I was all set to do my report on the 3-day European Championships meet, when I checked Twitter one last time, and found the results of Yomif Kejelcha's attempt to break the World Record in the Mile at Boston University!
It had been discussed all week, the talk that his coach (Alberto Salazar) thought he could ALSO take down the 1500 WR--in the SAME race!!
Another AlSal bizzaro ego trip?
Or could Kejelcha really do it?/
I didn't even know who else would be running, so when I saw the full results, I was utterly astonished!!
Long story short, the United States has a whole new set of World Class Milers!
But let's look at this dude named Yomif first!
Following Erik Sowinski and another pacer, he hit the 440 in 57.3
He needed to pick it up!
But he then hit another 57.3--1:54.6 at the 880!
The 3rd 440 being essential to a really fast time, he increased the pace to a 56.3--or 2:50.9 with 2 laps to go!
All alone, but watching the clock, this was his test!
Taking to INdoor track like a child to candy, Kejelcha sprinted for his life--and a WR!!
(If you heard his post-race interview, he was also kicking for Alberto!!)
When he crossed the line, the clock read 3:47.02--later revised to 3:47.01.
He'd done it--although he missed getting the 1500 WR also!
For the Mile, he gets the WR, and breaks his own Age 21 and Ethiopia National Records!
His 3:31.25 was a PR by 0.33 seconds, but he remains 3rd A-T World!
Now for the revision of the US Record Book!!
John Gregorek escaped his link to Craig Engels with about 180 to go, and sprinting faster than Kejelcha, he crossed the line in 3:49.98!!
He moves from 12th A-T US to 3rd!
And is now 6th A-T World!
His 1500 was 3:35.21 (or 14.77 for his final 109 meters!!).
For the latter distance, he moves from 10th A-T US to 3rd!!
He also gains the Age 27 Record!!
BTW, he also beat his father's best of 3:51.34, which was run OUTdoors in 1982!!
Sam Prakel came next!
His Mile time was 3:50.94, making him 5th A-T US, and 10th A-T World!
His 1500 was passed in 3:35.66, which makes him 5th A-T US!
Henry Wynne was maybe the most surprising American!
His 3:51.26 Mile makes him 7th A-T US, and 15th A-T World!!
He also gets the Age 23 Record!!
His 3:36.09 at 1500 makes him 8th A-T US!!
Engels got a tiny PR (0.04 seconds), and didn't move anywhere up the lists!
But Rob Napolitano's Mile time of 3:54.28 makes him 22nd A-T US!!
ADDED LATER---Engels's 1500 split was 3:35.79--faster than Wynne!--so makes him 6th A-T US, moving Wynne to 9th!!
Also, Napolitano did his 1500 in 3:37.14, making him 11th A-T US!
Finally, Jeremy Hernandez's 1500 split was 3:37.90, which makes him 17th A-T US!!
The Women's race was won by Ce'Aira Brown in 4:28.12!
Which didn't come close to matching what Scotland's Laura Muir did in her home nation at the Euros!
Her 1500 heat took 4:09.29, and it wasn't the fastest, but close!
Next came her 3000 final!
(Why did the Men have to run 3K heats, while the Women went straight to a final?? Too many male entrants?? Seems strange!)
Well, Muir jogged the first half in 4:25, and it was looking like yet another Championship meet snorer!!
UGH!!
Then Muir did what she does best--ran FAST for a long stretch, no holds barred, and who cares who's behind her!!
A final 1000 in about 2:41 took her to a European Champs Meet Record of 8:30.61!
But you can give some of the credit to Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who led most of the race!!
Except for a couple of laps in the middle, KK was in front!
But when Laura Muir kicks, few Women can stick with her!
Even though KK also has a kick, but it's more long range, rather than what Muir is capable of (56.9 in her British Champs 3K)!!
KoKo just couldn't handle that, and the race was Muir's!
KK ran 8:34.06, followed by two big improvers--Melissa Courtney's 8:38.22, and Alina Reh's 8:39.45!
But let's make sure you remember how incredible those final splits were!!
Muir had split 4:25 and 4:05 (actually 4:04.96!!)
KK split 4:25 and 4:09!!
Muir had beat her heat time by 4 seconds in the SECOND 1500 of her 3K!!
The 1500 final began like another yawner--just 2:18 at the 800 mark!
She was on pace for a time just under 4:20!!
Yet again, Muir produced more than she needed to win!
When she got a lead, she didn't back off!
While she failed to nab her own Meet Record, she ended in 4:05.92!!
Her last 800 was probably about 2:05!!
Another who wanted a Double Gold was 18 year old Jakob Ingebrigtsen!
He took the heats in 7:51.20, but needed just 7:56.15 to nail the final!
Running the same 7:57.19 in 2nd and 3rd were Chris O'Hare and Henrik Ingebrigtsen!
But in the 1500, he let the pace slow after taking the lead, which opened the door wide for 800 specialist Marcin Lewandowski--a rookie's mistake!!
Lewandowski used that speed for the W, time of 3:42.85.
Inge ended in 3:43.23!
The Women's Pentathlon was--DEEP!!
While most of the World Leaders were here, so was Katerina Johnson-Thompson!
Although her shape for a full Pent was unknown, when she hit PR's in the 60H, the HJ, and the SP, her legion of fans knew she was ON!!
But then came the LJ, KJT's nemesis in the past!!
Foul-bent, she needed a long jump (Sic!!) to keep on the path toward a potential World Record!!
But she hit just 6.53--about 20 centimeters short of WR territory!!
Yet she produced the fastest 800 (2:09!!), and ended with 4983 points, just 17 shy of her PR, and 34 short of tying the WR!!
Oh, what might have been!!
Now check out the depth--behind KJT's Age 26 Record!!
Her British compadre ended 2nd!!
Niamh Emerson's 4731--while well behind KJT--is the Age 19 Record!!
She misses the World list by 44 points!!
Solene Ndama's 4723 in 3rd ties the National Record of France!
Ivana Dadic was 4th with 4702 points!
Then came Laura Ikauniece's 4701, which makes her the National Record holder of Latvia!
Two others scored more than 4600!!
The Shot Put's produced some mild upsets!
Konrad Bukowiecki didn't make it out of Qualifying!
And Michal Haratyk's 71-0.50 defeated slightly favored David Storl's 70-8!
In the Women's event, Christina Schwanitz couldn't find the necessary oomph in her last throw to beat winner Radislava Mavrodieva's 62-8.75!
Schwanitz came up half an inch short!!
Some faves came through--while others didn't!!
The highly personable and crowd pleasing Italian--Gianmarco Temberi--needed just 7-7.25 to win the HJ!
Lea Sprunger had a close call against Cynthia Mbongo!
Sprunger ran 51.61 to Mbongo's 51.62!
But the latter got the National Record of Belgium as consolation!
Karsten Warholm sent the 400 Euros Meet Record (of the missing Pavel Maslak!) into oblivion, crossing the line in 45.05!
He broke his own Norway National Record by a whopping 0.51 seconds!!
The MR went down by 0.28 seconds!!
He's now 13th A-T World, tied with 2 others!!
Oscar Husillas's 45.66 was far removed, but it got him Spain's National Record!!
Another who had it easy was Ewe Swoboda, who ran 7.09 to beat Dafne Schippers's 7.14 in the 60!!
In 3rd and 4th came a pair of Brits, with Asha Philip and Kristol Awuah both timed in 7.15!
Awuah is just 19 years old!
The PV's produced two upsets!
In the Men's event, Pawel Wojciakowski hit his highest bar--19-4.25--to take out favored Piotr Lisek, who topped a decent 19-3.25!
For the winner, he's now 6th A-T World, tied with 5 others!!
Sondre Guttormsen ended just 6th--before flying back to the States to compete in this weekend's NCAA Championships!!
Another favorite to collapse was Ekaterina Stefanidi!!
But that didn't hurt the pair ahead of her!
Anzhelika Sidorova went over 15-10.50, while Home Nation girl Holly Bradshaw went out after clearing 15-7!
The Long Jumps were surprisingly good!
The Men were dominated by Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou!
His 27-6 made him the National Record holder, and 19th on the A-T World list, tied with 1 other!
Another slight favorite who was off her game was Malaika Mihambo!
Ending just 4th, she couldn't find enough to top Ivana Spanovic's 22-11!
In 2nd came Nastassia Moronchyk, who hit 22-9!!
The female version of Gianmarco Tamberi might be Spain's Ana Peleteiro!
Attractive in every way--physical beauty, and a hyped to the gills personality (not to mention a wee bit of natural talent!!), Peleteiro took the Triple Jump with a PR of 48-4!
She gets her National Record, and 22nd place on the A-T World list!!
In 3rd was Olga Saladukha;s 47-5.25, which tied the Age 35 Record!
Another event where a Veteran of Veterans lost was the Men's TJ!
Nelson Evora's 56-1.75 was behind Nazim Berhanyew's 56-8.25 winner!
Tim Duckworth led the Men's Heptathlon some of the way, but despite a quick (for him!) 1000, his 6156 total was behind Jorge Urena's 6218 at the end!
Other Euro Champs events---
The Borlee's (Um, the Belgians!!) took the Men's 4X400 Relay in 3:06.27!
But they needed all of that to hold off Spain's 3:06.32!
It's Spain's National Record, although they remain 15th A-T Nation!!
Poland took the Women's race in 3:28.77 over Great Britain's 3:29.55.
Back in 5th came the Female Belgium team (Devoid of Borlee's!!), their 3:32.46 making them 17th A-T Nation!
Who else but Mariya Lasitskene won the HJ, her pedestrian 6-7 all that was necessary!
Jan Volko took the Men's 60 in 6.60---a mild upset over Britain's Richard Kilty, who ended back in 4th with his 6.67!
Another (but bigger!!) upset came in the Men's 60H!
There, Orlando Ortega's 7.64 got him just 4th behind winner Milan Trajkovic's 7.60!
Nadine Visser took the Women's 60H in 7.87!
Shalayna Oskan-Clarke satisfied the home crowd with her W in the 800, time of 2:02.52!
The other snail's pace 800 was taken by Alvaro De Arriba's 1:46.83!
Not the worst Euros, but far from the best, despite Laura Muir's amazing double!!
Some other news--on the track (or roads!), and off---
The Tokyo Marathon had some quick winning times, despite wet weather!
Berhanu Legese took the Men's race in 2:04:48, while Ruti Aga won the Women's in 2:20:40!
Katelyn Tuohy had an easy (for her!!) double at her NY State Championships!
She ran the 3000 in 9:15.31, then took the 1500 in a Walking 4:24 and change!
Bronxville's Matt Rizzo improved his 1000 time to 2:24.06, which moves him from 16th A-T HS to 6th!!
Finally, VCB gave birth to AAB!!
Translation--
Veronica Campbell-Brown had her first child, a daughter she named Ariana Aurora Brown!
Fast forward to maybe 2040 (or maybe even 2036?), and yes, VCB might be transposed to Gold winner AAB!!
LOL
Well, the NCAA's and the NBIN are next up--just 4 days away!!
I'll have Previews of both sometime before each meet begins!!
Both meets are always Record Heavens, so make sure you read my Previews to guide you through the Stars!!
See you soon!
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