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The Week That Was July 13-19, 2009

July 20, 2009

By LetsRun.com
To read last week's LRC Week That Was, click Here.
To read any 2009
LRC Week That Was, click Here.

Being a track fan is hard as there are so many meets. Each week we try to make sense of it all with our Week That Was. If you missed any of the meets in Paris, Heusden, Liege or Lucerne, we provide you with easy access to full coverage of them in the table below. But insight into what it all means is what you want and we provide that after the table below. This week we give praise to Jerry Schumacher's boys and US women's 800 runners but have to heap scorn on Canada and some of the US men's 800 meter runners. Along the way, we give you a math lesson, remind you that Kenyans are people, too and try to get to the bottom of the Kenyan 10k controversy by actually making calls across the globe.

LRC: Golden League Paris Recap *Results Paris was a great meet highlighted by Bernard Lagat squaring off with Kenenisa Bekele in the 3,000m, where the Ethiopian showed he's just too strong off a fast pace. Other remarkable performances came from Sanya Richards, Usain Bolt and the surprises of the meet - Anna Willard and Dexter Faulk. There's much more to talk about, so read our recap, see the photos and watch video of the top races. *Official LRC Thread Here *Video Of Willard's Win, Bolt's 9.77 *Flotrack Interviews, including Khadevis Robinson. *Bolt Sends Out Worlds Warning With Stormy 9.79 *"It Was Like Flying," Says Bolt *Kerron Stewart Very Confident As Win Streak Continues Stewart has been as dominant as Bolt lately but nobody seems to notice. *Great Article On USA's Dexter Faulk As He Gets The Biggest Hurdles Win Of His Career One of the best stories of the summer is the emergence of Dexter Faulk. *Wariner Finding Form Again Thanks To Clyde Hart Will Coach Hart mentor the men's and women's 400m champion in Berlin this summer? It hinges on Wariner getting fitter.

LRC's Heusden Distance Recap *Results *LRC Thread Matt Tegenkamp got his A standard in the 5,000m with a smooth 13:07.97 2nd-place finish that boosted Evan Jager onto the USA Worlds 5,000m squad. Teg is officially back in top form with his fastest time since 2007. Other events provided interesting action including a 1:46.20 for Leo Manzano (3-second PR), World #12 1:59.59 for Pamela Jelimo (2:00.95 for Morgan Uceny, 2:01.61 for Geena Gall), a bittersweet win for Nate Brannen (he missed the A standard) and a win in the 1,500m B heat for Evan Jager in 3:38.33 (PR). *American 5,000m Teams Now Set *Tegenkamp Talks About Opening in 13:07.97 with some windy conditions (plus video of race) *Berlin A & B Standards

Liege: *Results *US Women's 5k Team Set as Julie Culley Gets B Standard Culley is going to Berlin as Bizarri has called it a season. In other action, Lopez Lomong ran 1:46 and C. Smith 1:47. Geena Gall came up short in the 800 in her quest for a sub-2:00 (Gall doesn't need the sub 2:00 to go to Worlds but if she does get it, it means there is no chance Vessey goes) as she loses to Brenda Martinez.

Lucerne *Results (link fixed) *Nick Symmonds Struggles In Men's 800 - 4th in 1:46.60 In the women's 1,500 Lisa Dobriskey ran 4:08 to win 1,500 over Morgan Uceny, second in 4:09. *Oscar P Runs 47.07

US 5k Teams Are Set

  • Our US Men's Performer of the Week is Matt Tegenkamp. A 13:07.97 2nd-place showing is very good, particularly considering it wasn't done in totally still conditions. Hard to complain about that (except in our minds, the commentary of that race and the race itself was very boring) and it raises hopes that down the road he might take a crack at Bob Kennedy's 12:58.21 American record.

    We also were pleased to see him racing in Europe. Last year, he (and a lot of Americans - more on that below) didn't touch foot in Europe or race at all from the Olympic Trials on June 30th to the Olympics on August 20th. How can you expect to be sharp without a rust buster and how can the sport be popular if no one ever races?

