LRC Live Blog
*Doha, Qatar IAAF Grand Prix

LetsRun.com
May 8, 2009

*Start Lists/Results
*Watch the meet Here

Signing off: Great, great meet. Short, action-packed, star-studded, sick times, great finishes, especially in the men's steeple, 1500 and 800.  

Winning times in the men's distance events:
800: 1:43.09 (Kaki, Sudan; Kiprop (KEN) 2nd in 1:43.17)
1500: 3:30.88 (Choge, Kenya), Keitany of Kenya second in 3:30.90
steeple: 7:58 (Kemboi, Kenya), Koech of Kenya second in 8:01.72
3k: 7:28 (Kipchoge, Kenya), 2 more Kenyans (Longosiwa (say what?) and Soi) in 7:30 and 7:31.

Now that is impressive, thanks to Kenya!

2:10 - ahhh, yes, I love this. Run the 7:28 and then tempo around the track like you just started a workout. It's fun to win ain't it?

Wow, Longosiwa in 7:30, Soi in 7:31.

2:07 - here we go, looks like about a 56-57 last lap

56.66 last lap, 7:28.37 2:26.31 final k. Great time of 7:28.37 for Eliud Kipchoge wearing an orange Nike vest ahead of ... we'll see, it's sad I don't know these guys.

2:06 - 6:30 with a lap to go, that was a 59. I have no idea who is in front but I'm guessing Soi and Choge.

2:06 - 60.28 lap with 2 to go. Will we see sub-7:30? Yea, we will because someone is throwin down. Shaheen getting spit out by a group of 5. Go back to Canova Shaheen!!!!

2:05 - 2k split coming up... Shaheen looks good, 5:02.06, 2:31.xx

2:04 - 60.47, 1 rabbit cooked and ready to eat. another takes over. Shaheen moving up from 8th to 3rd in the span of 100m. 1600 in 4:01 or so. another 61.07. Not super fast so this should get interesting.

2:03 - 60.09 for the lap from 200-600, dang I'm good. Itt's good to see Shaheen with his awesome stride back again.

here comes the 1000 2:30.23, 61.14. That's not too bad. Haha there's Shaheen back there leaning back choking on his shoulders all while running easy 60 second quarters.

2:01 - no 400 split! I'm guessing 60-low

2:00 - and, they're off... some sweet drum beats in the background

1:58 - These 3k guys look nervous. Almost as if they're about to go run 59-second pace for 7.5 laps and then kick. Ya, we'd be nervous too.

Reebok has kenyans now? There are about 3 of them. Maybe they're not Kenyan but they look Kenyan.

1:57 - Abreham Cherkos (ETH), Edwin Soi (KEN), Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) and Saif Saaeed Shaheen (BAH) should battle out this 3k at the front.

1:54 - 51.08 tie between the olympic silver medallist Williams and Botswana's Montsho. Actually, Montsho was given 2nd.

It's flat 3k time! Stepehen Cherono aka Saif Shaheen coming up.

Just heard a good f-bomb in the background chatter. Always a highlight.

and now we have women throwing the hammer. A Pole is leading a Slovak.

1:51 - "on your marks" the camera is where it should be: on Felix.

Felix is on fire in the first 200. Makes up the stagger on the Jamaican Shericka Williams in no time

She's hurting now. Williams battles back. Felix holding on!!

50.76 with a huge first 200m for Allyson Felix. She came to play today. She's definitely back after some injury hiccups last year.

1:47 - This meet doesn't let up as we've got Allyson Felix on the track for the 400m, her main event. We saw her at Penn, and there's noone prettier to watch than Felix with her cat-like figure and hitched stride. Her 2007 WC performance still is stuck in my head as one of the coolest things I've seen on the track.

Watch out for Amantle Montsho of Botswana. She had the WL for a long time last year before doing so-so in Beijing.

Hoffa just threw 21.64 again?!

1:46 - Adam Nelson finishes 6th in the shot with 19.76. Not too good for the aging legend. Reese Hoffa leads with a huge 21.64. That's almost 72 feet, so that's really big for the big man.

1:45 - One of the greatest steeple peformances ever. With 280m to go Ezekiel Kemboi (my mistake!!) absolutely threw down in his green and white nike kit (ya, "old school"). 8:01.72 for Koech (I wasn't far off) Kipruto was 3rd.

1:41 - Kipruto  Kemboi blows by Koech! They wouldn't take Koech to the olympics, and Kipruto  Kemboi won there instead (nope, I screwed that up, too) WWWOOOO 7:58, 60.67 final lap for, I think, the olympic champ Kipruto  Kemboi. It was Kemboi!

1:40 - oooo, Koech is hurting, this is going to be a big last lap. Those Kenyans over the water barrier are amazing, 6:58 at the bell, yep, going to be 8:00-8;02 I would think.

1:40 - Koech on fire, trailed by some guy I don't know. 5:21.70 at the 2k, that slowed down slightly but he'll run 8:02... I swear, maybe sub 8?!

