Marc Scott and Elise Cranny win big in “The Ten” and run under Tokyo Olympic standard

February 21, 2021

Marc Scott and Elise Cranny won the 10,0000-metre event at The Ten event Saturday night in San Juan Capistrano, CA. Scott ran a 46 second personal best clocking a 27:10:41 performance. Cranny finished in the time of 30:47.42. Both ran top national times and under the Tokyo Olympic qualification standards.

The women’s race

For the women, the race came down to a kick between Cranny and fellow American Karissa Schweizer who finished in 30:47.99 for the third and fourth fastest American performances all time. Scottish runner Eilish McColgan also had a new personal best performance finishing third in 30:58.94. Not quite, but nearly a Scottish record, which her mom Liz McColgan still owns at 30:57:07.

The Olympic standard is 31:25. Five women from the race clocked faster than the standard, including Emily Infield, and Marielle Hall who finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively. Only McColgan is not part of the Nike Bowerman Track Club (BTC). She is sponsored by Asics. Only Molly Huddle (30:13.17) and Shalane Flanagan (30:22.11) have run faster.

The race came down to a sub-66-second final lap, where over the final metres, Cranny took over the lead to take the win.

The men’s race

The BTC’s Scott ran the second-fastest 10K in British history. Like the women’s race, the top five ran under the Tokyo Olympic standard of 27:28.

Finishing second was Grant fisher who crossed the line in the time of 27:11.29. It was his debut in the distance. Woody Kincaid finished third in the time of 27:12.78, for the BTC sweep.

Ben True clocked a personal best of 27:14.95 for fourth position. Kieran Tuntivate of Thailand ran 27:17.14 for fifth and a new pb.

The field was paced by Evan Jager and Sean McGorty. The two set metronomic 65 and 66-second splits for 23 of the 25 laps. During the final two, they kicked sub 1:59.00.

Galen Rupp owns the current national record of 26:44.36.

Scott surpassed former UK record-holder Jon Brown. Only Mo Farah has run faster with his 26:46.57.

Results available here>>