Augustine Choge Wins 2013 Emsley Carr Mile But Do American Men’s Medal Chances Take A Hit Despite Three Personal Bests?
by LetsRun.com
July 27, 2013
Kenya’s Augustine Choge, who won’t be going to the World Championships as he was fourth at the Kenyan Trails in the 5000, picked up a nice consolation prize as he won the prestigious Emsley Carr Mile for the second time by just holding off Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman 3:50.01 to 3:50.07 at the 2013 Sainbury’s Anniversary Games in London.
While Galen Rupp never contended for the win, the Olympic 10,000 silver medalist had a nice showing as he was the top American in fifth in 3:52.11 on a day in which four Americans ran 3:52 and change and a fifth ran 3:53.15.
Choge just has enough to win
Jordan McNamara had the best last lap of all of the Americans as he went from 13th to 7th on the last lap to set a new personal best at 3:52.42 in seventh. David Torrence was eighth in a seasonal best of 3:52.74 (his pb is 3:52.01), Andy Bayer set a new personal best in ninth at 3:52.90 as Garreth Heath also ran faster than he had ever before in 10th at 3:53.15.
The bad news was that 2013 US champion Matthew Centrowtiz continued to struggle as he was just 16th in 3:58.75.
You can watch the race at the bottom of this page, so we move on to our race analysis.
Post Race Thought #1: Despite the great showing by so many from the USA, this race wasn’t good in terms of American medal chances in Moscow. Yes, it was good for Galen Rupp. To see a 10,000 guy run 3:52 in the mile two weeks before the Moscow 10,000 shows he’s plenty fast enough to kick for a medal. But after this race, one would definitely say that the US chances for medal(s) in the 800 and 1500 went down.
We think this race might result in Souleiman, who is primarily known as a miler, running the 800 at the World Champs. He’s #3 on the 800 list this year at 1:43.63 as Nijel Amos and David Rudisha have struggled with injuries. Given this showing, if we were Souleiman, we’d definitely run the 800 at Worlds. If you can’t beat a guy who isn’t on the Kenyan team in the mile, then you should try your luck in the 800. The 800 is over before the 1500 so he can always come back and try to the 1500. If Souleiman runs the 800, it’s a little bit harder for Symmonds and Solomon.
The US 1500 chances took a hit because despite all of the American PRs, none of those guys are going to Worlds. Matthew Centrowitz is and he just beat one person tonight. Now, don’t 100% rule him out. Remember, Leo Manzano was dead last in 4:00 in his last race before the Olympics last year and we all know that turned out pretty well.
Post Race Thought #2: Speaking of American PBs, here are the previous PBs for the Americans who set new personal bests today:
Jordan McNamara 3:52.42 – previous pb 3:54.89.
Andy Bayer 3:52.90 – previous pb 3:57.75.
Garreth Heath – previous pb 3:55.24.
For the record, Rupp’s pb is 3:50.92 indoors and Centrowitz’s is 3:51.34 also from indoors.
Post Race Thought #3: McNamara had a huge last lap. He was just 13th or 14th at the bell and ran roughly 56.1 for the last 400, not too far off the 55.5 we had for the top two finishers in the race. If you scroll down to the bottom, you will see a picture of him in 14th at the 1k mark.
Unofficially, we had the following splits for some of the other Americans over the last 400:
Galen Rupp: 57.1
Andy Bayer: 57.2
More: Discuss this race in our forum: *Stick a fork in Centro. He is DONE!
*Galen Rupp Top American in Mile
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Result | Diamond Points | Diamond Ranking | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
KEN
|
3:50.01
|
PB
|
4
|
3
|
||
|
2
|
DJI
|
3:50.07
|
NR
|
10
|
1
|
 |
|
|
3
|
KEN
|
3:50.93
|
SB
|
2
|
6
|
||
|
4
|
KEN
|
3:51.28
|
SB
|
||||
|
5
|
USA
|
3:52.11
|
|||||
|
6
|
MAR
|
3:52.42
|
|||||
|
7
|
USA
|
3:52.42
|
PB
|
||||
|
8
|
USA
|
3:52.74
|
SB
|
||||
|
9
|
USA
|
3:52.90
|
PB | ||||
|
10
|
USA
|
3:53.15
|
PB
|
||||
|
11
|
KEN
|
3:53.48
|
1
|
9
|
|||
|
12
|
NOR
|
3:54.53
|
SB
|
||||
|
13
|
GBR
|
3:54.61
|
PB
|
||||
|
14
|
GBR
|
3:54.75
|
PB
|
||||
|
15
|
AUT
|
3:58.63
|
|||||
|
16
|
USA
|
3:58.75
|
|||||
|
17
|
GBR
|
4:00.62
|
|||||
|
GBR
|
DNF
|
||||||
|
USA
|
DNF
|
||||||
|
NED
|
DNF
|
||||||
Race Photos
Souleiman’s pre-race gesture. We think that’s an “A” for Ayanleh.
Men’s mile just past 1k.
Seb Coe congratulates Choge. Coe had a big win in this race in 1977.
Race Video (US Only)