Osaka: Lagat wins 1500

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BERNARD LAGAT JUST WON HIS FIRST GLOBAL GOLD AND THE EFFICIENT WAY IN WHICH HE TOOK THE 1500M MAKES IT SEEM MORE POSSIBLE THAT HE COULD BRING UP THE SECOND LEG OF HIS PROPOSED 1500-5000 DOUBLE. THE 5000 SEMIS ARE NEXT UP. IT WOULD BE EXTRAORDINARY IF, AFTER NOBODY HAD DONE THAT DOUBLE ON THE GLOBAL STAGE SINCE PAAVO NURMI IN THE 1920S, HICHAM EL GUERROUJ WINS IT IN 2004 AT THE OLYMPICS AND THREE YEARS LATER, LAGAT MIGHT DO IT SO SOON AGAIN. kk

OSAKA, Japan (Reuters) – Bernard Lagat became the first American man to win a global 1,500 meter title for 99 years when he swept to victory down the home straight at the world championships on Wednesday.

Lagat displays the flag of his adopted country after winning global gold.

The Kenyan-born 32-year-old only qualified to run for his adopted country last year but his three minutes 34.77 seconds was enough to a break an American drought stretching back to the 1908 Olympic Games.

Defending champion Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain, who became the first man to do the world 800m and 1500m double in Helsinki two years ago, came through to claim silver in 3.35.00.

Kenyan Shadrack Korir claimed bronze in 3.35.04 ahead of his compatriot Asbel Kiprop, who had led for much of the latter half of the race.

Lagat’s team-mate Alan Webb, one of the pre-race favorites, was in contention for a medal as they came off the final bend but faded to finish a disappointing eighth.

“I feel very special. I followed the advice of my coach which was just follow the pace, you have everything, you are fast. So I did not go crazy at the beginning and accelerated at the end,” said a delighted Lagat.

“I executed my kick extremely well and that was the key to winning. Today was a perfect day. I have waited so long for that medal. I am going to inspire a lot of people in America and Kenya.”

Bahamian Donald Thomas completed his remarkable rise to the top of international athletics when he clinched the high jump title at the world championships on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old matched his personal best by clearing 2.35 meters at his first attempt and, despite failing three times at 2.37m, it proved good enough to win gold at his first global championships.

A former basketball player, Thomas made a phenomenal start to his high jump career 18 months ago when he jumped 2.20m indoors without having had any training in five years.

Russian Yaroslav Rybakov grabbed his third world championship silver after taking two attempts to clear 2.35m, while Kyriakos Ioannou matched that feat but his two failures at earlier heights meant Cyprus’s first medal of the championships was a bronze.

There was more disappointment in his fifth worlds for Olympic champion Stefan Holm, who won silver in 2003 and finished seventh as the pre-tournament favorite in Helsinki two years ago.

The 31-year-old Swede sailed over on his first four heights but the world title continued to elude him as he failed three times at 2.35m.

U.S. stars Jeremy Wariner and Tyson Gay impressed as they qualified for their respective finals in the 400 and 200 meters.

Wariner looks set to attack the world record mark of his mentor Michael Johnson after winning his 400m semifinal in an effortless 44.34 seconds.

The Olympic champion is a fan of the super-fast Osaka track and has a personal best of 43.50 seconds as he eyes Johnson’s global mark of 43.18 seconds

Gay, who is aiming for a sprint double after winning the 100 meters, won his semifinal in 20 seconds dead, while arch-rival Usain Bolt of Jamaica took his qualifier in 20.03 seconds

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The Kenyan-born 32-year-old only qualified to run for his adopted country last year :rolleyes:

will be interesting to see how Buster Mottram goes in the 5k.

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i was a bit disapointed in the 1500m! the entire lot had a season best of 3;34 or better - and they just did the usual 60sec laps till the last 300m thing - a lot of the guys at the back of the pack didnt seem to do anything? strange race.

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Bold my understanding was that the closeness in times of the field was always going to lead to that type of race, noone was prepared to go for it from the get go.

