Right after checking in to my hotel in Tromso, Norway I turned on the TV and stumbled onto what looked to be a high-quality track meet. A few minutes later I saw a 5,000 meters being run at what looked to be a very quick pace. After watching for about 400 meters early in the race I told my daughter that I thought they had a shot at breaking 13:00. Sure enough the winning time was 12:59. The last 400 was a great battle betweeen three--I think it was a 59.
This meet was held in Lausanne, Switzerland and was part of the Samsung Diamond league. The 12:59 was a meet record and not too far off the world best time of the year of 12:54. The world record is 12:37 and it is hard to understand how anybody can run that fast. In the race I watched today seven of the top eleven were from Kenya and the other four of the top eleven were from Ethiopia.
3 comments:
Wow, you get around!! Are you there on vacation with your family? It's tough for me to get away these days. The grandson at home/single mom situation means we need to help out a lot.
I just read the results of that 5,000 about 2 hours ago, then saw your blog. Europe seems to be more interested in track than we are, for some reason. Our country is fascinated with football/baseball/basketball, all three of which I have little interest in. I prefer watching either track and field or tennis on TV for sports.
I am here with my older daughter. We are on a trip that is her master's degree graduation present.
Nothing new about track being a lot more popular in Europe than the U.S. Even for a former distance runner, watching track on TV is not always exciting. In fact, that 5,000 yesterday was somewhat unique in the viewing interest it provided due to the fast pace and the battle right down to the finish.
Track in Europe is popular unlike here in the States. As we all know, that's why U.S. runners go there to compete since there really are few quality meets left in this country. A sad state for a great sport!
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