Lagat adds 1,500-meter title to 5,000 victory
EUGENE, Ore. – Bernard Lagat, who will compete as an American Olympian for the first time in Beijing, won the 1,500 meters at the U.S. track and field trials on Sunday.
Lagat, the American record holder in the event, finished in 3 minutes, 40.37 seconds and will have the chance to double in Beijing, after winning the 5,000 meters earlier during the trials. Lagat was the only double winner at the meet.
Mexican-born Leo Manzano was second in 3:40.90, and Sudanese native Lopez Lomong was third in 3:41 to claim the other two Olympic spots.
“It feels good. It shows that America is the place where dreams can happen,” Lagat said when questioned about immigrant Olympians. “I can’t find that in Europe or in my country. The three of us are living the American dream. My goal now is to do my best for this country.”
Lagat also won the 1,500 and 5,000 at last year’s World Championships, his first major international meet since gaining his U.S. citizenship.
“It was different for me last year (at the World Championships), but in a different way. In Kenya I was wearing red and green, but now I get to wear red, white and blue,” Lagat said.
Allyson Felix, Wallace Spearmon, Jenn Stuczynski and Marshevet Hooker all locked up Olympic trips on Sunday.
Spearmon, thought to be a shoo-in in the men’s 200, needed a late burst to win the third and final spot in that sprint.
Stuczynski set the American record in the pole vault at 16 feet, 1 3/4 inches, but only after she missed on her first two jumps at the lowest height and needed an emotion-draining third and final attempt to keep her chances alive.
And Hooker, who ran the fifth-fastest time ever in the 100 (it was wind aided) to start the meet last weekend, crashed across the line to win the final spot in the 200 by .01 seconds. She needed that because she didn’t earn a spot in the 100 despite her fast times in qualifying.
Others, like Anwar Moore, will have to live with it for four years. Moore, an underdog who finished first here at the Prefontaine Classic last month, was in third place with about 15 meters left, but stumbled over the final hurdle in the 110-meter race and wound up sprawled on the ground.
Felix cruised to victory in the 200, finishing in 21.82 seconds to secure the trip she didn’t wrap up last week in the 100, when she finished out of the top three.
Spearmon figured to coast to victory but he finished third, just ahead of Rodney Martin to get the final spot in the 200, the one freed up when Gay fell Saturday in the quarterfinals.
Walter Dix finished first in the men’s 200 and the other spot went to defending Olympic gold medalist Shawn Crawford, who fought injuries since Athens and was thought to only have an outside shot.
While Crawford’s story could turn out to be a great comeback tale, what the Americans really want to redeem their sagging sport are some young, new faces with new stories to tell.
Stuczynski is a candidate. A basketball player who took up pole vaulting four years ago and trains in a quonset hut, she has set the American record twice in seven weeks.