And these last days of Tokyo's Games were indescribably delicious!
Let me tell you why!
The Women's 4 X 400 Relay heats saw the US team of Kaylin Whitney, Wadeline Jonathas, Kendell Ellis, and Lynna Irby run 3:20.88!
Jamaica ran 3:21.95, with Poland and Great Britain following!
The Netherlands 3:24.01 is their National Record, and ranks them 16th A-T Nation!
Belgium also got an NR, their 3:24.08 ranking them 17th A-T Nation.
And Switzerland's NR of 3:25.90 ranks them 23rd A-T Nation!
Abel Kipsang proved you don't need a Final to break a Meet Record.
His 3:31.65 led the Men's 1500 Semi's, and broke the MR of 3:32.07!
Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr weren't far behind!
Charles Grathem's 3:32.86 is Luxembourg's National Record!
Rio winner Matthew Centrowitz didn't advance, despite running 3:33.69!
Neither did Nick Willis, but his 3:35.41 is the Age 38 Record!
Marcin Lewindowski and Ayanleigh Souleiman were both DNF!
The Men's 400 was a bit lackluster this year, and despite a sub-44 winner, it continued so here!
Steven Gardiner dominated with his 43.85!
Anthony Zambrano took Silver with 44.08, while Kirani James's 44.19 was 3rd!
Michael Cherry PR'ed in 4th, his 44.21 ranking him 19th A-T US, tied with 1 other!
Michael Norman ended 5th in 44.31.
Nafi Thiam needed just 6791 points to win the Heptathlon!
She wasn't really challenged, though she was just 3rd after Day One!
Leading then was Anouk Vetter, with 3968 points!
She wound up 2nd with 6689!
Most surprising was Bronze winner Emma Oosterwezell, especially after being just 11th after the 200!
She moved up 8 spots with her 6590!
Second after the first day with 3941 points, Noor Vidts wound up 4th, scoring 6571.
Kendell Williams scored 6508 in 5th, with Annie Kunz getting 6th with 6420, a full 283 off her winning Trials score!
Erica Bougard ended in 9th!
Not finishing were Katerina Johnson-Thompson, Nadia Broersen, and Yorgelis Rodriguez!
Damian Warner began the Decathlon with fantastic Dec marks of 10.12 and 27-0.50!
After his 8995 at Gotzis, people were eyeing a 9000 score, and they got it here!
His 9018 crushed the MR of 8893 by 125 points!
He also broke his own Canada National Record!
Anthony Zambrano took Silver with 44.08, while Kirani James's 44.19 was 3rd!
Michael Cherry PR'ed in 4th, his 44.21 ranking him 19th A-T US, tied with 1 other!
Michael Norman ended 5th in 44.31.
Nafi Thiam needed just 6791 points to win the Heptathlon!
She wasn't really challenged, though she was just 3rd after Day One!
Leading then was Anouk Vetter, with 3968 points!
She wound up 2nd with 6689!
Most surprising was Bronze winner Emma Oosterwezell, especially after being just 11th after the 200!
She moved up 8 spots with her 6590!
Second after the first day with 3941 points, Noor Vidts wound up 4th, scoring 6571.
Kendell Williams scored 6508 in 5th, with Annie Kunz getting 6th with 6420, a full 283 off her winning Trials score!
Erica Bougard ended in 9th!
Not finishing were Katerina Johnson-Thompson, Nadia Broersen, and Yorgelis Rodriguez!
Damian Warner began the Decathlon with fantastic Dec marks of 10.12 and 27-0.50!
After his 8995 at Gotzis, people were eyeing a 9000 score, and they got it here!
His 9018 crushed the MR of 8893 by 125 points!
He also broke his own Canada National Record!
He gets the Age 31 Record, and ranks 4th A-T World!
Kevin Mayer scored 8726 to take the Silver, with Bronze going to Australia's Ashley Moloney, his 8649 missing my World DDD by 18 points!
He did break his own National Record, however!
Garrett Scantling's 8611 gave him 4th!
Pierce LePage's 8604 took 5th!
Zach Ziemek's 8435 was 6th, while Steve Bastien was 10th with 8236 points!
Maicel Uibo was just 15th!
