December 2002 Issue

Radcliffe & El Guerrouj ’02 Athletes Of The Year

Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain and Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco as its 2002 Athletes Of The Year in its December edition.

T&FN's international panel of experts made marathon World Record setter Radcliffe, 28, an almost unanimous choice for No. 1, according her the top spot on 32 of the 35 ballots. The other votes for No. 1 went to Marion Jones (2) and Ana Guevara (1).

In becoming just the second ever to be named men's AOY three times (Carl Lewis did it in 1982–84), mile star El Guerrouj had a very tough battle. Indeed, voting runner-up Khalid Khannouchi actually got more 1st-place votes, 17-16. But the marathoner World Record setter had less support across the board, so El Guerrouj, 28, was able to defend his status as No. 1. Hurdler Felix Sánchez (4) and sprinter Tim Montgomery (1) also got 1st-place votes.

Men's Voting Leaders:

1. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco--1500m) 344
2. Khalid Khannouchi (US--marathon) 319
3. Felix Sánchez (Dominican Republic--400 hurdles) 303
4. Róbert Fazekas (Hungary--discus) 245
5. Adam Nelson (US--shot put) 188
6. Tim Montgomery (US--100m) 157
7. Sergey Makarov (Russia--javelin) 145
8. Roman Sebrle (Czech Republic--decathlon) 120
9. Wilson Kipketer (Denmark--800m) 90
10. Francisco Fernández (Spain--20K walk) 63

Women's Voting Leaders:

1. Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain--distances) 344
2. Marion Jones (US--sprints) 305
3. Ana Guevara (Mexico--400m) 265
4. Svetlana Feofanova (Russia--pole vault) 189
5. Tatyana Kotova (Russia--long jump) 172
6. Gail Devers (US--100 hurdles) 161
7. Kajsa Bergqvist (Sweden--high jump) 149
8. Süreyya Ayhan (Turkey--1500m) 144
9. Maria Mutola (Mozambique--800m) 65
10. Yuliya Pechonkina (Russia--400 hurdles) 40

(for the complete charts with distribution of votes, read the December Issue of Track & Field News)

T&FN Interview: Paula Radcliffe

by Sean Hartnett

T&FN: Your marathon training was in the 130–140M range at altitude?

Radcliffe: Most of my marathon training was at that, but it averages less because what I do is work seven days, then I have the eighth day of complete rest. But I total my mileage for seven days, and the eighth day is chucked by the wayside.

I really don’t like to run over 140 because I think that’s a lot on your body. I usually try to put in a Nordic Trac workout once a week just to keep the mileage down. I find that it is the closest cross-training to running without getting the pounding.

It wasn’t just the volume for me, it was the quality of the volume. Even at altitude, very few of my runs would be slower than 6:10 per mile. Some of my 20-milers I’ve been running in 5:15s. I hoped that if I could do that, then in a race situation when you have rested down I could keep going farther on.

The short tempo runs would still be 5:15 at altitude for like 10-milers. I try to do as much as I can at the pace that I’m going to race at, and that seems to work for me.

I am really lucky in that my talent is just that my body is very resilient, so it is tough to hurt. It can take a lot of the quality stuff that I throw at it. I try to back that up as much as possible with giving it as much rest, and proper nutrition…

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

T&FN Interview: Khalid Khannouchi

by Sieg Lindstrom

T&FN: How did you develop what has become your trademark finishing drive?

Khannouchi: I got that in training. In my marathon training since 1997, I’ve been working most importantly on my long runs. The way that I finish them is just like I finish in a race, and it became something normal to me lately.

I’m glad that I have that weapon to win major races because you always know that it’s going be tough competition and very close like it was in London—10 seconds between me and Paul. You know it’s going to go down to the last mile or two, so it really helps to know that you’re going to finish them fast…

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

Khannouchi & Jones U.S. Athletes Of The Year

Marion Jones tied Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s record as a 5-time U.S. Women’s AOY…

(for full charts on the voting, read the December Issue of Track & Field News)

'02 World Rankings Leaders

The December edition includes the internationally renowned T&FN World Rankings, now in their 56th year. These ratings go 10-deep in each event, with deep seasonal records for the involved competitors, and also have 10-deep U.S. Rankings. Here are the No. 1s for '02 (*=repeat winner):

