Soboleva Smashes Through in Moscow

Story written by Eric

Yelena Soboleva's string of smashing runs continued today with a stellar world indoor record in the 1.500m during the third and final day of the Russian Indoor Championships in Moscow.

Soboleva, who set the previous world indoor record of 3.58,28 at the Russian Indoor Championships two years ago, knocked 0,23 seconds from her personal best to run her ninth career sub-4 minute 1.500m and win her second event of the week-end -- her third career indoor national title.

Soboleva, who holds lifetime bests outdoors of 3.56,43 in the 1.500m and 4.15,63 in the mile, became only the second athlete in history to record two sub-4.00 clockings indoors. For comparison, the sub-4.00 clocking has been accomplished 226 times outdoors, with 59 of those by a combination of Russian athletes - including seven by Soboleva.

American Regina Jacobs, third on the all-time list, was the first female under four minutes indoors, running 3.59,98 in Boston, USA in 2003. Jacobs was subsequently banned in connection with the 2003 BALCO scandal.

Tatyana Kazankina holds the Russian outdoor national record in 3.52,47 set in 1980.

Soboleva won the women's 800m in a national indoor record time of 1.56,49 on Saturday.

Soboleva, who set a national indoor record in the mile run (4.20,21) on 27-January, is now the fastest Russian ever indoors at the 800m, 1.500m and mile events. Soboleva's 800m is fifth on the all-time world indoor list and is a mere 0,67 seconds from the world indoor record.

Slovenian Jolanda Ceplak, who is currently facing a drug suspension, set the world indoor record of 1.55,82 six years ago in Wien - a race she won by defeating Austria's Stephanie Graf by a scintillating 0,03 seconds.

Soboleva, 25, won the prestigious 800m on Saturday by more than two seconds up on Natalya Ignatova (1.58,84), who set a personal record of her own in running under the two-minute barrier for the first time.

Marya Savinova and Marya Shapaeva both ran 1.59,71 for third and fourth, respectively, with Shapaeva establishing a new Russian Under-23 national indoor record.

Soboleva ran a very controlled opening two laps of her race, splitting 29,7 for the first 200m, and 28,5 to reach the half-way point in 58,2 - a pace spot-on for a 1.56,4.

Soboleva then peeled off a 28,6 third lap split to reach the 600m mark in 1.26,85, and concluded her historic run with a 29,6 final lap.

Soboleva's 600m en-route time has only been bettered by 10 women in a full 600m race, including Ignatova, who ran a 1.26,53 in Moscow the same evening as Soboleva's national record in the mile.

Soboleva's 57,1 middle 400m split was a testament to her fitness being at top-level, and sent a clear message that her international rivals will be hard-pressed to sprint past her in the 1.500m, which is 700m further and averages five seconds slower per lap.

Yulia Fomenko, the 2006 IAAF World Indoor 1.500m champion, broke her previous personal best by 1,05 seconds, clocking 4.00,21 to finish second. Fomenko became the fourth-fastest indoor runner ever with her effort.

Bronze medalist Yekaterina Martynova, 21, was the second middle-distance runner in as many days to break a Russian Under-23 record, but took the feat one step further than Shapaeva was able to manage on Saturday.

Martynova's time of 4.03,56 was not only the fastest-ever in her age classification in Russia's rich athletics history, but is now the fastest-ever indoor time by a European Under-23 athlete.

Martynova broke onto the international scene two years ago, clocking 2.02,83 indoors for 800m as a 19-year-old. Her previous indoor personal best at 1.500m was a 4.06,37 set 19-January.

Russian Indoor Championships, Moscow
2008-02-08 -- 2008-02-10
Select results:

800m
1	Yelena Soboleva	RUS	1.56,49
2	Natalia Ignatova	RUS	1.58,84
3	Maria Savinova	RUS	1.59,46
4	Maria Shapaeva	RUS	1.59,71
5	Tatiana Andrianova	RUS	2.02,68
1500m
1	Yelena Soboleva	RUS	3.58,05
2	Yulia Fomenko	RUS	4.00,21
3	Yekaterina Martynova	RUS	4.03,68

Soboleva Sets National Indoor Mile Record

Story written by EPelle

Russian Yelena Soboleva began her Olympic 1.500m gold meal quest in excellent fashion today in Moscow, setting a national record in a mile race at the Russian Winter IAAF indoor meet on Sunday.

Soboleva won in 4 minutes, 20,21 seconds, eclipsing 3.50 seconds off of Elena Zadorozhnaya's previous indoor record of 4.24,11 -- a time she set in 2001.

Soboleva, who set an outdoor personal best (4.15,63) in the mile in 2007, became the third-fastest female (with the fourth-fastest performance) ever at the indoor distance, trailing only Romanians Doine Melinte (4.17,14 and 4.18,86) and Paula Ivan (4.18,99), the 1988 Olympic 1.500m champion.

Soboleva took control of the race and took over the lead at the 1.000m mark (2.46,39) never to relinquish her position as she used part of her 1.57,28 800m speed to close out her historic run with a very respectable 2.07 finaly 880-yard split.

Teammate Olga Komyagina had a breakthrough race in finishing second in 4.23,49, a time which ranks 13th on the world all-time indoor mile list. Komyagina has a lifetime 1.500m best of 4.02,32 set eight years ago in Leverkusen, but has spent a greater part of her past three seasons acting as a pace maker for high profile races around Europe.

Russia's Svetlana Masterkova holds the outdoor mile record of 4.12,56 set in 1996 at the Weltklasse meet in Zürich, Switzerland. Ivan, at 4.15,61, is second on the all-time list and 0,02 seconds faster than Soboleva's outdoor best - the third-fastest ever recorded.

Soboleva, who set the world indoor 1.500m record (3.58,28) in 2006, is seeking redemption in Beijing as she challenges for the gold medal -- something which eluded her at the 2007 IAAF World Outdoor Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Soboleva contested the 1.500m - the official Olympic distance - only three times in 2007 following a 2006 successful 2006 campaign in which she won a silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, but was able to run under four minutes in each of her competitions - a feat which garnered her favourite status as she lined up for the final in Osaka.

Soboleva ran tough and brave against her fierce competitors over much of the 3,75-lap race, but was unable to match strides or kicks with her nemesis Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain during the remaining segments of the final lap. Jamal took home the global title ahead of Ukraine's Iryna Lishchynska, and Soboleva finished third.

The women's mile was not the only event at the Russian Winter Meeting featuring likely Olympic finalists, as the men's 800m run was won by reigning Olympic champion Yuri Borzakovskiy, who is making a good early-season march toward defending that crown in August.

Borzakovskiy, who skipped the 2007 indoor season, broke away from Kenyan Wilfred Bungei, the IAAF World Indoor champion, with a lap to go to win the four lap race in a seasons-best time of 1 minute, 46.78 seconds. Borzakovskiy, running his second 800m race this season, utilised a 26,08-second final lap to send Bungei away.

Yuri Koldin finished third.

Other notable performances were turned in by 2006 European Outdoor Champion André Silnov, who won the high jump (2,36m) ahead of teammate Jaroslav Rybakov (2,30m); Olga Simagina in the women's long jump (6,92m); and Olusoji Fasuba in the men's 60m (6,54).

American Miler Webb Wins at the Armory

Story written by EPelle

American miler Alan Webb had a red bull's eye in the form of a number “one” printed on his race number yesterday at the New Balance Games at the New York Armory, and drew the inside lane around the red banked track.

He was first on the line and sporting a new look - a shaved head, and was the first athlete of the field of 11 home to the finish line on the sixth anniversary of his birth into the elite ranks.

Webb was the most distinguished athlete in the race, and the centre of attention - having retured to the exact spot to the exact day where, six years earlier, he made USA history by becoming the first high school athlete to run under four minutes indoors (3.59,86). Any move the 24-year-old was to make would be closely monitored and countered, it was thought.

