Women's 10,000m: Shalane Flanagan Goes Wire-To-Wire Over Kara Goucher And Field

By LetsRun.com
June 23, 2011

Shalane Flanagan definitely did not come to Eugene to sit and kick. One lap into the women's 10,000m final Thursday night, Flanagan established a commanding lead in the race, splitting 72.9, and by 800 meters, she had a fifty-meter lead on the field. The current queen of American distance running was relentless in her attack and did not look back.

Olympians Jen Rhines and Kara Goucher, along with Megan Hogan, settled into the main chase pack, with 2008 Olympian Amy Begley and 2010 Boston Marathon runner-up Desiree Devila leading a secondary chase group.

Flanagan went through the mile in 4:55.0 and Rhines and Goucher began to pull away from former George Washington star Hogan. The pace was fast even further back in the pack, as marathon stars Davila, Begley and Magdalena Lewy-Boulet hit 3k in 9:30, on pace to better the IAAF A standard.

By 4K, Rhines (with Goucher in tow) had managed to keep Flanagan in sight, and Hogan was caught by the trio of Davila, Lewy-Boulet and Begley (Hogan dropped out shortly thereafter).

5,000m In 15:33
Flanagan looked terrific as she crossed 5k in 15:33.4 while Rhines and Goucher were in striking distance in 15:38.9.  Davila began to pull away from Lewy-Boulet and Begley, who was trying to recapture the magic from her great effort at the 10k in the 2008 Trials, but she was clearly struggling in 2011.

Flanagan extended her lead to seven seconds at 6k.  Rhines and Goucher looked good, but so did Davila, who lurked ten seconds behind them. As the race entered the final two miles, Davila and her marathon strength looked like she had intentions to move up to the top three as she pulled away from Lewy-Boulet.

With seven to go, Goucher put in a surge to pull away from Rhines and for the first time, Rhines looked vulnerable to a possible surge from Davila, who was continuing to move her way up the field and was only eight seconds back of third.

But by a mile to go, the top three spots were secure, as Flanagan looked very comfortable clicking off 74-second laps to maintain a roughly 10-second lead on Goucher, who in turn had a five-second lead on Rhines. Despite falling further behind Goucher, Rhines held on to her pace and continued to run very strongly and managed to increase her lead over Davila to 12 seconds. Afterwards, Rhines said she saw Davila getting closer on the big screen and it caused her to regain focus after losing contact with Goucher.

Flanagan looked great in closing in 72.1 and and 67.6  for her final two laps to dip under 31 minutes. Goucher continued her amazing comeback from giving birth last September in bettering the IAAF standard by nearly 30 seconds. Rhines followed in third and Davila ran a great race to better the A standard. Lewy-Boulet had a 32-second PR to better the B standard and missed the A standard by less than four seconds.

Afterwards, Flanagan talked about raising her game for the Worlds and how this was her first full track season under coach Jerry Schumacher. After Worlds, it will be time to get ready for the Olympic Trials in the marathon. Meanwhile, Goucher - who in the last nine months has given birth, run the Boston Marathon and now run a 31:16 10k - indicated she is glad to not be running the marathon for the time being.

Jen Rhines meanwhile shifted her focus to the 10,000m from the 5,000m with her decision to run the 2011 ING NYC Marathon (but not the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon). Desiree Davila had a stellar performance and huge PR in 4th. Her speed is now coming back very quickly from Boston and the plan is to run some track races in Europe before preparing for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston.

Quick Take: Remember when giving birth was a difficult thing? What Kara Goucher has done in the last 9 months has been amazing (give birth, run Boston, and now come back to the track). Afterwards, she indicated how now she is feeling better each and every week and that Alberto Salazar warned her to not try and run with Flanagan if she went off too fast.

Quick Take #2: Who says the marathon makes you slower? Magdalena Lewy-Boulet had a 33-second PR and Desiree Davila had a 28-second one.

Quick Take #3 (And Stat of the Day): The women ran fast, while the men ran slow. Shalane Flanagan was 2:21 from Galen Rupp's winning time of 28:38. Galen Rupp was 2:21 from Kenenisa Bekele's World Record of 26:17.

