Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field-February 13
1925–Finland’s Paavo Nurmi lost the race but still set a World Record! Competing at home, Syracuse University’s Al Gottlieb took full advantage of a 65-yard handicap to win the Mile by ten yards over Nurmi, who started from scratch. Nurmi’s time of 4:27-2/5 broke Joie Ray’s previous mark of 4:28.0.
1964 –Jim Beatty fired the gun to start the Mile at the NYAC Games in Madison Square Garden, then watched Tom O’Hara run 3:56.6 to smash his (Beatty’s) World Record by a full two seconds. Beatty had set the previous mark of 3:58.6 a year ago at the same meet.
After running a heat and semi-final, Bob Hayes won the 60-yard dash in 6.0, tying the world record for the 4th time that season.
Credit: Thomas J. Dyba, photographer
20-year old Bruce Kidd (8:42.6) came from behind off the final turn to edge Bob Schul (8:42.8) in the 2-mile, with Ron Clarke (8:43.8) finishing a close 3rd. It was a thrilling race, with all three leading at various stages of the race,
Other winners included Yale’s Wendell Mottley (440y-48.3-Meet Record) and Bill Crothers(880y-1:50.8)
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1964/02/24/from-humdrum-to-welldone-in-one-easy-mile
1976—Poland’s Władysław
cleared 18-3 ¼ (5.57) in the Pole Vault in Toronto to break the 5-day old World Record of 18-3 (5.56) that was set by countryman Tadeusz Ślusarski in Warsaw. Ślusarski would go on to win Olympic gold in Montreal later in the year.
1982–With a previous best of 6-4 (1.93), it came as quite a shock when Coleen Rienstra Sommer, jumping alone after midnight (after the rest of the events were completed), cleared 6-6 ¾ (2.00) at the Ottawa Citizen Games to set a World Record in the Women’s High Jump. The previous mark of 6-6 ¼ (1.99) was set the previous month by Canada’s Debbie Brill, who finished second here with a clearance of 6-2 ¾ (1.89).
Before her breakthrough jump, Sommer had already had a career night after clearing 6-5 (1.96) to break Joni Huntley’s American Record of 6-4 ¾ (1.95), set in 1981 (Huntley was 3rd here/6-3/4 [1.85m]). Sommer became the first American woman to hold the World Record in the event since Jean Shiley cleared 5-3 1/8 (1.603) in 1929 and 5-3 ½ (1.613) in 1930. She’s also the last American woman to hold the World Record (It was broken in 1983, and she held the American Record until Tisha Waller jumped 6-7 (2.01) in 1998).
1988–Three major records fell at the Vitalis/Olympic Inv., held at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey. Two of the record-setters were familiar names to most fans. Romania’s Doina Melinte, the 1984 Olympic Champion at 800-meters, won the Women’s Mile in 4:18.86 to break Mary Slaney’s 6-year old World Record of 4:20.5, and Hall-of-Famer-to-be Jackie Joyner-Kersee added 2 inches to her American Record in the Long Jump (23-1/2 [7.02]).
But only hardcore fans would recognize the name of Brian Abshire, who won the Men’s 3000-Meters in 7:41.57 to break Doug Padilla’s previous American Record of 7:44.9. Abshire’s feat merited extensive coverage in that week’s issue of Sports Illustrated (see link below). And his AR kicked off a frenzied 30-minutes of action that included Melinte’s WR and Marcus O’Sullivan’s quick 3:50.94 win in the Men’s Mile. Relieved that his World Record of 3:49.78 was still intact was the injured Eamonn Coghlan, who fired the starting gun for the race.
The front-running Abshire was an All-American steeplechaser at Auburn and had competed in that event at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, but his was hardly a household name. His coach, Auburn’s Kelly Sullivan, who trained Abshire during his collegiate career, had to “beg” to get his star runner added to a loaded field that already included Padilla, Frank O’Mara, the 1987 World Indoor Champion at 3000-meters, sub-3:50 miler Jim Spivey, Joe Falcon, the 1987 NCAA Indoor 3k champion, Kenya’s Yobes Ondieki, and one Sebastian Coe, who was making his U.S. indoor debut. (An out-of-shape Coe dropped out with one lap to go and, embarrassed by his poor showing, later returned half his appearance fee!). Finishing behind Abshire were Ondieki (7:45.87), Terry Brahm (7:47.55), O’Mara (7:47.65-Irish Record), Padilla (7:51.82), Falcon (7:51.90), and Spivey (7:53.10).