However, the 2005 IAAF World Championship 1.500m finalist (ninth) and American 2-mile record-holder displayed excellent strength and took on his pursuers with relative ease over the mile, clocking 3 minutes 56,7 seconds (race video) - a new personal best indoors, and his second sub-4 in as many races this young 2007 indoor season.

“It’s a personal record indoors,” quotes The New York Times, “and it’s only January. It’s the first time I’ve won in New York since high school. I couldn’t believe it. It’s just what I wanted. It’s not perfect, but it tells me I’m moving in the right direction. The competition gets more and more competitive.”

Kenyan Eliud Njubi, who had run 3.58,78 in Arkansas last weekend, was second in 3.58,64, and had no zip in his legs to catch Webb on the final lap.

“I was always right on Alan’s tail, and I thought I could beat him. But when I started moving on the last lap, my turnover wasn’t good and I couldn’t go. But I’m happy with my race, even though I lost.”

Webb responded by stating, “I was ready for him. I wasn’t going to let him pass me. I’m moving forward.”

Webb is definitely moving forward - one race at a time - as he pursues his dream of winning a medal in Osaka, Japan at this summer's IAAF World Championships, and takes that further to the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer in hopes of turning his flame out in 2006 and his tactical errors of 2004 great learning opportunities, but distant memories.

Skipping the 2006 indoor season was meant to provide Webb more strength work as he contended with cross country courses and longer interval training in an effort to build his stamina to a level where he could respond to moves and kicks despite not feeling ready to cover a move.

Webb suffered a bout with anemia during the late winter months and was forced to miss the USA Cross Country Championships, but he recovered enough to demonstrate excellent strength preparations when he set a 10.000m personal best of 27.34.72 at Stanford University on 30-April.

His achievement was short-lived, however, as he then never fully recovered from a hamstring strain following his phenominal victory over American Dathan Ritzenhein, with Webb pushing it through two more races before missing the bulk of the season - one which he had planned on using to run "very fast".

Webb finished his 2006 season with a solo mile victory in Ireland fighting the wind and the elements.

The great testament to Webb's strength was in his even-split running yesterday, as he knocked off times of 58,7-60-60-58 around the banked track - chopping nearly one second from his previous best, a 3.57,52 (2004), and eclipsed his previous Armory best (3.59,49) by almost three seconds as he improved his best placing up one spot from a runner-up finish in 2004.

Irishwoman Mary Cullen took the women's race in 4.32,29 over American Sarah Hall (4.32,68) and Canadian Carmen Douma-Housar (4.32,78).

The 2007 indoor season will be a pure joy ride for Webb, as he ticks off the next three week-ends with mile races at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the 100th Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden - where he will face American Bernard Lagat and Australian Craig Mottram - and the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.

Previous Webb entry: Alan Webb to Return to the Armory (blog link)

Select Results of 2007 New Balance Games Mile

Elite Men:

1. Alan Webb, Nike, 3.56,70
2. Eliud Njubi, Westchester Track, 3.58,64
3. Adrian Blinco, New Balance, 4.00,21
4. Josh McAdams, New Balance, 4.00,59
5. Andy Baddeley, New Balance, 4.01,17
6. James Thie, NYAC, 4.01,66

Elite Women:

1. Mary Cullen, Reebok, 4.32,29
2. Sara Hall, Asics, 4.32,68
3. Carmen Douma-Hauser, New Balance, 4.32,78
4. Hilary Stellingwerff, New Balance, 4.32,90
5. Marina Muncan, New Balance, 4.35,43
6. Katrina Wooten, New Balance, 4.35,52

High School Boys:

1. Chris Moen, Walter Johnson, 4.16,76

High School Girls:

1. Danielle Tauro, Southern Regional, 4.46,13

Reebok Boston Indoor Games Jr. Mile Fields Set

Boys Junior Mile Field Set
Barbara Huebner, Boston Indoor Games

BOSTON (Jan. 16) – Sintayehu Taye (Ashburnham, MA), Craig Forys (Howell, NJ) and Steve Murdock (Clifton Park, NY) lead a field of 13 top middle-distance runners set to compete in the third-annual Boys’ Junior Invitational Mile at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on Jan. 27, organizers announced today.

