Where Your Dreams Become Reality
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Where Your Dreams Become Reality |
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Barber, Scott, Hoffa Mine Gold in Moscow for Team USA on Day 1 of World Indoors With 3 World Leaders MOSCOW, Russia - Sprinters Lisa Barber, Leonard Scott and men's shot putter Reese Hoffa all won gold medals on the opening day of the 2006 World Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Olimpiyskiy Sport Palace Complex in Moscow. The 2004 World Indoor silver medalist, Hoffa (Athens, Ga.) got the ball rolling for Team USA with his win in the shot put when he unleashed a massive world-leading and personal best heave of 22.11 meters/72 feet, 6.50 inches. Hoffa's throw ranks #8 on the all-time indoor list and makes him the fourth-best performer all-time. Hoffa entered the final after tossing the best qualifying throw of the competition earlier in the day of 20.76m/68-1.50. 2004 World Indoor champion Christian Cantwell (Columbia, Mo.) did not make it out of the qualifying round with his best throw of 19.90m/65-3.50. Team USA burns up the track
Leonard Scott (Irvine, Calif.) entered the world championships as the dominant 60m sprinter this season and his performance in the final left little doubt that he is the world's best. Following a great start, Scott poured it on through the finish in posting a gold medal winning and world leading time of 6.50 seconds, which matched his time from the semifinals. He is the first American to win gold in the 60m since Justin Gatlin in 2003. 2006 men's Visa Championship Series winner Terrence Trammell (Ellenwood, Ga.), overcame a stomach ailment to grab the bronze medal in 6.54, with Russian Andrey Yepishin setting a new national record with his silver medal winning performance of 6.52. Reigning U.S. and Visa Championship Series champion Lisa Barber (Raleigh, N.C.) and 2005 World 100m champion Lauryn Williams (Miami, Fla.) had a tremendous battle in the women's 60m final, with both finishing in the world-leading time of 7.01 seconds. Officials studied the photo and announced that Barber had barely out-leaned Williams at the finish to win the gold. With her victory, Barber joins Gail Devers as the only American woman ever to win world indoor 60m gold. Devers captured world indoor 60m titles in 1993, 1997 and 2004. Suttle, Lukezic qualify for finals
In other action in the afternoon/evening session, 2006 USA Indoor women's pole vault champion Kellie Suttle (Jonesboro, Ark.) qualified for the final with a clearance of 4.45m/14-7.25, while Jillian Schwartz (Jonesboro, Ark.) cleared 4.35m/14-3.25 and will not advance. In the men's 1,500 meters, U.S. champion Chris Lukezic (Washington, D.C.) qualifed for the final with his fourth-place finish and personal best winning time of 3:40.97 in heat 1. 2006 USA Indoor runner-up Jason Lunn (Longmont, Colo.) placed fourth in heat 3 in 3:46.46 and will not advance. In men's 400m qualifying, USA Indoor champion Milton Campbell (Atlanta, Ga.) easily won his heat in 46.67 seconds, and LaShawn Merritt (Suffolk, Va.) won his heat as well but was disqualified for a lane violation. Also advancing in the men's 800 meters was reigning U.S. Indoor champion Khadevis Robinson (Santa Monica, Calif.) who led his opening round heat nearly the entire way in winning in 1:48.73. 2003 World Indoor champion David Krummenacker (Tucson, Ariz.) finished third in heat 3 in 1:49.15, but will not advance. In the women's 800 meters, U.S. champion Frances Santin (Santa Monica, Calif.) moved on to the next round as a time qualifier when she finished heat 3 in 2:04.22. Alice Schmidt (Chula Vista, Calif.) competed in heat #1 and was disqualified for a lane violation. 2006 USA Indoor 400m champion Sanya Richards (Austin, Texas) easily won her opening round heat in 52.25 seconds, while Mary Danner (Cincinnati, Ohio) placed third in heat 3 in 53.07, but will not advance. Early this evening 2005 USA heptathlon champion Hyleas Fountain (Athens, Ga.) finished the women's pentathlon competition in eighth place with 4,205 points. Early qualifying round report In morning qualifying action, two-time U.S. Indoor long jump champion Brian Johnson (Baton Rouge, La.) advanced to the final with a leap of 7.85 meters/25 feet, 9.25 inches on his third and final attempt. 2006 U.S. runner-up Bashir Ramzy (Dallas, Texas) had a best leap of 7.81m/25-7.50, which placed him ninth in qualifying. The top eight advance to the final. In men's 3,000m qualifying, Americans Jonathon Riley (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Steve Slattery (Lafayette, Colo.) jumped out towards the front early in their races but were unable to qualify for the final. Riley finished 16th overall in 7:59.30, with Slattery placing 22nd in 8:17.15. The women's 3,000m qualifying was canceled, so Team USA members Tiffany McWilliams (Starkvile, Miss.) and Carrie Tollefson (St. Paul, Minn.) automatically advance to the final. It was a tough day for U.S. men's high jumpers as neither U.S. champion Adam Shunk (Muncie, Ind.) or U.S. Indoor runner-up Torra Harris (Chula Vista, Calif.) advanced to the final. Harris finished in a tie for 10th in qualifying with his clearance of 2.24m/7-4.25, and Shunk placed 16th in clearing 2.15m/7-0.50. QUOTES REESE HOFFA (men's shot put): I probably would have throw further but I was dehydrated because my calves started cramping up during the competition so I was happy to get that off. After the second throw it was horrible. After the second (winning) throw I let my technique get a little sloppy, but I had a great result and I came here to win and I produced and it was awesome! Now I know what Adam (Nelson) and the rest of the guys feel like. It's just awesome! This is absolutely the best day of my career. I can't believe that I threw that far. LEONARD SCOTT (men's 60m): This is great! When I go back and think about it, three years ago I was at home sitting on the couch not knowing my next move and I got back to track and look what it's brought me. Wonderful! This is the world