Centrowitz runs yet another stellar 1500m final, Kiprop is the world's best

Bronze two years ago, fourth last year, and and now silver. In an event that seems leaves us guessing, Matt Centrowitz has been a model of consistency. World-class consistency.

Aug 18, 2013

RRW: Defar, Kiprotich Follow Up Olympic Titles with World Championships Golds

DEFAR, KIPROTICH FOLLOW UP OLYMPIC TITLES WITH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS GOLDSBy David Monti, @d9monti(c) 2013 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.MOSCOW (17-Aug) -- On the penultimate day for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics at Luzhniki Stadium, Ethiopia's Meseret Defar and Uganda's Stephen Kiprotich followed up their 2012 Olympic titles with convincing wins in the 5000m and marathon here, respectively.  Defar now has four global 5000m titles: two at the Olympic Games and two at the World Championships, plus one silver medal and three bronzes.  She won her last title in six years ago."This world championships very important to me," Defar told reporters in English.  She continued: "I run six world championships and I have two gold medals; I also have silver and bronze.  This big achievement for me."Defar, 29, made her victory look easy.  She simply followed the moderate early pace set by America's Kim Conley and Poland's Dominika Nowakowska who went through 2000m in 6:14.02.  Spain's Dolores Checa was the next to lead, but she was soon moving backwards with Ethiopian steeplechaser Almaz Ayana --with Defar in tow-- squeezed down the pace to about 71 seconds per lap.  Ayana then put in two 68-second circuits, and only she, Defar, and Kenyans Viola Kibiwot and Mercy Cherono could hold the pace."I moved out and wanted to go with them (but held back)," said the USA's Shannon Rowbury who would finish seventh.  She added: "I was just lacking that confidence."Ayana ran the penultimate lap in 67.3 seconds, and that was enough to put Kibiwot out of medal contention.  Like a leadout rider in a bicycle race, Ayana set up her teammate perfectly for the final circuit. Defar moved into the lead coming out of the backstretch, and sailed to the finish line alone in14:50.19.  She ran the final lap in 59.9 seconds.  Defar said she was relieved to have won."Yes, big pressure for me," she said in response to a reporter's question.  She continued: "I am so happy for my performance to take a gold medal again."Cherono, 22, who finished sixth at these championships in Daegu in 2011 and was twice the world junior champion at 3000m, was not ready to surrender to Ayana who was still in front of her.  She chased the petite Ethiopian around the final turn then eased past her with about 30 meters to go to clinch the silver in14:51.22, just 11/100ths ahead of Ayana."I thought I could make it because I have a lot of strength," Cherono said quietly.  She added: "I am so happy because of my medal."For the 21 year-old Ayana, it was her first medal at a senior championships.  Wearing her yellow team jacket zipped fully up to her chin, she sat quietly at the post-race press conference.  She offered one comment: "I was very comfortable, and the results were great too, especially since it was my first time. I'm extremely happy."American Molly Huddle was the first non-African finisher, ending the race in sixth place in 15:05.73, the highest finish ever by an American woman at a World Championships 5000m.  She was proud of her achievement, but had hoped for more."I'm trying as hard as I can to break into the top three," said Huddle.  "The last 2-K, it's just another world out there.  