Since the Reebok Boston Indoor Games began in 1996, a total of 90 Olympic and World Championship medalists have competed in the event, which has also played host to four World Records and eight American Records. In addition, last year’s Boys’ Invitational Mile produced the fastest 2006 indoor time in the country (4:07.30) and six of the top eight best times for the season.

Taye, a junior at Cushing Academy, has the fastest early-2007 mile time (4:19.79) in the field, and holds the freshman national indoor record for 2 miles (9:16.65). He is a two-time Foot Locker Cross Country finalist. Forys, a senior at Colts Neck High School, is the 2006 Foot Locker Cross Country Northeast Champion and national runner-up, while Murdock, a senior at Shenendehowa High School, finished just a second behind Forys at Foot Locker nationals to take third. He is also the 2006 New York State Class AA and Nike Team Nationals cross country champion.

Joining them will be Matthew Centrowitz (Arnold, MD/Broadneck HS), the 2006 Penn Relays 3000m champion and 3-time state cross-country champion; Mark Amirault (Walpole, MA/Xaverian Brothers HS), 2-time state cross-country titleholder; Brian Rhodes-Devey (Slingerlands, NY/Guilderland HS), the 2005 NY State Sportswriter Assn. Runner of the Year; Evan Jager (Algonquin, IL/H.D. Jacobs HS), the 1600m state champion; and Brandon Burns (North Kingstown, RI/North Kingstown HS), 3-time state champion.

Also in the field are Duncan Phillips, (College Station, TX/A&M Consolidated HS), the 2006 1600m champion; Michael Chinchar (Kent, WA/Kentwood HS), state runner-up in both cross-country and the 1600m; Girma Mecheso (Lawrenceville, GA/Berkmar HS), the state cross-country champion; Kris Gauson (Scotland/Belgrave Harriers), 2006 World Junior Cross Country Championships team; and Patrick Todd (Dallas, TX/Highland Park High School), the 2006 Dallas Morning News “Newcomer of the Year.”

The field for the Girls’ Junior Invitational Mile will be released soon.

The 12th-annual Reebok Boston Indoor Games, the first stop in USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series, will be held at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center at Roxbury Community College, 1350 Tremont St., beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 27. Information and tickets, at $60, $40 and $20, are now available on-line at www.BostonIndoorGames.com or by calling 1-877-TIX-TRAC. The Visa Championship Series returns to the Reggie Lewis Center Feb. 24-25 for the AT&T USA Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Barbara Huebner

Director of Media Relations

2007 Reebok Boston Indoor Games

Athletics in the News has no affiliation with TixTrac, The Reebok Boston Indoor Games, nor with the Reggie Lewis Center. This release is broadcast as an independent and unaffiliated public service annoucement for athletics fans. Any ticket purchases, flights, plans and other related activities made as a result of this announcement are done so at the full discretion of the user, with no indemnity in whole or part to Athletics in the News

Symmonds Becomes 284th US Sub-4 Miler

Story written by EPelle

First-year elite athlete Nick Symmonds of the Oregon Track Club became the 284th American sub-4 minute miler on Saturday, winning the Washington Preview Meet in Seattle, Washington, USA in 3 minutes 56,72 seconds.

Symmonds, whose previous personal best was a 4.03,85, won the race by nearly six seconds on the 307m unbanked, oversized track. Americans Courtney Jaworski (4.02,50) and Mike McGrath (4.04,08) finished second and third.

Symmonds, who graduated from Williamette University in the spring of 2006, was a seven-time NCAA DIII champion, winning both the 1.500m and 800m in 2003, 2005 and 2006, and winning the 800m in 2004.

