Mary Cain and Ajee Wilson - Teen Girl Squad and the Slowest Race Ever?

Teen sensations Mary Cain and Ajee Wilson both took home their first senior national titles at the U.S. Indoor Championships. The two, however, both ran very different races.

To be a bit more precise, exact opposites.

We’ll start with Wilson mainly because when these two are grouped together, Cain usually gets the main card. I personally feel like not enough people are talking about Wilson, but I digress. Back to the race.

In the 800m, Wilson lead from the gun to win in 2:02.64, which was a step ahead of the charging Chanelle Price (2:02.93).

Wilson, who decided to not attend Florida State University this year and sign with adidas, has been having quite the indoor season. In the 600m, she’s eclipsed the previous World Junior mark of 1:27.4 twice (1:27.30 and 1:26.45) and now set a personal best in the 800m.

Confident in her abilities, Wilson didn’t shy away from the more seasoned competition in Albuquerque, NM. In the women’s mile, Cain didn’t either.

In a tactical race (I prefer pedrestrian, but both will do), Cain went to the front, but literally jogged in lane two expecting someone else to take the pace.

That didn’t happen for 809m.

Opening splits of 85.26 (409m) and 2:56.74 (809m) meant that like always, it was going to come down to a kick.

Cain put on a clinic like she had been doing this for years and destroyed the field over the last 600m. Successive 200m splits of 32.53, 29.27, and 29.34 put her to front and although she was occasionally challenges, she fended off any and all surges for the lead.

Her winning time of 5:05.68 is a display of what she and her coaches have said in every post-race interview: She’s not running for records, but to win.

With no rabbit or records in mind, Cain finally concentrated on racing and took home a big victory over the professionals.

The two immediate takeaways were Wilson and Cain’s age and the last 600m of the mile.

At 16 (Cain) and 18 (Wilson), these senior wins are huge stepping stones for the two going forward.

We first thought, “Gosh, they’re young. Who else has won senior titles at such young ages?”

The two are young, but they’re not the youngest. Joy Foster, a Jamaican table tennis player, took home her first senior title at only 8 years old. If you want to read more about a few young guns who have stepped up to the senior levels, here’s the Wikipedia link.

The second and more track-orientated question was, “Jeez. What are some other races that have closed super fast?”

The best example may be from the men’s 2001 Goodwill Games 5000m final. All seven finishers have broken the 13:00 barrier, but well, the results speak for themselves. If anyone has the splits or maybe a race video, we’d be eternally indebted to you.

Another solid example would be the men’s 2004 Olympic 1500m final. Hicham El Guerrouj finally won that elusive gold medal, but it’s the manner in which he did it that still remains unfathomable. (It should be noted Lagat finish only .12 behind ElG, so splits are equally impressive.)

2004 Olympic1500m Splits (via Track and Field News)
400m: Isaac Kiprono Songok KEN 1:00.42
800m: Hicham El Guerrouj MAR 2:01.93(61.51)
1200m: Hicham El Guerrouj MAR 2:55.21(53.28)
1500m: Hicham El Guerrouj MAR 3:34.18(38.97) 

Unofficial Final 400m Split: 51.91
Unofficial Final 800m Split: 1:46.8 (Lagat 1:46.9)
Unofficial Final 800m 100m Splits: 14.4, 13.8, 13.4, 13.3, 12.9, 12.9, 12.7, 13.5

That’s one way to prove that you’re the King of the Mile.