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FROM JUST AFTER THE LONDON GRAND PRIX

Mottram’s task even tougher
By Mike Hurst

August 09, 2007 12:00am

THE task confronting Craig Mottram at the world athletics championships just got even tougher with the decision by history’s second fastest 1500m runner to take on the big Australian and go for the 5000m.

Kenya-born Bernard Lagat, who now represents the US, has never contested the 12.5-lap 5000m race at an international tournament before now, but he did win Olympic 1500m bronze in Sydney and silver in Athens.

He has run 1500m in 3:26.34 - second fastest ever behind now retired Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj’s world record 3:26.00.

After winning the US title at 5000m for the last two years - and losing this year’s 1500m final to Alan Webb - Lagat, at 32, has decided to run the double at the 11th world championships starting in Osaka, Japan, on August 25.

"I’m very excited about competing for USA for the first time in the world championships and I believe I can be a strong contender in both events in Osaka,‘’ Lagat said in an email to The Daily Telegraph.

The crowning achievement of Mottram’s wonderful career to date has been his historic bronze medal in the 5000m at the last world championships in Helsinki two years ago.

From the point of view of a broader Australian awareness, he missed a golden opportunity at last year’s Commonwealth Games in his homebase of Melbourne when he was comprehensively out-sprinted by Kenya’s Augustine Choge in a fabulous 5000m final.

It may be more than coincidence that another Australian, Sydney’s James Templeton, manages both Choge (who is out of Osaka with a stress fracture) and Lagat.

Templeton is closely consulted by the coaches of his athletes as to their racing plans, but he was a despised figure among some in the Mottram camp after Choge spoiled the MCG party, bigtime.

However. Mottram and his coach and manager Nic Bideau are highly astute operators and the moment Lagat won the US title they would have factored in his potential presence in the Osaka field and how that could influence the tactics.

Mottram probably needs to weaken the kickers with a deadly fast pace so that the last 550m or so becomes a test of strength and will, his greatest assets.

No-one can know how Lagat will backup after the 1500m, but should he progress to the 5000m final his presence will oblige Mottram to commit to the sort of devastating tactical running - forcing the pace - many believe to be his best strategy for victory.

Aziz Daouda, the Moroccan technical director who helped Hicham El Guerrouj win the rare 1500-5000 double at the last Olympics, advised The Telegraph by email if the Osaka 5000 is fast he believes Mottram can win.

"For Craig my opinion is he is able to be in the top 3 if the race is fast enough. He has to do the job for that,‘’ Daouda wrote.

"Tell him not to forget that you win a medal on your own potential, not on the failings of others. He has to be the boss before and during the race to win. I saw his (two miles) race in London. He is the only one to challenge seriously the Ethiopians.‘’

Templeton would take issue with that of course, advising The Telegraph by email: "Just like Hicham in 2004, there’s no pressure on him (Lagat) because he will have already run his `main’ event (1500m).

"We’re not going to think about the 5000 until after the 1500, just like I’m sure Tyson Gay won’t be thinking of the 200 while he’s racing Asafa Powell in the 100!

"But have a look at his (Lagat’s) record since 1999, only one loss at 5000 (and that last year when stomach cramps severely restricted him in Berlin).

"Sure, maybe he’s tired after 1500. Maybe not. I note that in his two fast races he finished incredibly fast to win - Berlin in 2005 (24.6sec for last 200m) and London last year (51.5 for the last 400m). Bernard will be a contender.‘’

Lagat (12:59.22, 1st in 2006) and Mottram (12:55.76, 2nd in 2004) have both set their 5000m best times in London.

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too many gutless runners, too scared to run at the front, but lets sit at the back and do nothing… if your goin to sit and the back on such a slow pace and do nothing, get up to the front, if everybody then starts heading to the front, the pace will soon enough be on. But no, everybody just wanted to sit… Why would anybody want to just sit and let known sprinters Win the race?? unless they ALL thought they were THe fastest sprinter in the field.

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If you’re the front-runner, you get your ass kicked at the end cause you’re cutting the wind for the rest. That’s why there are team tactics with some countries.
This is also why tracks are now harder, cause the meet directors figure no one cares about donkey runs and favor the sprints.

