The Starting Line

It was cloudy at Hayward Field yesterday, but the air was thick as heat 1 of the women's 1500 meters was underway.  The imminent sound of the bell rang with leaders Morgan Uceny and Jenny Simpson beginning the final lap of the race.  The competitors were gliding together down the backstretch.  Top 5 was all they needed.  Down the famous Bowerman Curve they met a cheering crowd eager to see their faces heading into the finish line.  Simpson smiled as she and Uceny crossed the line, the clock reading 4:08.90 for Uceny and 4:09.12 for Simpson. They would race another day.

Sunday will be less casual for the competitors as they race for a coveted spot on the US Olympic team headed to London.  Uceny and Simpson, no strangers to competing with one another, will be two to look out for when it comes to that final moment of the 1500 final.  

"I feel like I've given myself the best opportunity to be in the best shape and in the best position going into the Trials. That's really, leading up to it, all I could have done. In the Trials, every day is different so it's going to be about conquering each level to get to the top. Who knows what's going to happen? I've done the work and I've done what I need to do. It makes me a little more confident and relaxed," Uceny said in a recent interview with Runner's World.  

Uceny entered the Trials as this year's fastest American by four seconds with her fourth place finish in Rome in a 4:01.59.  She was ranked #1 in the world in the 1500m by Track and Field News in 2011 with her time of 4:00.06 and won the USATF Championships that year.  The most difficult part of her season came at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu where she was tripped in the last 500 meters of the race and finished 10th overall behind teammate Simpson who took home the gold. 

The 26-year-old Cornell graduate has come a long way since her first running days in her hometown of Plymouth, Indiana.  With her first love being basketball, Uceny quickly learned that running would be her college path as she received numerous offers from Division 1 schools after her success in high school.  After choosing Cornell and winning six conference championships in the 800 meters, she graduated in 2007 and became a professional runner, moving from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Mammoth Lakes in 2009 to train with Mahon's group, which included 2008 Olympian Anna Willard Pierce.  She now trains full time in Mammoth Lakes for adidas and in the past two years, has established herself as one of the best middle-distance runners in the world.  

Simpson heads into the race on Sunday with a World Championship title under her belt from her 2011 performance in Daegu where she emerged in the final lap from 9th place to hold off the entire field in a 4:05.40.  The New Balance athlete also has Olympic experience with her 9th place finish in the steeplechase at the 2008 Olympic Games.  Simpson boasts a stellar career, beginning in her hometown of Oviedo, Florida and then to the University of Colorado where she won five NCAA titles and five U.S. Championships.  She now trains in Monument, Colorado under coach Julie Benson, head cross country coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.  

"It's an Olympic year, and everybody's going to be ready to run fast.  I'm going to have to be in my best shape at the Trials, and you can't save anything to get into better shape later on in the year.  So, I definitely want to arrive healthy and in great shape, but at the same time you can only do what you can do.  I'm going to come to the Trials, go through the rounds, and be the best Jenny Simpson I can be in every round of the meet," said Simpson in an interview with Race Results Weekly weeks before the start of the Olympic Trials.  

With the final quickly approaching, it will be interesting to see how Uceny and Simpson fare against themselves as well as the rest of the talented field. There has never been an American female 1500m runner to earn a spot on the podium at the Olympic Games but all of that may change come August, and it begins tomorrow.

"I think what sets us apart as competitors more than any kind of training is what happens in the call room moments before you go out on the track to race," said Simpson in a Running Times interview, "At that point, it's who's the best prepared for man-to-man combat. Our journey isn't equal up to that point, but standing on the starting line is the great equalizer. That's the essence of racing."