World's Fastest Human--Q&A With Tim Montgomery

by Jon Hendershott

Tim Montgomery always has been enthusiastic about sprinting and his career. But since breaking the World Record in the 100 with his 9.78 scorcher at the Grand Prix Final in Paris on September 14, the 27-year-old has become positively ecstatic.

That’s because becoming the fastest man in history finally achieved the monumental goal Montgomery always believed he could attain. He always knew he had the talent, from a wind-aided, short-track 9.96 at age 19 to a 9.92 PR and Worlds bronze at 22. But he also had seasons plagued by injury…

T&FN: Three days after the WR you said you couldn’t believe you had done it. Now, a month later, what are your reactions?

Montgomery: I know I can go faster. I finally got the splits from the IAAF and my top speed was as fast as Ben Johnson’s. I had a great reaction at the start but I lost a lot in the first 30m, which I can fix. I lifted my hands up instead of sweeping them back, which helps power you forward at the start.

So I had to compensate later in the race for not following through at the start. But I went through 80m in 8.04; Ben did 8.02. When Maurice set the record, he did 8.09.

T&FN: John Smith was quoted that if you hadn’t lifted your hands instead of sweeping them back, you might have run 9.74. What did you think of that kind of estimate from someone like the coach of Maurice Greene?

Montgomery: Well, I had to smile about it because he has produced a lot of great sprinters. For someone who is your enemy to say that you can go faster, that’s incredible. Some people can’t be as realistic as that and it was good to know that John can be that way.

T&FN: You said afterward that your feet, knees and joints were sore. You’d never run an effort like that before, but did you ever guess it could dole out such a pounding to your body?

Montgomery: We saw that right after Michael Johnson ran his 19.32, he had to go straight to ice bags on his legs. After my 9.84 last year, I had to take off five days and reset my clock. Everything was off in practice.

After the record, my feet were all beat up from the pounding and pushing and the exertion I put on them. When you put so much stress on your body, no matter how you do it, you need time to recover. You can’t jump back on the track just a few days later.

T&FN: Much was made of you and Marion’s personal relationship when it was first revealed in Paris. You share your lives, but what do you like to do off the track?

Montgomery: We have our own lives, but it’s strange because we like the same stuff. We know she’s a tomboy [laughs], so we go fourwheelin’. We go out in the woods; go fishing together. We like the same movies; Mafia movies. I got to break down then and go to some of the women’s movies with her.

Playing video games against each other; football and basketball. I like fast cars; she likes fast cars. It’s just incredible that we like so many of the same things…

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

Kip Kangogo beats Boaz Cheboiywo? Vicky Gill upends Lauren Fleshman and the rest of the potent Stanford crew? There’s still plenty of racing before we get to nationals, but early-season surprises have indicated that the status isn’t exactly quo.

Highlights of races leading up to the important Pre-Nationals extravaganza:

Men: Kangogo New Kenyan Star

Minnesota’s Griak Invitational has almost become a secondary Pre-Nationals, as reflected in this year’s tough competition. Defending national champ Boaz Cheboiywo of Eastern Michigan led for much of the 8K layout on Minnesota’s golf course, but the Kenyan was caught in the final half-mile by countryman Kip Kangogo.

Kangogo, who ran 3:42.36 for 1500 this spring while at a Canadian junior college, finished in a quick 23:39. “He’s no longer a well-kept secret,” said BYU coach Ed Eyestone…

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

Ryan Hall Starts Fast Again

by Dan Lilot

Stanford soph Ryan Hall started the harrier season on a tear, winning the Notre Dame Invite by 10 seconds six days after a furious start gave him the Stanford Invite 4K.

The California native started his frosh campaign in similar fashion last year, winning Maine’s Keating Invitational, but the rest of his rookie year was less than successful as he faded to 37th at the Pac-10 and 76th at the nationals.

“Actually, I don’t know how I ran so well early last season,” says Hall. “I had IT-band and calf injuries all summer and really didn’t have much of a base coming into the season. But this year I’ve had 28 weeks averaging over 90M a week.”

And much of that at altitude. After redshirting the track season, Hall went back home to Big Bear Lake in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles where he “lived the life of a professional runner. I wanted to see what it was like to train like the Africans and Europeans. I did nothing but run, eat and sleep.”…

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

Pre-Nationals Set The Stage For November

by Don Kopriva

Terre Haute, Indiana, October 19—A number of conclusions may be drawn from the men’s side of the Pre-Nationals men’s meet.

•Stanford is every bit as good as advertised, scoring 27 points in the “Blue” division race off a 2-3-6-7-9 finish, without Ryan Hall.