Though he has shown promise as a 1.500m runner, Symmons' broke through last season in the 800m, winning his fourth-consecutive NCAA DIII 800m title, and finishing second at the USA Track and Field Championships, running 1.45,83 - a new personal record, school record and NCAA DIII record.

Khadevis Robinson won the race - his third national title - in 1.44,13, with Jebreh Harris finishing third (1.45,91). Symmonds sat comfortably behind the first half of the race, and moved from seventh to second as he picked runners off with a back-stretch move to the top of the home stretch curve.

Symmonds has done particularly well running in Oregon, as his outdoor personal mile best was set at the 2003 University of Oregon Twilight Meet.

Americans are now comparing Symmonds to David Krummenacker, the 800m/1.500m specialist who won the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships (1.45,69).

Symmonds has the 400m speed a good miler needs, possessing 48,15 (2006) speed over the one lap distance - a keen turnover component for a miler in a kicking situation.

He showed excellent ability last season with a 3.40,91 at Stanford in June - a time which demonstrated he was capable of running a 3.58 outdoor mile should he have been able to manage the pace over the full 1609 metre distance which is the mile.

"Its a big relief to break four (minutes)," Symmonds said to the Statesman Journal (link).

"It's phenomenal," said Willamette track and field coach Matt McGuirk. "When he came in his freshman year at Willamette, he ran a 1,000 meters in 2:27, and I new he was a sub-four-minute-runner."

"A lot of people out there say, 'I could have been a sub-four-minute-miler,' but didn't.

"He did," concluded McGuirk.

A product of Bishop Kelly High School in Boise, Idaho, USA, Symmonds was named 2006 NCAA Division III Male Scholar Athlete-of-the-Year - an award selected by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Symmonds was also named to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Men’s All-Academic Team for NCAA Division III.

Symmonds graduated from Willamette with a 3,27 cumulative grade point average while majoring in chemistry. He was one of 79 student-athletes chosen for the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Men’s All-Academic Team.

Each All-Academic selection was honored for earning a cumulative GPA of 3,25 or higher, while achieving an NCAA qualifying standard in one or more events during the 2006 season.

After graduating from college in May, Symmonds began training in Eugene, Oregon under coach Frank Gagliano, the long-time Georgetown University coach (and one of America's premiere coaches) who then made a move to Palo Alto to coach the Nike Farm Team, and then headed to Oregon with Vin Lanana.

"It's been great training under Gagliano. I'll train under him as long as he'll let me."

"I have no excuses to run slow now," Symmonds said. "I just train and take care of my body."

Click here for a list of the Track & Field News chronological order USA sub-4 list (last updated 2005-February).

2006 University Season:

• 3.49,23 Willamette Opener (4-mar)
• 1.49,57 Oregon Preview (18-mar)
• 0.48,15 Charles Bowles Inv (24-mar)
• 3.45,75 Willamette Inv (7-apr)
• 0.49,1h NWC Champs (21-apr)
• 1.57,73 NWC Champs (21-apr)
• 4.04,75 NWC Champs (22-apr)
• 0.49,56 NWC Champs (22-apr)
• 1.55,39 NWC Champs (22-apr)
• 1.47,34 TN Distance Classic (13-may)
• 3.50,57 NCAA DIII Qualifier
• 1.51,42 NCAA DIII Qualifier
• 3.49,24 NCAA DIII CHAMPION
• 1.49,59 NCAA DIII CHAMPION

2005 University Season:

• 3.52,77 Willamette Opener (5-mar)
• 1.54,62 Oregon Preview (19-mar)
• 3.47,04 Williamette Inv (2-apr)
• 0,49,0h Oregon Mini Meet (9-apr)
• 0,49,99 NWC Champs (22-apr)
• 1.57,38 NWC Champs (22-apr)
• 0.48,41 NWC Champs (23-apr)
• 1.52,60 NWC Champs (23-apr)
• 1.48,82 Ken Foreman Inv (14-may)
• 3.58,24 NCAA DIII Qualifier
• 1.52,67 NCAA DIII Qualifier
• 3.54,20 NCAA DIII CHAMPION
• 1.49,87 NCAA DIII CHAMPION