Today was a big step for me.  I felt like that was in me the last three years, but I didn't have the fresh legs to do it after a prelim until today."Like Defar, Kiprotich had to be patient in order to win the gold medal. On a bright, but not too-hot day, he ignored surges by early leaders Solonei Rocha Da Silva of Brazil and Hafid Chani of Morocco, but he was sure to cover the more serious moves by Ethiopia's burly Tadesse Tola who had an 11-second lead through 10 km before coming back."The pace wasn't fast," Tola told Race Results Weekly.  "It was not difficult."Indeed, 17 men were still in the leading group at halfway (1:05:12), and another four were within four seconds of the leaders.A little past the 25-K mark (1:17:11) where a promotional poster featuring Usain Bolt had been erected by the side of the road, Tola made another surge and for the first time the athletes were running single file.  That surge took the lead pack down to 14 by 30-K, which set up the race's big move.  One hour and 35 minutes into the race, Kiprotich went to the front and broke up the race. That thinned the lead pack down to just six by 35-K: Kiprotich, Tola, Kenya's Peter Some, Ethiopia's Lelisa Desisa and Tsegaye Kebede, and Japan's Kentaro Nakamoto."I decided to break off, but my competitors were strong and I had to apply some tactics," Kiprotich said.Kebede, who won the Virgin London Marathon last April and the Bank of America Chicago Marathon last October, complained that he had a cramp which slowed him down today."I come here to finish high, but I get cramp," Kebede said in halting English.In the 37th kilometer, Kiprotich made his biggest surge of the race.  Kebede and Nakamoto went off the back leaving the leading Kiprotich to deal only with Tola and Desisa, who won both the Dubai and Boston Marathons earlier this year but later reported that he was sick to his stomach this morning and had vomited after breakfast.  The medals would come from these three, and Kiprotich wanted to make sure his was gold."They did not expect me to win the Olympics, and now I proved I am a champion," Kiprotich would say later.Kiprotich cruised through the service roads surrounding Luzhniki Stadium alone, and had enough time to salute fans both outside the stadium and after he began his final lap on the stadium's blue track.  The crowd roared with approval when he broke the tape in 2:09:51."Last time Olympics was better," Kiprotich quipped to reporters.  "Now this is better."Desisa finished a clear second in 2:10:12, a remarkable performance considering that he has run three marathons in eight months this year.  Tola, who said his legs were shot by 40-K, got third in 2:10:23, well ahead of Kebede (2:10:47).  Nakamoto was a surprise fifth in 2:10:50, much to the delight of the big Japanese press corps which has assembled here.  They had hoped to see "salary man" Yuki Kawauchi run well, but struggled to finish 18th and had to be taken off the track for medical attention.American Jeff Eggleston finished a commendable 13th in 2:14:23; he had only been in 28th place at 25-K."I was listening at the aid stations from the team staff, and with a lap to go I was probably 20th or 22nd," Eggleston told Race Results Weekly.  "I just passed (Yuki) Kawachi, so I was pretty excited about that."Eggleston's legs buckled right after he finished.  Unable to stand, he had to be helped off of the track by officials."I ran out of gas," Eggleston said with a hearty laugh.  "I was really hurting at 41-K, but once you got into the stadium, the adrenaline really kicked in."

