Glasgow Day 1 Distance Recap: Sifan Hassan Wins Again and Hagos Gebrhiwet is Back
By LetsRun.com
July 11, 2014
Day one of the Sainsbury’s Glasgow Grand Prix is in the books and there were two distance events on the docket: the women’s 1500 and the men’s 5000. Both races boasted strong fields, but despite good conditions, neither race ended up going particularly fast. The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan, who shockingly won the 1500 in Paris last weekend over Jenny Simpson in a world-leading 3:57.00, won again, this time holding off world champ Abeba Aregawi of Sweden over the final 100 meters to win in 4:00.67. The men’s 5000 came down to a kick between Ethiopians Yenew Alamirew and Hagos Gebrhiwet and after they both covered the first 200 of the final lap in 25.5 seconds, it was Gebrhiwet who died less over the last 200, winning in 13:11.09.
It was a good day for the Nike Oregon Project as Jordan Hasay PR’d by over two seconds, Treniere Moser ran a season’s best and Cam Levins ran well to finish sixth in the men’s 5000. The other American-based runners struggled, especially the men’s 5000 runners. The top four men from USAs were entered but they finished up 9th, 11th, 12th and 14th.
Recaps and quick thoughts on both races below. The sprint and field action was hot in Glasgow with Ashton Eaton celebrating, Yohan Blake leaving in a wheelchair and much more. Full sprint/field recap here.
Women’s 1500: Hassan Beats Aregawi Again
It was a two-woman race in the last 100
This one finished in a similar fashion to last week’s 1500 in Paris, where Hassan outkicked Jenny Simpson to win. This time, it was Hassan and world indoor/outdoor champ Abeba Aregawi who were clear of the field by the last 100, with Hassan again emerging victorious in 4:00.67 to claim her second DL win in a week. The time wasn’t as fast on Friday in Glasgow, but the message was clear: the 21-year-old Hassan is here to stay.
The Race
The rabbits, including American Molly Beckwith-Ludlow, were asked for 2:07 through 800 and they came through on pace through 400 in 63.70. At that point, Hassan was in second-to-last, but she would move up a lot on the home stretch, settling in behind Norway’s Ingvill Makestad Bovim, Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and Aregawi as the field hit two laps to go.
Beckwith-Ludlow passed 800 in 2:08.13 with a gap of around two meters to Makestad Bovim and an additional two to Obiri. At the bell, Hassan moved to the front and was quickly followed by Aregawi. Those two looked in control, while Obiri, who moved up to third, was pumping her arms furiously and looked to be in a full-on sprint, even though they hit 1200 in a modest 3:16.09 (third 400 of 67.96). Americans Jordan Hasay, Morgan Uceny and Treniere Moser were about a second behind toward the back of the main pack.
Hassan and Aregawi separated from the field with 100 to go, with Ethiopian Axumawit Embaye in third and a gap between Embaye and the rest of the field. With a 60.87 last lap, Hassan was simply too good over the last 100 and the places would not change: Aregawi ended up second and Embaye in third. British champ Laura Weightman was fourth and four-time U.S. champ Treniere Moser closed well for fifth in a season-best 4:04.18. Obiri faded to eighth, with Uceny 10th and Hasay dead last (though in a big PR of 4:07.70).
Sifan Hassan wins in Glasgow
Quick Thought #1: Sifan Hassan is the real deal.
Really, this should have been clear after she ran a world-leading 3:57.00 to beat a great field in Paris last week, but with two wins in two, Hassan is now the woman to beat in the 1500. Earlier this year, it looked like Aregawi wouldn’t be challenged at next month’s European Championships in Zurich, but now the women’s 1500 is one of the marquee events with Hassan in the mix.
Quick Thought #2: Jordan Hasay ran a big PB to get last in this one.
Hasay came in with a 4:10.28 pb and left with a 4:07.70 pb. Hasay’s speed is headed in the right direction but she’s still got a ways to go to catch up with the super US long distance elites like Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan. Goucher’s pb is 4:05.14 and Flanagan’s is 4:05.86.
Still, Hasay now has PRs at 1500, mile, 2 mile, 5k and 10k in 2014 and just barely missed winning her first U.S. championship in Sacramento. Not bad for her first full season as a pro.
