Aug 20, 2016

High Schoolers, Did You Know?

- In 2016, Vashti Cunningham
- Had a world leading mark
- Won the USATF Indoor Track & Field Championship
- Won the IAAF Indoor World Championship
- Made the USA Olympic Team
- Made an Olympic Final

- Matt Centrowitz won Gold medal in the 1500m with the time of 3:50.00. The Maryland native ran a 3:52.56 in 2007 at Penn Relays.

- Tony McQuay won Gold in the 4x4 tonight. He split a blazing 43.67 for Team USA. As a senior in 2009, McQuay ran an open 47.03 at the Golden South Classic.

Matt Centrowitz Wins 1500m Olympic Gold

Matt Centrowitz just outkicked Taoufik Makhloufi and Asbel Kiprop for an Olympic gold medal in the men's 1500m. It's the first American win in the 1500m since 1908 and the first American gold in any men's distance event since 1972. Nick Willis won his second Olympic medal after taking silver in Beijing eight years ago. In that race, Willis initially finished third but was upgraded after Rashid Ramzi was disqualified for doping.

Results:
1. 3:50.00 Matt Centrowitz (USA)
2. 3:50.11 Taoufik Makhloufi (ALG)
3. 3:50.24 Nick Willis (NZL)
4. 3:50.29 Ayanleh Souleiman (DJI)
5. 3:50.58 Abdalaati Iguider (MAR)
6. 3:50.87 Asbel Kiprop (KEN)
7. 3:51.06 David Bustos (ESP)
8. 3:51.09 Ben Blankenship (USA)
9. 3:51.39 Ryan Gregson (AUS)
10. 3:51.45 Nate Brannen (CAN)
11. 3:51.68 Ronald Musagala (UGA)
12. 3:51.73 Charlie Grice (GBR)
13. 3:56.76 Ronald Kwemoi (KEN)

The winning time is the slowest in an Olympic final since 1932, when the men's world record in the mile was 4:09. Here's how much Centro won his historic gold by; that's Willis's leg on the right of the frame.

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Photo: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

After the race, Centro said that "My goal was just to get on the podium, I didn't dream of winning." But he ran the entire race like someone who thought that he was going to win.

It's the second straight signature Olympic moment for Alberto Salazar's Nike Oregon Project after Galen Rupp won silver in the 10K in London. It's the third major outdoor medal for Centrowitz, who took bronze at worlds in 2011 and silver at worlds in 2013. He also won the 1500m at World Indoors in March before missing time this spring with a stress reaction.

Centrowitz stayed parked in or near the front the whole time, as the leaders came through 400m in 66.8 seconds and 800m in 2:16.5. A key move came when Ayanleh Souleiman tried to pass him on the backstretch with just over 450m to go, and Centrowitz cleared just a little bit of space with an arm and re-passed Souleiman.

Abdalaati Iguider tried to take the lead with 400m to go, Kiprop tried to snag it with 200m to go, but Centrowitz never relinquished the lead, and with just under 100m to go, finally opened up a half-meter gap on a hard-charging pack. Makhloufi couldn't close hard enough to catch Centrowitz, and will leave these Olympics with silver medals from the 800m and 1500m to go with his 2012 London gold.

Centrowitz ran his last 400m in 50 or 51 seconds and covered his last 300m in 38 seconds.

Here are the full 100m splits. Centrowitz led at every 100m mark except for 1000m and 1100m, when by my eye, he was sharing the lead with Souleiman and Iguider, respectively.

The 33-year-old Willis (who is based in the United States) embraced the 26-year-old Centrowitz after the race.

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Photo: James Lang/USA TODAY Sports

Photo: Guy Rhodes/USA TODAY Sports

Mo Farah Wins Double Olympic Gold, Chelimo DQed Then Reinstated For Silver

In a thrilling final kick, Great Britain's Mo Farah earned Olympic gold in the men's 5K final in 13:03.30. The performance marks Farah's second Olympic gold in Rio after winning the 10K. It also marks his fourth Olympic gold after winning the 5K and 10K double at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The fight for silver and bronze proved to be a complicated affair after runner-up Paul Chelimo, Muktar Edris (4th), and Mo Ahmed (5th) were disqualified due to lane infringement. But after the initial ruling and several appeals, Chelimo and Ahmed were both reinstated. Chelimo stands as the silver medalist. He is the first American to earn an Olympic medal in the 5K since 1964. Chelimo followed Farah for silver in 13:03.90 and Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia claimed bronze. Initially following the disqualifications, the results listed Gebrhiwet in second and moved Bernard Lagat from sixth to third.

Chelimo's silver medal performance marks the 25-year-old's first Olympic final of his career. It's just his second international championship after finishing seventh in the 3K at the world indoor championships last March.

Gebrhiwet's bronze marks his first Olympic medal of his career. The 22-year-old earned bronze at the 2015 world championships and silver at the 2013 world championships.

