Women’s 5000m

Heat 1

            I cringed a bit as Hastings stepped off the line, clicking her watch and looking down to check that the time was up and running.  This isn’t about time, it’s about competition I thought.  As if she had read my mind, she set out and proved my notion of her intentions to be completely false. 

From the gun, Hastings sat in the back as Hitomi Niiya gapped the pack attempting to make the race an honest one.  The pack meanwhile was content to wait for her to come slowly back to them.  As the pack regained on the rogue runner, Hastings was nearing the top five.  Just as quickly as she had come up to the front she slid back a bit before recapturing 6^th place around the midway point of the race.  Every move she made seemed to back fire on her though, getting her closer to the front only to be spit back out again. 

With just a mile to go, Hastings made a decisive charge up to 3^rd only to fade back to 7^th a lap later.  Just when I thought she was done, Hastings bursts from the back to sit in 3^rd…no 2^nd…no she’s leading it!  She brings the group through a quarter in 74.1, but then slides back to 7^th once more.  At the bell, a pack of two Kenyans and two Ethiopians had separated themselves with RussianYelena Zadorozhynaya and the fifth auto spot well out of reach.  Coming off the back turn Hastings made one final move to claw her way into sixth place. 

While it wasn’t good enough for the auto, she managed to grab the first provisional qualifying spot.  And I thought it wasn’t about time.  But more importantly, Hastings competed, challenging herself countless times and making good on a roll of the dice.
 

Heat 2

             The second heat went out significantly slower than the first as the women clocked back to back 76’s putting them nearly 7 seconds behind the pace at 800 meters.  Clearly the kickers were content to let the pace dawdle as they licked their chops.  Americans Lauren Fleshman and Molly Huddle tucked into 3^rd and 5^th place respectively, waiting for the race to break at any moment.  But lap after lap at over 75 seconds, it became clear that no one aside from Elizaveta Grechishnikova had any intention of being a sacrificial lamb. 

             With a mile left, 10 of the 11 runners remained in contention.  Fleshman hovered easily around 4^th place, looking poised, relaxed and ready to move.  Huddle meanwhile tried to stick with her American counterpart but begins to lose touch.  She fights to stay in contact for the next two laps, giving it her all before finally succumbing to the field.  The American record holder would not be moving on to the final.

             Fleshman all the while was having problems of her own as her coveted position near the front was lost to a group of women moving on the outside, tossing her back into 8^th place before all was said and done.  At the bell, she positioned herself on the outside of lane one, with still at least a sliver of hope.  300 to go and still no major breaks, the tension unbearable…so much so in fact that at 200 to go Fleshman decides that she isn’t going to wait for someone else to make the first move.  She bursts to the lead heading into the turn, clearing herself of the others and the potential entanglements that could strike at any moment.  Coming into the home stretch, she relinquishes the lead and strides in to capture a 4^th place finish, good enough to get her to the big dance. 

Men’s 1500m

Heat 1

            Centrowitz, a breakout season well behind him, had a lot to prove heading into this race.  Many said he could only handle sit and kick efforts as aside from his efforts in Monaco, the runner had mostly enjoyed unleashing his devastating kick on unsuspecting milers in slower, more tactical affairs. 

            Daniel Komen took no time in making this race anything but as he screamed through the first 400 in 56.3.  Only hometown hero Sang-Min Sin dared to hang with the 18 year old for a bit as he left some of the world’s finest milers in the dust on his mission to finally make a final. 

            Centro meanwhile is sitting on the outside of lane one, just ahead of where he needs to be to advance.  At the bell, Centro is moving strong but isn’t gaining anything on the field, who are all matching eachother's efforts.  Into the final stretch he unleashes whatever he has left to move up into second, looking smooth as he finds his path.  But then reality hits and the field swallows him up once more as he finishes strong nevertheless to secure the final automatic qualifying spot by just .15 seconds.

 Heat 2

            Andrew Wheating, who made making the Olympic team look like it was as easy as deciding to lace up his spikes, has had a bit of a humbling year and tonight didn’t go much better.  Of course it’s hard to be too critical when a runner, even in an “off” year finds his way to the line at the World Championships, but that’s how great the expectation has become for the towering middle distance specialist.

            Things were shaky from the start as Wheating found himself clashing with the infamous Kiprop, chopping his heels as the two sat near the back of the pack.  The race itself was slow too as the runners came crawling through in 61.91.  Right away it was clear that no provisional qualifiers were making it out of this heat, and this sit and kick style is exactly the type of race that found Wheating in 4^th at the US championships. 

            Over the next two laps, Wheating kept composed, his long loping stride carrying him as he kept his eyes on Kiprop.  The pace would drop from a staggeringly slow second 400 of 62 seconds to a 57.1, but still Wheating remained timid towards the back.

            At the bell, Andrew is 3^rd to last, Kiprop still right in front of him, surely with a trick or two up his sleeve.  Coming up on 200 to go, Wheating moves further to the outside, priming his kick as he prepares to eclipse the field.  But when the moment comes, nothing.  Meanwhile the competitor he has been stalking the whole races slides easily by to win the heat, Wheating coming home for a disappointing 8^th place. 

Better this year than next Andrew, looking forward to the comeback.

Heat 3

            Leo Manzano appears half the height of Wheating as he toes the line alongside the rest of the third heat.  With a reputation for inconsistent brilliance, Leo could wow the field or crawl home in spectacular disappointment.  No matter the result though, any Leo fan knows that they’re in for a fantastic effort.  

            Eventual second place finisher Deresse Mekonnen takes the field out in a quite fair 58.26 as Manzano hangs towards the back of the pack.  As the pace grows slower over the next lap, Leo moves up nicely into 5^th place.  Once there, the taller runners hardly give him any credence as they elbow and sandwich the short but mighty frame of the great miler. 

            With just a lap remaining Leo finds himself ahead of the physicality as he sits in third waiting to close off the race.  By the time he reaches the shade of the backstretch however, he has been tossed back slowly to 7^th place, the remainder of the field inching closer with every step.  Ciaran O’Lionaird flashes by him as he grabs the final automatic qualifying spot.  But Manzano keeps fighting, knowing that the heat is fast enough that if he could just…hold…on...

            Leo crosses the line in 8^th place, just half a second ahead of not qualifying on time.  But all of the close calls don’t matter now as he is in the final and can yet again test himself against the world’s finest.