Two More AR's for Women

It's a shutout (thus far), to use baseball terminology!
Eight--zip!
That is, Women of the United States have now broken EIGHT American Records in the 2016 OUTdoor season!
The Men?
Nada.

To Michelle Carter (SP), Keturah Orji (TJ), Gwen Berry (HT), Kendra Harrison (100H---Also the WORLD Record!!), Emma Coburn (3000SC), and Molly Huddle (10000), add Sandi Morris (Her own PV mark!) and Shannon Rowbury (5000)!!

The "predicted" World Records by Almaz Ayana and Consesius Kipruto never materialized.
Either the pacing was poor, or they just never REALLY intended to go after them!
However, one "prediction"--if you will--did come to fruition!
Morris had said she was in the best shape of her life, and wanted to go after Yelena Isinbayeva's Meet Record in Brussels..
That was 16-2, and if Morris was successful, she would not only break Isi's mark, but her own AR and OUTdoor PR, which matched Isi's mark!

Coming in at 14-10 with a miss, eyebrows rose.
Then she made her 2nd try, and successfully cleared 15-0.25 and 15-2.75 on first, then needed two at 15-5, before hitting her next 4 heights on first efforts--15-7.25, 15-9.75, 16-0, and 16-2.50--the latter of which was the Meet and Personal Record breaker!
But she wasn't done!
She missed her first at 16-4.75, or 5.00!
Then she went over on second, but touched the bar, jiggling it.
Standing stock-still, hands locked in prayer, eyes looking upward, waiting.

It stayed on!
And the celebration began.
Until she had the bar raised to the World Record height of 5.07, or 16-7.50.
Not sure how close she came, but heard they weren't "bad" efforts!
In other words, 2017 could be historic for Sandi.
(As if 2016 wasn't!)

Ekaterina Stefanida made 15-7.25.
She missed once at 15-9.75, then passed the next height, to try twice at 16-2.50.
But she missed both.

For Morris, she also breaks her own Age 24 record!
She remains 2nd A-T World, and 1st A-T US.

BTW, a tweet by Becca (PoleVaultPower) says she's filed legislation with USATF that they change their rule which doesn't recognize separate AR's for OUTdoors.
As everyone knows, I've NEVER recognized USATF's rule, nor those of IAAF, if such was the case, regarding the "combining" of the seasons!
No "absolutes" here, Baby!!

Almaz Ayana's WR "try" went off-track (sic!) in the first kilometer!
The rabbit hit 2:53---already 4 seconds slower than needed---and Ayana didn't take control until another K had come and gone.
Her series of 65-68 laps couldn't get her any closer than her final time of 14:18.89, which still got the Meet Record!
Well back in 2nd, Helen Obiri PR'ed with 14:25.78.
It's the Age 26 record, and moves her from 15th A-T World to 8th!
On my Combined Events 1500-5000 list, her times of 3:57.05 and 14:25.78 add to 18:22.83, which moves her from 10th to 4th.

Senbere Teferi's 14:29.82 is the best-ever 3rd Place mark!
She's 16th A-T World.
Etanesh Diro Neda was 4th, in 14:33.30.

In 5th--moving up from 8th earlier in the race--came Shannon Rowbury, time of 14:38.92.
That removes Molly Huddle's 14:42.64 as the American Record.
Shannon moves from 4th to 1st on the US list.
On my Combined Events 1500-5000 list for the US, her marks of 3:56.29 and 14:38.92 add to 18:35.21, which keeps her in 1st place!

Alice Aprot (Nawawuna) ran 14:39.56, after pacing Ayana earlier--though not sure if planned!
Her Combined Event times for the 5000 and 10000 (14:39.56 and 29:53.51) add to 44:33.07--for 8th A-T.
Back in 15th came GenGen LaCaze, whose 15:06.67 was her 17th PR of 2016!!

The rest of the Van Damme meet was good--even great--but not worth extensive reporting!
Here's the rest--
Elaine Thompson blasted a 10.72 to tie SAFP's Meet Record in the 100.
She WHUPPED Dafne Schippers, who managed just 10.97!!
The Men's 200 was fast---and close!
Jamaica's Julian Forte's 19.97 beat the 19.97 of Adam Gemili, and the 19.98 of Churandy Martina--PR's for the first two.
Tim Cheruiyot upset Abdelaati Iguider and Asbel Kiprop in the 1500, time of 3:31.34.
It had begun with an 800 in 1:50+, then slowed.
In 9th came Ben Blankenship's PR of 3:34.26, which missed my US DDD by 0.11.
Erik Kynard and Natissatou Thiam took the HJ's with "LOW" jumps of 7-7.25 and 6-4.
Orlando Ortega's 13.08 beat Pascal Martinot-Legarde's 13.12 in the 110H, while Jasmin Stowers beat a slow field in a slow 12.78 in the 100H.
Cassandra Tate won the 400H in 54.47.
An unnamed person ran ahead of the Women's 400 Winner, Courtney Okolo, whose 50.51 matched 2nd placer Stephanie McPherson's time.
Shericka Jackson and Natasha Hastings finished in 50.73 and 50.84.
Adam Kszczot's 1:44.36 beat the 1:44.44 of Kipyegon Bett.
Clay Murphy faded to 7th in 1:45.15.
Only in Belgium, Liguelin Santos's 45.02 beat the Borlee family male trio, who ended in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th!

In the field (besides Morris!)---
Luvo Manyonga LJ'ed 27-10, missing both the South Africa National Record and my World DDD by 0.75 inches!!
Caterine Ibarguen TJ'ed 48-1.25, winning easily.
(Couldn't help but notice that Keturah Orji's AR from Rio would have won here!!)
Daniel Stahl took the DT with 215-10.
Michelle Carter again beat Valerie Adams in the SP--held the day before downtown!--65-6.75 to 64-2.50!
Madera Palameika's 217-1 PR in the Javelin Throw is the National Record for Latvia, and makes her 23rd A-T World, tied with 2 others!
Barbara Spotakova was well back, hitting 209-3, while Kara Winger's 202-11 is her 2016 best!

As noted earlier, Consesius Kipruto didn't break the WR, as he SAID he wanted, running just 8:03.74.
This beat Evan Jager's 2016 best time of 8:04.01.
In 6th was Hillary Bor of the US Army, whose 8:13.68 makes him 8th A-T US.
In 7th was the 8:16.11 PR of Andy Bayer, which moves him from 18th A-T US to 13th!

In Rovereto's meet, Genzebe Dibaba's desired World Record attempt on the Mile went out the window on the 2nd lap of rabbiting, which was just 67 seconds!!
But GD being GD, she took control and still managed to become 2nd A-T World with her 4:14.30!!
She passed 1500 in 3:57.31.
It's the National Record of Ethiopia!
And the Age 25 record!

In 4th was Alexa Efraimson--seemingly recovered from whatever befell her in that 9:11 3K recently!
Her 4:27.39 (4:05.50 in the 1500 enroute) misses my US list by just 0.16 seconds!!
People said it was the "AJR", beating Polly Plumer's 4:35.24.
First, as you know, I don't DO "Junior" records.
Second, Ms Plumer's mark REMAINS the HSR!
As for Efraimson's mark, she misses the Age 19 record of Zola Budd (Pieterse) by almost ten full seconds!!

Speaking of Age records, I have no idea if Solomon Baragi's 13:24.06 in the 5000 is the Age 16 record.
But it's fast!!
On the other end of the scale is Fabrizio Donato, whose TJ of 55-6.50 smashes the Age 40 & over record!!

In Zagreb, Ryan Crouser nailed a SP distance of 73-0.25.
This beat the 72-10.50 by Tom Walsh, which breaks his own New Zealand National Record.
It also breaks his own Age 24 record!
He moves from 17th A-T World, tied with 2 others, to 16th, tied with 1 other!
Third was Darrell Hill's 70-4.25!
In the Swedish Champs, Daniel Stahl threw the Discus a PR distance of 225-5!

The Falmouth Mile---on a track--was won by Kyle Merber in 3:58.14.
But a mistake was made in the reporting about Drew Hunter's 6th place time of 4:06.71.
They said it was his first Pro race.
Nope!
His first was his OUTdoor PR of 3:57.15, run earlier in the summer!!
(See my post about that!!)

The USATF 20000 races were taken by Len Korir in 59:15 (over Sam Chelanga's 59:16 and Christo Landry's 59:24) and Aliphine Tuliamuk's 65:47.
Second was Emily Sisson's 66:02.
That's a good time for Sisson, whose 2016 has been slow.
It's about equal to a 1:10 Half-Marathon!!

In Collegiate XC, I saw where Erin Finn whipped her Michigan teammates (and everyone else) with a 47 second win over a 5K route.
She ran as unattached, which MIGHT mean she's still redshirting---for now!!

BTW, TFRSS got it wrong--apparently--about all those great Stanford distancers "DNF'ing" at a recent XC meet.
According to Flotrack, they never even started the race!!

What's left in 2016?
There's still the Talence Multis meet, plus maybe a couple of small "meets" elsewhere.
The Berlin, Chicago, New York, and Fukuoka Marathons are upcoming, of course!
Then there's Cross Country!!

As readers of this blog know, we can expect the first dribblings of INdoor marks to come in late November!
I'll soon have my AOY reports for Collegiates and HS'ers!!
(The World and US reports come at year's end!!)

The frequency of my posts will slow drastically over the next two months---especially after my Collegiate and HS reports!!

But there's tons of stuff to talk about OFF-track (and field), and I'm sure you'll see a "rant" or 2 or 3 before Thanksgiving!!

Oh, one late item.
Reports have broken on Twitter (through fairly reliable sources!) that the young behemoth SP'er Konrad Bukowiecki has tested positive for a "stimulant".
But said stimulant apparently is NOT on the banned substances list of WADA!!
Buko of course denies taking drugs!
These are through initial reports.
I'm sure more details will soon come through!

See you soon!