Not finishing were Thomas Van Der Plaetzen and Nicholas Kaul.
Warner's 1st day score was 4922!
The Men's 50K Walk (There wasn't any for the Women!) saw Dawid Tomala (sp?) rise to the top despite the steamy day in Sapporo!
His 3:50:08 beat the 3:50:44 of Jonathon Hilbert!
Evan Dunfee of Canada Walked 3:50:59 for the Bronze!
BTW, check out Dunfee's Twitter for some entertaining tweets!
Matej Toth ended 14th, Walking 3:56.23!
Erick Barrondo was DQ'ed, while WR holder Yohan Diniz DNF'ed!
Antonella Palmisano kept Italy's Gold streak going, winning the Women's 20K Walk in a heat slowed 1:29:12.
Sandra Arenas was 2nd in 1:29:37, with Hong Liu's 1:29:57 taking the Bronze!
Robyn Stevens's 1:37:42 gave her 33rd position, which gave her bragging rights in the Nick Christie & Robyn Stevens household!
LOL
As always in Championship 4 X 400 races, there was a plethora of National Records broken!
The US led the heats with their 2:57.77.
The team was Trevor Stewart, Randolph Ross, Bryce Deadmon, and Vernon Norwood.
Botswana ended 2nd, their 2:58.33 their NR, ranking them 8th A-T Nation!
Poland was next with 2:58.55, followed by Trinidad & Tobago's 2:58.60!
Italy's 2:58.91 is their NR, ranking them 12th A-T Nation.
The Netherlands 2:59.06 also nabbed an NR, and ranks them 14th A-T Nation.
India's 3:00.25 NR ranks them 22nd A-T Nation!
Shiying Liu's 217-11 won a fairly dry Women's Javelin Throw.
Silver went to Maria Andreaczyk's 211-11, which barely edged the 211-10 of Kelsey-Lee Barber!
America's great hope Maggie Malone couldn't connect, and ended far off her best in 10th, just behind another with problems, Christin Hussong!
If only they'd moved maybe 200 meters sooner, we might have seen another Meet Record broken!!
As it was, Josh Cheptegei's 12:58.15 in the Men's 5000 Final was fun to watch!
His last 1000 of 2:25.7 helped him beat back the 12:58.61 of Mo Ahmed, and the 12:59.05 of Paul Chelimo.
And the American got his Bronze with one of his least controversial races!!
Nicholas Kimeli's 12:59.17 gave him 4th, ahead of Jacob Kiplimo's 5th place mark of 13:02.40!
Mohamed Katir finished in 8th, ahead of Grant Fisher's 13:08.40!
Fisher ranks 21st A-T US!
Luis Grijalva's 13:10.09 is Guatemala's National Record!
Will Kincaid ended in 14th!
In the Women's 400 Final, SMU (aka Shaunae Miller-Uibo) time trialed 48.36, slicing 0.01 off her Bahamas NR, while keeping her 6th A-T World!
She has her hair as pink as pink can be, but here she was red hot!!
(OK, enough with the jokes, Mr Krohn!)
Marileidy Paulino keeps chugging out PR's and NR's!
Kevin Mayer scored 8726 to take the Silver, with Bronze going to Australia's Ashley Moloney, his 8649 missing my World DDD by 18 points!
He did break his own National Record, however!
Garrett Scantling's 8611 gave him 4th!
Pierce LePage's 8604 took 5th!
Zach Ziemek's 8435 was 6th, while Steve Bastien was 10th with 8236 points!
Maicel Uibo was just 15th!
Not finishing were Thomas Van Der Plaetzen and Nicholas Kaul.
Warner's 1st day score was 4922!
The Men's 50K Walk (There wasn't any for the Women!) saw Dawid Tomala (sp?) rise to the top despite the steamy day in Sapporo!
His 3:50:08 beat the 3:50:44 of Jonathon Hilbert!
Evan Dunfee of Canada Walked 3:50:59 for the Bronze!
BTW, check out Dunfee's Twitter for some entertaining tweets!
Matej Toth ended 14th, Walking 3:56.23!
Erick Barrondo was DQ'ed, while WR holder Yohan Diniz DNF'ed!
