by RBR AdminWalt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–September 28
1878—Rene La Montague ran 10.0 for 100-yards at the West Brighton Grounds on NY’s Staten Island to equal his own American Record. He actually ran 101 yards, since, under the rules in effect at the time, he had been assessed the extra yard for committing a false start!
1968—The highlight of this pre-Olympic meet in Victoria, BC, was the men’s 4×100 relay, where a U.S. “B” team (39.1) of Charlie Mays, Larry Questad, John Carlos, and Tommie Smith beat the “A” team that consisted of Charlie Greene, Mel Pender, Ronnie Ray Smith, and Jim Hines. The “A” team went on to win the gold medals at the Mexico City Olympics.
(scroll down-#8): https://forum.trackandfieldnews.com/forum/historical/1730140-john-carlos
1975–Tom Fleming won the 6th NY City Marathon in 2:19:27 (he also won in 1973). This was the last year the race, which also served as the U.S. Women’s Championship, was held entirely in Central Park before stretching out to all five boroughs in 1976. The women’s winner was Kim Merritt in 2:46:14. Sheldon Karlin, the 1972 winner, finished 10th (2:33:27). Fleming passed away in 2017 at the age of 65.
Starters/Finishers: 532/339 Men: 488/303, Women: 44/36
A Look Back(2011): http://www.garycohenrunning.com
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_New_York_City_Marathon
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/sports/tom-fleming-died-new-york-marathon-winner.html?mcubz=3
1975—The Netherlands’ Jos Hermens, now one of the world’s leading athlete managers, set a World Record of 57:31.6 for 20,000-Meters and continued on to set a 2nd WR of 20,907-meters for the 1-hour run in Papendal. The previous Record of 57:44.4 and 20,784m was set by Belgium’s Gaston Roelants in 1972.
1985–Ireland’s Frank O’Mara (3:52.28), a late addition to the race, won the 5th Avenue Mile over Ross Donoghue (3:52.81). Others in this loaded field included Steve Ovett (3rd-3:53.36), Eamonn Coghlan (4th-3:54.39), Mike Boit (6th-3:54.65), Abdi Bile (7th-3:54.78), Ray Flynn (8th-3:56.97), and John Walker (10th-3:58.80).
Canada’s Lynn Williams won the Women’s race in 4:25.03, with Francie Larrieu-Smith finishing 5th in 4:33.16.
Winner of the high school boys race for the 2nd year in a row was John Trautmann (4:04.65), while Shola Lynch won the girls race in 4:48.20.
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/29/sports/o-mara-wins-mile-in-upset.html
Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Avenue_Mile
1988–19-year old Steve Lewis led a U.S. sweep in the Men’s 400-Meters at the Seoul Olympics, with World Record holder Butch Reynolds (43.93) and Danny Everett (44.09) following him across the finish line. Lewis ran 43.87 to set the still-standing World Junior/Under 20 Record.
Joe DeLoach beat training partner Carl Lewis (19.79) to win the Men’s 200 Meters and set Olympic and American Records with his winning time of 19.75. Brazil’s Robson da Silva finished 3rd in 20.04.
Sergey Bubka (19-4 ¼ [5.90m]) led a Soviet sweep in the Pole Vault, with Rodion Gataulin (19-2 ¼ [5.85]) and Grigoriy Yegerov (19-1/4 [5.80]) winning the silver and bronze, respectively. Bubka would eventually win 6 World Outdoor Championship titles, but this would be his only Olympic victory. American Earl Bell was tied for first after clearing 18-8 ¼ (5.70) on his 1st attempt, but missed his 3 attempts at 18-10 ¼ (5.75).
The finish of the Women’s 400-Meter Hurdles was so close, officials at first announced the wrong winner! The Soviet Union’s Tatyana Ledovskaya (53.18) had a big lead coming off the final hurdle, but was passed right at the finish by the hard-charging Aussie, Debbie Flintoff-King (53.17). Winning the bronze medal was East Germany’s Ellen Fiedler (53.63).
Florence Griffith-Joyner won her ¼-final race in the Women’s 200-Meters in 21.76 to shave a tenth off her American Record.
