10K Record Books Get A Rewrite After Fast Races At Sound Running's The Ten

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Happy Monday, friends. Took me a little bit longer to finish writing this and I’m on my third cup of coffee for the day after staying up late to watch Sound Running’s The Ten last night from JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano, California. The meet lived up to the hype and delivered with 17 people hitting World Championship qualifying standards for Oregon22.

It’s not just the athletes locking up their spots at Worlds– an announcement went out from Oregon22 organizers last week saying that the evening competition sessions on Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24th have sold out for the World Championships. If you’re waiting to get your own tickets, there are four other sessions that are selling fast with limited seat availability. Don’t sleep and miss out. Get your tickets now.

Let’s dive into this weekend’s biggest action…

ELISE CRANNY JUST MISSES SOLO SHOT AT AMERICAN RECORD

34 seconds is a big chunk of time, even over 10000 meters, but all signs pointed toward Elise Cranny being fit enough to target Molly Huddle’s 30:13.17 American record from 2016, despite her 30:47 PB. Bowerman Track Club’s training camp in Flagstaff apparently went well for Cranny, as she ran 14:33.17 to destroy the indoor American 5000m record on Feb. 11.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle in the record attempt was finding the pacers to guide Cranny and competitors to push her late in the race. Huddle set her record in a race where she finished sixth behind then-world record holder Almaz Ayana and the top 13 finishers set a flurry of personal bests and national records. Cranny’s teammate Lucia Stafford took her through 3000m, but the former Stanford star had to do most of the work all alone (while following the Wavelight pacing technology).

Cranny split 15:04 through 5000m, just under record pace. While she crushed 71-72 second laps for the first 7200m, the pace started to slip by the time she hit the 8000m mark in 24:08.76. Her slowest lap was the penultimate one which she ran in 1:15.40 but Cranny rallied to close in 67.61 for a 30:14.66 finish. She actually beat the Wavelights to the finish, but they were actually set to 30:16.00 and not the American record.

All in all, this was a tremendous effort that moves her ahead of her coach Shalane Flanagan to No. 2 all-time. It’s incredibly easy to imagine that, had Cranny had the benefit of competition in the form of someone like teammate Karissa Schweitzer (returning from surgery) or 2021 Trials winner Emily Sisson (ran and won the U.S. 15K champs this weekend), the record would’ve been toast.

After the race, Aaron Potts caught Cranny for a brief interview and mentioned he overheard Flanagan say sub-30 was soon possible for Cranny. Cranny, to her great credit, still has her sights set higher even after another big race.

“Running in Tokyo this summer opened my eyes to wanting to really be up there on the global stage. They’re running 29-low,” she said. “To be able to break 30 minutes hopefully one day soon is something that will be exciting.”

DOM SCOTT-EFURD RAN A PB THE HARD WAY

Major props to Dominique Scott-Efurd for coming into the weekend with a “just looking to see where my fitness is at” attitude and then dropping her personal best from 31:19.89 to 31:00.10. She went with Cranny for the first 2500m before finding herself totally solo for the remainder of the race. She held on for second place ahead of the chase pack that had the benefit of working together and was rewarded. Elana Meyer’s 28-year-old 30:52.51 South African record may not last much longer.

Scott-Efurd wrote on Instagram that a year ago she was watching this meet on the couch with a stress reaction and COVID.

“To anyone going through a hard time - keep believing, and keep grinding,” she wrote. “Hard work is *eventually always rewarded!”

PODCAST PLUG: Listen to her on Run Your Mouth with David Melly after she ran her 67:32 half marathon in Houston.

MORE NOTABLE FINISHES

– In her Bowerman Track Club debut, Andrea Seccafien just missed her personal best and Canadian record by two seconds. She was third in 31:15.78.

– Hansons-Brooks Distance Project’s Natosha Rogers hung tight toward the front of the chase pack for much of the race and finished fourth in 31:16.89 to get the world championship standard. Her personal best is 31:12.28 from Dec. 2020. It’s very early but keep Rogers in mind when the 10000m champs come up, as she has 3 top-7 finishes at national championship 10ks in 5 attempts.

– Team New Balance Boston’s Millie Paladino and Sarah Lancaster, who was interviewed for The Victory Lap on Feb. 18 and continues her strong 2022 campaign, ran 31:19.92 and 31:21.75 for their 10000m debuts, respectively.

– Reebok Boston Track Club’s Paige Stoner took 31 seconds off her personal best to run 31:22.55 for seventh place.

– Steeplechase Olympic silver medalist Courtney Frerichs and Emily Lipari, who was racing for the first time since March 6, 2021, rounded out the nine World Championship standard-beaters as they ran 31:23.13 for eighth and 31:24.82 for ninth, respectively. Good to see Lipari back in action exactly 1 year after her last race.

– It was a rough day at the office for the women of NAZ Elite. As noted by coach Ben Rosario, Kellyn Taylor and Stephanie Bruce entered with the third- and seventh-fastest personal bests (per World Athletics) in the field. Bruce finished 12th and Taylor dropped out.

GRANT FISHER CONTINUES HIS TEAR, SMASHES RUPP’S RECORD AGAIN

Not to take anything away from Cranny’s incredible effort, but the excitement of record-chasing time trials can sometimes be dampened a bit by watching someone rip lap after lap all alone. There’s beauty in watching an individual pursuit of greatness, but two heavy hitters running fast AND trying to beat one another is always more fun. The evening came to a thrilling conclusion thanks to another epic battle between Bowerman Track Club teammates Grant Fisher and Mohammed Ahmed.