championships and you got to step it up a notch. The stakes are higher at a world championships, Olympics or whatever, so you have to pick your game up. My start was okay. I usually get out better than that but I'm not going to complain, I won! LISA BARBER (women's 60m): I feel great! It was a great race and I'm glad that me and Lauryn finished 1-2 and I'm glad I had a PR. It's over and I'm just happy I won. I saw Lauryn even though she was far away. I knew I had a good start and at the end of the race I just wanted to make sure I kept lifting and I did. It was great! This is very important. I've never won an individual title at a world indoors and I'm very excited. LAURYN WILLIAMS (women's 60m): I knew I had that kind of time (7.01) in me from the beginning of the season. I think the thing overall is the disappointment up to this point because I thought I was going to run times like that right off the bat. I hadn't run the 60 in like two years. I'm not angry at all. 7.01 is 7.01 and what's the difference? I did my best today. I ran a great race today and I knew I had it in me. I'm really excited. JASON LUNN (men's 1,500m): Tactically I thought I did a pretty good job - better than I've been racing lately. I felt really good until about 2 ½ laps to go when I just couldn't go with them and I don't know why. That's usually my forte, but I just didn't have the legs. CHRIS LUKEZIC (men's 1,500m): I was running a solid pace and I went to respond when they started going at a quicker pace and I really couldn't close up to them. I thought I could get the two guys in front of me at the end but I couldn't find another gear when I needed it. SANYA RICHARDS (women's 400m): Running out of lane 6 makes it tougher because you don't see anybody when you're going at a good pace and then sometimes when you do see them it's too late. I'm happy with my opening race and I'm looking forward to the rest of my races. I knew that I had to get out real aggressive. KELLIE SUTTLE (women's pole vault): I pretty stoked about it. I was a little rusty on the runway because I hadn't jumped in a while because I didn't have my poles. I took a couple more jumps than I wanted to, but for me I had to come out here and make the final. I had to jump almost as high here as I did at Nationals to make the final here. HYLEAS FOUNTAIN (women's pentathlon): I came out feeling really good this morning and felt like I would do well, but I had a minor injury in the high jump and it kept me from doing a few things that I wanted to do. I think I jammed my knee a little bit. KHADEVIS ROBINSON (men's 800 meters): It never feels easy for me, believe it or not. A lot of people say I looked so good at the Trials but it always feels tough. I was in control of the race, but the main thing is that I was in control of myself. JASON LUNN (men's 1,500m): Unfortunately I got some bad position on the last lap and it pretty much cost me. I felt wonderful coming off that last turn I had to swing wide and just couldn't catch the guy for second. FRANCES SANTIN (women's 800m): There was a lot of pushing but I wasn't going to let my guard down. That's one of the things I've learned is that you have to be aggressive and I was today. I'm so happy that I made it to the next round. ALICE SCHMIDT (women's 800m): It was a pretty strategic race. At that point I knew I was in trouble and decided to make a move and I was blindsided by everyone's kicks. It's a disappointment and I'm ready to focus on outdoors. ADAM SHUNK (men's high jump): My legs just weren't there today. I battled it all through warm-ups. It didn't go my way today. I don't know how to explain it. There was just nothing there. I'll try to learn from it and come back next time. JONATHON RILEY (men's 3,000m): The first half of the race went great. I was out in the front in second place. I felt great as the pace was picking up. It didn't string out to well and there was a lot of pushing going on and at one point I was forced to step off the track and almost fell down there. Being inside with all that pushing going on, it caught up with me with three laps to go and it was tough after that. It's frustrating to fall apart in the last lap. STEVE SLATTERY (men's 3,000m): I saw the other guys run 7:52 and I thought I could run that from the gun by myself, but I had a cramp and didn't feel good and kept falling off. It's pretty pathetic to represent your country like this. I'm really disappointed and want to say I'm sorry for not performing to my capabilities. The cramp was in my side and I couldn't really breathe well. TORA HARRIS (men's high jump): I felt fine. I wasn't as strong as I wish I could have been. We went through a lot and I really fought hard. I was 10th place and top eight goes to the finals. Clearing 2.24m made the final and I jumped 2.24. That's the way it goes. CHRISTIAN CANTWELL (men's shot put): I felt good, I warmed up easy. It was such a long delay until the start. I felt good on my first throw, I just palmed it. On my second throw I fouled and my third throw I went with what I had and I thought it was going to be good when it left my hand, but it wasn't good enough. It's my fault. The burden of error goes on me. I did everything I wanted to do but it just didn't happen today. It's not the first time. BRIAN JOHNSON (men's long jump): It was a little rough. I have a slight injury, my heel is a little bit bruised. I'm not able to get off on the board like I want to. Overall I'm happy in a sense that I've been to two world championships and I finally made a final. I'm going to move my mark back and go for it. I'll have a better performance tomorrow. BASHIR RAMZY (men's long jump): I was a little off. It took me too long to get into it. That's the rules of the game - first loser, ninth place. I'll use this as motivation the second time. For more information on Team USA at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow, visit www.usatf.org.
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Cross Country Spikes 10% off Injured?
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