2017 Ostrava: Usain Bolt Looks Shaky But Wins 100 in 10.06, Mo Farah Doesn’t PR and Runs 27:12 as David Rudisha Is Defeated Again

By LetsRun.com
June 28, 2017

There was some major star power on display in the Czech Republic on Wednesday evening as Usain Bolt, Wayde van Niekerk, Mo Farah and David Rudisha all competed at the annual Ostrava Golden Spike meet. For the most part, the big names came through, although both Bolt and Farah weren’t close to the times they were hoping ofr. Bolt won a closer-than-expected 100 in 10.06 and Farah ran to a 27:12.09 victory in the 10,000. Rudisha, however, was beaten for the third time in 2017 as he faded down the stretch in the 1000m and wound up fourth in 2:19.43 (Nicholas Kipkoech won the race in 2:18.51).

The best performance of the meet was the 30.81 world record by Wayde van Niekerk in the 300 meters, which gets its own article here: LRC Wayde Van Niekerk Breaks World Record* in 300m

We recap the other meet highlights below, with results and race videos, starting with Bolt’s run in the 100m. Results courtesy All-Athletics.com.

Re-live the meet with our live thread. MB: Ostrava Golden Spike Live Thread: Bolt (2:55 pm ET) , Van Niekerk, Rudisha (2:05 pm) and Farah (10k 2:15 pm ET) all running.

Men’s 100m: Usain Bolt runs 10.06, but has a month until Worlds. Is that enough time?

There wasn’t really anything great about this race for Usain Bolt except he won.

Bad start, not incredible top end speed, and a so-so winning time.

Watch it yourself.

This one was close

The good news for Usain Bolt is the World Championships don’t start for another 37 days, with the 100m final 38 days from today. Bolt wasn’t pleased with his race today and said he’d go see his doctor and train hard with his coach and be ready for Worlds.

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“I’m not happy with the time,” Bolt said on the broadcast. “But I’m just getting into my running. I have some training to do. [Inaudible] my execution. But I’ll be fine. Gonna get checked out by my doctor, coach give me some training. I should be fine. So I’m in no worries.”

Bolt also said, “I never worry. I always tell you guys if my coach is not worried, I am not worried.” In an article in today’s Jamaica Gleaner, Bolt’s coach Glen Mills admitted that Bolt is behind where he usually is in June, but that he was pleased with his 10.03 season opener on June 10.

“His preparation is not normally where it used to be at this time, so he is certainly has ground to catch up. A number of factors have interfered with his preparation, but I thought he ran brilliantly at the Racers Grand Prix. His 10.03 in his first race in almost a year with the setbacks in place, if we can build on that over the next six to seven weeks, we should be able to be right where we can feel comfortable taking on the rest of the world,” Mills said.

Results (wind: -0.3 m/s)

Men’s 1000: Nicholas Kipkoech wins it in 2:18.51 as David Rudisha finishes a well-beaten 4th

At yesterday’s press conference, two-time Olympic 800 champ David Rudisha said he wanted to run 2:15 or faster in his first-ever 1000m, ideally by going through 800 meters in 1:46 or 1:47. But after his run tonight — the longest race of Rudisha’s life — we don’t expect Rudisha to return to the distance anytime soon as he could only manage 2:19.43 for fourth place. Instead, it was his countryman Nicholas Kipkoech, a more proven commodity at the distance (he has run four career 1000’s, including a 2:16.68 PR in Lausanne last year) who emerged victorious, denying the home crowd a victory as he outsprinted 2016 World Indoor 1500 silver medalist Jakub Holusa for the win in 2:18.51.

The pace was slow from the gun (for a guy looking to run 2:15) as the pacer hit 200 in 26.91 (27.3 for Rudisha) and 55.49 for 400, with Rudisha the first of the racers roughly a second behind. Rudisha led at the bell (1:24) when the pacer stepped off and would try to go wire-to-wire. But he could not create separation, and just before 800 (1:52.54), Australian Olympic 1500 finalist Ryan Gregson moved onto Rudisha’s shoulder as the pack began to bunch up behind them. If Rudisha could not pick it up, he was going to get passed.

Rudisha still led around the final turn, but the extra gear that carried him to the Olympic title in Rio was not there and Kipkoech and Holusa blew by him coming off the turn. Those two would battle it out on the home stretch but Holusa could never quite reach Kipkoech, who held him off for the win by .09. Rudisha had nothing the final 100 and had to settle for 4th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5WAR4PAMjA

Results

Quick Take: 1000m is a little far for David Rudisha, who is now 0-for-3 in 2017

David Rudisha entered this year as the defending world and Olympic champion at 800 meters, but it’s now almost July and he has yet to win a race. That’s not necessarily anything to worry about — Rudisha lost his first two Diamond Leagues of 2016 and his last three races before Worlds in 2015 — but right now, his endurance clearly isn’t where it needs to be in London. In all three of his races — Shanghai, the Racers Grand Prix, and Ostrava — Rudisha held the lead only to be run down at the end of the race.