Sullivan convinced meet director Ray Lumpp’s assistant (that would be me-WM!) that Abshire was ready to run fast. Lumpp agreed to accept Abshire’s entry, with the understanding that he would have to make it to New Jersey on his own. A bonus structure was arranged that would pay Abshire a certain amount if he won, and an additional bonus should he set the American Record. Of course, Lumpp never thought he’d have to pay up! (but gladly did)
After all of the bargaining to get him into the race, Abshire almost didn’t make it to the starting line–a sore arch almost made him decide to stay home. Sullivan, who went on to coach at Oregon State and Seattle U. before retiring in 2024, recalls some other details from that weekend. “…when Brian got to the hotel, his name was not on any rooming list and he couldn’t reach me. But Padilla (being the nice guy he is) saw him in the lobby and offered to let him sleep in his room on a pull-out couch bed! Padilla, of course, was the current indoor 3k AR holder. “
“Doug told me later he could ‘sense’ that night/next day that Brian was ready to do ‘something big’ by his mood/confidence. Then in the race the ‘rabbit’ never got out front after the first 2+ laps, so Brian got antsy, knowing the pace felt slow and instinctly popped out, went to the front and turned up the pace. Having no idea on a banked, 10-laps to the mile track how fast he was running, he just ‘raced’ and broke the AR and narrowly missed Emiel Puttemans long-standing WR (7:39.2)”.
“I was at an indoor college meet at U of Florida with our Auburn team. and I called Brian/Doug’s room a couple of times but got no answer. (Way before cell phones/internet!). A few hours later Doug answered. He said ‘Hi Kelly, I will let Brian tell you how it went’. I asked Doug how he did and he told me his time/place and that he was very pleased’. Brian got on the phone and calmly said ‘It went really well!, I won’, and humbly, but excited to tell me, ‘You’ve now coached an AR holder!!’. Doug was SINCERELY happy for us both. He actually helped rub out Brian’s plantar that was really sore and ironically would take months to heal. Which is another story leading into that summer’s Olympic trials and our challenge for him to make the team in the steeplechase.” (Abshire won the Steeple at the Trials and made it to the semi-final round at the Seoul Olympics)
Coe Pre- and post-meet articles
1988— East Germany’s Heike Drechsler and Christine Wachtel set World Indoor Records in Vienna. Drechsler added 2 inches to her mark in the Long Jump (24-2 ¼ [7.37]), while Wachtel smashed her 800 best with her winning time of 1:56.40. Wachtel had run 1:57.64 just 3 days earlier in Turin, Italy.
1993–Sergey Bubka raised his World Indoor Record in the Pole Vault to 20-1 ¾ (6.14m) in Liévin, France. A 2nd World Record was set by Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey, who won the Women’s 200-Meters in 21.87.
Ottey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfQsbv6HAuM
1998—Kenya’s Laban Rotich, running on a board track for the first time, won the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in 3:55.69 in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd of 17,000 fans.
2nd was Paul McMullen (3:57.46) and 3rd was 36-year old Marcus O’Sullivan, whose time of 3:58.10 earned him entry into an exclusive club, joining John Walker and Steve Scott as the only men to run 100 sub-4 minute miles! O’Sullivan, a 5-time winner of the iconic event, took a well-deserved victory lap after the race.
From the NY Times: O’Sullivan’s contribution to track history goes back five years. ”I was cleaning out my basement,” he said, ”when I came across this trophy. I realized it was from my first sub-four-minute mile. I started counting up the number of times I had broken four minutes, and it was 76. That’s when I made my goal to run 100,” O’Sullivan said. ”It really helped keep me motivated.”
The Men’s Pole Vault, won this year by Jeff Hartwig with a Meet Record clearance of 19-2 ¾ (5.86), had been a fixture at Millrose since the 1920s, but Millrose Director Howard Schmertz was reluctant to add the relatively new Women’s event. He reportedly said to someone pushing for the event’s inclusion, “If you can get (AR holder) Stacy Dragila, I’ll add it to the program”. Dragila was available, won the event with a clearance of 13-9 ¾ (4.21) and would win again at Millrose six of the next seven years!