With his 26:33.84 victory, Fisher is now two-for-two in American record attempts in 2022, dethroning Galen Rupp from atop the U.S. all-time lists in the indoor 5000 meters and outdoor 10,000 meters. Fisher also moves to No. 7 on the all-time 10000m list. Only Joshua Cheptegei, Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, Paul Tergat, Nicholas Kemboi and Abebe Dinkesa have ever run faster.

This level-up has happened fast. Fisher split 13:23/13:10 for this race - until one year and one day ago, his 5000m PB was 13:11 (Fisher ran 13:02.53 to win the 5000m at the Sound Running Invite on the same track in March 2021). After his 5th place in the Olympic 10000m final, it was clear that Fisher could be a player on the major championship stage, and now his PBs reflect his potential. And since Fisher has a personal best faster than Olympic bronze medalist Jacob Kiplimo (26:33.93), he’ll be firmly in any future medal conversation.

Both Ahmed and Fisher benefitted not just from each other’s pressure, but from pacing help from Sam Atkin, who made it 5000m, and Woody Kincaid, who stepped off after 6500m. Once the pacers were gone, Fisher did most of the leading, but with 300m to go, Ahmed swung into the lead and it looked like Fisher was toast. But the Michigander dug deep and came out on top. Ahmed gave it his all in the final 100m – as seen from the video above – and finished second in 26:35.14 to lower his Canadian record by 25 seconds and move into No. 9 on the all-time list.

JACK RAYNER’S RECORD GETS LOST IN THE SHUFFLE

The Bowerman duel in the front captured the bulk of fan and broadcast attention but Australian Jack Rayner turned in a fantastic race to break his national record in 27:15.35. Patrick Tiernan, who finished 14th on the day in 27:45.95, previously held the record of 27:22.55 from Dec. 2020.

The mark is a personal best by 44 seconds and a new Oceania record. 2022 is starting far better than 2021 ended for Rayner, who ran 2:11 at the 2019 London Marathon to qualify for his first Olympics but then DNFed in Tokyo. Rayner also won his first national title in Jan. when he ran 28:16.86 for 10000m in Melbourne. Things are coming together at the right time for the 26-year-old with the World Championships and Commonwealth Games on the horizon.

MORE NOTABLE FINISHES

– Sean McGorty made his 10000m debut and ran 27:18.15 for fourth place to notch the World Championship standard in the process. He has options to play with for 2022 since he ran 13:06.45 for 5000m last year and finished seventh in the steeplechase at the Olympic Trials in his first year racing the event. Now he has the 10000m qualifier in his back pocket.

– McGorty’s Bowerman Track Club teammate Kieran Tuntivate finished behind him in 27:23.64, which should get him a place at Oregon22 since he’s already the record holder for Thailand.

– 2016 Olympian Shadrack Kipchirchir and two-time NCAA cross country champion Conner Mantz became the 7th and 8th American men to notch the world standard in the 10000m with marks of 27:24.93 and 27:25.23, respectively. Now that they have the standard, it doesn’t matter how slow the Pre Classic 10000m goes - as long as they finish top 3; they’ll make the team.

– The three men not at this race who also have the standard are Ben True, who has not raced since his 2:12:53 marathon debut in New York in November, Emmanuel Bor, who is preparing to represent the U.S. in the 3000m at World Indoors, and Olympian Joe Klecker, who is returning to training following a stress reaction in January.

MORE RESULTS FROM THE WEEKEND

– World record holder and two-time Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge checked another box toward his goal of winning all six World Marathon Majors with his 2:02:40 victory in Tokyo. It is the fourth-fastest record-eligible marathon performance in history. Kipchoge has now won nine World Marathon Majors. Only Boston and New York remain on his to-do list.

– World record holder and Olympic silver medalist Brigid Kosgei dominated the women’s race with a 2:16.02 win over Ethiopia’s Ashete Bekere (2:17:58) and Gotytom Gebreslase (2:18:18). She has now won in Chicago 2x, London 2x, and Tokyo 1x in her career. The only two faster marathon performances were Kosgei’s world record of 2:14:04 from the 2019 Chicago Marathon and Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 from the 2003 London Marathon.

– U.S. half marathon record holder Sara Hall finished eighth in Tokyo in 2:22:56. She is slated to run in the NYC Half on March 20 and then the Boston Marathon on April 18. “Went out faster than I ever have before with a great group, but wheels came off and ended up 8th in 2:22:56,” she wrote on Instagram. “No regrets, and grateful for the opportunity to run in this beautiful country that inspires me every time I visit!”

– Mammoth Track Club’s Nico Montañez captured his first U.S. title with a 43:10 win, taking down a stacked field that included Leonard Korir, Galen Rupp, Hillary Bor, and Biya Simbassa. On the women’s side, a trio of Emilys took the streets of Jacksonville by storm, led by Emily Sisson, who, in her first race since competing in Tokyo, defended her title in 47:28, 41 seconds faster than her winning time in 2021. Emily Durgin took second in 49:17. Emily Infeld was third in 49:46.

– 2021 Olympic 100m silver medalist Fred Kerley reminded the world that he used to be first and foremost known as a 400m specialist, opening his 2022 campaign with a 44.47 world leader* (*the results haven’t shown up in World Athletics yet). Always entertaining on Twitter, when we announced that Fred was back, he responded “Did I ever leave?”

– Chris Nilsen followed up his win in the pole vault at the U.S. Indoor Championships with a new American record, leaping 6.05m (19 feet, 10 inches) in Rouen, France to tie world record holder Mondo Duplantis for the 2022 world lead. He’s now one centimeter off Sam Kendricks’s outdoor/overall American record (although pole vault is an event where indoor competition tends to yield higher marks).

That’s it from me today. As always, thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, learned something new, or have any questions or commentary on anything featured in this issue, feel free to hit my inbox by replying or writing to [email protected]

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