Shalane Flanagan A True Champion, Jordan Hasay Impresses, Kara Goucher Fades: Women’s 10,000m Recap
by: LetsRun.com
June 21, 2013
Shalane Flanagan dominated, Kara Goucher wilted in the heat, and Jordan Hasay impressed.
Those were the three big story lines in the women’s 10,000m final on Day 1 of the 2013 USA Track and Field Champs where Flanagan won easily, Goucher fell apart the second half of the race in the 84 degree heat and finished 5th, and Hasay conquered the heat to finish 2nd with new training partner Tara Erdmann third.
Despite the warm temperature, Flanagan took this out in a crazy 72 seconds (30:00 pace) on the first lap. Only training partner Goucher and recent Oregon grad Hasay went with her. Hasay had struggled in the heat at the NCAA Regional meet in Austin and failed to make the NCAA final, yet here she was going with America’s two best 10,000m runners on a hot evening.
Hasay gestured to her new coach Alberto Salazar who was seated on the first row of the first turn and eventually Salazar told her to back off the pace in the heat. She did so after 3 laps. Goucher would stay with Flanagan for 6 laps, and would eventually pay the price big time.
Hasay settled in the Goucher chase pack with new training partner Erdmann, and last year’s Olympic Trials winner, Amy Hastings. Goucher extended the gap over the chase pack to 11 seconds 9 laps into the race, but then the chasers started slowly chipping away at her lead. Goucher would stay ahead for 7 more laps, but then just past 4 miles, she slowed considerably and Hastings, Hasay, and Erdmann came by and she had no response.
Hastings, Hasay and Erdmann would stay together for another mile, but then with a mile to go it was Hastings who surprisingly was dropped. The new training partners Erdmann and Hasay were left to battle for the second and third spots. They would stay together until the bell lap where Hasay crushed Erdmann by nearly 6.5 seconds the final lap to finish second in 32:17. Erdmann would get 3rd in 32:24, Hastings 4th in 32:31, and Goucher 5th in 32:59.
Alberto Salazar Coaches Jordan Hasay and Tara Erdmann
Oh yeah, that leaves Flanagan. She dominated up front and got the win in 31:43.20, a new stadium record.
“A’s” and “B’s” and Hasay and Erdmann
Neither Hasay or Erdmann has run under the World Championship “B” standard of 32:05, so as of now they can’t go to the World Championships. Both have until July 20th to hit the “B” standard. If only one of them hits it, that person will go to Worlds with Hastings and Flanagan. For both Hasay and Erdmann to go to Worlds one of them needs to run under the “A” standard of 31:45 while the other one needs to get the “B”. Alberto Salazar is going to set up a mixed gender race to try and get the standards. More on that here in David Monti’s 10k recap article with quotes.
Confused? You should be, but the simple point to understand is this: if Hasay runs under 32:05 by July 20th she gets to go to Worlds. She’s already run 32:06 this year.
Quick Takes and Analysis With Post Race Video Below:
QT #1: Big Props to Jordan Hasay
Let’s start out by giving Hasay the praise she deserves. Some speculated Jordan would never make a World’s team. Now she may have made one in her first chance as a pro.
A month ago she wilted in the heat in Austin, yet here she had no fear of it. And while she definitely ran smarter than Goucher, let’s not pretend Hasay got in the top 2 just because Goucher ran a foolish race. Hasay went with Flanagan and Goucher for 3 laps while Amy Hastings, last year’s Olympic Trials champion, did not. Yet it was Hasay who pulled away from Hastings over the final laps. Impressive. Video with Hasay and Erdmann below:
QT #2: Flanagan Wins and May Take on Huddle and Simpson in the 5k
Shalane Flanagan dominated this race. Sure that’s what we expected, but it still deserves praise. Most interesting afterwards were Flanagan’s comments that she may race the 5000m on Sunday. If you thought it was hot today, Sunday’s 5000m final is at 3:22pm. Today’s 10k final started at 8:20 pm. Flanagan is an established marathoner, and a medal contender at 10,000m, but she relishes the chance to take on World 1500m champion Jenny Simpson, and American record holder Molly Huddle, at 5000m, even if it is in atrocious running conditions. We’ll be anticipating that match-up if it takes place. Flanagan’s interview below is worth a watch as she just talks about wanting to test herself in the 5000m. She says, “I would love to run in the 5k. … It won’t be comfortable. It won’t be a nice race. … I just think it’s a fun challenge. I just look at all the names and it’s just, I’d like to see what I can do. I don’t have an ego, if I were to be top three that’d be phenomenal, I just want to see what I can do.”