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all i kno is rashid ramzee has the ugliest form iv ever seen at the professional level

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i finally seen the heats today, of the 1500m!! well a couple of em. Much more cut throat, you could see people despiretly trying to get ahead.

Im looking forward to the 5k. Aussie Craig Mottrom, he dont take no Sh%t from them Africans, he will for sure try to Burn them into the ground so as to avoid the 400m sprint at the end. What with lagat in the mix, he would be a damn fool to just sit n wait.

RE charlie, you dont neccessarily have to front run to push the pace up, you can do so, by pushing to get into 2nd position, right on the shoulder of 1st, which is THE ideal spot to be, this is the position that everybody should have fought over, which would have caused back markers to run past the group to get into position, the leader to feel pressured and either back away or speed up. When the pace is that slow, (for the entire field it must have felt like a tempo session), they can afford to fight for position and fight to keep it. Fighting to keep position is what will cause the total pace to quicken.

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BERNARD LAGAT DID INDEED MAKE LIFE MORE DIFFICULT FOR MOTTRAM.

CONGRATS TO LAGAT ON WINNING THE RARE 1500-5000 DOUBLE. GOD KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO MOTTRAM, WHO WAS NEVER A FACTOR IN THE 5000 FINAL. :eek:

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With historic double, Lagat joins illustrious company

Osaka, Japan - Four days after his emphatic win in the 1500m final Bernard Lagat opened a new chapter of athletics history on the final day of the World Championships in Osaka’s Nagai Stadium.

The 32-year-old American became the first athlete to take the 5000 m as well in the history of the championships. He prominently joins two of the greatest runners ever, who have achieved this feat at the Olympic Games: Finland’s legend Paavo Nurmi did it in 1924 and Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj repeated it 80 years later in Athens. Bernard Lagat clocked 13:45.87 and just edged out Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge (13:46.00) with Moses Kpsiro (Uganda/13:46.75) taking third.

‘It took my very best’

“Following in the footsteps of these two is fantastic,” said Lagat, who won a silver medal in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in 2004 and bronze at the 2000 Olympics when he was still running for his native Kenya. After having lived in America since 1997 he was granted US citizenship in 2004.

“Being the first to have achieved this at the World Championships really means a lot to me,” he said. “When I flew into Kansai airport in Osaka I could never have imagined that I would leave with two gold medals. I had no doubts that I would be strong in both events. But I was not sure about the gold medals because of the strong competition. It took my best to win the 1500 metres and it took my very best to then take the 5000 metres today. ” Lagat said that the 1500 “Was the more challenging one, because somehow the 5000m was a bonus for me.”

The race played out perfectly for Lagat, still the second fastest man ever over the 1500m. A slow pace for much of the race helped Lagat, who admitted that his legs were no longer that fresh after his series of races.

But he also said: “I would have been ready for a faster pace as well.” For whatever reason, none of his opponents picked up the pace, and it was obvious that Lagat would only wait to unleash his great kick.

“I have worked so often in the past as the pacemaker for others. So this time I simply sat in and waited. Normally noone can beat me when I am kicking in the last lap – but unfortunately Bernard Lagat was there,” said Kipchoge, the champion in 2003.

It was then that Lagat revealed that the gold and silver medal winners were originally living almost next door to each other in Kaptel. “Yes, the winners today are from one small village in Kenya,” Lagat said, as the pair posed for photos during the post-race press conference.

Next up, elusive Olympic medal

“This success in Osaka will give me alot of confidence regarding the Olympics next year,” Lagat said. “I will prepare very seriously for Beijing but first I will have to qualify. Only after that will I decide if I go for the 1500 metres, the 5000 metres, or maybe both again,” said Lagat, who thinks that it is within his capability to improve his personal best in the event, which stands at 12:59.22 from last year. ”I think a time of 12:50 minutes will be possible for me. But I am not going to run another 5000 metres this season so I will go for this next year.”

More immediately, Lagat will contest the 3000 at Zurich’s Weltklasse Golden League meeting on Friday.

“There will be no pacemakers, so I will just run and test my ability.”