Aug 17, 2013

RRW: Farah Completes World Championships Double with 5000m Win

FARAH COMPLETES WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS DOUBLE WITH 5000M WIN

Aug 16, 2013

RRW: For Cain, Athletics Journey Has Only Just Begun

FOR CAIN, ATHLETICS JOURNEY HAS ONLY JUST BEGUNBy David Monti, @d9monti(c) 2013 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.MOSCOW (16-Aug) -- Teenager Mary Cain's storybook season came to a close with her tenth place finish in the 1500m at the IAAF World Championships here last night, but her journey as an athlete is only just beginning.  The 17 year-old from Bronxville, N.Y., who shattered American high school and junior records from 800 to 5000 meters this year and became the youngest-ever American woman to make a world championships team, said she's already hungry for more."I know I have to put things into perspective," she told reporters after making up two places on the last lap of last night's race with her reliably strong kick.  "So many kids my age would just die to do this.  But, I'm a tough person, I expect a lot from myself, and I think it's going to be good tonight for me to refocus."  She added: "I was in there and I was running to win."Cain said her season was now over, but she was clearly excited to work with coach Alberto Salazar on improving as an athlete in the fall."I'm going to go home and I'm going to get into this," she continued.  "It's my last race of the season.  I think it's going to motivate me so much for next year.  Next year, there's no worlds; it's just me and learning how to race."Since Salazar took over coaching Cain last fall, she has sliced through the American record books with with shocking speed.  Her record assault began indoors as a 16 year-old last January with a 9:01.10 3000m on the University of Washington's over-sized track (absolute USA junior and high school record).  She followed with a USA prep record for the mile at the New Balance Games at New York's Armory (4:32.78), and in the same race broke the American high school and junior records for 1500m (4:16.11).  In February at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston, she broke the USA high school and junior records for 3000m (9:04.51) and two miles (9:38.68), then topped off that performance with a sensational 4:28.25 national indoor junior and high school record for the mile at the Millrose Games, also at the Armory (she also lowered her high school and junior 1500m record to 4:11.72 in the same race).  Cain even won the open national indoor title in the mile while still a 16 year-old, running her final 440 yards in 59.1 seconds at high altitude in Albuquerque.Cain's outdoor season was just as successful.  At last April's Drake relays she sent a new high school 1500m record of4:10.77, then stepped down to 800m at the Re:Run meeting in San Diego, clocking 2:01.68 on a track without a curb.  In the USATF High Performance Meeting at Occidental College in Los Angeles last May, Cain posted her first truly world class mark, scorching a 4:04.62 for 1500m, locking in her IAAF World Championships "A" standard, and wiping Suzy Favor's USA junior record off of the books.  Her record assault continued at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., with another USA high school and junior record at 800m (1:59.51), wiping out Kim Gallagher's mark which had stood for nearly 31 years.  Showing excellent range, a week later she ran 15:45.46 for 5000m in Portland, another national junior record.Despite all of these accomplishments, Cain said that she and Salazar saw many areas for improvement, and that she was anxious to get back to work."We're already excited about all of the form work we're going to be doing," Cain went on.  "I mean, Alberto said to me going into this, he's like, 'Mary, you can win, you can come in 12th.'  I came in tenth; that's not really halfway, but almost, I guess."After last night's race, silver medalist Jenny Simpson, the 2011 world champion, came over to Cain and the two spoke briefly.  Simpson said she really didn't know her young teammate, but was excited to have a chance to help her to succeed and continue to build on America's middle distance resurgence (23 American woman broke 4:10 for 1500m this year, the most of any nation)."I went up to her and asked her how it went, and she spoke to me for a couple of seconds, and I told her to come find me afterwards," Simpson said.  "You know, everyone keeps asking me about her... but I really don't know her at all."  She continued: "I haven't really seen her much or gotten a chance to speak positively into her life.  Now that it's over, I really would like to see her and just make myself available to her as a teammate."Next year, Cain has a chance to win a global title on home soil.  The IAAF World Junior Championships will be held next July in Eugene.

Aug 16, 2013

RRW: Aregawi Defeats Simpson for 1500m Gold

AREGAWI DEFEATS SIMPSON FOR 1500M GOLD

Aug 15, 2013

RRW: Rowbury Advances In 5000m, But Wonders What Might Have Been

ROWBURY ADVANCES IN 5000M, BUT WONDERS WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

Aug 14, 2013

RRW: Aman Comes Home With Historic 800m Gold for Ethiopia

AMAN COMES HOME WITH HISTORIC 800M GOLD FOR ETHIOPIA

Aug 13, 2013

Four one-thousandths of a second, the difference between Ohuruogu and Montsho

Aug 12, 2013

Usain Bolt Returns to 100-Meter Glory in Moscow

MOSCOW – At the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, Usain Bolt drew lane five for the 100-meter final. The world record holder was denied his second 100-meter world title as he false started and was disqualified. On Sunday evening, he redeemed himself. Bolt won the gold medal at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow in 9.77 seconds.

Aug 11, 2013

SCHEDULE: IAAF World Championships 2013

SCHEDULE: IAAF World Championships 2013

Aug 2, 2013

LIVE: IAAF World Championship 2013 Live Streaming Video Info

LIVE: IAAF World Championship 2013 Live Streaming Info

Jul 30, 2013