ROWBURY, WHEATING ADVANCE ON USA ALL-TIME LISTS
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
(22-Jul)
-- With huge personal best performances at the Herculis Meeting in
Monaco tonight, part of the Samsung Diamond League series, both Shannon
Rowbury and Andrew Wheating moved up smartly on the USA all-time lists
for 3000m and 1500m, respectively.
Rowbury, the 2009 IAAF World
Championships bronze medallist at 1500m, finished third in the 3000m
behind Ethiopia's Sentayehu Ejigu (8:28.41/world leader) and Bahrain's
Maryam Yusuf Jamal (8:29.20), clocking a personal best 8:31.38.
Knocking about half a minute off of her previous best time outdoors,
Rowbury became the second-fastest American of all time behind only Mary
Slaney (8:25.83).
Wheating, the 2010 NCAA 800m and 1500m
champion, turned heads with his 3:30.90 time at 1500m, slicing six and
one-half seconds off of his previous best of 3:37.52. Wheating is now
the #4 American of all time behind Bernard Lagat, Sydney Maree and Alan
Webb.
Ahead of Wheating, who finished fourth, Silas Kiplagat
of Kenya (3:29.27) and Amine Laalou of Morocco (3:29.53) became the
19th and 20th runners, respectively, to break the 3:30 barrier,
according to statistician Ken Nakamura.
Elsewhere in Monaco,
Sudan's Abubaker Kaki was a clear winner in the 800m in 1:43.10.
Kenyan Boaz Lalang was able to catch South African world champion
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi just before the finish line to take second. Both
Lalang and Mulaudzi were clocked in 1:43.29.
American Alysia Johnson won the women's 800m in a world-leading 1:57.34, her second mark this season under 1:58.00
ENDS
