October 2002 Issue

Montgomery New World’s Fastest Human

by Garry Hill

Paris, France, September 14—Unless you’ve been doing a Rip Van Winkle act, in this age of modern communications you surely already know that Tim Montgomery highlighted the Grand Prix Final with an unlooked-for World Record in the 100. So the question on your lips may well be, “How can somebody become the newest World’s Fastest Human and not appear on the cover of Track & Field News?”

Not to bore you with the technical details of the publishing business, but the story is simply that the cover photo—like most of the issue—had already irrevocably been at the printer for a week when Montgomery’s magic moment came. And it is only due to the marvels of modern communication that the author could slip this story in at the last minute.

And what a story it was:

•One with an ending favored far more by Americans than by Britons, as the mantle of the world’s No. 1 sprinter was apparently only on loan to Dwain Chambers for a couple of weeks before it returned to U.S. hands.

•One not favored by those in the HSI camp, who while undoubtedly glad to see Montgomery keep the top-sprinter title from Chambers, were certainly chagrined to have favored son Maurice Greene—who following his desultory performances of the last month didn’t even line up for the race—lose his WR.

•One favored by Nike, which recently lost Greene to adidas, only to see the swoosh-footed Montgomery require only 9.78 seconds to cover the 109.4y of track and thus snip 0.01 from Greene’s standard, set in Athens in ’99.

In the September issue of T&FN Marion Jones described what would someday be needed for her to break Flojo’s WR in the women’s 100. She laid out a scenario that required nothing short of perfection: “Even my eggs will need to be scrambled perfectly.”

Montgomery, who had been romantically linked with Maid Marion in recent weeks, came about as near to perfection as possible…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Zürich Starts Sprint To GP Finish

by Sieg Lindstrom

Zürich, Switzerland, August 16—The Weltklasse meet, always a Euro Circuit crown jewel of rare quality, arrived with an atmosphere of heightened suspense over how the Golden League stars would respond after a 3-week break that saw the contesting of various Area and Group championships.

Steepler Brahim Boulami, winner of the African title 6 days earlier, answered stunningly with a boggling World Record, 7:53.17, more than 2 seconds faster than his own previous global standard.”

[Editor’s note: this story was written in proper historical context, but two weeks later a drug positive was announced for apparent WR setter Boulami.]…

Americans, with no Commonwealth, Euros or African Champs to contest, returned with mixed results. Marion Jones zipped a crisp 10.88 in the 100 against a 1.5mps wind, gaining a clear lead from Tayna Lawrence by halfway and holding almost a meter’s lead over Chryste Gaines at the finish.

That kept Jones alive in the Golden League jackpot chase, along with Hicham El Guerrouj, Ana Guevara and Felix Sánchez.

Gail Devers, by contrast, met her GL downfall in the 100H. She started about even with Spain’s Glory Alozie and at hurdles 5 and 6 looked poised to take the lead. “I made a mistake at the fifth hurdle,” Devers said, “and afterwards there was no chance for me.”…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Feofanova Clears The Air

by Ed Gordon

by Roy Conrad

Glasgow, Scotland, August 18—Cold and heavy rains soaked the U.S.–Great Britain–Russia triangular meet, but the weather gods must be fans of the women’s vault as the downpour abated just in time for another sky-high clash between Svetlana Feofanova and Stacy Dragila.

Russia’s European champ prevailed again over the WR holder as Feofanova topped 15-13/4 on her second try. She earlier needed her allotted trio of attempts to clear 14-9, as did Dragila. The American then missed 15-13/4 and after she cleared, Feofanova took three shots at a WR 15-93/4 but none were close.

After the star duo made 14-9, they actually trailed Feofanova’s teammate Yelena Isinbayeva who had cleared initially. She also couldn’t negotiate 15-13/4, but did relegate Dragila to 3rd…

Dragila’s 3-year reign atop the World Rankings in the pole vault will surely end this year, as there just isn’t enough time left to overcome her 0–9 record against Feofanova.

So dominant has the Russian star been this year that she has even pulled even in their all-time matchups at 11–11 despite losing to the American 0–2 in ’00 and 2–9 in ’01.