MEN

100 METERS--Tim Montgomery (US)
200 METERS--Frank Fredericks (Namibia)
400 METERS--Michael Blackwood (Jamaica)
800 METERS--Wilson Kipketer (Denmark)
1500 METERS--*Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)
STEEPLECHASE--Stephen Cherono (Kenya)
3000 METERS--Benjamin Limo (Kenya)
5000 METERS--Benjamin Limo (Kenya)
10,000 METERS--Sammy Kipketer (Kenya)
MARATHON--Khalid Khannouchi (US)
110 HURDLES--Anier García (Cuba)
400 HURDLES--*Felix Sánchez (Dominican Republic)
20K WALK--Francisco Fernández (Spain)
50K WALK--Aleksey Voyevodin (Russia)
HIGH JUMP--*Stefan Holm (Sweden)
POLE VAULT--Jeff Hartwig (US)
LONG JUMP--Savanté Stringfellow (US)
TRIPLE JUMP--*Jonathan Edwards (Great Britain)
SHOT--Adam Nelson (US)
DISCUS--Róbert Fazekas (Hungary)
HAMMER--Adrián Annus (Hungary)
JAVELIN--Sergey Makarov (Russia)
DECATHLON--Roman Sebrle (Czech Republic)

WOMEN

100 METERS--*Marion Jones (US)
200 METERS--*Marion Jones (US)
400 METERS--*Ana Guevara (Mexico)
800 METERS--*Maria Mutola (Mozambique)
1500 METERS--Süreyya Ayhan (Turkey)
STEEPLECHASE--Alesya Turova (Belarus)
3000 METERS--Gabriela Szabo (Romania)
5000 METERS--Berhane Adere (Ethiopia)
10,000 METERS--Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain)
MARATHON--Paula Radcliffe (Great Britain)
100 HURDLES--*Gail Devers (US)
400 HURDLES--Yuliya Pechonkina (Russia)
20K WALK--*Olimpiada Ivanova (Russia)
HIGH JUMP--Kajsa Bergqvist (Sweden)
POLE VAULT--Svetlana Feofanova (Russia)
LONG JUMP--*Tatyana Kotova (Russia)
TRIPLE JUMP--Ashia Hansen (Great Britain)
SHOT--Irina Korzhanenko (Russia)
DISCUS--*Natalya Sadova (Russia)
HAMMER--*Olga Kuzenkova (Russia)
JAVELIN--*Osleidys Menéndez (Cuba)
HEPTATHLON--Carolina Klüft (Sweden)

(for full 10-deep World Rankings in each event--plus 10-deep U.S. Rankings--read the December Issue of Track & Field News)

Kenyans Reach New Levels At NYC Marathon

by Jim Dunaway

New York, New York, November 3—In 32 years of the New York City Marathon, a Kenyan man and a Kenyan woman never won their respective races in the same year; and Kenyan men never went 1-2-3.

Both happened this time. Rogers Rop won the men’s race in 2:08:07, the third-fastest ever here, followed across the line by countrymen Christopher Cheboiboch (2:08:17) and Laban Kipkemboi (2:08:39). Olympic bronze medalist Joyce Chepchumba was the women’s winner, in 2:25:56. The weather was cool (44 degrees) and moderately windy, as usual here.

The men’s race was fairly straightforward: essentially…

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

Super Regionals Coming For NCAA Cross?

Recent efforts to make the process of team qualifying to the NCAA Cross Country Championships more fair have reshaped— and also distorted—the harrier season, most would agree. Now coaches want to do something about that, and the NCAA will soon poll member schools on a proposal for Super Regional qualifying developed by the U.S. Cross Country Coaches Association.

The proposed overhaul would introduce two-round qualifying and emphasize head-to-head placings in advancing teams.

The current Regional meets would be moved a month earlier, and the top 11 teams and top 3 individuals not on qualifying teams at each Regional would advance to one of three new Super Regionals, to be held a week before Nationals. The top 10 teams—and first 8 individuals not on a qualifying team—in each Super Regional would qualify for Nationals.

The Super Regions would be three-region combines…

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

NCAA Regionals Results

IN WHAT MIGHT BE one of the last set of races run under the current Regionals format (see sidebar), the fields for the NCAA Cross Country Championships were set on November 16.

The Nationals field of 31 teams came from the top two squads in each of the 9 Regionals, plus 13 teams selected on an at-large basis.

The individual fields will come from all those on the 31 teams, plus the first 4 at each Regional who weren’t on a Q team, plus 2 more on an at-large basis…

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

From The Editor

More Bang For Your T&FN Buck: in which we explain how subscribers can get all world's important results quickly by e-mail, and for free!…

(for the full details, read the December Issue of Track & Field News)

And in the January issue…

No, it's not disc-jockey stuff, but check out the T&FN Top 40s. That's the ’02 season's top 40 performers for both the world and the U.S. And see how the scholastic cross country seasons played out with the stories from the NCAA and Foot Locker Championships. All topped off with the latest developments from the USATF Convention.