Galen Rupp had a thumbs-up for a victorious 10,000m at the US world championships trials on Thursday.
And for good reason.
The triumph, his seventh consecutive national title at the distance, was probably one of the few pleasing moments for the Olympic 10,000m silver medalist in the past month.
Photo: AFP
Doping accusations by the BBC TV program Panorama in association with US Web site ProPublica against Rupp’s coach Alberto Salazar and the distance runner had put them in a global spotlight.
However, on a hot June night, Rupp was able to put that aside to win his first race since the accusations.
He rushed to the lead with three laps to go and quickly pulled away to claim the victory in 28 minutes, 11.61 seconds.
“I was obviously pleased to get another championship,” he told reporters. “To do it here in Eugene is always special for me.”
He will be joined on the US team for August’s world championships in Beijing by race runner-up Ben True (28 minutes, 14.26 seconds) and third-place finisher Hassan Mead (28 minutes, 16.54 seconds)
“It’s been hard, I’m not going to lie. It’s been difficult to focus,” 29-year-old Rupp said of the accusations and reports that the US Anti-Doping Agency is investigating Salazar.
“[However,] I believe in clean sport and I think the truth will prevail,” he added.
Molly Huddle won the women’s 10,000m, claiming her first national title at the distance in 31 minutes, 39.20 seconds.
Shalane Flanagan, a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, finished in 31 minutes, 42.29 seconds. Emily Infield (31 minutes, 42.60 seconds) followed her across the finish line to qualify for Beijing.
Meanwhile, Tyson Gay found that his road to the 100m final will not be an easy one.
The US record holder was overshadowed by younger competitors in Thursday’s opening round.
Trayvon Bromell, 19, equaled the third fastest 100 in the world this year by running 9.84 seconds to top qualifying for Friday’s semi-finals.
Gay’s training partner, Remontay McClain, was even faster, the 22-year-old clocking 9.82 seconds, although he was aided by a 4.9m per second wind, over the allowable limit.
Gay, 32, who missed a year of competition for doping in 2013, ran in the same heat as McClain and took second place in 9.85.
“It was weird, maybe weird is not the right word, against a group of guys I am running against now,” Gay said.
“It is a different era for me,” the 2007 world champion said.
Olympian Ryan Bailey was disqualified for false starting.
The women’s preliminary 100s were impressive too, but also windy, with Olympic champion Carmelita Jeter the fastest at 10.87 seconds.
Olympic 200m champion Allyson Felix won her preliminary in a high-quality women’s 400m in 51.40 seconds, third best of the day.
Felix, who has a bye to Beijing in the 200m, has yet to decide whether she will run that race or 400m.
This year’s fastest, Francena McCorory, had the top 400m time, 51.25, with London gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross ninth overall in 51.93. She advanced as a heat winner.
The wind also cost Marquis Dendy the leading long jump of the year. The collegian leaped 8.68m, but the wind was over the allowable 3.7m per second.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS