chris Lemaitre, Bingtian Su, and James Dasaolu couldn't run fast enough  to advance!

The Women's 1500 semi's took Brenda Martinez out of the picture, as she couldn't produce her 800 racer's kick when needed, and faded to last in the first semi!
Faith Kipyegon's 4:03.25 won it, with Dawit Seyaum and Shannon Rowbury running under 4:05.
Besides Martinez, Zoe Buckman and Konstanze Klosterhalfen didn't make it, either!
KK ran 4:07.26.
Genzebe Dibaba appeared healthy (in body and mind!) while winning semi two in 4:03.26!
Following came Sifan Hassan, Laura Muir, and Jenny Simpson, all in 4:05.07 (Simpson) or faster!
Nicole Sifuentes failed to advance!

The August 14th schedule ended with a bang---in fact, TWO bangs!!
First came the Men's 400 final!
From lane 8, Wayde Van Niekerk exploded from the blocks, and was way ahead at 200, and around the final curve.
Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt were moving fast, but seemingly waiting for the straight to go after VN.
Though both were sprinting, Van Niekerk was going even faster, expanding his lead into a Grand Canyon gap.
When he'd crossed the line 0.73 ahead of James, and 0.82 ahead of Merritt, the crowd knew something SPECIAL had happened.
They just had to wait for affirmation.

43.03 seconds!
Michael Johnson't 17 year old World Record had been destroyed!!
From lane 8, in what could be called a solo run!
Besides the WR, he broke his own National Record of South Africa.
He also got the Olympic Games Meet Record, and the Age 24 Record!!
(The latter had been the 43.29 of Butch Reynolds, which was 2nd A-T World!!)
He improved his time on my 100-200-400 Combined Events list to 1:12.95 (9.98, 19.94, 43.03), but remained 2nd--to Michael Johnson!
He moved from 4th A-T World to 1st!

James's 43.76, and Merritt's 43.85 didn't break any records, but the 44.01 of Michel Cedeno did!
It's the National Record of Trinidad & Tobago!
It makes him 15th A-T World!

Karabo Sibanda's 44.25 is the best 5th Place mark!
Ali Khamis ran 44.36 in 6th for that Place record!
It also breaks his own National Record of Bahrain!
Bralon Taplin got the best 7th Place record with his 44.45.
And the best 8th Place mark goes to the 44.61 of Matthew Hudson-Smith!

And then came the Men's final in the 100 meters!
When Bolt was introduced, the crowd went wild!
When Justin Gatlin's name was heard, it sounded like a WWE clown show when a barrel of drunks splash their ugly venom on the Ref!
It was a rude vicious attack on someone who did the time for doing the crime.
It's not like he killed or raped his Grandmother.
He was caught taking a banned drug!
As far as we know, he's been clean for years!!
Did those jerks come there to watch a fantastic sprint Duel in the Sun, or just to show how ungracious Brazilians can be?

In the end, Gatlin couldn't silence the mighty train called Usain!
Gatlin had a small lead at 30 meters, as Bolt got his usual lumbering start.
But when Bolt got going, and pulled even with Gatlin at 50, we all knew what the final chapter would show!
It was all Bolt from there, his 9.81 defeating Gatlin's 9.89.
Not the fastest they'd gone, but this wasn't about time, it was about Bolt's place in the history of our sport--his legacy!
Andre De Grasse showed he might be ready to take over when Bolt finally retires, as his 9.91 PR took the Bronze!
Yohan Blake showed he's most of the way back, his 9.93 beating back the 9.96 of Ben Meite.
Meite's time breaks his own Ivory Coast National Record he'd run in the semi's!
Trayvon Bromell brought up the rear in 10.06!

The Men's TJ Q round was quiet, with Christian Taylor's 56-6.75 leading the Final Dozen!
Fabrizio Donato, Marian Oprea, and America's Chris Benard failed to advance!
Don't know why, but Pedro Pablo Pichardo was a DNS!

The Women's 200 heats were mostly won with mid-22 times by who we'd expect!
Dafne Schippers ran 22.51 to take heat 1.
Olivia Borlee--yes, from THAT family!!--didn't make it to the semi's!
Jenna Prandini looked good running 22.62 to win the 2nd.
Michelle Lee-Ahye won the third in 22.50.
Marie Josee Ta Lou's PR of 22.31 won the 4th!
Elaine Thompson decided to just cruise in behind her, time of 22.63.
Blessing Okagbare won heat 5 in 22.71, defeating Dina Asher-Smith's 22.77.
Deajah Stevens looked formidable in winning heat 6 in a speedy 22.45!
Ivet Lalova-Collio's 22.61 took the next heat.
Then it was Tori Bowie's turn in heat 8, as her 22.47 beat back the 22.52 of Murielle Ahoure.
The Swiss girl with one of my favorite names in T&F--Mujinga Kambundji was third in 22.78, a PR!
Heat 9's winner (in 22.74) was the fairly unknown Edidiong Odiong.
But much more significant was the person who did NOT run fast enough to move on.
VCB--aka Veronica Campbell-Brown--probably ran her final Olympic race (except for a Relay??).
Her 22.97 was good, but left her fans sad knowing that her career might be over!
(No definite word on that---just my own thinking!)