Even worse for the off-form Dragila, in only one of their nine meetings through July 23 was she able to finish as high as 2nd.

The ’02 meetings:

Feb. 6, Stockholm—Feofanova 15-5 3/4, Dragila 14-8 (2)

Feb. 17, Birmingham—Feofanova 15-2 3/4, Dragila 14-2 3/4 (5)

Feb. 20, Piraeus—Feofanova 15-1, Dragila 14-9 (=4)

Feb. 24, Liévin—Feofanova 15-6 1/2, Dragila 14-11 1/2 (4)

July 7, Réthymnon—Feofanova 15-1 3/4, Dragila 14-6 (3)

July 16, Stockholm—Feofanova 15-8 1/4, Dragila 14-6 (6)

July 19, Monaco—Feofanova 15-4 1/2, Dragila 14-4 3/4 (=3)

July 18, Glasgow—Feofanova 15-1 3/4, Dragila 14-9 (3)

July 23, London—Feofanova 15-1 3/4, Dragila 14-10 (4)

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Huge Pair Of Century Showdowns

by Sieg Lindstrom

London, England, August 23—When Dwain Chambers, Maurice Greene and Tim Montgomery (and Marion Jones and Zhanna Pintusevich-Block) all walked tall into a pair of High Noon 100m showdowns at sold-out Crystal Palace, the Norwich Union GP couldn’t help but please the paying public.

For Gary Cooper-like clarity of purpose—absent the moral passion play and life-and-death implications, of course—no other showdown matched the women’s dash. The irresistible pairing was the world champ/world leader against the Olympic champ whose seasonal best was inferior by just 0.01, with the question to be answered, “Who’s No. 1?”

The American, whose long frame usually works against her start, sprung from the blocks explosively, albeit with what looked like a tiny hitch in her first step, and grabbed immediate control of the race, run into an 0.5 wind. The Ukrainian never challenged…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Happy Birthday, Felix!

by Ed Gordon

Brussels, Belgium, August 30—As the penultimate stop on the Golden League circuit, the Van Damme Memorial was in its customary role as the gatekeeper for the final to be staged in Berlin one week later.

The guardians of those gates at Stade Roi Baudoin weren’t overly demanding on this evening, as all four aspirants to the gold rewards passed safely through the Belgian capital.

Felix Sánchez had stride problems in the early stages of his 400H race. As a result European champion Stéphane Diagana and Sydney silver medalist Hadi Al-Somaily handled the lead for an uncharacteristically long time.

It wasn’t until the final hurdle that the world champion was able to get in front of the Frenchman, whom he outsprinted on the run-in for a 47.99–48.05 win to stay alive in the dash for cash. Sánchez couldn’t have asked for a better present on his 25th birthday.

“I didn’t get out well today,” he said. “I’m used to starting with the left leg and it wasn’t until the sixth hurdle that I was able to resume my normal stride pattern. I was a little scared, but I didn’t panic.”…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

4 Share In 7-Meet Gold Rush

by Ed Gordon

Berlin, Germany, September 6—The early stages of this year’s Golden League series were a bit of a bloodbath, with seven of the twelve first-meet winners falling out of contention after only three of the seven stops.

Of those remaining, another fell by the wayside at meeting five. The surviving four—Hicham El Guerrouj, Felix Sánchez, Marion Jones and Ana Guevara—appeared to be rock-solid, and it was no real surprise when all of them marched forward to Berlin to take a share of the 50kg of gold.

Due to the ongoing renovation of the Berlin Olympic Stadium in preparation for soccer’s ’06 World Cup, the new management of the ISTAF GP was forced to use the much cozier (c20,000 seats) Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark in East Berlin, the site of the “Olympischer Tag” meeting during the old DDR days.

Now—-replete with a section of the old Berlin Wall forming part of the western side—-the stadium was seeing an international competition for the first time since ’89. And ironically, it was this former East German locale which paid witness to the very capitalistic distribution of Golden League prize money…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Training The U.S. Way

by Duncan Mackay

In the early hours of the morning at a party in Berlin’s hip Mercedes Club a young Briton stands in the corner alone, away from the throbbing techno beat of the dance floor, and watches a TV replay of the 100-meter race he had won at the Golden League meeting earlier (see p. 22).