Prior to Chelimo and Ahmed's reinstatement, the official IAAF results stated that Chelimo, Edris, and Ahmed's initial violation consisted of lane infringement according to Rule 163.3b in the IAAF competition rule book.

The Ethiopian duo of Gebrihwet and Gebremeskel attempted to break Farah early on in the race by throwing down a brisk pace. Farah started the race in the back of the lead pack.

The Ethiopian compatriots brought the lead pack into the first 1K in 2:37 with Gebremeskel leading. Farah started to move up in the pack after the 1K mark and found himself in seventh place, tucked into the group.

Meanwhile, Chelimo situated himself in third behind the Ethiopian duo, biding his time for the perfect move.

The Ethiopians continued to switch off in the lead, exchanging pacing duties through the 2K mark, which they flew through in 5:15.

With five laps remaining, Farah charged to the front and established his front-running position. The British athlete brought the pack through 3K in 8:29. The pace slowed slightly, bringing the entire field back together.

Farah continued to lead the pack through the bell lap, where he unleashed a furious kick for the finish line. Chelimo, Gebrhiwet and Ahmed battled right behind him for second and third position.

The final homestretch resulted in a dominant push from Farah for gold, a powerful surge from Chelimo to claim silver, and a great effort from Gebrhiwet for bronze.

Unfortunately, Chelimo first learned of the initial disqualification in the middle of a live interview on NBC.

He eventually received the good news right before the medal ceremony where he officially accepted his Olympic silver medal.

U.S. Women Win 4x400m Relay, Allyson Felix Wins Ninth Olympic Medal

The U.S. women won the 4x400m relay in 3:19.06 over Jamaica (3:20.34) and Great Britain (3:25.88). The U.S. women have now won the 4x400m relay in every Olympic Games since 1996.

The squad of Courtney Okolo (50.31), Natasha Hastings (49.30), Phyllis Francis (49.85) and Allyson Felix (49.62) were challenged by the Jamaican team but ultimately held them off to win their sixth-consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event.

Felix now has nine Olympic medals, six of them gold. She is the most successful track and field athlete in Olympic history, tied with Jamaican Merlene Ottey for nine total medals.

Ottey has six silvers and three bronzes from 1980-2000.

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Photo: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

Caster Semenya Wins 800m Gold in 1:55

Caster Semenya was the most dominant athlete on the track tonight as she won the women's 800m by over one full second.

The South African lowered her own National record by running 1:55.28, the fifth-fastest in Olympic history, making her the No. 11 performer all-time.

Oregon Track Club Elite's Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi took silver in 1:56.49 and Kenya's Margaret Wambui bronze in 1:56.89.

Niyonsaba and Semenya, who have been on top of the leaderboard all season, went through 400m in 57.59. Niyonsaba made a hard move with 300m to go, but Semenya covered it all. She passed Niyonsaba, the World indoor champion, and never looked back. Her final 400m split of 57.70 was nearly identical to her first 400m.

Canadian Melissa Bishop finished fourth in a new Canadian record of 1:57.02. She moved into third place with 200m to go, but was passed by Wambui down the final 100m.

American Kate Grace finished eighth in 1:59.57 in her first Olympic appearance.

U.S. Men Take Back 4x400m Gold

The U.S. men won their eighth 4x400m gold medal of the last ten Olympics that they've competed in, running 2:57.30 to beat Jamaica by nearly a second.

Here are the Americans' splits:
45.30 Arman Hall
43.20 Tony McQuay
44.79 Gil Roberts
43.97 LaShawn Merritt

McQuay is the only holdover from the 2012 Olympic final, where the U.S. finished second. It's the fourth Olympic medal for Merritt and second 4x400m gold after he ran on the winning 4x4 in 2008. This is the first Olympic medal for Hall and Roberts, though McQuay and Hall ran on the 2013 team that won gold at worlds.

Merritt ran 43.85 for third in the individual 400m earlier in this meet, while McQuay got his gold after finishing a surprising fifth in the Olympic Trials 400m final.

It's the 17th overall Olympic gold medal in the event for the Americans.

Results:
1. 2:57.30 United States (Hall, McQuay, Roberts, Merritt)
2. 2:58.16 Jamaica (Matthews, Allen, Dunkley, Francis)
3. 2:58.49 Bahamas (Russell, Mathiew, Gardiner, Brown)
4. 2:58.52 Belgium (Watrin, Borlee, Borlee, Borlee)
5. 2:59.06 Botswana (Makwala, Sibanda, Nkobolo, Maotoanong)
6. 2:59.53 Cuba (Collazo, Chacon, Pellicier, Lescay)
7. 3:00.50 Poland (Krawczuk, Pietrzak, Krzewina, Omelko)
8. 3:03.28 Brazil (De Oliveira, Russo, Dos Santos, De Sousa)

Here are the official splits:

Only the U.S., Great Britain, Bahamas, the Bahamas, and Jamaica have ever run faster than the U.S. did tonight.