2016 IAAF World Indoor ChampionshipsMar 19, 2016 by Taylor Dutch
Brianne Theisen-Eaton Stuns in Pentathlon at World Indoors
Brianne Theisen-Eaton Stuns in Pentathlon at World Indoors
PORTLAND, Ore. — In a wire-to-wire final event, Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton powered down the homestretch to claim the 800m victory in 2:09, which propell
PORTLAND, Ore. — In a wire-to-wire final event, Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton powered down the homestretch to claim the 800m victory in 2:09, which propelled her to overtake then-event leader Anastasiya Mokhnyuk and Alina Fodorova of the Ukraine for the pentathlon victory Friday at the Oregon Convention Center.
The performance was an outstanding effort for the Eugene-based multi-event standout as the Oregon crowd cheered her to victory against Barbara Nwaba. Her husband and Olympic Champion Ashton Eaton rushed to her side for a congratulatory hug in front of the home crowd once the final results were announced.
Prior to the final event, Theisen-Eaton was sitting in third overall behind Mokhnyuk, but a massive effort allowed her to finish with 1120 points while the Ukrainian finished second with 1104.
Across all the events, Theisen-Eaton earned a personal best in the 60m hurdles (8.04), a season’s best of 1.85m in the high jump, a season’s best of 13.70m in the shot put, a season’s best of 6.42m in the long jump, and a season’s best of 2:09 in the 800m.
Ashton was especially proud of his wife's performance as he told the media that he might "break a few rules" to celebrate her victory despite him having one more day of the heptathlon competition remaining.
Nia Ali Claims Back-to-Back 60m Hurdle World Indoor Titles 10 Months After Giving Birth
Nia Ali claimed her second consecutive World Indoor gold in the women’s 60m hurdles with a season best mark of 7.81. She joins Lolo Jones as the only two-time winner at the indoor championships in this event.
“I got off to a really good start, and I blacked out somewhere in the middle of the race,” Ali to FloTrack after the race. “I don’t know, it’s only five hurdles. But I was just trying to compete.”
The feat is incredible considering where Ali was one year ago. After winning her first gold medal in Sopot in 2014 and struggling to put together a solid outdoor campaign, Ali became pregnant. She missed the entire 2015 season.
She gave birth to her son, Titus Maximus Tinsley (His father is U.S. Olympic silver medalist Michael Tinsley) on May 8 of last year. He joined his champion mother on her victory lap in the Oregon Convention Center.
“I’m so happy he was able to be here, it means everything,” Ali said. “I’m overwhelmed. And I’m incredibly blessed. It means everything to have this start going into outdoors with it being an Olympic year.”
Team USA grabbed the silver medal with Brianna Rollins’ 7.82, while Great Britain’s Tiffany Porter finished in 7.90 for bronze.
Matt Centrowtiz, Ayanleh Souleiman Carry Momentum Into World Indoor Final
Matt Centrowitz showed just how loud the Portland fans can be when the Nike Oregon Project athlete assumed the lead with 300m remaining in the first round of the 1500m. Despite some pushing and shoving earlier in the race, Centrowitz threw down a hard move to bring the pack into the finish line with a winning time of 3:47.15 Friday night in the Oregon Convention Center.
“I found myself in the back for most of the race which was foreign to me but I was sure that I could respond and make the moves I needed to make towards the last couple laps to win the heat, but obviously it’s not how I want to race in the final,” Centrowitz told FloTrack following the race.
The race started slow for the first heat of the 1500m as Dawit Wolde of Ethiopia established an early lead and brought the pack into the 400m mark in a pedestrian pace of 67 seconds. Wolfe held the pack through 800m in 2:10, but it wasn’t until Centrowitz assumed the lead at 1200m that the race started to quicken.
With just six athletes in the race, Centrowitz led the group into the finish line in 3:47.15, followed by Dawit Wolde (3:47.24), and Jakub Holusa (3:47.62). Those top three finishers would be the only athletes to advance from the first race as heat 2 picked up the tempo.
Led by Ethiopia’s Aman Wote and Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman, the race went out in 29 seconds for the first 200m and maintained pace through 800m in 1:59. Throughout the race, the United States’ Robby Andrews maintained the third-place position, safely away from trouble.
Andrews stayed in the third-place and automatic qualifying spot through the finish line, behind Souleiman and Great Britain’s Chris O’Hare who closed hard for second. Souleiman’s winning time of 3:41 helped lead three automatic qualifiers and three time qualifiers, which include Aman Wote, Vincent Kibet and Olympic silver medalist Nick Willis.
Double Olympic Champion Mo Farah even showed up to cheer on the runners competing in his Portland home base.
Brittney Reese has announced her return to her rightful spot atop the women’s high jump.
With her clutch 7.22m leap on her sixth and final attempt, the 29-year-old completed her journey back from a torn labrum in her hip that required surgery, winning her third World Indoor crown, tied for the most in history. Her mark was just short of her own 7.23 World Indoor Championship record from 2012.
“After the two bad years that I’ve had coming back from my surgery, working real hard mentally and physically on getting myself back to where I need to be to win more medals. It actually just shows that I still have the heart… and I’m still ready to go,” Reese said.
Given that 2014 and 2015 were essentially lost years for Reese as she returned to health, it’s no surprise that tonight marked her first leap over 7.00m since 2013. But that it was all the way out to 7.22, a mere three centimeters off her outdoor best, that was not expected.
After all, it’s been four years since any woman has gone further indoors. And that woman was Reese.