Seoul Medalists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics
Videos: M400 M200 W400h Men’s PV
2000–Greece’s Konstantinos Kenteris won the Men’s 200 (20.09) at the Sydney Olympics as favored John Capel, thinking there would be a recall, hesitated in his blocks and finished 8th and last (20.49). Winning silver and bronze were Great Britain’s Darren Campbell (2014) and Trinidad & Tobago’s Ato Boldon (20.20). It was the 4th Olympic medal for Boldon, who had won bronze in the 100 & 200 in 1996, and silver in the 100 earlier in Sydney.
Marion Jones finished first in the Women’s 200 (21.84), but it was the Bahamas’ Pauline Davis (22.27) who wound up with the gold medal after Jones was later disqualified. Silver and bronze went to Sri Lanka’s Susanthika Jayasinghe (22.28) and Jamaica’s Beverly McDonald (22.35).
Estonia’s Erki Nool (8641) won the Decathlon over the Czech Republic’s Roman Šebrle (8606) and American Chris Huffins (8595). Nool trailed Huffins by 14 points after 9 events, but easily overtook him in the 1500-Meters (4:29.48-4:38.71) to capture the gold medal. While the 1500 was one of his weakest events, Huffins bettered his personal best by 12 seconds to salvage the bronze medal (Great Britain’s Dean Macey was a close 4th with a score of 8567 points). American Tom Pappas finished 5th (8425). One of Nool’s coaches was Great Britain’s Daley Thompson, the gold medalist in the Decathlon at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.
Nool caught a break in the Discus. After fouling on his first two throws, he fouled again on his 3rd throw, but successfully appealed the call and was granted an extra throw (143-3 [43.66]).
Czech Tomáš Dvořák, the World Record holder in the event (8994), was hampered by a knee injury and could only manage a 6th-place finish (8385).
Cuba’s Iván Pedroso, a winner at 7 World Championships (4 Indoors, 3 Outdoors), was a heavy favorite to win the Men’s Long Jump, but needed a 6th-round leap of 28-3/4 (8.55) to overtake Australia’s Jai Turima, who had set a National Record of 27-10 ¼ (8.49) in the 5th round. Turima, who electrified the crowd of 110,000 by battling Pedroso throughout the competiton, fell short with his final jump of 27-2 (8.28) The bronze medal went to Ukraine’s Roman Shchurenko
(26-3 ½ [8.01]). Pedroso would win his final Indoor and Outdoor World titles in 2001.
Dwight Phillips was the top American finisher in 8th place, marking the first time the U.S. had not won at least one medal in the event at the Olympics (excluding the 1980 boycott year). Phillips would go on to win gold 4 years later in Athens.
Medalists in other events:
Women’s Shot Put: Belarus’s Yanina Korolchik (67-5 ½ [20.56]), Russia’s Larisa Peleshenko (65-4 ¼ [19.92]),
Germany’s Astrid Kumbernuss (64-4 ½ [19.62]/defending champion)
Women’s 20k-Walk: China’s Wang Liping (1:29:05), Norway’s Kjersti Plätzer (1:29:33), Spain’s Maria Vasco
(1:30:23)
Medalists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2000_Summer_Olympics.
The Decathlon gets in-depth treatment early in this 2-hour feature (18:02 mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xHMsL6sSLQ
John Capel, after winning the 2003 World title: “Sydney, Australia, haunts me every night,” he said. “It took the fire out of me. To actually be back…again to show that I can be one of the top sprinters in the world, it helps me out a lot.”
https://worldathletics.org/news/news/capel-burying-the-ghosts-of-sydney
2003–Paul Tergat set a World Record of 2:04:55 in the Berlin Marathon, but barely won the race over fellow Kenyan Sammy Korir, whose runnerup time of 2:04:56 was also under the previous mark of 2:05:38, set by American Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Tergat’s time was the first mark officially recognized by the IAAF as a WR, and was the first of 8 consecutive alterations of the WR set in Berlin.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
http://www.letsrun.com/2003/tergatberlin.php
A Look Back (2023): https://worldathletics.org/heritage/news/paul-tergat-kenya-berlin-marathon-sub-205
https://people.uwec.edu/hartnesg/seanweb/BerlinWRMap.pdf
https://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/content-hub/berlin-and-the-mens-marathon-world-record
2008–The great Haile Gebrselassie won the Berlin Marathon for the 3rd year in a row and broke the 2:04 barrier, running 2:03:59 to better his previous World Record of 2:04:26, which was set on this same course a year earlier. Geb was pressed by Kenya’s James Kwambai (2:05:36) for most of the race before breaking away with less than 4 miles to go. The record was broken in Berlin in 2011 by Kenya’s Patrick Makau, who ran 2:03:38, with Gebrselassie dropping out just before the 22-mile mark.
Video Highlights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_Yk1xeSLRk
Makau: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/sports/patrick-makau-sets-world-record-in-berlin.html
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
2014—Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto ran 2:02:57 at the Berlin Marathon to break the World Record of 2:03:23, which was set in the same race in 2013 by fellow Kenyan Wilson Kipsang. His time also bettered the “unofficial” record of 2:03:02 that Geoffrey Mutai ran at the 2011 Boston Marathon on a course that is not considered acceptable for record purposes.
Another Kenyan, Emmanuel Mutai, was also under the old record with his runnerup time of 2:03:13.
Shalane Flanagan was hoping to break Deena Kastor’s American Record of 2:19:36, but had to settle for a personal best of 2:21:14 in 3rd place. The winner of the women’s race was Ethiopia’s Tirfi Tsegaye (2:20:18).
Video:
http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2014/09/28/dennis-kimetto-berlin-marathon-world-record/
Results: http://results.scc-events.com/2014/?pid=list
All-Time List: http://www.alltime-athletics.com/mmaraok.htm
2019—DeAnna Price won the Women’s Hammer Throw at the World Championships in Doha with a toss of 254-5 (77.54). She became the first American to win a global title in the Hammer since Hal Connolly won the men’s event at the 1956 Olympics. Winning silver and bronze were Poland’s Joanna Fiodorow (250-6 [76.35]) and China’s Wang Zheng (245-3 [74.76]). After taking her final throw, Price, overcome with emotion, dropped to her knees in the circle. She was coached by her husband, James Lambert.
Missing from the competition because of an injury was Poland’s Anita Włodarczyk, the World Record holder.
Jamaica’s unheralded Tajay Gayle won the Men’s Long Jump with a big leap of 28-6 ¼ (8.69). His opening jump of 27-9 ¼ (8.46) would also have been good enough to beat runnerup Jeff Henderson (27-6 ½ [8.39]), the 2016 Olympic champion. Winning the bronze medal was Cuba’s Juan Miguel Echevarría (27-4 ½ [8.34]).
The Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan (30:17.62), running an amazing 3:59.09 for her last 1500-Meters, won the Women’s 10,000-Meters over Ethiopia’s Litesenbet Gidey (30:21.23) and Kenya’s Agnes Tirop (30:25.20). Hassan would come back a week later to complete an unusual double by winning the 1500-Meters. 5th was Kenya’s Hellen Obiri (30:35.82), who would win her 2nd title in the 5000 later in the week. The U.S. got top-10 finishes from Marielle Hall (8th/31:05.71), Molly Huddle (9th/31:07.24), and Emily Sisson (10th/31:12.56).
The U.S. got a 1-2 sweep in the Men’s 100-Meters from Christian Coleman (9.76) and 37-year old Justin Gatlin (9.89), the defending champion (also won in 2003). Finishing 3rd was Canada’s Andre De Grasse (9.90).
(Both walks started together close to midnight in sauna-like conditions)
The medalists in the Men’s 50k-Walk were Japan’s Yusuke Suzuki (4:04:20), Portugal’s João Vieira (4:04:59), and Canada’s Evan Dunfee (4:05:02).
And in the Women’s 50k-Walk, it was China’s Liang Rui (4:23:26) and Li Maocuo (4:26:40), and Italy’s Eleonora Anna Giorgi (4:29:13).
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_World_Athletics_Championships
T&F News Reports(for subscribers)
Videos
M100(w/intros) Highlight Post-Race Interviews W10k Post-Race Interviews WHT(Full event) Price
M&W50kW(full race) W(Finish) M(Finish) MLJ(Full event) Gayle