Update: Hasay is ahead of Deena Kastor’s 4:07.82 pb.
Quick Thought #3: Hellen Obiri is going to have to be on top of her game to win Commonwealths.
Up through Paris last week, Obiri had been basically unbeatable this year. In Paris, she was just third but still ran very fast – 3:58.89. Today, the Kenyan was just eighth in a modest 4:05.26.
If we were coaching her, we’d immediately have her get a blood test to make sure her ferritin level was ok.
Quick Thought #4: Weightman was happy with her place but said her tactics could have been better.
With the top three having separated, it came down to a big kick for fourth and Weightman ended up winning that race-within-the-race.
“I’m really pleased to have come fourth. I had a strong last lap,” Weightman, who was just 8th Paris despite running 4:00.17, told the BBC after the race. That being said, Weightman added she wasn’t happy with her tactics.
Discuss this race in our messageboard: JORDAN HASAY with 3-sec PR over 1500m.
| RANK | ATHLETE | NATION | RESULT | DIAMOND POINTS | DIAMOND RANKING | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
NED
|
4:00.67
|
MR
|
9
|
2
|
||
|
2
|
SWE
|
4:00.94
|
12
|
1
|
 |
||
|
3
|
ETH
|
4:02.78
|
1
|
6
|
|||
|
4
|
GBR
|
4:03.98
|
|||||
|
5
|
USA
|
4:04.18
|
SB
|
||||
|
6
|
SWE
|
4:04.23
|
|||||
|
7
|
NOR
|
4:04.33
|
SB
|
||||
|
8
|
KEN
|
4:05.26
|
5
|
3
|
|||
|
9
|
POL
|
4:05.40
|
SB
|
||||
|
10
|
USA
|
4:05.40
|
|||||
|
11
|
CAN
|
4:05.47
|
|||||
|
12
|
AUS
|
4:06.30
|
|||||
|
13
|
USA
|
4:07.70
|
PB
|
||||
|
USA
|
DNF
|
||||||
|
KEN
|
DNF
|
||||||
Men’s 5000: Hagos Gebrhiwet Returns To Form As The Americans Struggle
Talk about a strange race.
The men’s 5000 featured both a bizarre start and finish, but the outcome was a bit what people are used to – an Ethiopian winner.
2013 World Championship silver medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet who had been struggling this year, found his old form and got the win after a great last-lap battle with the 2014 Diamond League points leader Yenew Alamirew in 13:11.09 after a 53.96 final lap that went roughly 25.5, 28.5. Alamirew was second in 13:11.76 with Edwin Soi, who ran a world-leading 12:59.82 to win in Paris, a well-beaten third in 13:13.52.
Four Americans were in the race but none of them were very competitive as Andrew Bumbalough was the best of them in ninth in 13:25.50. The top North American in the race was Canada’s Cam Levins. Levins ran great and actually had the lead just before the bell. He ended up sixth in 13:15.38 and was the only person in the top 10 close to his pb (13:15.19).
The race
Choge was the only one to go with the rabbits early
The field crawled at the start of this one. Most of the actual competitors were around 35ish for the first 200. Kenya’s Augustine Choge realized no one was going to go with the rabbits and so he sprinted and bridged the gap to them, giving him a huge six-second lead at 800 (2:08 versus the pack’s 2:14).
Alamirew realized that Choge was a threat to steal the race much like Emma Coburn did in Shanghai and thus started to run an honest pace and lead the chase pack. At 1600, the lead was down to roughly 4 seconds (4:16 leaders, 4:20 pack).
The 4-second gap was still there at 3k (8:00.35) when the rabbits dropped. With no rabbits, Choge was soon caught by the chase pack of seven, who caught up to him by the 3600 mark.
From 3000 to 3600, the Americans in the race all became also-rans as the main pack splintered into two packs. There was the group of seven who moved up and caught Choge and then a second pack, led by American Bernard Lagat but which also included Bumbalough, Ryan Hill and Hassan Mead, which wasn’t able to make the move.
Once Choge was caught, not a whole lot happened until the last lap. The fourth-to-last (64.90) and third-to-last (64.70) were in the 64 range and the pace stayed at this 64ish tempo until 600 remained and Canada’s Cam Levins started to move up. Levins would go from the back of the pack to the lead just before the bell as the penultimate lap was run in 62.92.
But at the bell, it nearly instantly became a two-person race. Gebrhiwet went to the lead but Alamirew responded quickly and came flying by Gebrhiwet. Alamirew seemed to be going all out on the backstretch. Could he possibly continue this pace?
Gebrhiwet was back to his old form today
The answer was no. Once he hit the homestretch, Gebrhiwet came back on him and got the win but both men totally tied up in the final, 200 which was more than three seconds slower than the first 200 of the last lap.
Quick Thought #1:That was a weird one.
A near breakaway at the start and then a last lap that reminded us of a high school race.
The BBC announcer said it best, “They were running as if every line was the finishing line.”
The 4 final laps were 64.90, 64.70, 62.92, 53.96 so that adds up to a 4:06.49 final 1600.
Gebrhiwet and Alamirew battle
Quick Thought #2: Welcome back Hagos!!!
Earlier this week, we were wondering what was wrong with Hagos Gebrhiwet as he’d gotten worse in every DL 5000 he’d run this year:
13:06.88 – 3rd in Shanghai on May 18th
13:13.19 – 7th at Pre on May 31st
13:20.17 – 12th in Paris on July 5th
This was a big step forward.
Quick Thought #3: Not a good day for the Americans
At 3k, the Americans were roughly 5 seconds back of the leaders. If they were 8:05 at 3k, that means they were on 13:28 pace. The leaders were on 13:20 pace. The top American only ran 13:25.50 so basically the Americans stayed steady and kicked it in whereas the chase pack picked it up a lot.
It’s hard to fathom, but in his two DL 5000s this year, Bernard Lagat has run 13:31 and 13:27 and lost to four different Americans — none of whom are Galen Rupp.
Cam Levins moves towards the lead on the penultimate lap
Quick Thought #4: The odd pacing likely cost Cam Levins the Canadian record
Levins had a great run and led the group of six that separated at the bell. He couldn’t quite kick with the Africans but still got up for sixth in 13:15.38, just .19 off his PR. Factoring in the time and how close he finished to the winner, this was the best 5000 performance of his life.
But more than missing a PR, Levins missed Jeff Schiebler’s Canadian record of 13:13.96. Levins was clearly in shape to run that today and if the pace was just a little quicker at the beginning, he would have had no problem getting under it. As it is, Schiebler’s record will live to see another day.
Discuss this race on our messageboard: DOWN GOES LAGAT… to Cam Levins over 5000m!!!
*Lagat 13:27.08 is this it for him?
*LAGAT, LEVINS, MEAD, SOI, LONGOSIWA, ALAMIREW, ROP, etc. all racing in Glasgow on Friday!
| RANK | ATHLETE | NATION | RESULT | DIAMOND POINTS | DIAMOND RANKING | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
ETH
|
13:11.09
|
5
|
4
|
|||
|
2
|
ETH
|
13:11.76
|
14
|
1
|
|
||
|
3
|
KEN
|
13:13.52
|
6
|
2
|
|||
|
4
|
KEN
|
13:14.02
|
2
|
5
|
|||
|
5
|
KEN
|
13:14.91
|
|||||
|
6
|
CAN
|
13:15.38
|
SB
|
||||
|
7
|
KEN
|
13:18.75
|
|||||
|
8
|
ETH
|
13:19.43
|
|||||
|
9
|
USA
|
13:25.50
|
|||||
|
10
|
AUS
|
13:25.68
|
SB
|
||||
|
11
|
USA
|
13:26.49
|
|||||
|
12
|
USA
|
13:27.08
|
SB
|
||||
|
13
|
ETH
|
13:28.41
|
|||||
|
14
|
USA
|
13:30.95
|
|||||
|
15
|
GBR
|
13:31.21
|
PB
|
||||
|
16
|
AUS
|
13:49.83
|
|||||
|
17
|
GBR
|
13:57.95
|
|||||
|
KEN
|
DNF
|
||||||
|
KEN
|
DNF
|
||||||
|
ETH
|
DNS
|
||||||
More Glasgow: LRC Sprint/Field Ashton Eaton Celebrates, Yohan Blake Leaves in a Wheel Chair, McCorory over Richards-Ross, Big Throws by Americans, Alonso Edward is Back in Glasgow
*Day 1 Full Results