The performance was an outstanding effort for the Eugene-based multi-event standout as the Oregon crowd cheered her to victory against Barbara Nwaba. Her husband and Olympic Champion Ashton Eaton rushed to her side for a congratulatory hug in front of the home crowd once the final results were announced.
Pentathlon champ Brianne Theisen Eaton gets a hug from ... @AshtonJEaton (GETTY) pic.twitter.com/Xp72UAt2Cu
— Joe Fleming (@ByJoeFleming) March 19, 2016
Prior to the final event, Theisen-Eaton was sitting in third overall behind Mokhnyuk, but a massive effort allowed her to finish with 1120 points while the Ukrainian finished second with 1104.
Across all the events, Theisen-Eaton earned a personal best in the 60m hurdles (8.04), a season’s best of 1.85m in the high jump, a season’s best of 13.70m in the shot put, a season’s best of 6.42m in the long jump, and a season’s best of 2:09 in the 800m.
Ashton was especially proud of his wife's performance as he told the media that he might "break a few rules" to celebrate her victory despite him having one more day of the heptathlon competition remaining.
Nia Ali Claims Back-to-Back 60m Hurdle World Indoor Titles 10 Months After Giving Birth
Nia Ali claimed her second consecutive World Indoor gold in the women’s 60m hurdles with a season best mark of 7.81. She joins Lolo Jones as the only two-time winner at the indoor championships in this event.
“I got off to a really good start, and I blacked out somewhere in the middle of the race,” Ali to FloTrack after the race. “I don’t know, it’s only five hurdles. But I was just trying to compete.”
The feat is incredible considering where Ali was one year ago. After winning her first gold medal in Sopot in 2014 and struggling to put together a solid outdoor campaign, Ali became pregnant. She missed the entire 2015 season.
She gave birth to her son, Titus Maximus Tinsley (His father is U.S. Olympic silver medalist Michael Tinsley) on May 8 of last year. He joined his champion mother on her victory lap in the Oregon Convention Center.
“I’m so happy he was able to be here, it means everything,” Ali said. “I’m overwhelmed. And I’m incredibly blessed. It means everything to have this start going into outdoors with it being an Olympic year.”
Team USA grabbed the silver medal with Brianna Rollins’ 7.82, while Great Britain’s Tiffany Porter finished in 7.90 for bronze.
Matt Centrowtiz, Ayanleh Souleiman Carry Momentum Into World Indoor Final
Matt Centrowitz showed just how loud the Portland fans can be when the Nike Oregon Project athlete assumed the lead with 300m remaining in the first round of the 1500m. Despite some pushing and shoving earlier in the race, Centrowitz threw down a hard move to bring the pack into the finish line with a winning time of 3:47.15 Friday night in the Oregon Convention Center.
“I found myself in the back for most of the race which was foreign to me but I was sure that I could respond and make the moves I needed to make towards the last couple laps to win the heat, but obviously it’s not how I want to race in the final,” Centrowitz told FloTrack following the race.
The race started slow for the first heat of the 1500m as Dawit Wolde of Ethiopia established an early lead and brought the pack into the 400m mark in a pedestrian pace of 67 seconds. Wolfe held the pack through 800m in 2:10, but it wasn’t until Centrowitz assumed the lead at 1200m that the race started to quicken.
With just six athletes in the race, Centrowitz led the group into the finish line in 3:47.15, followed by Dawit Wolde (3:47.24), and Jakub Holusa (3:47.62). Those top three finishers would be the only athletes to advance from the first race as heat 2 picked up the tempo.
Centro takes heat 1 pic.twitter.com/YzwepUYBeh
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) March 19, 2016
Led by Ethiopia’s Aman Wote and Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman, the race went out in 29 seconds for the first 200m and maintained pace through 800m in 1:59. Throughout the race, the United States’ Robby Andrews maintained the third-place position, safely away from trouble.
800 to go! #Portland2016 @RA_Andrews pic.twitter.com/guuMyrmGE6
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) March 19, 2016
Andrews stayed in the third-place and automatic qualifying spot through the finish line, behind Souleiman and Great Britain’s Chris O’Hare who closed hard for second. Souleiman’s winning time of 3:41 helped lead three automatic qualifiers and three time qualifiers, which include Aman Wote, Vincent Kibet and Olympic silver medalist Nick Willis.
Double Olympic Champion Mo Farah even showed up to cheer on the runners competing in his Portland home base.
Look who's in the house! @Mo_Farah says he's excited for the 60m final tonight, wouldn't bet against @officialasafa. pic.twitter.com/MQH8hFet74
— SPIKES (@spikesmag) March 19, 2016
Brittney Reese Soars Out To 7.22m, Regains Spot Atop Long Jump World
Brittney Reese has announced her return to her rightful spot atop the women’s high jump.
With her clutch 7.22m leap on her sixth and final attempt, the 29-year-old completed her journey back from a torn labrum in her hip that required surgery, winning her third World Indoor crown, tied for the most in history. Her mark was just short of her own 7.23 World Indoor Championship record from 2012.
“After the two bad years that I’ve had coming back from my surgery, working real hard mentally and physically on getting myself back to where I need to be to win more medals. It actually just shows that I still have the heart… and I’m still ready to go,” Reese said.
Given that 2014 and 2015 were essentially lost years for Reese as she returned to health, it’s no surprise that tonight marked her first leap over 7.00m since 2013. But that it was all the way out to 7.22, a mere three centimeters off her outdoor best, that was not expected.
After all, it’s been four years since any woman has gone further indoors. And that woman was Reese.