2004 University Season:

• 1.52,0h Oregon Mini (10-apr)
• 1.57,12 NWC Champs (24-apr)
• 1.55,51 NWC Champs (25-apr)
• 3.50,91 Ken Shanon Inv (8-may)
• 0.48,84 Willamette Last Chance (22-may)
• 1.51,29 NCAA DIII Qualifier
• 1.50,87 NCAA DIII CHAMPION

2003 University Season:

• 4.02,47 NWC 4-Way (15-mar)
• 1.51,18 Oregon Preview (22-mar)
• 3.57,63 Willamette Inv (5-apr)
• 3.54,1h Oregon Mini (12-apr)
• 1.57,43 NWC Champs (25-apr)
• 1.55,03 NWC Champs (26-apr)
• 3.54,92 NWC Champs (26-apr)
• 4.03,85 U of O Twilight Mile (3-may)
• 1.51,29 Stanford Qualifier (9-may)
• 3.55,04 NCAA DIII Qualifier
• 1.50,48 NCAA DIII Qualifier
• 3.46,66 NCAA DIII CHAMPION
• 1.49,51 NCAA DIII CHAMPION

Nick Symmonds' yearly in-season bests (Willamette homepage):

• 2006: 48,15 - 1.47,83 - 3.45,75
• 2005: 48,41 - 1.48,82 - 3.46,49
• 2004: 48,84 - 1.50,87 - 3.45,55
• 2003: 00,00 - 1.49,51 - 3.45,81 - 4.03,85y

American Miler Webb Joins Millrose Field

OFFICIAL RELEASE

Alan Webb joins Wanamaker Mile field
Top pole vaulters also set for 100th Millrose Games on Feb. 2

NEW YORK CITY (Jan. 16) – Alan Webb, who six years ago led the charge to revive American interest in the mile when he broke Jim Ryun’s 36-year-old national high-school record, will compete in the famed Wanamaker Mile at the 100th Millrose Games, organizers announced today.

Webb, 24, became a national celebrity in 2001 when he broke both the indoor and outdoor national high-school mile records, the former at the New York Armory track and the latter on national TV. He is a two-time U.S. outdoor champion at 1500 meters,and a 2004 Olympian. In 2005, he set the American Record for 2 Miles (8:11.48), and last spring ran the fastest 10,000-meter debut ever by an American (27:34.72). Webb is scheduled to run the mile at the New Balance Games at the Armory on Saturday,Jan. 20, six years to the day after setting the indoor high-school mark.

At Millrose, among those he will face are the previously announced American Record-holder Bernard Lagat, the defending champion of the Wanamaker Mile who will be seeking his fifth victory; and Australian Craig Mottram, the 2005 World Championships bronze medalist at 5000 meters who will be making his Millrose Games debut.

Organizers also announced that Steve Hooker, the 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medalist ranked the #1 pole vaulter in the world for 2006, will go up against Americans Brad Walker,2005 World Championships silver medalist and reigning World Indoor Champion ranked #2 in the world; and Toby Stevenson, 2004 Olympic silver medalist.

The addition of Hooker means the 100th Millrose Games will feature both of the world’s top pole vaulters, with Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva making her U.S. debut here.

The 100th Millrose Games, the second stop in USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series, will be held Feb. 2 at Madison Square Garden beginning at 5:45 p.m.

For tickets or more information,visit www.Millrose-Games.com.

Tickets are also available at Ticketmaster (call 212-307-7171, visit www.Ticketmaster.com or at Ticketmaster outlets); or at the Madison Square Garden box office.

Athletics in the News has no affiliation with Ticketmaster, The Millrose Games, nor with Madision Square Garden. This release is broadcast as an independent and unaffiliated public service annoucement for athletics fans. Any ticket purchases, flights, plans and other related activities made as a result of this announcement are done so at the full discretion of the user, with no indemnity in whole or part to Athletics in the News.