2008 US Olympic Trials - Distance Events Revisited

The 2008 US Olympic Trials were extremely entertaining. The Men's 800 kicked off the excitement (and was the race of the trials for me), with the rocket launcher like finish from Nick Symmonds, followed by the Oregon Duck, Andrew Wheating, barreling up the homestretch for second, upstaged only by the Oregon Track Club's Christian Smith, diving at the line for the final spot and getting the Olympic A-Standard in the process.

The trials closed with the Men's 1500, which was set up for drama with the mystery man, Gabe Jennings, looking incredible in the heats, but needing the A-Standard. Jennings took the lead early, but a windy day killed his hopes at a second Olympic team. Also surprising was American Mile Record Holder, Alan Webb, not having a kick over the final 100 and then getting nipped by Will Leer at the line to finish fifth.

The Women's 10,000 was exciting in the fact that Amy Yoder-Begley raced the clock, after she had locked up third place, to attain the A-Standard (which she did by a few seconds). Then Abdi crushed the last lap in the Men's 10,000, to win, and then dove into the steeple pit. What a character! Glad he'll be making a return trip this year in the marathon.

Below are the Olympic Qualifiers in every distance event from 800 - 10,000. Click on the link in each event for full results.

Race of the trials (all photos: TrackandFieldphoto)

800 meters
Men
1. Nick Symmonds
2. Andrew Wheating
3. Christian Smith

Women
1. Hazel Clark
2. Alice Schmidt
3. Kameisha Bennett (no standard)
4. Nicole Teter

Erin Donhue

1500 meters
Men
1. Bernard Lagat
2. Leo Manzano
3. Lopez Lomong

Women
1. Shannon Rowbury
2. Erin Donohue
3. Christin Wurth-Thomas

Anna Pierce

3000 meter Steeplechase
Men
1. Anthony Famliglietti
2. Billy Nelson
3. Josh McAdams

Women
1. Anna Pierce
2. Lindsey Anderson
3. Jenny Simpson

Bernard Lagat

5000 meters
Men
1. Bernard Lagat
2. Matt Tegenkamp
3. Ian Dobson

Women
1. Kara Goucher
2. Jen Rhines
3. Shalane Flanagan

Shalane Flanagan

10,000 meters
Men
1. Abdi Abdirahman
2. Galen Rupp
3. Jorge Torres

Women
1. Shalane Flanagan
2. Kara Goucher
3. Amy Yoder-Begley

Just think, we're only 3 months away from the 2012 Olympic Trials!

Follow writing about running on Twitter and Facebook

Thanks to our sponsor, restwise, a cool product that quantifies you body's recovery, for sponsoring the blog this week. If you're interested in sponsoring writing about running (and other great sites like TrackFocus, Track Superfan, Paul Merca and the House of Run podcast) in the future, check out The Relay Network.  

The Olympic Standards chase starts in Australia

Torrence is ready to make a run at the A

The Sydney Track Classic in Australia has kicked off many athletes chase for the Olympic A-Standards this year. Nick Symmonds had a subpar opener in the 800, running 1:47.44 for seventh, in an event won by Kenya's Asbel Kiprop, in 1:45.91. This doesn't have any bearing on Symmonds attaining the A-Standard though, as he attained it last year, running under the 800 A-Standard of 1:45.60 during the window of May 1, 2011 - July 1, 2012. The one exception to this is for the 10,000, where the window is January 1, 2011 - July 1, 2012, likely due to the small amount of competitive 10,000's available to hit the standard. This makes the US Olympic Trials the last chance to hit the standard with no post-trials chasing.

One guy who is ready to go ahead and get the standard is David Torrence. Torrence won the STC 1500 in 3:35.66, just 0.16 off of the A-Standard. He bested a nice field of Collis Birmingham, Will Leer, Craig Mottram and others in doing so. Torrence has already run the A-Standard in the 800 and has a PR of 3:34.25 in the 1500, but that was run in 2010 in Rieti. He looks to be ready to run another PR in the 1500 soon.

Expect more and more attempts after USA Indoors next weekend. The Stanford Invitational on April 6 and 7 will likely be a big one that many will target, then Mt. SAC two weeks later.

Here are the Olympic A and B Track Standards:

Follow writing about running on Twitter and Facebook