Antonella Palmisano kept Italy's Gold streak going, winning the Women's 20K Walk in a heat slowed 1:29:12.
Sandra Arenas was 2nd in 1:29:37, with Hong Liu's 1:29:57 taking the Bronze!
Robyn Stevens's 1:37:42 gave her 33rd position, which gave her bragging rights in the Nick Christie & Robyn Stevens household!
LOL
As always in Championship 4 X 400 races, there was a plethora of National Records broken!
The US led the heats with their 2:57.77.
The team was Trevor Stewart, Randolph Ross, Bryce Deadmon, and Vernon Norwood.
Botswana ended 2nd, their 2:58.33 their NR, ranking them 8th A-T Nation!
Poland was next with 2:58.55, followed by Trinidad & Tobago's 2:58.60!
Italy's 2:58.91 is their NR, ranking them 12th A-T Nation.
The Netherlands 2:59.06 also nabbed an NR, and ranks them 14th A-T Nation.
India's 3:00.25 NR ranks them 22nd A-T Nation!
Shiying Liu's 217-11 won a fairly dry Women's Javelin Throw.
Silver went to Maria Andreaczyk's 211-11, which barely edged the 211-10 of Kelsey-Lee Barber!
America's great hope Maggie Malone couldn't connect, and ended far off her best in 10th, just behind another with problems, Christin Hussong!
If only they'd moved maybe 200 meters sooner, we might have seen another Meet Record broken!!
As it was, Josh Cheptegei's 12:58.15 in the Men's 5000 Final was fun to watch!
His last 1000 of 2:25.7 helped him beat back the 12:58.61 of Mo Ahmed, and the 12:59.05 of Paul Chelimo.
And the American got his Bronze with one of his least controversial races!!
Nicholas Kimeli's 12:59.17 gave him 4th, ahead of Jacob Kiplimo's 5th place mark of 13:02.40!
Mohamed Katir finished in 8th, ahead of Grant Fisher's 13:08.40!
Fisher ranks 21st A-T US!
Luis Grijalva's 13:10.09 is Guatemala's National Record!
Will Kincaid ended in 14th!
In the Women's 400 Final, SMU (aka Shaunae Miller-Uibo) time trialed 48.36, slicing 0.01 off her Bahamas NR, while keeping her 6th A-T World!
She has her hair as pink as pink can be, but here she was red hot!!
(OK, enough with the jokes, Mr Krohn!)
Marileidy Paulino keeps chugging out PR's and NR's!
Her 49.20 breaks her own National Record of the Dominican Republic, and ranks her 19th A-T World!
Another who just keeps on giving is Allyson Felix!
Her 49.46 in 3rd smashed her own Age 35 Record!
Stephanie McPherson ran 49.61 to take 4th, while Candice McLeod's 49.87 beat Jodie Williams's 49.97!
In my Combined Events for the 100-200-400, SMU's 10.96, 21.74 and 48.36 adds to 1:21.06, keeping her 3rd A-T World!
In the Women's 1500 Final, Faith Kipyegon was tailed by Sifan Hassan until the bell rang!
Then she used a 59.1 final 400 to kick away from her AND a hard charging Laura Muir to win easily in a Meet Record smashing 3:53.11.
This removed Paula Ivan's 33 year old MR from the books!
Muir was never better, her 3:54.50 breaking her own National Record of Great Britain!
She ranks 14th A-T World!
Hassan closed in 3:55.86 for 3rd.
Freweyni Gebreeziheber (sp?)ran 3:57.10, beating Gabby Stafford's 3:58.43 and Linden Hall's 3:59.01 PR!
Elle Purrier St Pierre didn't have it, and ended 10th in a subdued 4:01.95, while Cory McGee finished 14th!
Jamaica's 4 X 100 Relay Women could not be beaten, not with SAFP and ET-H and Shericka Jackson on the team!
In fact, it was only a couple of so-so hand-offs that limited them to 41.02, instead of destroying the World Record!!
It's their National Record, and makes them 2nd A-T Nation!
The US was far back, but still nabbing Silver with their 41.45!
Great Britain took the Bronze with 41.88!
Switzerland ran 42.08, while Germany's 42.12 ties for the best 5th Place mark!