The Men's 3000SC heats were uneventful---both in the times run, and in the fact that no one of any consequence failed to advance!
Hillary Bor, Evan Jager, and Consesius Kipruto took the 3 races, all in the 8:20's.
Bor, Jager, and Don Cabral---all 3 Americans to the final!!

Want to get a lesson in what Women's Hammer Throwing is all about?
Stand back in awe as Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk enters the ring, ball and chain in hand!
Then watch as the spike-haired blonde spins the Hammer around, then lets loose one of her massive---and often record-shattering--throws!
Her opening round throw measured 250-6!
That turned out to be kindergarten stuff!
In round 2, she whipped it out to 263-9, which smashed the Olympic Games Meet Record by over 6 feet!!
Next time up, she spun and spun, finally unleashing a throw that would redefine the event--if she hadn't done so already!!
When she'd reached 266-0 last year, I thought 270 feet was within her wheelhouse!
And my prediction came within one inch of becoming fact!
Her amazing World Record was now pushed out to 269-11--and who knows how much farther she can go!!
It's the World Record, the Age 31 record, the Meet Record, and it broke her own National Record of Poland!
She of course remains 1st A-T World!
(In the medal ceremony later, she was presented her medal by Poland's T&F Royalty--Ms Irena Szewinska, now 70 years old!
After bedecking Wlodarczyk with her medal, they hugged.
Not just the formal hug all the other medalists got--but they HUGGED!
It was a sign of respect and friendship between two mighty Champions, leaving Anita in tears!!
BTW, she ended her series with 268-2, which WOULD have shattered her previous WR by over 2 feet---if she hadn't already done so!!

Wenxiu Zhang took 2nd with 251-9.
And Sophie Hitchon broke her own British National Record, taking the Bronze with her 244-7!
She misses my World list by just 8 inches!
Betty Heidler was 4th, while Americans Amber Campbell and Deanna Price finished 6th and 8th, respectively!

I just noticed this has become rather lengthy!
But I've decided to keep it going, even though there's LOTS more to report!!
Hope you don't mind!

The Women's 3000SC final began with a 3:05 first kilometer--not particularly fast, but enough to get everyone in single file.
Ruth Jebet, the 19 year old phenom who ALMOST got the WR at the Prefontaine Classic, took off a la Almaz Ayana, leaving an instant gap back to Hyvin Jepkemoi, while Emma Coburn held off any surges to follow.
Jebet reached 2000 in 6:01, and seemed primed to take down the World Record of 8:58.81.
Coburn was 4th, behind Beatrice Chepkoech, with a space of 50 meters between them and Jepkemoi.
Seeing Jebet would be impossible to catch, she zeroed in on Chepkoech.
That was easy for the smooth and fluid Coburn.
Then she went after Jepkemoi.
She came up to her side, but then Jepkemoi put a bit of pressure on the pedal, edging ahead for the Silver.
Jebet eased up on the straight just enough to miss the WR by less than a second!
Her 8:59.75 breaks her own Age 19 record!
It also breaks her own National Record of Bahrain!
She remains 2nd A-T World!
Jepkemoi's 9:07.12 was followed closely by Coburn's own American Record-breaking time of 9:07.63!
It's also the best-ever 3rd Place mark!
She moves from 13th A-T World to 10th, while remaining in front of the US list!
Kepkoech finished in 9:16.05, making her 22nd A-T World!
Gesa Krause's 9:18.41 in 6th is the National Record of Germany!
In 8th came Colleen Quigley, whose 0.19 PR of 9:21.10 leaves her 5th A-T US.
GenGen LaCaze got yet another PR, time of 9:21.21.
Courtney Frerichs just missed her's, but her 9:22.74 is the best 11th Place mark!
Habiba Ghribi's 9:28.75 nabs the best 12th Place record!

Times for the winners in the 6 heat races of the Men's 400H ranged from 48.37 to 49.52.
Nothing too slow, but nothing too fast either!
Jeff Gibson and Jehue Gordon were 2 who failed to move on.
But eyebrows were raised when Michael Tinsley and Beijing World Champion Nicholas Bett also didn't make it!!
Three National Records were revised--
Abdelmalik Lahoulou's 48.62 first round winner is the National Record of Algeria.
Karsten Warholm ran 48.49 to nab the National Record of Norway.
And Oskari Moro's 49.04 gets him Finland's National Record!

All the ones you'd expect to make the Women's DT final did!
But failures included all 3 Americans, plus Jade Lally!

Omar McLeod led the 110H heats with his 13.27 winner in section 1.
Again, no one with real medal hopes were left behind!

Brazil (and the world!) got a shock when their own Thiagi Braz De Silva stole the Gold from the French icon Renaud Lavillenie in the Men's Pole Vault!!
He made 18-5.50 on first try, and 18-10.25 on his second!
It was then that Lavillenie entered, and he made his first 4 heights without a miss.
Da Silva skipped 19-7.50, instead going straight to 19-9.25, after seeing Lavillenie make 19-7.50 on his first!
It took him 2 tries, but he nailed it, shattering his own National Record of Brazil!
It's also the Age 22 record, and the Olympic Games Meet Record!
He is now 5th A-T World, tied with 2 others!
Lavillenie missed twice at Thiagi's winning height, then failed his 3rd at 19-11.25.
Da Silva also took one shot at 19-11.25, then stopped, having won the Gold!!
Sam Kendricks took the Bronze with his 19-2.25.
He missed his 3 tries at the PR height of 19-5.50!

Just turned 17 Sydney McLaughlin had some nail-biting moments after her 400H heat race fell apart in its latter stages!
She was looking okay through 300, but when they hit the straight, she fell behind first 1, then another, then another, finally fading to 5th in the time of 56.32.
Now she'd have to wait through the next five heats to see if her time would be one of the fastest losers.
(Believe me, I was shaking too!!  LOL)
While the races were won in the 55's, the stragglers were much slower!
And in the end, McLaughlin made it into the semi's!
Whether she was just tired, or simply the awestruck kid amongst the Zuzana Hejnova's of this world---who was in the lane right beside her in her heat!!--I'm not sure!
I'm hoping it's the latter, and that now that she's finally raced against these Pro's, she'll be calmer--and faster--from here on!!
Once again, none of the "contenders" failed to make it through!

The August 15th set of events ended with another double cannon blast!
First up was David Rudisha and Co in the Men's 800 final!
With Kenyan compatriot Alfred Kipketer doing his "personal rabbiting"---though NOT through any devious plot--Rudisha was content to follow.
Still, the times were Rudisha-like, as they split about 23.5, then 49.3, with everyone close behind, including the 2 Americans, Boris Berian and Clay Murphy, with Berian on the rail.
Rudisha had taken the lead, and was running away, with Taoufik Makhloufi challenging, and Murphy finally finding space to move.
Berian couldn't keep up, and soon faded, while Murphy kicked off the top of the straight, still in 4th!
Halfway there, he went past Pierre Ambroise-Bosse into Bronze position, but couldn't catch Makhloufi.
Rudisha ran 1:42.15, his fastest time in years, to beat the 1:42.61 PR of Makhloufi.
Rudisha got the Age 27 record, while Makhloufi nabbed the National Record of Algeria!
He's now 17th A-T World.
And his Combined Events times of 1:42.61 and 3:28.75 in the 800 and 1500 add up to 5:11.36, making him number two on that list!!

Murphy's 1:42.93 puts him 0.02 ahead of Nick Symmonds, on the US list!
He'd moved from 21st A-T US, tied with 1 other, into 3rd, just 0.33 from the American Record!!
Bosse ended in 1:43.41!
Berian, meanwhile could run only 1:46.15 for eighth--and last!

Finally---Yes, FINALLY!!!---finally, we have the final of the Women's 400!
And what a race THAT was!!!
Narrowed down from her desired 200-400 double by her Trials 200 miss, Allyson Felix really WANTED this Gold!!
And her fast semi---See above!!--showed her to be in "Allyson Felix" shape!

But she would have to face the young Shaunae Miller, her lean and tall frame ready to break Felix's heart!
Miller sped out from her blocks like she were running a 200, while Felix strangely held back.
I say "strangely", because she'd recently started her 400's like a sprinter, before moving into cruise control until coming off the last curve, where she'd speed past whoever was dumb enough to think they could beat her!
When Felix finally revved it up, and edged past, Miller looked defeated.
But Felix wasn't in 21.69 200 shape, so Miller started closing in.
Right before the tape, Miller stumbled--or dove!--but whatever happened, she found herself heading straight for the track, hands and body in a line.
And this "dive" brought her torso past the line just ahead of Felix for the win!
Miller's PR of 49.44 still misses my World DDD by 0.12 seconds.
Felix was timed in 49.51, but seemed even closer!
Shericka Jackson took the Bronze, running 49.85.
Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis gave the Americans 2nd, 4th, and 5th!!

Attempting to make my next post a LOT shorter, I'll be back after all of today's events with more Records and great marks!!
Adding to the MOUNTAIN of them already in!!