    Our only complaint is that he didn't run in a Golden League meet and mix it up with the really big boys, but we certainly know that he needed the A standard. It's hard to critique a 13:07 season opener in windy conditions (post-race interview on right, race video here), but we'd like to see Tegenkamp even more confident at the end of his races. Sure, some of the guys in the field were sub-13:00 guys, but Tegenkamp is at their level. With 200m to go, he's got to start acting like he's going to win the race instead of being happy to get second or third. When he does that, we'll see his full potential.

    One who did mix it up with the big boys was Tegenkamp's training partner, Chris Solinksy, who was 4th in the Golden League 3k in Paris. A very good showing for him and a great week for the Jerry Schumacher-coached men as, in addition to Tegenkamp and Solinsky, Evan Jager and Jonathon Riley took down the B heats of the 1,500 and 5ks, respectively, in Heusden. Our gripe there: Why weren't those guys in the A heat? You've got an Olympian and World Championships team member running in the B heat of a low key meet? At least they ran pretty well and we imagine the confidence boost for Jager is big.
  • Matt Tegenkamp Talks After His 13:07

  • The post-race interview of Tegenkamp after his 13:07 in Heusden was great. Unlike a lot of interviews, we think there is a lot to be learned from both what the interviewer and interviewee said. We loved how the interviewer said the following about what it means that Tegenkamp is American: "You are American, there are no limits, you will go for the medal."

    Being American, we sometimes forget that the rest of the world is impressed by the notions that Americans somewhat uniquely believe anything is possible. But the biggest wisdom of advice came from Tegenkamp himself. Each week we try to provide you free coaching advice and our Free Coaching Tip of The Week comes from Matt himself talking about training, "It's a progression and you have to worry about stacking year after year after year together. I had a good '06 and '07 and I thought it would come easy in '08 and it did not and it cost me at the Olympics."

    So accurate. Training is about progressing year after year and sticking to it year after year. So many people think it's about the last six weeks. No, it's also about the last six years.

Thumbs Up to many of the American women in the 5k in Liege last week. Julie Culley deserves praise for making her first Worlds team by running the B standard in Liege, when she set an 11-second PR of 15:21. Renee Metivier-Baillee, who was only 9th at USAs (but also ran the 1,500 at USAs), deserves praise for winning the race in 15:20. But also a Thumbs Up as well to Illinois' Angela Bizzarri, who struggled in Liege (5th in 15:57). She deserves praise for having a superb 2009 season, where she won NCAAs and was 3rd at USAs. She also deserves praise for calling it a season and telling Culley she is officially on the Worlds team. Bizzarri had a great year, but there are few youngsters that are wise enough to realize that running the first round of Worlds and getting obliterated accomplishes little for a college athlete. Getting ready for your final season of NCAA competition is the smart move.

  • Did anyone besides us realize that the person finishing in 6th in Liege in 15:58 was none other than the 2004 world cross-country champion - Benita Johnson of Australia? The 30-year-old is really struggling these days. The 2004 world XC champion hasn't had a decent year sine 2006, when she ran 15:13 and 31:14, but even those times are a long way off of her 14:47.60 NR from 2002 and 30:37.68 national record from 2003. She's not too old, as shown by the waves made by an even older guy this week, illustrated by our next blurb. *Liege Results

Big Talk From A Kenyan Marathoner

    If you talk big, you'd better produce. Well if that adage is true, then 31-year-old Duncan Kibet had better run fast in this fall's Berlin Marathon. How about this quote from the flashy Kenyan national record holder at 2:04:27?: "I will stand a high chance of attaining the feat (sub-2:03:59) if Haile Gebrselassie goes for the world record ...Whether I win or not, I need the time and Haile is my only challenger." More: Duncan Kibet Talks Big About Getting The WR In Berlin
     

Dix Finally Settles

    Double Olympic sprint medallist Walter Dix finally settled his dispute with agent Kimberly Holland. While we don't know the specifics of what was going on, we found the following description in the AP recap of the settlement to be bizarre: "(Dix's) side's claim was that Holland wasn't the sole reason Dix got the Nike contract, and that she wasn't entitled to her 20 percent commission of the deal worth between $4 million to $5 million over a 4-year period."