Dwain Chambers had overcome a sluggish start to win in 10.02, but the most significant aspect was that it was the fifth consecutive race that he had beaten Olympic champion/WR holder Maurice Greene.

“I’ve got the winning formula now,” says Chambers, his gold tooth glistening under the disco lights. “I’ve got that feeling of winning that made Maurice so successful. That’s what I’ve obtained this year. I want to keep it as long as possible.”…

Chambers has been marked as a world-beater since ’97, when he set a World Junior Record of 10.06. However, finishing only 4th in the Olympics and then 5th in the ’01 World Champs had led to a period of introspection about why he appeared to be going backwards. He and Mike McFarlane, an ’84 Olympic 100 finalist and one of Britain’s top coaches, sat down during the fall and decided that drastic action was needed.

McFarlane contacted Remi Korchemny, the Ukrainian coach who once worked with ’72 Olympic double gold medalist Valeriy Borzov. They arranged for Chambers to travel to the San Francisco area to train with Korchemny during the winter. There, his technique was stripped down and put back together like a high-performance racing car.

“We live in our own world in Britain and Europe and we think we know about the Americans, but we don’t,” says Chambers. “I’ve been out there with them and I felt like a novice when I went on the track for the first time. But if I want to beat them I’ve got to work with them. You think you know, but when you are in the States training with them you realize it is a totally different ballgame.”…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Suzy Sub-4:00 Again

by Roy Conrad

Rieti, Italy, September 8—Suzy Favor Hamilton joined Mary Slaney as the only two U.S. women ever to run three sub-4:00 1500s in one season when SFH clocked 3:59.43 at the Rieti 2002 GP II.

The 34-year-old Wisconsin native ran 0.03 quicker just two nights earlier for 2nd in Berlin. Here, a 61.98 final lap gave Favor Hamilton a comfortable win ahead of Carla Sacramento (4:02.28) and Natalya Gorelova (4:02.94).

“I was very pleased and to some extent surprised with [this] race,” SFH related via e-mail (from an account which, fittingly, has “4-flat” in its name). “A sub-4 certainly wasn’t the goal. I needed to run Rieti because I hadn’t scored in enough GP races to qualify for the GP Final.”…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

5K Vets Fight Injury

by Jon Hendershott

In June of ’01 Bob Kennedy seemed to be back to his dominating self, winning the U.S. 5000 title for the fourth time. Three weeks later he clocked the season’s fastest U.S. time, 13:17.51. But just three weeks after that a case of anemia and an underactive thyroid kept the American Record holder out of the World Championships.

Two seasons ago, Adam Goucher ruled the American 5K roost. His Olympic Trials victory was his second consecutive nationals win and he placed 12th in Sydney before finishing 11th in the Worlds last year.

Yet Goucher, now 27, raced only twice this season while battling a back problem which had bedeviled him since even before the ’00 Trials.

And the 32-year-old Kennedy hasn’t track-raced at all after first battling plantar fasciitis in the winter and then incurring an irritated leg nerve shortly before he was to head to Europe for the circuit’s second half.

The stories of both runners illustrate the ultra-fine line between health and injury, when elite athletes have to place stringent demands on their bodies so they can do what they want to do most—compete at the highest level.

Both trace their latest round of physical woes to the late spring of ’00

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Webb Turns Pro

After setting the track world ablaze with his High School Record 3:53.43 mile in ’01, Alan Webb experienced a trying—by his standards—frosh year at Michigan.

After his solid cross country season, highlighted by a Big 10 title and an 11th at the NCs, a winter Achilles injury hampered his preparation for outdoors.

A conference 1500 title and an NCAA 4th would add up to a fantastic first-year campaign for most, but Webb was dissatisfied, even though only four other frosh had ever finished higher at the nationals.

Ending his season after the NCAA, Webb decided to leave Ann Arbor and move back home to Virginia. There he was reunited with prep mentor Scott Raczko, linked up with agent Ray Flynn and signed a lucrative contract with Nike rumored to be worth upwards of $250,000 per annum through ’08. This fall Webb will attend George Mason (but not run for the school) and live in Arlington, Virginia.