We should point out that this was Rudisha’s first-ever 1000m race (previously, he had never raced anything longer than 800m), so if his endurance still needed work, it was going to be exposed today. Rudisha has always been more of a 400/800 guy than a 800/1500 guy.

At his best, Rudisha is the greatest 800 runner who ever lived, and if can build up his endurance to the point where he can use his devastating speed over the final 200, he’ll win his third world title in London. But if the Rudisha we’ve seen so far in 2017 shows up, he will lose. He has five more weeks to prepare.

Who should be more worried about losing in London?

— LetsRun.com (@letsrundotcom) June 28, 2017

Men’s 10,000: Mo Farah keeps his win streak alive with 27:12.09 victory on a warm evening

Farah celebrated after yet another victory

Mo Farah ran his win streak in 10,000-meter races to eight in a row as he cruised to a 27:12.10 win. Though there were 18 men on the start-list, for all intents and purposes, this was a two-man race as Farah was chasing his personal best of 26:46.57 and only one man — 19-year-old Matthew Kimeli, who finished 6th in the Kenyan 10,000 Trials just four days ago — was willing to go with him.

Early on, it looked as if the 34-year-old Farah would have a shot at a fast time as the rabbit his 2k in 5:17 which is sub 26:30 pace. But almost every km after that was slower until the last one as after 2k they went 2:41, 2:42, 2:44 (13:25.53 for 5k), 2:44, 2:47, 2:45, 2:50 and 2:38.

Farah had no rabbit to help him during the second half of the race and the temperature (in the lows 80s) was not ideal for distance running. As a result, his laps got progressively slower and with 1600 to go (22:50), Farah needed to close in 3:56 for a personal best and 4:09 just to get under 27 minutes. That wasn’t happening.

At that point, Farah shifted his focus to locking up the win. Kimeli was still with Farah with 500 to go amd the pace had slowed so much that Kimeli decided he’d take the lead. He took the lead entering the home straight, but, as we’ve seen so often from Farah’s opponents over the years, he could not drop the Brit once he got there. Farah casually sat on Kimeli for half a lap before making a hard move with 250 to go, creating a fissure that would not close. Kimeli, who had already taken his best shot, was powerless to respond as Farah won going away in 27:12.10 with a 59 second last lap and 28 high last 200.

The young Kenyan should hold his head up high, however. At the start of the month, Kimeli had run two career 10,000’s and his PR was 28:19. Today was his third 10k in 19 days (and second in five) and his second PR, as he ran 27:53.9 to win the Kenyan champs in Nairobi on June 10, then a 28:23.3 for 6th at the Kenyan Tirals on June 24th and a 27:14.43 tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y7tN8ACB-I

Results

Quick Take: Business as usual for Mo Farah

We didn’t learn anything about Farah tonight that we didn’t already know. We already knew that he’s not great at grinding out a fast time all alone and that’s still the case but he’s still the favorite over 5,000 and 10,000 meters, no matter who he’s facing, and with many of his biggest rivals (Geoffrey Kamworor, Paul Tanui, Tamirat Tola) sitting this one out, there was little doubt that he would win. A nice chance for the fans in Ostrava to see Farah before he moves to the roads, but the race itself was anticlimactic once he fell behind PR pace in the low 80 degree heat.

MB: Mo Farah runs 27:12 in 82deg weather and with poor pacing: Is he in PB shape? 

Men’s steeple: Kenya’s Benjamin Kigen wins in big PR of 8:11.54

Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto, who won the Kenyan Trials over the weekend, was a late scratch with an ankle injury so this race was up for grabs. By the time the final pacer stepped off at two kilometers, 2014 world junior champ Barnabas Kipyego held a lead of a few meters over a chase pack of five men. But by the bell, he had faded to the back of that pack.

Instead, it was Benjamin Kigen, who last week finished 4th at Kenya’s World Championship Trials, battling for the lead and he took it at the bell, quickly opening up a gap on the rest of the field on the first turn. From there, he was just too good over the final 300 meters as he crushed the field even with a slight stutter approaching the final hurdle.

Though Kigen smashed his 8:20 PR to win in 8:11.54, he won’t be going to Worlds as he lost to Conseslus Kipruto, Brimin Kipruto and Jairus Birech at the Trials (Ezekiel Kemboi will also be going as defending champ).

Results

Rest of meet results

Men’s 110mH

Wind: +0.6 m/s

Men’s 3000mSC

Men’s High Jump

Men’s Triple Jump

Men’s Shot Put

Men’s Javelin Throw

Women’s 200m

Wind: +1.2 m/s

Women’s 1500m

Women’s 100mH

Wind: +1.0 m/s

Women’s Pole Vault

Re-live the meet with our live thread. MB: Ostrava Golden Spike Live Thread: Bolt (2:55 pm ET) , Van Niekerk, Rudisha (2:05 pm) and Farah (10k 2:15 pm ET) all running.