Four Fabulous Finals

Sorry for cutting the last post short.
But it was getting a bit long, and I still had the 4 finals left to report---the Women's 100, Heptathlon, and Marathon, as well as the Men's 10000!
So I decided to put those into a separate post--to give my rambling little brain room to breathe!

After Almaz Ayana and Co completely obliterated all of our known & accepted concepts of what a woman could do on a track over 10000 meters, I cringed when thinking of how the Men would fare in comparison!
The MoBot---aka Mo Farah--ran his races in opposite fashion--walk, crawl, jog, then make like LaShawn Merritt or Kirani James over the final 400--and take home yet one more Gold!
Great for his mantle display, but lousy for us fans of Records & Marks, whose wet dream includes races like that provided by the Women!!

So when the first lap  went off like a firecracker DUD, I was ready to go find a good novel to read!
Lucky for us, those Africans decided to have fun doing their Surge Comedy Show!
With Farah at the very BACK of the pack, things sped up.
After a few laps, Farah decided to move up.
But then he got tangled, and fell!!
Getting right back up, he had to work a little to regain his position.
It was early in the race, so no big deal!
At the 5K (in 13:53), Farah was right there, daring the Africans to try whatever they chose!
But it wasn't Geoff Kamworor who took the dare.
He was having a bad day, and ended in 11th!!
And Farah seemed to be having a mini-conference call with NOP-mate Galen Rupp, who was looking strong and in control.
Tamirat Tola and Paul Tanui tried to speed things up, finally sprinting, but by then, they were down to less than 500 meters!
That's where Farah becomes Merritt!
And it was over!
Farah's final 1000 was 2:28, with his last 400 "just" 55!
For HIM, that's cruise mode!
The time was 27:05.17, about 4 seconds behind the OG Meet Record!
His splits were about 13:53 & 13:12.
Paul Tanui ran 27:05.69, while Tola took the Bronze with his 27:06.26.
Yegrem Demelash's 27:06.27 had missed the podium by 0.01.
Rupp struggled over the last 400, falling to 5th, though he ran a solid 27:08.92!

The Women's 100.
Which of any of 4 or 5 genuine contenders would prevail?
Dafne Schippers?
Tori Bowie?
English Gardner?
Or one of the Jamaicans--SAFP or ET!
The question was answered immediately, as Elaine Thompson blasted from the blocks, already clearly ahead after  just 2 steps!
The taller Schippers, in lane 9, was behind, but she's a bull over the final 50 when she hits overdrive!
IF she has enough track left, that is!
As Thompson expanded her lead, Bowie passed Fraser-Pryce, while Schippers was sprinting hard--to no avail!
ET's 10.71 is the 2nd fastest time in OG history, and just 0.01 from her PR!
Bowie's 10.83 won Silver over the Bronze time of 10.86 given to SAFP.
Marie Josee Ta Lou PR'ed with 10.86 also, which was more than enough to hold off the 10.90 of Schippers!
For Ta Lou, she misses my World Top 24 Performers list by 0.04 seconds!
Michelle Lee-Ahye ran 10.92 for the Best-ever 6th Place time!
English Gardner's 10.94 gave her the Best 7th Place mark!
Christiane Williams might have cramped, as she finished in 11.80.
The wind was 0.5.

The Heptathlon was a wild battle between the various "hyphens", and saw a lot more than just a great race for the medals.
Jessica Ennis-Hill opened with the fastest 100H time--12.84--0.30 behind her PR!
Akela Jones was next in 13.00, followed closely by Nadine Visser and Kendell Williams.
Brianne Theisen-Eaten was 6th, with Katarina Johnson-Thompson in 11th.
In 12th was Nafissatou Thiam, who would turn 22 in less than a week!!
She was actually tied--with 1041 points--with Nadine Broersen and America's Heather Miller-Koch, yet another hyphen!!

Then came the HJ!
KJT, a great HJ'er apart from her Multi's, broke Isabel Pooley's British record, jumping 6-6, which was a Heptathlon record!
She was matched, however, by Thiam.
JEH and Jones reached 6-2.25, and this left KJT in the lead after 2 events, with Thiam 12 points back, and JEH another 10 behind, with Jones another 25 behind!
The gap back to BTE in 5th was 66 points!

Thiam had a good SP too, her 48-11 giving her 3107 points after 3 events, a solid 80 points ahead of Ennis-Hill.
Jones was 3rd, 10 points back, with BTE & KJT in 5th & 6th, just 4 points apart, but almost 200 behind Thiam!!

Johnson-Thompson ran the fastest 200--though not a PR--and moved into 4th, leaving Ashton's wife 86 behind her!
JEH led after Day One with 4057 points!
Thiam was 2nd with 3985, and on a roll.
Jones was 3rd, and looking good!
The 3 Americans were now well back, and would remain there, not contenders---this time!

Thiam continued her max performance, LJ'ing 21-7.25 to move 5 points in front of JEH into the lead, 5018 to 5013.
KJT--also a good LJ'er--moved into 3rd, a full 60 points over Jones's 4th!
Thiesen-Eaton was just 35 points behind Jones!

Thiam, strong in the throws, pushed way ahead after the Javelin.
Her 5939 was now 142 points ahead of JEH, and 258 ahead of BTE.
Jones had fallen back to 6th, and KJT, the Javelin being one of her "lesser" events, fell all the way back to 8th!