    Of course, the agent isn't the sole reason why Dix got a Nike contract, but hello - that's how the process works. If you don't want to pay the agent 20%, then sign a different contract or negotiate without an agent.

    We can understand why athletes turning pro think it's ridiculous they might have to turn over 20% of their income to an agent. An athlete with the earning potential of Dix could always try and reduce the commission of the agent. Competition works both ways. An agent might have 60 athletes and rake in a ton of dough while the athlete who actually performs makes less. But those athletes that think they don't need an agent in track and field don't know how the sport works.

    Recently, we at LetsRun.com were told about a Beijing Olympic finalist who didn't have an agent, as her coach didn't like them, since he viewed agents as vultures who encourage athletes to race more often than he might like. Well, the coach negotiated a shoe deal for her after Beijing, which she was about to sign. At the last minute, she decided to get an agent's opinion on the deal. His verdict? I can get you three times as much - which is what happened. Walter Dix Finally Resolves His Dispute With Agent Kimberly Holland

 

Kenyans Are People, Too

    Thumbs Up to American Public Radio's Jon Miller for traveling to Kenya to write/record a fantastic piece on 2009 Boston Marathon winner Salina Kosgei. His motives for the piece were something we here at LetsRun.com 100% support. As Miller wrote, "I wanted to show that Kenyan runners, who have dominated the sport for the last 20 years, are people, not machines. And I wanted to learn about the odd economics of this peculiarly demanding job."

    His written piece and audio piece on Kosgei are well worth 5-10 minutes of your time. Kosgei's Boston win over Dire Tune and Kara Goucher may not have been the story that Nike or the American public wanted, but it was remarkable nonetheless. The real secret to the Kenyans' success? Miller says it's simple: "They work so hard and they want it so much."

    Americans in "the Kenyans are so much more talented" camp may not like that answer, but there is some truth to it. Five years ago, Kosgei was a largely unknown, run-of-the-mill, basically failed middle distance runner with modest PRs of 2:03/4:19/15:01. With no better alternatives, Kosgei moved up to the marathon and the rest is history. How many Ameican 800 meter runners try the marathon? APR's Marketplace Highlights 2009 1-Second Boston Marathon Champion Salina Kosgei


The Transitive Property Of Sprinting

    Ever wonder why in this day and age of calculators and computers, kids still are taught the basics of math? Well, we can tell you - so you can understand track and field. It looks like Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay won't race each other prior to the World Championships, but thanks to the transitive property, we will be able to figure out who is in better form. Gay has already raced Asafa Powell once this year and they'll race again on July 31st in Stockholm. On July 24th in London, Bolt and Powell will race. Hopefully, somebody who has the basics of math down can tell us who is in better form after those two races. *Gay/Powell To Race July 31st Next Friday In Stockholm *Asafa Powell & Usain Bolt To Race On July 24th

     

Thumbs Down To Canada. Yes, that's right. Well, not the entire country, but Athletics Canada or whatever they call themselves up north of border. Why the venom? Well, it's an absolute joke that Nate Brannen isn't on the Worlds team for Canada. If the guy were an American, we'd all be pumped as he's in very good shape and a very good candidate for the final. We might all be wondering if he could somehow sneak in there and get a medal like his training partner Nick Willis.

Instead, because he lives in Canada, he might not make the team. Why?

Well, some would tell you (and Brannen himself said in the flo-track interview on the right) that it's because he doesn't have the Berlin A standard of 3:36.20. But that's not true. The IAAF accepts times from 2008 and 2009 and Brannen ran 3:34.65 last year. The problem is that the Canadians in their infinite wisdom don't accept times from 2008.

This year, Brannen has been even more competitive than he's ever been on the pro circuit and appears likely to make the 12-person World Athletics final at the end of the year. Twice in the mile this year, he's run under the equivalent of 3:36.20, as he ran 3:52.63 for 3rd at the Pre Classic and 3:53.18 for 6th in Oslo. A 3:53.50 mile is equal to a 3:36.20, but Canada doesn't accept mile conversions either. This whole situation for Brannen makes us irate, as on so many levels it shows what is wrong with our sport. How can the public at large be expected to be fans of the sport if some of the top athletes aren't allowed to compete at the biggest stage due to bureaucratic stupidity? We are so mad we are going to give a second Thumbs Down to both Athletics Canada and the IAAF for being so stupid as to not accept 3:53.50 miles as A standard times. If you want to make track more popular, please get rid of the 1,500 altogether or at the very least start accepting mile times for the 1,500.

While we're at it, we want to praise Brannen for saying he's not going to chase the standard. He's going to stick to his plan and run the mile in London and hope somehow that the 1,500 split is sub-3:36.20. Then he's going to run the 1k in Stockholm. There is no point to wear yourself out chasing the standard so that when you do show up at Worlds, you have nothing left in the tank. We won't be upset, though, if Brannen kicks it in 109 meters early in London but find it ridiculous that the IAAF will accept 1,500 splits within the middle of a mile but not accept mile conversions. So basically the IAAF is encouraging people like Brannen to make a mockery of the race by kicking early. Thank you bureaucrats once again!

Thumbs Down to Us for Screwing Up: Canada Does Accept Mile Conversions

A Canadian athlete emailed us the following: "You might want to hold out judgement on AC until after their selection deadline.  Nate obviously did not fully read the selection criteria for the World Championships (http://www.athletics.ca/files//NationalTeamPrograms/NationalTeams/SelectionCriteria/2009IAAFWORLDCHAMPIONSHIPSELECTIONCRITERIAENFINAL.PDF) or the National Team Selection Manual (http://athletics.ca/files///NATIONALTEAMSELECTIONRULESBOOKEN.PDF), both easily accesible on www.athletics.ca
If he had read these prior to his interview, he would have read that AC does in fact accept mile conversions.  From the National Team Selection manual:

7. Where allowed by the Selection Criteria and relevant Games and/or international approval organizer, for the 1500m event, converted mile performances to 1500m, based on IAAF Scoring Tables equivalencies, will be accepted for the purpose of achieving repeated “A” or “B”  standards. Converted standard performances are acceptable regardless of any electronic performance which may be recorded at the 1500m mark.

That is good news and a sensible policy. Someone needs to get the word out to Nate.
 

The US Women's Performance of the Week?

That's easy. For the 2nd straight week, a US athlete earned a shock win in the women's 800 in a Golden League meet. This time, the winner was former US steeplechase record holder Anna Willard, who ran 1:58.80 to win in Paris. Since the top six all broke 2:00, we bet that last week's Golden League winner Maggie Vessey is cursing the fact that she was a late scratch due to a minor injury (hamstring?). Vessey still needs the A standard of 2:00.00 to go to Worlds. Speaking of 2:00.00, it wouldn't surprise us to see Cornell alum Morgan Uceny get it by the end of the summer. Uceny, who missed all of the fall with injury, is clearly coming into fitness, as she ran 2:00.95 in Heusden last week. Heading into USA's last month, Uceny hadn't run faster than 2:04.15.

As for Heusden, the Olympic champ Pamela Jelimo got the win in 1:59.59. She may be finding her form at just the right time. Considering she was unbeatable last year, in a month she may be the favorite for Worlds. Also running well in Heusden was US 1,500 meter runner up Leo Manzano, who had a 3+ second PR of 1:46.20.