1:38  - Koech in the lead. Track is a total freak show. They cut from the shot putters to the steeplechasers.

Woah, huge throw for Hoffa!! 21.64 takes the lead!!

1:36 - Koech barely touches the water. They're going to be fast at the 1000. Koech blows by the rabbit coming out of the water.

2:39.86 at the 1000m That's 7:59 pace. 8:02. you heard it here.

1:34 - Here comes a sick steeple with Paul Kipsiele Koech, Brimin Kipruto and the rest of the stud Kenyans. I'm saying it will be 8:02 for Koech because ya, he's that good and people are running fast.

They really keep the action coming at this meet!

1:30 - oooh, good battle in the shot put as the olympic champ, Majewski from Poland is ahead of Hoffa by 3cm I think 20.89 to 20.86. Woop! Saudi guy goes over 21!

Men's steeple coming up next.

World Leader for David Oliver almost falling into lane 7.

Looking at the 1500m results make me think: boy, that's all Africans and middle-easterners. The top 10 or 11 were 3:37 or better. 12th was 3:40.

Brittney Reese takes the LJ in 6.99 ahead of another American Funmi Jimho (sp?). Americans doing well in technical events? Say what?

1:27  - Let's try this again! Clean Start. Horrific run for Oliver but he still gets the 13.09 win. Nailed the 2nd hurdle, looked off balance after 5 or 6. Oliver goes: "It was ok." Yea, He kept falling to his right and almost ran out of his lane twice he was so off-balance, but he still won and ran fairly fast.

1:25 - Ahh yes, the telecasters hate this, they're up and out of the blocks for no apparent reason. so we haven't even had a false start yet and the event is 4 minutes behind.

1:23 - I have a man-crush on David Oliver, about to run the Highs.

I think they have the Qatari national bagpipe quintet cd playing on the stadium PA.

Looking at the field, we're about to witness David Oliver crushing the spirits of 7 other men.

1:17 - I'm watching a feed without real announcing (other than the stadium announcing) so I had no idea who was who in the lead, but that 1500 was insane. The rabbit was out in 53 and then died and led them through a 60-second lap (although it was probably more like 54high, 58mid for the real runners in the field). Augustine Choge did win in 3:30.88 and Keitany was 3:30.90, 3rd was all the way back to Mansoor Ali in 3:33.28.

I will give myself a pat on the back for knowing who the contenders would be from a 5-second look at the field before they started.

Men's HH coming up. Wonder how many have run faster than 3:30.88?

1:11 - Men's 1500m starting with a big freakin field. Mansoor Ali, Yego, Keitany, Augustine Choge.

About 26 through 200m... 40 for the leaders at 300... rabbit 10 meters ahead like an idiot in 53.29. God! what moronic rabbiting.

Still way ahead (probably because he's on 1:46 800 pace), they're catching the rabbit 1:38 at 700m, 58 for that lap, 1:53.26, 60.00 for the 2nd full lap

Well, that was crazy

Now they're getting strung out, can't tell if that's another rabbit in the lead or who that is... 2:36 at the bell. Yea, that guy in the lead is cooked, 2:50at 1200, 57 lap!

54.33!!! 3:30.90, Kenya 1-2 Haron Keitany and Augustine Choge!

WTF!! That is so fast. Choge gets it in a close one with an excellent battle over the last 200m and even into the last 20 m. Choge pulled ahead in the last few seconds. Not your average mile as they just ran a 3:47 mile equivalent!!

1:09 - Andreas Thorkildsen, the olympic champion in the javelin, has the lead in that event with 83.29. That's like 275'

Durst was second in 11.15 with Sherri-Ann Brooks (the oly champ, we think) 11.20 in the women's 100. Stewart won by .22 seconds which is insane in this meet.

3rd attempt for Vlasic at 2.10m which is almost 6'10"... another big miss. She wasn't close on any of them but 2.05 is big.

1:06 - wow, dominating win for Kerron Stewart, tying the meet record at 10.93. She looked as dominant as Travis Padgett did, maybe moreso.

1:02 - Women's 100m about to start. So we'll talk about the highlight so far: the men's 800m. Sudan's Abubaber Kaki and Kenya's Asbel Kiprop put on a hell of a show running 1:43.09 and 1:43.17. Kenya's David Rudisha got elbowed and stumbled with 200m to go or else he might have been more of a factor.

Nobody really went with the rabbit who was 0.5 seconds ahead at the bell. 50.5 at 400m for Kaki, 1:16.47 at 600m. Great race. Kiprop (now likely the Beijing 1500 gold medallist), looked the part of a champion.

1:01 - Vlasic finally misses, but she's at the huge height of 2.10m

Travis Padgett took the 100m in 10.00, frater was next at 10.15. The results stay up for about 2 seconds. 10.04 and 10.00 in 2 races for the American. He looked great and dominated the final

12:55 - Blanka Vlasic has now gone 2.01 and 2.05 on her first attempt and goes crazy after each of them.

Men's 100m final getting ready to start