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:

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Battle Royale: The "real" American 5000m Championship in Monaco

No Moran to pace off in Monaco (TrackAndFieldPhoto)

10 days from today, the real American 5000m championship will take place in Monaco (July 22nd). An absolutely stacked field has been put together that combines the world's best with the best Americans. Who's racing you ask? Well, for starters, we've got all the top Americans coming in fresh. Those representing the USA are Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky, Galen Rupp and Bernard Lagat. Also in the field is Rupp teammate and Portland-based, Mo Farah.

Internationally, a slew of excellent Kenyans (Chepkok, Kipchoge, Kiptoo, Soi), Ethiopians (Alamirew, T. Bekele, Kuma, Merga) will be pushing hard as usual and Spaniard Sergio Sanchez will be making his 5000m debut (this season). The continued comeback of the Big Mazungo, Craig "Buster" Mottram, will be on display as well.

Full Monaco meet information is available here

Below is the full field and here's the link to the start list:

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