In discussing his new tack, he talked to various reporters via a USATF conference call while on vacation with his family at Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, in mid-August…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

NCAA Men’s Cross Country Preview

by Don Kopriva

There’s almost as much talk about two All Americas from 2001 who won’t be competing in the NCAA Div. I men’s cross country title race (November 25 in Terre Haute, Indiana) as there is about who will be running.

Former Michigan ace Alan Webb opted to turn pro, while the other half of the ’00–01 prep season’s star distance duo, Colorado soph Dathan Ritzenhein, has been idled—likely for the season—by a stress fracture in his right femur.

The loss of Big 10 champ and NCAA 11th-placer Webb makes Michigan’s hope to advance to the 31-team final at Indiana State even more remote. But the probable loss of 19-year-old wunderkind Ritzenhein has Colorado in search of fourth and fifth runners to shore up its title defense.

Prior to Ritz’s injury, this year’s NCAA looked as if it could be a literal re-run of the ’01 affair, where the 90 for Mark Wetmore’s Buffaloes edged Vin Lananna’s Stanford crew by a point for Colorado’s first title in the closest team battle since 1970.

Although CU was ranked No. 1 in the preseason coaches’ poll, most observers now give Stanford the nod. It seems to have enough depth that Lananna’s second five could finish among the top 10 teams.

But, 10 men don’t win meets—5 and 7 do—so Colorado isn’t ready by a long shot to give up and hand the trophy to Stanford, Arkansas or any other title wannabes.

“We still have three of the best runners in the country,” attests CU senior Jorge Torres…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Four Track Champs To Clash In XC

by Sieg Lindstrom

Why do distance fans love cross country? For more reasons than you can count. But one huge appeal is that the sport brings together runners from across the distance spectrum, milers to marathoners, and cuts ’em loose against each other.

The disparate significance of cross country and approaches to the discipline by Donald Sage, Daniel Lincoln, David Kimani and Boaz Cheboiywo—’02 NCAA track champs in the 1500, steeple, 5K and 10K—illustrate the overland sport’s melting pot appeal…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

NCAA Women’s Cross Country Preview

by Dan Lilot

Standard procedure for constructing a cross country preview involves looking at who did what the previous year, which athletes graduated, who is coming back and which schools grabbed the incoming talent.

Would that it were so easy. Cross country is an entirely unforgiving sport, the training necessary to be one of the best often leading to injuries. And especially on the women’s side, an athlete can come out of nowhere or drop off the face of the earth.

However, such is the strength of defending champions BYU that this just might be the year the formcharts prove correct.

But, jokes Cougar head coach Patrick Shane, “We don’t need to defend anything. The trophy [from last year’s overwhelming victory] is already in the case.”

Analyzing this year’s squad, Shane says, “We’re not the team we were last year.”

Yeah, they might be better. …

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

Duke’s Hot Frosh Women

by Dan Lilot

The first weeks of college can be a trying time for both parents and children alike. But for college coaches? Just ask Duke’s Jan Ogilvie. Only a day before the new school year began, she learned that Natasha Roetter, the two-time Northeast Foot Locker Cross Country champ, would not be running.

Despite the shock of losing a star recruit, the Blue Devil coaching staff knew that even without Roetter they have an impressive recruiting class that could immediately make them competitive this cross country season.

The impressive yearlings include Foot Locker finalists Laura Stanley (5th) and Sally Meyerhoff (12th), former National Scholastic 800 champ Shannon Rowbury, Cal State 3200 champ Clara Horowitz, New Jersey 3200 champ Elizabeth Wort and promising Caroline Bierbaum, who placed 9th at Foot Locker Northeast, but has never run track due to tennis conflicts.

So how did Duke, a school known more for its men’s hoops, attract a bumper crop of women that one might have expected to show up at Stanford instead of Durham, North Carolina?…

(for more, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

From The Editor

Is this a race or a damned parade? Why rabbits are ruining big-time racing…

(for the full opinion, read the October Issue of Track & Field News)

And in the November issue…

It’s our big High School Annual edition. Check out all the choices for the Prep All-American team, read about the HS Athletes Of The Year and check out those deep lists.