QT3: The Heat Took Its Toll on Everyone
Now that we’ve praised Hasay and Flanagan, let’s point out that the heat even conquered both of them. Flanagan’s 5k splits here were roughly 15:41 the first 5k, 16:02 the 2nd. Hasay’s splits were roughly 16:01 the first 5k and 16:16 the 2nd. So the two best runners were the two who managed to hang on the best.
QT#4: Goucher Says She Totally Underestimated the Heat
Kara said she totally blew it in estimating the impact of the heat. Kara said she felt in good conditions Shalane was in 30:30 shape and that would be too fast for her, but she thought there was “an outside shot” she could beat Shalane on a good day. The plan Kara and coach Jerry Schumacher came up with was for Shalane to pull Kara out the first 6 laps, and then decide what to do from there. It did not work out well.
Kara said under her former coach, Alberto Salazar, that never would have been the plan as Alberto would have encouraged her to “cover” 3rd place.
Kara said, “I took a risk to have her pull me out. I totally underestimated the heat. They ran so much better and smarter than I ran. And I ran totally foolish.”
She also indicated she might have been better prepared for the heat if she was still under the tutelage of Salazar. Goucher said, “First time in two years I’ve regretted not having Alberto’s gimmicks, ice vests… They ran better, smarter. They deserve to go, not me.”
Goucher still hopes to go to Worlds on the track but may have to return to the marathon. She said, “It’s a dream for me never to miss a (Worlds) team, as long as I’m competing. I really want to go but I don’t feel like I deserve to, so I feel very confused.”
She added, “I’ll be really sad as I’ll have to go back to being a marathoner and I really wanted to be a track runner.” Goucher said she loves the marathon and its preparation, but feels like she’s been “hitting my head against the wall” in the marathon.
Amy Hastings Comes Up Short
Results:
| Rank | Athlete | Lap Split | Cum Split | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shalane Flanagan Nike / Oregon TC Elite |
1:12.75 | 31:43.20 | — |
| 2 | Jordan Hasay Unattached |
1:06.78 | 32:17.34 | — |
| 3 | Tara Erdmann Nike |
1:13.20 | 32:24.16 | — |
| 4 | Amy Hastings Brooks |
1:12.93 | 32:31.28 | — |
| 5 | Kara Goucher Nike |
1:20.98 | 32:59.23 | — |
| 6 | Emily Sisson Unattached |
1:13.87 | 33:27.23 | — |
| 7 | Juliet Bottorff Duke University |
1:13.92 | 33:33.77 | +2 |
| 8 | Jennifer Bergman Unattached |
1:18.08 | 33:34.15 | -1 |
| 9 | Lisa Uhl Nike |
1:14.28 | 33:35.80 | +2 |
| 10 | Megan Goethals Washington |
1:16.92 | 33:36.73 | -2 |
| 11 | Meaghan Nelson Iowa State University |
1:19.23 | 33:39.62 | -1 |
| 12 | Tia Kool adidas/teamrogue |
1:15.98 | 34:08.30 | +1 |
| 13 | Danielle Stack Iowa State University |
1:21.46 | 34:13.56 | -1 |
| 14 | Sarah Sumpter Cal Davis |
1:20.62 | 34:15.51 | — |
| 15 | Natasha LaBeaud Brooks / SRA Elite |
1:23.66 | 34:39.65 | — |
| 16 | Katie Kellner Cornell University |
1:21.99 | 34:42.46 | — |
| 17 | Meghan Peyton Saucony / Team USA Minnesota |
1:20.79 | 34:51.49 | — |
| 18 | Karaleigh Foster Oiselle |
1:20.46 | 35:08.14 | — |
| 19 | Gina Valgoi Loyola University, Chicago |
1:24.15 | 35:37.96 | — |
| 20 | Kaitlin Gregg New Balance Silicon Valley |
1:28.08 | 36:30.30 | — |
| 21 | McKenzie Melander Team USA Minnesota |
1:26.64 | 37:00.43 | — |
| DNS | Rebecca Donaghue Unattached |
Shalane Flanagan Celebrates Another USATF Title
More 10k: *RRW Weekly Article on 10k
*Oregonian Article