Anna Willard Makes It Two In A Row For The USA

800 Men Struggle

Not a good week for US men 800 meter runners, however. Certainly disappointing for US fans to see Khadevis Robinson run only 1:46.47 in Paris, just six days after KD ran 1:44.47 in a glorified practice. Although to us, the performance wasn't as bad as some were making it out to be, as third in the Golden League and only .62 behind the Olympic silver medallist isn't too shabby. And traveling form LA to Paris couldn't have helped things.

The US champion Nick Symmonds didn't fare too much better, as he only ran 1:46.60 for fourth in Lucerne. As disappointing as the performance was, we are thrilled to see him racing in Europe. Why he tried to go from the finals of the US Olympic Trials on June 30th to the Olympic Games on August 20th without a race last year was mystifying to us.

Plus fans of the sports need to see the stars race. If Worlds is the only race that matters, then the sport will be dead sooner rather than later.

Alan Where Art Thou?

  • Speaking of hamstring issues, is anyone besides us wonderng "Where in the hell is Alan Webb?" July is almost over and the guy hasn't been seen since scratching out of the finals of USAs with what was reported to be a minor hamstring issue? We hope to get in touch with Webb's people this week to find out what is going on, but if you know the scoop, please email us.

What Really Happened In Kenya?

    This week, Athletics Kenya, which has made more than its share of completely idiotic moves over the years, topped even itself. We certainly understand why they are worried about athletes over-racing before Worlds, but this week they went too far. They dropped the top two finishers at their 10k trials, Sammy Kitwara and Gideon Ngatuny, from the World Championships team because they ran road races after the Kenyan Trials.

    The question is, "Why would Kenyan do this?" If you like conspiracy theories, this one is as good of one that we have seen, although it's simply not true. We've talked to a few people who are very well-connected in Kenya and it's our belief that basically what happened was that it was Athletics Kenya being Athletics Kenya. Good luck if you can really explain it.

    Remember, this is the same outfit that last year kicked their Olympic flag bearer, Grace Momanyi, off of the Olympic 10k team one or two days before the race, officially because she was suppposedly lazy and skipping practice (but if  that was the case, why would you pick her to be the flagbearer in the 1st place?) but likely because of some tribal rivalry. Yes, that's right. They kicked the flag bearer off the team.

    We think we forgot to talk about that last year but it's true. To read a great article on how the whole affair devastated Momanyi, please click here.

    What do we think happened this year? Well, Athletics Kenya may not have been pleased with the results of the 10k trials and thus wanted an excuse to come up with a different team, particularly since they themselves may have been the ones responsible for the trials outcome.

    Apparently all spring, there has been debate as to when the 10k trials would be held in Kenya. At one point, it was going to be in July with the rest of the events, and then it was going to be in June. Apparently within a month of the trials, the top agents and athletes had no idea when it truly was going to be held. Once the June date was announced, several agents/athletes got together and requested that it be moved back to July.

    Many people were given the impression it would be moved back to July, but in the end that did not happen. Ergo, a slew of Kenyans who were out of the country had to fly in at the last minute. Considering it might take weeks to get used to racing at altitude, it's no surprise that Athletics Kenya might not have been happy with the results of the 10k Trials. But it's way easier to use the agents as scapegoats than it is to publicly confess the following: "We made a mistake. Our inability to set a firm date for the 10k trials messed up our trials and we want different runners on the team."

    So Athletics Kenya did what they always do - blame the agents and greedy runners. As one agent told us, Athletics Kenya seemingly operates under the following motto:

    "When things go poorly, they blame the agents. When things go great, they praise themselves."

    But let a few things be clear. It appears that Sammy Kitwara's claim that no one told him not to race after the Trials is true. The Standard quoted Kitwara as saying, "They had not told me it was wrong to compete after selection and since it was my first time in the team, I saw nothing wrong in running in a 10km race. Even in the meeting we held with the federation just before the trials, no information on whether we would be allowed to compete afterwards was given and since I saw other runners compete abroad, I decided to go."