Interviews And Results Below:

1	Shalane Flanagan	Oregon TC Elite	30:59.97
2	Kara Goucher	Oregon TC Elite	31:16.65
3	Jennifer Rhines	adidas	31:30.37
4	Desiree Davila	Hansons-Brooks Distance Projec	31:37.14
5	Magdalena Lewy Boulet	Saucony	31:48.58
6	Amy Begley	Nike	32:34.75
7	Anne Bersagel	New Balance Silicon Valley / A	32:54.08
8	Cassandra Slade	Boulder Running Company/adidas	32:55.98
9	Sarah Porter	unattached	32:57.15
10	Allison Grace Morgan	ZAP Fitness Reebok	32:57.57
11	Emily Brown	Team USA Minnesota / Asics	33:00.74
12	Danielle Stack	Iowa State University	33:04.17
13	Katherine Newberry	New York Athletic Club (NYAC)	33:05.31
14	Kathryn Matthews	Boston U	33:11.00
15	Addie Bracy	Carrboro Athletics Club	33:13.75
16	Nicole Feest	Boulder Running Company/adidas	33:15.70
17	Tara Erdmann	unattached	33:17.54
18	Stephanie Marcy	Stanford	33:18.18
19	Bridget Lyons	Georgia	33:24.95
20	Alisha Williams	Boulder Running Company/adidas	33:32.59
21	Liz Costello	Tennessee	33:52.55
22	Jeannette Faber	Boston AA	33:52.95
23	Kim Ruck	Clemson University	33:54.64
24	Kristina Vegh	Sun Elite	34:05.64
25	Kara Millhouse	Penn State	34:22.20
26	Zoila Gomez	unattached	34:24.77
DNF	Megan Hogan	Team USA Minnesota / Asics
DNF	Rachel Booth	New Balance Silicon Valley / A

Shalane Flanagan On Going Wire-To-Wire	Kara Goucher Excited To Be Running Track, She Wants Some Marathon Tips From Desi
Jen Rhines On Holding Off Desiree Davila For Third	Desiree Davila on Her Huge PR

Sunday:
Men's 800m: LRC Men's 800m: Nick Symmonds Makes it Four in a Row
Women's 800m: LRC Women's 800m: Alysia Goes Wire to Wire
Women's Steeplechase: LRC Emma Coburn Wins, Stephanie Garcia Falls, and Hey Delilah Goes to Korea

Saturday USATF Coverage
Men's 1500m: LRC Matt Centrowitz Jr Pulls Away from Bernard Lagat
Women's 1500m: LRC The Thrill Victory (Morgan Uceny) and Agony of Defeat (Christin Wurth Thomas)
Men's Steeple: LRC Billy Nelson's Return to Oregon is Successful

Friday: USATF Coverage
Men' 5000m: LRC Men's 5,000m: Bernard Lagat's 3:57.80 Close Wins A Thriller Over Chris Solinsky And Galen Rupp
Women's 5000m: LRC Women's 5,000m: Molly Huddle Impresses, Hastings And Bizzarri Continue The Mammoth Mojo
800m Semis: LRC All the Favorites Advance And KD Asks For Some Energy From His Fans In The Final
*Ashton Eaton Sets PR With Decathlon Win, Olympic Gold Medallist Bryan Clay Falls In 110 Hurdles And Doesn't Finish The Meet
*Walter Dix Just Outleans Justin Gatlin To Win US Champs 100 
*SI's Tim Layden Takes a Look at Justin Gatlin's Situation
*Post Race Interviews

Complete Thursday USATF Coverage: *10k Photos
Men's 10k: LRC Men's 10,000m: Galen Rupp Closes Out Matt Tegenkamp With 1:52.5 Final 800m
Women's 10k: LRC Women's 10,000m: Shalane Flanagan Goes Wire to Wire Over Kara Goucher and Field
1500m Round 1 and Men's Steeple Round1: LRC Thursday's 1500m Heats: 2011 US Leader Russell Brown Bows Out
800M Round 1: LRC: 800m Round 1 Goes According to Form

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