So it came down to the 800.
Thiam was a 2:22 girl, while Ennis-Hill  could run 2:07.
If she stayed 11 seconds ahead, she'd defend her London Gold!
After a first 400 of 61--with Thiam already close to 6 seconds behind!--it appeared Ennis-Hill  might pull it off!
But Thiam was having her Day of Days, her great potential meeting the moment--and when the dust had settled, Thiam's 2:16 PR was only 7 seconds in back of JEH's 2:09, and Gold was her's!!
Her 6810 points broke her own National Record of Belgium!
She is now 16th A-T World!
JEH was 2nd with 6775, while BTE took the Bronze with 6653 points!
KJT's 6523 points made her the Best-ever 6th Place mark!
Yorgelis Rodriguez's 6481 is the Best 7th Place mark, and is the National Record of Cuba!!
Gyorgyi Zsivoczky-Farkas (Yes, another HYPHEN!!) got the Best 8th Place mark with her 6442 points!
Anouk Vetter's 6394 is the Best-ever mark for 10th Place!
And Antoinette Djimou Ida's 6383 rates as the best 11th Place mark!!

The Women's Marathon began slowly, perhaps wary of Rio's expected heat, especially as it began at 9:30 a.m., Rio time, and would finish close to noon!
The first 5000 had a pack of many timed in 17:23, about 2:26 pace.
All 3 Americans joined all of the Africans, plus Olga Mazurenok of Belarus in this group.
With Des Linden leading after 8K, the pace had increased to 16:59, their 10K time being 34:22.
Thirteen eased along together, with Amy Cragg and Shalane Flanagan again side by side in their white visors!

Then they slowed again, to a 17:21, with 15 up front, and the US trio within 4 seconds of each other.
The slowest 5000 (17:24) brought the 13 up front  through in 1:09:08.
At the Half, Mazurenok led in 1:12:56, but there were 10 within 2 seconds of her, including Flanagan and Cragg.
Linden had fallen 6 seconds behind, but she would keep coming back, then falling behind, then returning to the front again, puzzling the pundits, who couldn't figure if she was having problems, or playing the surge game best performed by the Kenyans & Ethiopians!!

A 16:59 brought them through 25K in 1:26:07.
And then they slowed again!!
A 17:14, then a 17:10, brought them to 35K in 2:00:31.
There were now just 7 in front, including Flanagan.
Linden was now 31 seconds back, with Cragg a full two minutes behind!
But they were still in or close to the top 10.

Jemima Sumgong and Eunice Kirwa now led, and had upped the pace to 16:31 to bring them to 40K in 2:17:02.
Mare Dibaba was 3 seconds back.
Flanagan was behind 49 seconds, but still in 6th, with Linden, having revived herself, in 7th, but 50 seconds behind Flanagan.
Cragg was in 11th, behind 2 South Korean women!

Kenya, which had never had a female OG Marathon winner, now had their first in Sumgong, who pushed through the tape in 2:24:04, nine seconds in front of Kirwa, who finished in 2:24:13.
Sumgong's final 2195 meters had taken 7:02, while Kirwa needed 7.11.
Among the US trio, Cragg was finishing fastest, her 7:21 closer bringing her past the Koreans into 9th, time of 2:28:25.
Linden's 2:26:08 gave her 7th.
Flanagan ran 2:25:26, apparently the fastest an American woman has run in a Women-only race!!
She was 6th.

As promised, I have some older results to give you.
So they won't be SUPER old (by the time the Olympics end!), I'll give them here!!

In the TrackTown Summer Series meet, the Philadelphia team's 3:13.20 in the 4X400 Mixed Relay was a Meet Record!

David Torrence's 3:34.95 in the 1500 became the National Record of Peru!!

In the Thorpe Cup Multis, Scott Filip PR'ed in the Decathlon with 7876 points.
Chantae McMillan won the Heptathlon with 6260 points, while Lindsey Lettow scored 6098, a PR.

Sopot held a 1000 meter race--very rare nowadays!--which saw Angelika Cichocka winning in 2:34.84.
Joanna Jozwik's 2:34.93 beat Sofia Ennaouil's 2:35.15 for 2nd.

Annie St Geme Beck--a name familiar to students of 20th century Women's running, ran 3000 meters in 9:04.99.

Joel Fearon became one of the fastest Brits with his 9.96 100, backed by the max 2.0 wind!

Tyrese Cooper had a great meet, tripling in the 100, 200, and 400.
After a 400 heat of 45.54, which broke his own Frosh Class record, and moved him from 24th A-T HS to 22nd, he then ran 45.23 in the final!!
And this moved him from 22nd A-T HS all the way to 8th!!
Not to mention breaking his own Frosh Class record--again!!

The Sir Walter Raleigh Miles were held in the Carolina's somewhere (!!), and saw some good times run.
Lauren Johnson surprised Amanda Eccleston, sprinting to a 4:25.04 win!
This makes her 11th A-T US!!
Eccleston, on a roll this year, was right behind in 4:25.64.
She's 15th A-T US!
Heather Kampf got a tiny PR of 0.10, her 4:27.23 giving her 3rd over Cory McGee's 4:28.66, Stephanie Brown's 4:29.06, and Nicole Tully's 4:29.78.
For Kampf, that tiny PR actually moves her up 1 spot on the US list, from 24th to 23rd, where she's tied with 1 other!

Pushed OFF my US list is an icon of the sport--Francie Larrieu--her 4:27.52 dating from 1979!!

In the Men's race, Kyle Merber's 3:54.57 prevailed over Colby Alexander's 3:54.94.
John Gregorek was 3rd in 3:55.27.
But back in 6th came new HS PRO (at least till August 31st!!) Drew Hunter.
He ran 3:57.15, which now is the HS PRO record, as well as the HS PRO Senior Class record!!

In 7th came Mikey Branigan, who is autistic, so his 3:57.58 ranks as the Record for Paralympians!!

Also, Julian Reus ran a Germany National Record in the 100, time of 10.01, breaking his own record!

See you again soon--in a day or two, with more detailed Olympic Games results!!