    A well-placed source agreed and told us that no one had been told not to race after the Trials. He said that one might look back at past precedent and realize that Athletics Kenya didn't want them to race, but that it hadn't been clearly stated in 2009. As he said, "There were no rules. The guys weren't told they couldn't run a race."

    Additionally, we have learned that money/bribes were almost certainly not a factor as we spoke to one agent who told us, "I've never offered Athletics Kenya money and they've never asked me for money. I'd swear on my life."


    So what is really happening? Who knows. Probably Athletics Kenya just wanted different people on the 10,000m team and once they saw athletes running road races, they went ballistic, as apparently they view road-races as "the devil."


Paris One More Time

The big news of the week, as we alluded to up top, was the Paris Golden League meet and Usain Bolt running 9.79 in the rain and Bekele's dispatching of Lagat over 3k. If you don't think we did the meet justice here, you should read our recap of the meet. If you just have a little time, watch Bolt's beauty below.

Bolt's Beauty

 

Weekly Drug Update

7 Dopers Suspended By IAAF Reason to celebrate this weekend. Our sport actually punishes cheaters!

Recommended Reads From Last Week

Recommended Listen:

1) NPR's Marketplace Highlights 2009 1-Second Boston Marathon Champion Salina Kosgei This is a really interesting look at what life is like for Kosgei, who spent a dozen years toiling as a mid-distance runner before finding success in the marathon. NPR's journalist, charged with investigating running as a profession, spent 4 days with Kosgei in Kenya. Find out what it's like to go from a very good runner to a Boston Champion.

2) Tyson Gay And Usain Bolt Talk About Their Rivalry Gay basically says half the battle is convincing himself he can run faster than any man ever has.

3) What Bolt Brings To A Meet People are willing to pay to see Bolt because he is becoming a one-man spectacle unlike any other. Just as we turned on the Paris meet on Friday, Bolt was getting a standing ovation while walking on the track for 100m in his hoodie.

4) Last year, Kenya kicked its torchbearer off the Olympic team a day before her race.

Remembering The Last Week With The Quotes Of The Day - Day By Day:

Monday: "As the clock ticked towards 2040 BST and the men's 100m, the atmosphere crackled with anticipation and I could feel my own heart rate rise."
- Sonja McLaughlan of BBC Sport writing from Paris after watching Usain Bolt take the track.


Sunday:
"... This guy's such a beast. I'm not very sure what he's going to do. I've studied some film of him running but not a lot, because he's what you'd call a monster. In some sports in the United States, in football and basketball, you call certain people freaks. That means that they're tall and they're able to do some things that nobody's ever heard of. He's in a class of his own, like a LeBron James or a David Beckham."
- Tyson Gay on Usain Bolt in a great article from Britain's The Independent.

Friday/Saturday: Who is the best in the world? "Technically, I think it's Tyson Gay."
-
UK 100m champion Simeon Williamson. Gay's 9.77 world-leading time will be tested by Usain Bolt as "Bolt Mania" strikes Paris on Friday.


Thursday:
"I'm looking forward to it and if the weather is good like today (sunny, 23c), there should be something special."
- Usain Bolt, talking about what he expects for the Paris Golden League meet on Friday, which also will feature a Lagat vs. Bekele clash at 3k!


Wednesday:
"At 5 and 10,000 meters, there will be no change at all. It will be as usual, meaning we will continue to win ... Surely in the 1,500m, in both sexes, there will be change from the previous world championships."
- Dube Jilo, technical officer of the Ethiopian athletics federation, in an exclusive LRC report from Kenya predicting Ethiopian success at long AND mid-distances at the World Champs.


Tuesday:
"The race at Prefontaine changed my life and my career as projections go for my future. I went to a place of competition within myself that needed to be found and needed to come out. I just totally let go of splits and was competitive."
- Jenny Barringer on this (her shocking 3:59.90 at Pre) in a USAToday feature article.

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