Results: https://www.flashresults.com/1998_Meets/millrose.htm
1999—Romania’s Gabriela Szabo set a World Indoor Record of 14:47.35 for 5000-meters in Dortmund, Germany.
Szabo won 8 “global” titles during her career:
Olympics-2000 (5000)
World Championships-1997 (5000), 1999 (5000), 2001 (1500)
World Indoor Championships-1995 (3000), 1997 (3000), 1999 (1500,3000)
https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/romania/gabriela-szabo-14295963
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriela_Szabo
1999–Casey Combest (Owensboro,KY) ran 10.55 in Lexington,KY, to set a high school record in the rarely-contested 100-meters. Combest was timed en-route at 9.71 for 100-yards.
2000(2-12/13)—Adam Goucher (4k/12k) and Deena Drossin (4k/8k) were double winners at the U.S. Cross Country Championships in Greensboro,NC. Junior Champions were Shalane Flanagan and Franklyn Sanchez.
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Cross_Country_Championships
2009–Galen Rupp wanted badly to win the 5000-meters at the Tyson Inv. in Fayetteville, but he had to settle for taking down three significant records with his 2nd-place time of 13:18.12. Rupp broke Doug Padilla’s American Record of 13:20.55, Suleiman Nyambui’s Collegiate Record of 13:20.4, and Alberto Salazar’s Oregon school record of 13:22.6. Winning the race was Ethiopia’s Bekana Daba, who ran 13:17.89, while Liberty’s Sam Chelanga set an Eastern Collegiate Record of 13:19.79.
Results: https://flashresults.com/2009_Meets/indoor/TysonInvite/FridayInvite.htm
Post-Race Interview
Oregon Bio: http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=187104
2016—The U.S. team for the Olympic Marathon was chosen at the Trials in Los Angeles:
Men-1.Galen Rupp 2:11:12 (1st marathon), 2.Meb Keflezighi 2:12:20 (4th Olympic team), 3.Jared Ward 2:13:00
Women-1.Amy Cragg 2:28:20, 2.Desiree Linden 2:28:54, 3.Shalane Flanagan 2:29:19 (3rd Olympic team), 4.Kara
Goucher 2:30:24)
Rupp went on to win the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics
NBC Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASKZpQnI2q8
LetsRun’s in-depth coverage Men Women
2021—Three American Records were set at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, which was held this year at the Ocean Breeze Complex on NY’s Staten Island while the meet’s traditional home, the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury(MA), was being used as a Covid-vaccination center.
First up was the Women’s 2-mile, where Elle (“Ellie”) Purrier ran 9:10.28 to smash the previous mark of 9:18.35 that was set by Jenny Simpson at this meet in 2015. Runnerup Emma Coburn was also under Simpson’s mark with her time of 9:15.71. Purrier’s time also bettered the U.S. outdoor best of 9:11.97, set by Regina Jacobs in 1999.
Bryce Hoppel, pressed most of the way by Great Britain’s Charlie Grice, won the Men’s 1000-Meters in 2:16.27, breaking David Torrence’s previous AR of 2:16.76 (2014). Grice (2:17.20/NR) was passed by Canada’s Marco Arop (2:17.10) in the last 50-Meters.
When Donavan Brazier crossed the finish line of the Men’s 800 in 1st place, he seemed a little disappointed that the infield clock showed 1:44.22, which would have meant that he “only” equaled his AR. He anxiously waited for the official results to come up, and smiled when the time was adjusted to 1:44.21!
Olli Hoare, the 2018 NCAA Champion (1500) while at Wisconsin, set an Australian Record of 3:32.35 while winning the Men’s 1500-Meters. 2nd was Great Britain’s Jake Wightman (3:34.48), and 3rd was New Zealand’s Sam Tanner, a redshirt freshman at the University of Washington, who set a National Record (as well as a U.S. Collegiate Record!) of 3:34.72. Hoare and Tanner also met the Olympic qualifying standard of 3:35.00 (Wightman had previously met the standard). Wightman would win the 1500 at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene.
A total of 11 National Records were set at the meet.
Results: https://results.nbindoorgrandprix.com
Coverage:
https://trackandfieldnews.com/new-balance-gp-a-trio-of-american-records/
2021—Baylor’s K.C. Lightfoot jumped 19-8 ¼ (6.00) at the Texas Tech Shootout in Lubbock, Texas, to set his 3rd Collegiate Indoor Record of the season. A 2nd CR was set by Arizona State’s Turner Washington in the Men’s Shot Put (71-8 ¼ [21.85]).
