THE OFFICIAL IAAF REPORT
Sunday, 31 May 2009 Gay returns with 19.58, six world leads in New York – IAAF World Athletics Tour
Tyson Gay powers back with a 19.58 victory in New York (Victah Sailer)
New York, USA - Tyson Gay ran 19.58 for his first 200m of the year on Saturday evening (30th) at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, becoming the third-fastest 200m runner of all time and getting his 2009 season off to a promising start after a disappointing 2008. The time gave a jump-start to Gay’s defense of his 200m and 100m World Championships and almost overshadowed the eight other world-leading marks set at Icahn Stadium at the New York’s Reebok Grand Prix.
The Reebok Grand Prix is a Grand Prix status meet as part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour 2009.
Gay is back - 19.58 200m
Running in lane five with a tailwind of +1.3m/s, Gay leapt out of the blocks in pursuit of his former University of Arkansas teammate, Wallace Spearmon, who was just outside in lane six. “I tried to run smooth on the curve,” Gay said afterward, “and then I ran for my life on the homestretch. I made sure I ran through the finish line, because I didn’t want to have any could-have, would-have, should-have afterward.”
This was the meet in 2008 where Gay, who started the year as a favorite for the Olympic 100m title, watched helplessly as Usain Bolt ran away from him to record a 9.72 WR. After a staggering but windy 9.68 performance at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Gay then injured himself in the 200m rounds and was far from his best form in Beijing.
“I felt like I let a lot of people down,” Gay said about his 2008 season. The 19.58 clocking, he said, “does a lot for my confidence. 19.5 was a goal, but I didn’t expect it to come this early in the season.”
“I wouldn’t say Bolt’s times are out of reach. 19.30 [for 200m] was a shocker, but what was shocking about the 100m was the way he ran it. He could’ve won that race with the time he ran in Jamaica” in May 2008, Gay pointed out. “I hope I can run those times, because that’s what I’ll need to do to win.”
Spearmon’s second-place mark of 19.98 was also under the old world-leading mark. The women’s 200m saw Lauryn Williams run a 22.34 world list-leader.
Dibaba defeated - Masai runs 14:35.39
Linet Masai, the World Junior record holder for 10,000m, served notice that she would be a senior contender at multiple distances when she toppled 5000m WR holder Tirunesh Dibaba over the shorter distance.
Masai ran 14:35.39 to Dibaba’s 14:40.93 with both women fighting swirling winds at the track where Meseret Defar ran a then-World record 14:24.53 three years ago.
Dibaba clearly intended to chase a fast early-season mark, demanding a pace the designated pacemaker could only maintain for about 1800m. After that it was Dibaba, Masai, Dibaba’s younger sister Gezenbe, and Kim Smith of New Zealand. Smith was the first off the back, beginning to fall back after 2000m, and with six laps remaining Dibaba waved Masai to the front to share the pacesetting labor.
Masai delivered more than was expected of her, not only maintaining the pressure but after three laps building a small gap on Dibaba. With two laps remaining it was clear that Masai was going to be hard even for Dibaba to catch, and indeed her lead continued to grow until the finish line.
“I’m so excited,” Masai said afterward. “I was not expecting that fast a time, 14:45 maybe. I was expecting [Dibaba] to pass me in the last lap, even when I saw the lead I had. I was surprised when she never showed up.”
Kogo out-kicks Lagat
Men’s 5000m World champion Bernard Lagat did not get as encouraging a sign of his conditioning as Gay and Masai did. Lagat, whose hopes of a sub-13:00 race were undermined by the gusty conditions, found himself kicking with young Kenyan Micah Kogo in the final lap, and it was Kogo who got the nod, winning in 13:02.90 to Lagat’s 13:03.06. Both times, as well as those of Dejen Gebremeskel (13:03.13) and Merga Imani (13:04.68) of Ethiopia, bettered the old world leader.
“I thought I would get beat out in the sprint,” said Kogo. “I know he’s a 1500m man and he can run faster than me. But I saw in the last 200m that he could not go. It was difficult because of the wind on the back side. I was hoping to tuck in, but I wasn’t able to. I was a little disappointed not to run under my PB.”
Stuczynski the class of the Pole Vault
It came as no surprise that Jenn Stuczynski dominated the women’s Pole Vault, not entering the competition until the bar was at 4.62m and only Stacy Dragila remained to vault. Stuczynski cleared that height on her first attempt while Dragila missed all three. With the competition won, Stuczynski set the bar first to 4.81m, which she cleared on the first attempt, and then to 4.93m, which would have been an American Record. She was unable to make that height, however, and wound up the competition with only five trips down the runway and two clearances–both of them high enough to win.
Willard surprises with 800m world lead
The women’s 800m also saw a world leader, this time from Anna Willard, who ran down crowd-favorite Jamaican Kenia Sinclair on the homestretch to win in 1:59.29. Willard’s race was particularly surprising given that she had been considered a steeplechase specialist (she ran that event in Beijing) and she defeated a number of two-lap specialists for the win. “I don’t have that much experience, but the goal was to have another gear at that 700m mark,” said Willard, who had told reporters before the meet that she felt capable of running sub-2:00. “I knew if I just kept pushing, it was going to happen.”
Christin Wurth-Thomas ran away from the women’s 1500m field, winning in a meet-record 4:03.96. “I tried to look up at the screen to see where I was,” said Wurth-Thomas. “I could have closed a little faster in the last 200m, that’s something I’ll need to work on. I wanted to come through [800m] at 2:08 and see what happened. I thought I might have been ready to run faster than that.”
Felix takes 400m, Jeter defeats Campbell-Brown at 100m
Allyson Felix lowered her world-leading 400m time from 50.75 to 50.50 with a narrow victory over Shericka Williams, who ran 50.58. Felix, who says she plans only to defend her 200m World Championship in Berlin, said, “It was a funny race. I don’t know how I ran that; my strategy was off with the wind. On the backstretch, I wound up setting it up for myself to be harder at the end.”
Mike Rodgers was the surprise winner of the men’s 100m, running 9.93 with a +3.1 m/s tailwind. Rodgers, running in lane one, nipped Travis Padgett, who ran 9.96. Former World record holder Asafa Powell was a distant seventh in 10.10. In fact, after Steve Mullings in third (9.98), the remaining three Jamaicans (Powell, Michael Frater, and Nesta Carter) filled the bottom of the results list, while the USA added Darvis Patton in fourth (10.00) to take three of the top four. The USA/Jamaica sprint rivalry, apparently, is far from over, unfortunately for the largely Jamaican crowd in New York.
Similar disappointing results for the Jamaicans came in the women’s 100m, where Carmelita Jeter ran 10.85 with a 2.8 m/s tailwind for the victory, followed closely by Muna Lee in 10.88. Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown, the two-time Olympic200m champion, ran 10.91 for third.
Elsewhere
Bershawn Jackson bested Javier Coulson by five thousandths of a second in the men’s 400m Hurdles, with both awarded times of 48.52. Jackson’s time was listed as 48.513 unofficially; Coulson’s 48.518. Tasha Danvers, once again running in a skirt, ran 55.19 to win the women’s race.
LaShawn Merritt won the men’s 400m in 44.75, while his rival Jeremy Wariner ran the 200m in 20.30 (4th).
Terrence Trammell won the men’s 110m Hurdles in 13.12, dominating the race from the first hurdle. Olympic Gold Medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton won the women’s discus, saying afterward that she “still had something to prove,” which she intends to do by winning another global championship.
Leonel Manzano ran a meet-record 3:34.14 to win the men’s 1500m over Juan Van Deventer of South Africa (3:34.40).
Parker Morse for the IAAF