Brianna Williams led off the Jamaicans, while the US team had Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini, and Gabby Thomas!
Italy got another Gold, this one in the Men's 4 X 100 Relay Final.
And they needed every tiny increment of time, their 37.50 just nipping Great Britain's 37.51 for the better medal!
Italy's time is their NR, and ranks them 5th A-T Nation!
Canada took 3rd with their 37.70!
China's National Record of 37.79 makes them 9th A-T Nation, tied with 1 other!
Jamaica's 37.84 is the best 5th Place mark!
Germany's 38.12 breaks their own best 6th Place mark!
The times were slowed somewhat by the heat, despite the 6 a.m. Sapporo time start!
But the Women's Marathon produced maybe the greatest, and most heartwarming, shock upset of the entire Games!
Molly Seidel might have been the top American, but she was on no one's formchart to finish Top 10, let alone medal!
Yet there she was, as mile by mile (or K by K) passed by, right up there with the WR holder Brigid Kosgei, and Half Marathon stud Peres Jepchirchir, and several other veteran Marathoners!
A group of a dozen or so passed the Half in 1:15:14, Seidel among them, even inching in front for a breath or two.
Then, with the leaders reduced to 4 with a 5K or less to go, Lornah Salpeter of Israel dropped back suddenly (She faded all the way to 66th!!), giving Seidel an almost certain Bronze!
Jepchirchir won it after breaking away from Kosgei, her time of 2:27:20 beating the WR holder by 16 seconds!
Another 10 back came Seidel, fist pumping the crowd (Yes, people watched the race in person!), and screaming for joy as she won the most unexpected medal of the Athletics portion of the Games!
Reza Deraji was 4th in 2:28:38!
Sally Kipyego finished 17th, while Aliphine Tuliamuk was among the non-finishers!
Also with a DNF were Birhane Dibaba and Ruth Chepngetich!
This is going to be an extra long post, because I don't want to do a separate post for just a handful of events!
Hang in there, folks!
Both High Jumps saw the best of recent years prevail, even though Mutaz Barshim shared his Gold with Gianmarco Tamberi (See previous post!)!
The Women's Final saw Russian (I refuse to kowtow to the ridiculous and demeaning designation of "ROC" used by WA!!) Mariya Lasitskene top a loaded field with her 6-8.25!
She'd been having a shakey year, but showed her true talent when it counted!
Nicola McDermott continued her exciting rise, her 6-7.50 breaking her own National Record of Australia!
She misses my World list by a mere half inch!
Yaroslava Mahuchukh took the Bronze with 6-6.75!
Vashti Cunningham could clear just 6-5, and finished 6th!
Another who just keeps on giving is Allyson Felix!
Her 49.46 in 3rd smashed her own Age 35 Record!
Stephanie McPherson ran 49.61 to take 4th, while Candice McLeod's 49.87 beat Jodie Williams's 49.97!
In my Combined Events for the 100-200-400, SMU's 10.96, 21.74 and 48.36 adds to 1:21.06, keeping her 3rd A-T World!
In the Women's 1500 Final, Faith Kipyegon was tailed by Sifan Hassan until the bell rang!
Then she used a 59.1 final 400 to kick away from her AND a hard charging Laura Muir to win easily in a Meet Record smashing 3:53.11.
This removed Paula Ivan's 33 year old MR from the books!
Muir was never better, her 3:54.50 breaking her own National Record of Great Britain!
She ranks 14th A-T World!
Hassan closed in 3:55.86 for 3rd.
Freweyni Gebreeziheber (sp?)ran 3:57.10, beating Gabby Stafford's 3:58.43 and Linden Hall's 3:59.01 PR!
Elle Purrier St Pierre didn't have it, and ended 10th in a subdued 4:01.95, while Cory McGee finished 14th!
Jamaica's 4 X 100 Relay Women could not be beaten, not with SAFP and ET-H and Shericka Jackson on the team!
In fact, it was only a couple of so-so hand-offs that limited them to 41.02, instead of destroying the World Record!!
It's their National Record, and makes them 2nd A-T Nation!
The US was far back, but still nabbing Silver with their 41.45!
Great Britain took the Bronze with 41.88!
Switzerland ran 42.08, while Germany's 42.12 ties for the best 5th Place mark!
Brianna Williams led off the Jamaicans, while the US team had Javianne Oliver, Teahna Daniels, Jenna Prandini, and Gabby Thomas!
Italy got another Gold, this one in the Men's 4 X 100 Relay Final.
And they needed every tiny increment of time, their 37.50 just nipping Great Britain's 37.51 for the better medal!
Italy's time is their NR, and ranks them 5th A-T Nation!
Canada took 3rd with their 37.70!
China's National Record of 37.79 makes them 9th A-T Nation, tied with 1 other!
Jamaica's 37.84 is the best 5th Place mark!
Germany's 38.12 breaks their own best 6th Place mark!
The times were slowed somewhat by the heat, despite the 6 a.m. Sapporo time start!
But the Women's Marathon produced maybe the greatest, and most heartwarming, shock upset of the entire Games!
Molly Seidel might have been the top American, but she was on no one's formchart to finish Top 10, let alone medal!
Yet there she was, as mile by mile (or K by K) passed by, right up there with the WR holder Brigid Kosgei, and Half Marathon stud Peres Jepchirchir, and several other veteran Marathoners!
A group of a dozen or so passed the Half in 1:15:14, Seidel among them, even inching in front for a breath or two.
Then, with the leaders reduced to 4 with a 5K or less to go, Lornah Salpeter of Israel dropped back suddenly (She faded all the way to 66th!!), giving Seidel an almost certain Bronze!
Jepchirchir won it after breaking away from Kosgei, her time of 2:27:20 beating the WR holder by 16 seconds!
Another 10 back came Seidel, fist pumping the crowd (Yes, people watched the race in person!), and screaming for joy as she won the most unexpected medal of the Athletics portion of the Games!
Reza Deraji was 4th in 2:28:38!
Sally Kipyego finished 17th, while Aliphine Tuliamuk was among the non-finishers!
Also with a DNF were Birhane Dibaba and Ruth Chepngetich!
This is going to be an extra long post, because I don't want to do a separate post for just a handful of events!
Hang in there, folks!
Both High Jumps saw the best of recent years prevail, even though Mutaz Barshim shared his Gold with Gianmarco Tamberi (See previous post!)!
The Women's Final saw Russian (I refuse to kowtow to the ridiculous and demeaning designation of "ROC" used by WA!!) Mariya Lasitskene top a loaded field with her 6-8.25!
She'd been having a shakey year, but showed her true talent when it counted!
Nicola McDermott continued her exciting rise, her 6-7.50 breaking her own National Record of Australia!
She misses my World list by a mere half inch!
Yaroslava Mahuchukh took the Bronze with 6-6.75!
Vashti Cunningham could clear just 6-5, and finished 6th!
She did it!!
Well, at least Sifan Hassan got medals in all 3 events of her Triple Gold Quest!
Her 2nd Gold came in the 10000 Final, where she defied the heat by running 29:55.32!!
She ran splits of about 15:08 and 14:47!
Second went to Kalkidan Gezehegne's 29:56.18!
WR holder Letesenbet Gidey took the Bronze with 30:01.72, a full minute behind her World Record!
Helen Obiri stuck with them for half the race, then faded to a 30:24.27 5th place time!
Konstanze Klosterhalfen ran 31:01.97 in 8th, with Eilish McColgan 3 seconds back in 9th.
Emily Sisson ended in 10th, Karissa Schweizer in 12th, and Alicia Monson in 13th!
Johannes Vetter was a SOLID pick for Gold in the Men's JT!
Would love to know how many bets were lost when he could not climb over 8th place, his best mark around 45 feet short of his PR!
Winning was Q leader Neeraj Chopra, whose 287-1 beat the 284-4 of Jakub Vadlejch, and the 280-4 of Vitazlov Vesely!
Vesely tied the Age 38 Record!
The Mile (or in the Olympics, the "Metric Mile") has always been a Classic distance!
But many of them have been tactical!
Not this one, Baby!!
After getting the MR in the Semi's, Abel Kipsang ran even faster in the Final.
But his 3:29.56 could net him only 4th place!!
Winning was Norway's "other" GOAT wannabe, Jakob Ingebrigtsen!!
His sprint off the final curve took him to the line in a new Meet Record of 3:28.32!
It breaks his own NR, and gives him the Age 20 Record!
He ranks 8th A-T World!
Tim Cheruiyot gave it his all, but his 3:29.01 wasn't enough.
He did edge out Josh Kerr's 3:29.05 for the Silver!
Cole Hocker is also just 20, so his 3:31.40 in 6th also impressed, especially his Oregon Duck and US fans!
It ranks him 8th A-T US!
According to unofficial info, Sydney McLaughlin led off the US Women's winning 4 X 400 Relay team with 49.96!
She handed off to Allyson Felix, and what more can you say about this Legend?
Felix sprinted 49.58, handing off to Delilah Muhammad.
She flashed by in a mere 48.87 before passing the baton to 800 Gold winner Athing Mu!
How about 48.32 for this Wonder Woman?!
This was a Super Team, in the same sense as the Traveling Wilbury's having been a Super Group!!
Only Felix has claimed the 400 flat as her event (although some feel she's a combo 200 & 400 person), with Mu's specialty the 800, and Syd & Delilah being 1-2 on the World 400H list!
Their time of 3:16.85 beat Poland's NR 3:20.53 by 3.68 seconds!
Poland is 8th A-T Nation!
Jamaica ran 3:21.24 without Stephanie McPherson!
Canada and GB were next, followed by the Netherlands NR of 3:23.74, anchored by Femke Bol's 48.9!!
They rank 16th A-T World!
Belgiun's 3:23.96 is also an NR, and ranks them 17th A-T World!
Cuba's 3:26.82 gets them the best 8th Place mark!
The Men's US 4 X 400 squad had no problem winning Gold!
Their 2:55.70 was surprisingly swift, given the paucity of fast 400's this season!
Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon, and Rai Benjamin comprised the 4-some, with Benjamin's anchor a reported 43.5-ish!!
The Netherlands ran 2:57.18 for their National Record.
They rank 5th A-T Nation!
Botswana again broke their NR, their 2:57.27 making them 6th A-T Nation!
It's also the best 3rd Place mark!
Belgium--with two Borlee's finishing up--also got their NR with 2:57.88.
They are 7th A-T Nation, and get the best 4th Place mark!
Poland's 2:58.46 gets the best 5th Place mark!
Jamaica gets the best 6th Place mark with their 2:58.70!
Italy again topped their National Record, their 2:58.81 netting them the best 7th Place mark, and ranks them 13th A-T Nation!
Finally--and I do mean finally!!--we have the Men's Marathon!!
And who else but the Shakespeare (even though I'm not a fan of the Bard, but that's for another time and place!!) of the Marathon could win this Tokyo (Sapporo!) Olympic Marathon?
Eliud Kipchoge made even MORE history, winning easily in 2:08:38!
Splitting 65:15 and 63:23, Kipchoge chugged a 5000 in 14:24 late in the race to run away from the pack!
Abdi Nageeye ran 2:08:58 in the Silver slot, with Bashir Abdi taking the Bronze over Lawrence Cherono!
Suguru Osako was 6th, while Galan Rupp faded in the last half, ending in 8th place!
Jake Riley was 29th, while 44 year old Abdi Abdirahman finished 41st, time of 2:18:27!
Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoyed this journey through the Olympics Memory Forest!
My plans are to have a "wrap-up" post, where I'll list some "bests and worsts", some lists, and other trivia, all about these now ENDED 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games!!
See you soon!
She ran splits of about 15:08 and 14:47!
Second went to Kalkidan Gezehegne's 29:56.18!
WR holder Letesenbet Gidey took the Bronze with 30:01.72, a full minute behind her World Record!
Helen Obiri stuck with them for half the race, then faded to a 30:24.27 5th place time!
Konstanze Klosterhalfen ran 31:01.97 in 8th, with Eilish McColgan 3 seconds back in 9th.
Emily Sisson ended in 10th, Karissa Schweizer in 12th, and Alicia Monson in 13th!
Johannes Vetter was a SOLID pick for Gold in the Men's JT!
Would love to know how many bets were lost when he could not climb over 8th place, his best mark around 45 feet short of his PR!
Winning was Q leader Neeraj Chopra, whose 287-1 beat the 284-4 of Jakub Vadlejch, and the 280-4 of Vitazlov Vesely!
Vesely tied the Age 38 Record!
The Mile (or in the Olympics, the "Metric Mile") has always been a Classic distance!
But many of them have been tactical!
Not this one, Baby!!
After getting the MR in the Semi's, Abel Kipsang ran even faster in the Final.
But his 3:29.56 could net him only 4th place!!
Winning was Norway's "other" GOAT wannabe, Jakob Ingebrigtsen!!
His sprint off the final curve took him to the line in a new Meet Record of 3:28.32!
It breaks his own NR, and gives him the Age 20 Record!
He ranks 8th A-T World!
Tim Cheruiyot gave it his all, but his 3:29.01 wasn't enough.
He did edge out Josh Kerr's 3:29.05 for the Silver!
Cole Hocker is also just 20, so his 3:31.40 in 6th also impressed, especially his Oregon Duck and US fans!
It ranks him 8th A-T US!
According to unofficial info, Sydney McLaughlin led off the US Women's winning 4 X 400 Relay team with 49.96!
She handed off to Allyson Felix, and what more can you say about this Legend?
Felix sprinted 49.58, handing off to Delilah Muhammad.
She flashed by in a mere 48.87 before passing the baton to 800 Gold winner Athing Mu!
How about 48.32 for this Wonder Woman?!
This was a Super Team, in the same sense as the Traveling Wilbury's having been a Super Group!!
Only Felix has claimed the 400 flat as her event (although some feel she's a combo 200 & 400 person), with Mu's specialty the 800, and Syd & Delilah being 1-2 on the World 400H list!
Their time of 3:16.85 beat Poland's NR 3:20.53 by 3.68 seconds!
Poland is 8th A-T Nation!
Jamaica ran 3:21.24 without Stephanie McPherson!
Canada and GB were next, followed by the Netherlands NR of 3:23.74, anchored by Femke Bol's 48.9!!
They rank 16th A-T World!
Belgiun's 3:23.96 is also an NR, and ranks them 17th A-T World!
Cuba's 3:26.82 gets them the best 8th Place mark!
The Men's US 4 X 400 squad had no problem winning Gold!
Their 2:55.70 was surprisingly swift, given the paucity of fast 400's this season!
Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon, and Rai Benjamin comprised the 4-some, with Benjamin's anchor a reported 43.5-ish!!
The Netherlands ran 2:57.18 for their National Record.
They rank 5th A-T Nation!
Botswana again broke their NR, their 2:57.27 making them 6th A-T Nation!
It's also the best 3rd Place mark!
Belgium--with two Borlee's finishing up--also got their NR with 2:57.88.
They are 7th A-T Nation, and get the best 4th Place mark!
Poland's 2:58.46 gets the best 5th Place mark!
Jamaica gets the best 6th Place mark with their 2:58.70!
Italy again topped their National Record, their 2:58.81 netting them the best 7th Place mark, and ranks them 13th A-T Nation!
Finally--and I do mean finally!!--we have the Men's Marathon!!
And who else but the Shakespeare (even though I'm not a fan of the Bard, but that's for another time and place!!) of the Marathon could win this Tokyo (Sapporo!) Olympic Marathon?
Eliud Kipchoge made even MORE history, winning easily in 2:08:38!
Splitting 65:15 and 63:23, Kipchoge chugged a 5000 in 14:24 late in the race to run away from the pack!
Abdi Nageeye ran 2:08:58 in the Silver slot, with Bashir Abdi taking the Bronze over Lawrence Cherono!
Suguru Osako was 6th, while Galan Rupp faded in the last half, ending in 8th place!
Jake Riley was 29th, while 44 year old Abdi Abdirahman finished 41st, time of 2:18:27!
Thank you for your patience, and I hope you enjoyed this journey through the Olympics Memory Forest!
My plans are to have a "wrap-up" post, where I'll list some "bests and worsts", some lists, and other trivia, all about these now ENDED 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games!!
See you soon!
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