Jörg Wenig for the IAAF

http://osaka2007.iaaf.org/news/kind=2/newsid=41504.html#with+historic+double+lagat+joins+illustrious+company

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im confused with that 5k. They were consistantly running 70sec laps, the odd 69sec, the odd 65sec, i think the 2nd lap was 75sec?
Granted the last 1k was quick,
but, how did they manage to break 14min??
Was the TV lap times wrong?

also, i found All female events exciting to watch.
i found the mens sprints exciting to watch, and everything from 800+ boring as bat sh&%.

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Hard to please, you. The weather seems to have torn everyone down in the endurance races, but the finish of the men’s 800 was so desperate - great drama with the stopped little Kenyan, Yego, grabbing gold from the front-running Canadian Gary Reed right on the line. I couldn’t pick it.

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Actually, that Gold/silver in the 800m was good… still, 55sec 1st lap - even in that heat was slow… the fastest sprinter won.

i realised last night, that 70sec laps gives about 14min 30sec 5k, whereas i was thinking at the time, 15min flat… 70sec laps was quicker than i thought. :o
Still, heat issue - the same issue still seemed to remain, every man was leaving the Gold or even any Medal up to their sprint Speed. Weather it was hot or cool, it seemed like the same tactics would have been done anyway. The girls, well, the ones who realised that pace needed to be pushed early on to kill the sprint out of the sprinters seemed to be used.
Like the mens 5k, surely they all realised, leaving the last 1k open to a speed finnish was always going to give the 5k title to Bernard?? Even if it was hot, the smart guy would have pushed the 3rd and 4th klm hard, burned the speed out of everybody, and hang on with 70sec laps to the finnish… So they still might have ran the same finnishing time due to the heat, but, at least they could have made it interesting, A bunched up group in a 5k the whole way around, is going to give Bernard the Gold - foolish.

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what’s that saying about “if you could walk a mile in my shoes” . . . maybe modifiy that to “if you could run 5000m in my spikes” :stuck_out_tongue:

It’s not the weather during the actual race. It’s living in those conditions for for previous days or weeks that can tear an athlete down. Some people adapt faster than others, most get weaker before they get stronger. I have no idea what any of these guys were doing, but I do know this much:

*You can go for climate (heat/humidity) adaptation.

*You can go for race-specific fitness adaptation (severe intervals or broken reps etc).

**But you better not try for both simultaneously, because that Will Kill You. :eek:

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As a corollary to that logic, you would have to believe that everyone in the 5000 field knew what kind of race tactics would bring them successes or would bring them failure. Whether they were able to do much about seems to be the question. By 3000 the pace of 8:34 (or thereabouts) was still very slow, but from what I’ve read Mottram, at least, was already spent. So he would have known what he had to do, but not how to do it because apparently his preparation and climate adaptation were inappropriate on this occasion.

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comments I saw from some mid distance guys are that they loved the races as their were actually tactics not just the TT situations with pacemakers in most meets.

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The way i saw it, a bunched field like that, not even close to Indian file (aka, for what ever conditions, means a slow pace), they were All, banking on Speed at the end to win!! I think by the looks of it, about 3guys total were totally spent by around 1k to go.

Mottram looked totalled by 1k to go! Didnt look Healthy at all. His after race interview, cemented what you said before, Dont try to acclimatise and do special sessions at the same time, for he said, “we wanted to do some specific practice in the couple of wks leading into tonights race, we just never had the opportunity” (well it was close to that what he said), so, reading into it, you said not to do both (acclimatise and race specific or it will kill you!). Too much living in Melbourns cold weather before hand perhaps?

John, the trouble with The Tactics that i seen in these Words, was, all races seemed to be just sit n sprint at the end. Leaves the Sprinters in the field to win everytime. Bernard was a shoe in with 1k to go in the 5k. Everybody else was racing for 2nd and 3rd really.

Kk, give me another yr, and ill be in them 5k spikes! Im hoping to push out a sub 31min 10k this yr - on the road though. Not that fantastic i know, but only off 6months tops of training for that event, after 6yrs of sprint work.

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I can see why you’re keen about a kickdown finish to the distance races. A sprinter who can go sub31 for 10k, you’re dangerous. :slight_smile:

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thats it :stuck_out_tongue: Let em run slow, just let me into the team, ill sit back and out sprint em all. :smiley: