Walt 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: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
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By Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected]), used with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–April 9
1896—Two days after winning the 1500 at the Athens Olympics, Australia’s Edwin “Teddy” Flack won a 2nd gold medal in the 800-meters. Nicknamed “The Lion of Athens”, Flack was Australia’s first Olympic champion. He also entered the Marathon, but was unable to finish the race after becoming “delirious with dehydration”, and lost his two tennis matches in Athens!
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/627
http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/council/about-casey/history/edwin-flack
Marathon Report: https://www.olympedia.org/results/56017
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Flack
1932–Ben Eastman set an American Record of 1:51.3 for 880-yards at Stanford. The mark was not ratified as a World Record.
Hall of Fame Bio(2006): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/ben-eastman
1965—Texas A&M’s Randy Matson set the first of his 4 American Records in the Shot Put, reaching out to 67-11 ¼ (20.70) in a quad-meet held at his College Station, TX home facility. His mark also bettered Dallas Long’s World Record of 67-10 (20.67), but it was never ratified by the IAAF (for unknown reasons).
1988—UCLA senior Gail Devers ran 12.71 in the 100-meter hurdles in Fresno to break Stephanie Hightower’s six-year old American Record of 12.79 (She also set a Collegiate Record). She went on to become one of the greatest sprinters/hurdlers in history, winning 2 Olympic gold medals in the 100-meters and 3 World titles in the 100-meter hurdles (along with 1 in the 100-meters).
2021— DeAnna Price, the reigning World Champion in the event, threw the Hammer 257-10 (78.60) in Columbia, Missouri, breaking her previous American Record of 256-8 (78.24) that she set in 2019. She would improve her AR to
263-6 (80.31) at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.
Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNdyCEInQvL/
The U.S. now has 4 of the 8 longest throwers in history.
272-03 (82.98) Anita Włodarczyk Poland 2016
263-06 (80.31) DeAnna Price USA 2021
263-00 (80.17) Brooke Andersen USA 2023
260-07 (79.42) Betty Heidler Germany 2011
257-11 (78.62) Camryn Rogers (Canada) 2023
255-11 (78.00) Janee’ Kassanavoid (US) 2022
255-03 (77.80) Tatyana Beloborodova Russia 2006
255-02 (77.78) Gwendolyn Berry USA 2018
track & field meet
May 26, 2023, Los Angeles, USA, photo by Kevin Morris
2022—Valerie Allman, the 2021 Olympic Champion, added a foot to her American Record in the Discus by throwing 234-5 (71.46) at the Triton Inv. in LaJolla, CA. It was the longest throw in the world in 30 years! Her previous AR of 233-5 (71.16) was set in 2021.
https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2022/04/08/valarie-allman-discus-american-record/
https://trackandfieldnews.com/article/another-american-record-for-valarie-allman/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBoQexS9xE