2021— Texas A&M, with Athing Mu running a 50.3 anchor, set a Collegiate Record of 3:26.27 in the Women’s 4×400 at the Tyson Inv. in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Preceding Mu on the first 3 legs were Jania Martin 53.0, Syaira Richardson 51.9, and Charokee Young’ 51.1.
Results: https://www.flashresults.com/2021_Meets/Indoor/02-12_Tyson/
Significant Birthdays
Born On This Day*
Virgiljus Alekna-Lithuania 53 (1972) 2-time Olympic gold medalist—Discus 2000,2004/bronze medalist-2008)
2-time World Champion (2003, 2005/silver medalist-1997,2001); 6’-6 ¾” (2.00), 287 (130kg)
2006 European Champion;
Just missed Jürgen Schult’s World Record of 243-0 when he threw 242-5 (73.88) in 2000. (Still #2 All-Time)
Son Mykolas, currently a snior at Cal-Berkeley, had a breakthrough year in 2022—finished 2nd at the NCAA Championships,
won gold at the European Championships, and silver at the 2022 World Championships, bronze in 2023, and silver at the 2024
Olympics. He set the current World Record of 243-11 (74.35) in 2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgilijus_Alekna
Video Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GINgxzxbtNw
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/73209
https://trackandfieldnews.com/tfn-lists/world-all-time-list-men/
Kenny Harrison 59 (1965) 1996 Olympic gold medalist—Triple Jump; 1991 World Champion;
Held the American Record from 1996-2015; PB: 59-4 ½ (18.09/1996) #4-All-Time
2-time NCAA Champion at Kansas State: 1986-Outdoors (1987-2nd), 1988-Indoors (1986-5th, 1987-2nd)
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/kenny-harrison
All-Time Lists
Top-10: https://trackandfieldnews.com/tfn-lists/world-all-time-list-men/
Deeper(Metric): http://www.alltime-athletics.com/mtripok.htm
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSyZJPuzyx4
https://www.sportsry.com/sports-news/usa-track-legends-olympic-record/
Suleiman Nyambui—Tanzania 72 (1953) Won a record 15 NCAA individual titles at UTEP (29-years old as a senior)
4×10,000m (1979-1982)
3x5000m (1980-1982)
4xmile (1979-1982)
3x Indoor 2-miles (1979,1980,1982)
1980 NCAA X-Country Champion
1980 Olympic silver medalist—5000m
PBs:3:51.94 (’81), 8:17.9i (’78), 13:12.29 (’79), 27:51.73 (’81), 2:09:52 (’89)
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suleiman_Nyambui
Deceased
John Dye 86 (1936-September 30, 2022) Creator of DyeStat.com in 1997 to see how his kids, Derek (high jump) and Natalie (pole
vault), compared to other high school competitors. The site became THE source for high school information and, with the help
of his wife Donna (“On The Side”), helped create an incredible cyber-community among the nation’s preps.
From John Dye: “The origin of what we were doing was Derek’s sophomore year (1996) when I sold a weekly
newsletter with rankings in five Western Maryland counties. (DyeStat began) in 1997, which was when Derek and
Natalie each won their events in the Maryland state meet (only brother-sister combo ever to do that in Maryland in
individual events in the same state meet). That made me want to know how they compared nationally. I got all the
state meet results and ranked girls pole vault and boys high jump. I found that Derek (6-8) was in the 80s nationally
and Natalie (9-0) in the 40s (remember, that was when girls pole vault was just getting sanctioned). Hence, I started
doing national rankings 100 deep to make sure they were listed(-:.”
John and Donna Dye were enjoying their “2nd retirement” in Las Vegas, while Dyestat.com, which had ceased
functioning when ESPN dropped it, was revived by Runnerspace.com.
Dye was recognized for his contribution to the sport by being named to the inaugural class of inductees into the National H.S.
T&F Hall of Fame in 2018. And John and Donna were recently named winners of the Stan Saplin Award for their contributions
to the sport.
http://www.dyestat.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=514510
Saplin Award: https://www.armorytrack.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=45586&do=news&news_id=653441