•Colorado, even minus Dathan Ritzenhein, is still pretty darn good, going 1–2–3 in its “White” section for an 87-point win.

•Colorado’s Jorge Torres is on a mission that will end in his mind only with a Nationals win over Indiana State’s longer 10K layout (see p. 51 for a course description).

•Kip Kangogo’s win at Griak over defending national champ Boaz Cheboiywo was no fluke, but the BYU runner lost some of his once large lead and had to hang on to edge Stanford’s Grant Robison for the Blue-race win by 0.2.…

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

Radcliffe Destroys WR

by Sean Hartnett

Chicago, Illinois, October 13—Moments after witnessing April’s London Marathon, Carey Pinkowski looked dazed. The director of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon knew he would be hard pressed to match a day where Khalid Khannouchi had shipped his World Record across the pond and Paula Radcliffe’s runaway debut almost made it a clean sweep.

However, says Pinkowski, “It’s not the punch, but the counter-punch.” Leading with LaSalle’s checkbook and a proven course, Chicago countered with featured matchups between the marathon’s two fastest ever, both men (Khannouchi and Paul Tergat) and women (Radcliffe and Catherine Ndereba).

In spite of uncharacteristic windy conditions, the athletes rose to the bell, producing another epic competition as Radcliffe simply redefined women’s marathoning with a stunning 2:17:18 WR, and Khannouchi ran with tactical brilliance to score his third sub-2:06 victory.

Setting off at 7:30 AM with temperatures in the lower 40s, and a north wind blowing 10–15mph, the racers took advantage of conditions that were far better than the predicted 20–30mph blast of an invading cold front.

With her golden locks battened down under a streamlined blue hat and shades, Radcliffe sped through the opening 5K in 16:27, right on WR pace.…

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

Khannouchi Sub-2:06 Again

by Sean Hartnett

In what has become an annual October ritual in Chicago, a rabbit-littered lead men’s pack blitzed through the initial miles well under WR pace. While the pace was high, it was erratic as stretches slowed by the choppy winds were followed by corrective surges.

Running at the back of the 15-man group, Khalid Khannouchi was almost dropped several times in the early going and voiced his displeasure with the “uneven surging pace.”

Sensing that he might be vulnerable to a break, Khannouchi assumed a more prominent position in the pack that included Paul Tergat, Toshinari Takaoka, defending champ Ben Kimondiu, Abdelkader El Mouaziz and sub-2:09 men John Kagwe, Peter Githuka, Driss El Himer and Ian Syster.

Gert Thys led a pack of a dozen runners through the halfway mats in 62:31, and the race remained in the hands of pacers through 16M when El Mouaziz stepped to the front.

The Moroccan’s fierce surging tactics had scored victories in London and New York, but he found it difficult to surge off 2:05 pace. After two miles up front, El Mouaziz eased off, and despite a tailwind, the pace dawdled…

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

2002 High School Annual--All-Americas, Year Lists

Men’s Team

compiled by Jack Shepard

In the wake of the phenomenal ’01 season it might be easy to think of ’02 as a bit of a down year for high school men, but in reality it was one of the better years in the last decade. Not only were several vintage records broken (see p. 27) but depth across the board was also very impressive.

This year’s All-America squad is led by a pair of the recordsetters, new high jump Andra Manson and long hurdles topper Kenneth Ferguson…

Women's Team

compiled by Mike Kennedy

The first thing one notices about this year’s Women’s All-America team is that a small group of sprinters really hogged the action, with only 9 different bodies being needed to fill the 15 spots available in the 100, 200 and 400.

Rating in all three dashes—No. 3 in the 100, No. 1s in the 200 and 400—was Sanya Richards.

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

High School Men's AOY Andra Manson

by Sieg Lindstrom

As a prep senior born in ’84 and partial in his recreational pursuits to au courant video games such as “NBA Live” and “College Football 2003,” Men’s High School Athlete Of The Year Andra Manson (Brenham, Texas) has probably never seen The Reluctant Astronaut, a ’67 movie comedy with a title that sort of describes him.

Don Knotts starred in the film as Roy Fleming, a carnival rocket-ride operator who gets tapped for spaceflight. The only problem is Fleming is afraid of heights.

Manson—the High School and American Junior Record holder in the high jump, based on his rise to 7-7 at the World Junior Championships in July—is demonstrably unfazed by heights, of course. In fact, he soared over 10 in a row in the final in Jamaica—three more than he needed to win.

But reluctance had indeed been his byword as a frequent flyer all season. Prior to the World Juniors, Manson generally jumped over as few bars as possible, opting to rise only as high as needed to secure victory.

“I go into every track meet, all I want to do is win,” says Manson, a man not only of few attempts, but also few words.

“We didn’t try to go as high as he could go every meet,” says Billy Johnston, Brenham’s high jump coach during Manson’s four years at the school…

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

High School Women's AOY Sanya Richards

by Dan Lilot

The day before the big Texas–Oklahoma football grudge match is not the best time to try to get in touch with people in Austin.

On such a day, the Longhorn campus is, as High School Athlete Of The Year Sanya Richards (Aquinas, Ft. Lauderdale) describes it, “a ghost town.”

One of the few who did not make the trip to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Richards watched the game on TV. But don’t get the idea that the Jamaican-cum-Floridian is reluctant to display the hook-’em-horns mentality.

“I love it,” says Richards of her new digs. “It’s a different feel, but everything is going extremely well.”

And why shouldn’t it? Richards is coming off an amazing senior year that saw her set PRs of 11.39, 23.01 and 50.69, the first and last leading the yearly lists. She also won a 200/400 double at USATF Juniors and the 1-lap time set High School and U.S. Junior Records. At the World Juniors she earned bronze (200) and silver (400) medals before stepping in a hole and having to forego relay duty.

But almost as amazing as her final prep year was how much she improved from her junior campaign. Not a bad year, mind you, seeing as she was a runner-up at the adidas Outdoor Championships 400 and ranked No. 4 in the 200 (after having been No. 4 in the 100 as a soph).

“It was all mental,” Richards says of her improvement. “Prior to my senior year I decided I would do everything it took to be good.”…

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

Still The World's Fastest—Experts Remember Bob Hayes

Memories tend to be short in the sporting world, but even more than 30 years after his heroics, there are those who think that Florida A&M’s Bob Hayes may well be the all-time “World’s Fastest Human.”

In a brief sprinting career which saw him rank No. 1 in the world for three straight years, become the first sub-6 sprinter indoors, the first 9.1 man at 100y and tie the 100m record despite the use of an auto-timing system when his predecessors had hand-timing, he stamped an indelible mark on the sport. He punctuated that career with a pair of brilliant gold medal performances in his last meet, the ’64 Tokyo Olympics.

With his untimely passing (see p. 42), we asked four veteran observers of the sport for their thoughts on his placing in the all-time sprint pantheon.

Founding Editor Cordner Nelson

I firmly believe Bob Hayes had the most natural speed of any sprinter in the entire history of track.

Today’s sprinters run faster, but they are running on artificial surfaces much faster than anything Hayes knew. Today’s sprinters are professionals who train year-round, while he spent only about three months on the track.

Today’s professionals have special coaches, weight training, and “supplements” unknown to Hayes. Great sprinters such as Carl Lewis and Mo Greene improved for many years beyond college. Hayes quit to play pro football, his full potential barely tapped.

In Tokyo, he ran the 100 final in the curb lane soon after it was roughed up by 35 walkers going around three times. Hayes said it felt soft. Still he won by seven feet.

His last race cannot be compared to others, but witnesses were astounded. On the anchor leg of the relay, Hayes received the baton in 5th, 3y behind. His spectacular explosion gained the lead within 30 and he won by 3 more. Then he dropped track to become the fastest football player ever…

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

From The Editor

An open letter to the USATF president, Bill Roe, and the CEO, Craig Masback.

Dear Bill & Craig—You signed the letter that came to me some weeks back with the ballot for this year’s class of the Hall Of Fame. My response is simple: thanks, but no thanks. Once again I’ll avail myself of the opportunity not to vote (anybody miss me yet?), for the simple reason that the whole HOF procedure is so goofy I use my non-participation as a form of protest. And as a hope that you can upgrade the HOF process, as you have done with so many other parts of the organization.…

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

And in the December Issue…

HERE’S A STAT THAT MIGHT AMAZE YOU: no No. 1-ranked marathoner has ever earned Athlete Of The Year honors from T&FN. No, we don’t have any bias against the masters of the macadam—it’s just hard for somebody who only races once or twice a year to put up a season that matches what track racers, jumpers and throwers usually do.

But fast-forward to 2002 and a pair of scintillating 26M runs by Paula Radcliffe and Khalid Khannouchi. Suddenly each is a very big player in the AOY game.

Will either/both emerge from the pack to rate as an overall No. 1?

That big question—along with two-score similar ones for each individual event—will be answered in the must-read December issue of T&FN.

Yes, it’s our famed Annual Edition, bringing you the 56th incarnation of our intergalactically-renowned World Rankings. Others do rankings these days, but these are the originals, and they’re still the best.