World champion Bernard Lagat will chase a golden double in the 1,500m and 5,000m at the Beijing Olympics. Allyson Felix and Jenn Stuczynski are just happy they are going to China next month.
A tension-filled final on Sunday of the US Olympic Track and Field Trials saw Lagat win the 1,500 in 3mins, 40.37 seconds after taking the 5,000 last Monday, repeating his 2007 World Championship double as he hopes to do next month.
“After winning in Osaka last year, I realized I can go out there and do it again,” Lagat said. “I did it here and I hope to carry over that momentum. I’m looking forward to the challenges.”
PHOTO: AFP
The Kenyan-born star, who won Olympic bronze in 2000 and silver in 2004 in the 1,500, was joined on the 1,500 squad by Mexican-born Leonel Manzano, second in 3:40.37, and Sudanese-born Lopez Lomong third in 3:41.00.
“All of us coming to the US for different reasons and having the opportunity to compete for the US, it’s the American dream,” Manzano said.
Two-time world 200 champion Felix, thwarted in her bid for a 100-200 double in Beijing by a fifth-place finish in the 100 final, ensured an Olympic spot by winning the 200 in 21.82 seconds, aided by a 5.6m per second tailwind.
PHOTO: AFP
“I’m so excited,” Felix said. “I executed my race. I still have a lot of things to work on, but this truly is amazing.”
Stuczynski set a US record of 4.92m in the women’s pole vault, breaking her old American mark of 4.90 from last May. But she nearly missed the Olympics and an expected battle for gold.
After passing to 4.60m and missing her first two attempts, Stuczynski had to clear on her third attempt or miss the Olympics. She made the height and will make the trip.
“That was probably the most pressure I’ve ever felt,” Stuczynski said. “I tried not to get too nervous. I told myself, ‘If you make it, you make it. If you don’t you deal with it.’”
She missed two tries at a world record 5.02, leaving the mark at 5.01 from 2005 set by her expected Beijing Olympic gold rival, Russian Yelena Isinbayeva.
“I hope we go over and do some damage — kick some Russian butt,” Stuczynski said. “I hope it fires them up because we are pretty fired up over here.”
A final US lineup, which could deviate from meet results depending on drug test results, will be submitted to Olympic officials today but not announced until July 14. Blood tests for doping made their US trials debut at the meet.
A crowd of more than 21,000 also saw 2004 Olympic champion Shawn Crawford book a chance to defend his 200 crown after being edged at the line by Walter Dix, both finishing in 19.86.
World 100 and 200 champion Tyson Gay’s dream of an Olympic double was foiled when he fell in a 200 quarter-final but Dix, second to Gay in the 100, has a chance at it. Dix, 22, won his third US college 200 title in a row in June.
Muna Lee, the women’s 100 winner, also gave herself a chance to double in Beijing by taking second in the 200 in 21.99.
“My goal is to medal in Beijing and bring home the hardware,” Lee said. “This is the one of the better 150m I’ve run in a long time. The last couple meters I sort of broke form, so I know what I need to work on at home.”
Torri Edwards, who missed the 2004 trials due to a doping ban, skipped the 200 final because, according to agent Danny Escamilla, she did not want to risk injury by running in lane one and will focus on the 100, where she was second.
David Oliver won the 110 hurdles final in 12.95 with a 3.5m per second tailwind with two-time Olympic runner-up and last year’s world runner-up Terrence Trammell second in 13.00 and David Payne, third at last year’s worlds, third in 13.25.
Oliver won his semi-final heat, aided by a 3.2m per second tailwind, in 12.89 seconds, the fourth-fastest time in history under any conditions.
Women’s world indoor 60m hurdles champion Lolo Jones breezed to a wind-aided victory in the 100 hurdles final in 12.29 seconds. She won her semi-final heat in 12.45, the fastest wind-legal time in the world this year.
Olympic champion Joanna Hayes will not defend her title in Beijing after finishing last in the final.
Walter Davis, the 2005 world triple jump champion at third at last year’s worlds, missed Beijing after finishing fourth.
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