Lagat prevails in tactical 1500

July 7, 2008

EUGENE — Billed as the penultimate event of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, the men’s 1,500 meter final delivered a tactician’s dream if not living up to the hype on the clock.

Eight of the middle distance stars who toed the starting line took the lead at one point, but Bernard Lagat was the only one to do it when it mattered, finishing in 3 minutes, 40.37 seconds, well off his American record time.

Lagat, who reached stardom while running for his native Kenya before switching citizenship, led a 1-2-3 sweep of adopted nationals, with Mexican-born Leonel Manzano finishing in 3:40.9 and Sudanese-born Lopez Lomong in 3:41.

“America truly is a melting pot,” said Lagat, who was the meet’s only double winner, having taken the 5,000 on June 30. “To see the three of us who are going to Beijing, all coming from different backgrounds and different paths to America, it’s really magic.”

Meanwhile, American-born star Alan Webb was edged by Lomong and Oregon Track Clubber William Leer for fifth. After leading the second and third laps, former Stanford star Gabe Jennings faded to last.

While the field went out at a tentative pace into a strong headwind, Jen Stuczynsky stole the capacity crowd’s attention by breaking both the American and Olympic trials record in the pole vault at 16 feet, 1 3⁄4 inches.

“We had some height progressions in between and that jump I just went with it,” said Stuczynksy, who went under two attempts at the world record before opting out of the last. “I just tried to let my technique carry me through and it worked out.”

Previous trials and Hayward Field record holder Stacy Dragila finished in a disappointing tie for seventh place.

Lagat took his first lead at the bell lap and established himself wide of the first lane for position. Manzano made a strong push, but couldn’t overtake Lagat, 33, who will go for 1,500 and 5,000 gold medals in Beijing after grabbing a silver medal in Athens and Bronze in Atlanta.

“To me there’s not much strategy to the 5,000, but a lot can play out in the 1,500,” Lagat said. “It didn’t worry me that the pace was slow; I knew that it would be a mad kick at the end and I had faith in my training.”

That mad kick played out well for Lomong, the NCAA 1,500 champion for Northern Arizona.

“It’s kind of funny – with all of the backgrounds we come from, we all have something in common,” said Lomong, who fled the Sudanese Civil War in 1991. “The three of us will be running for the country that helped us out so much.”

In the women’s 200, Allyson Felix got some redemption for a failed bid in the 100 meters, winning the longer sprint in 21.82 seconds. 100-meter champ Muna Lee was second in 21.99. In the absence of Tyson Gay, who cramped up in Saturday’s 200 quarterfinals, Walter Dix edged Shawn Crawford by five one-thousandths of a second in 19.852.

Other winners on the final day of the trials were Ian Waltz in the discus (216-1), Aarik Wilson in the triple jump (57-2 1⁄4), Bobby Smith in the javelin (249-6), David Oliver in the 110 hurdles (12.95) and Lolo Jones in the 100 hurdles (12.29).

Written by sbucciarel Filed Under Olympic 

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