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Cover image credit: @JaneMonti1
Sara Hall defended her title at the New York Mini 10K on Saturday. She won in the time of 31:33.
Hall ran with the lead pack for much of the race but took a commanding lead late to hold off the competition from Kenya. Finishing second was Violah Cheptoo and third was Monicah Ngige who clocked a 31:39 and 31:59, respectively.
Watching Sara Hall have fun is fun. #fun https://t.co/0iLZEl4Vc2
— Jonathan Levitt (@JWLevitt) June 12, 2021
“It feels so good to be back out here racing in New York City and have a real road race. I’ve been looking forward to this so much. This is the momentum I needed for Olympic trials in two weeks,” she said.
Lindsay Flanagan finished in the time of 32:09 for fourth place, while fellow American Molly Seidel clocked a 32:13 for fifth.
Hall owns a 10,000m best of 31:21.90 run in May this year in Irvine, CA. The 38-year-old ran a personal best in the marathon in December in Chandler, AZ with a 2:20:32 performance. She won the race and recorded the second-fastest American time ever. Both times are faster than the Tokyo Olympic standards. NY 2021 was the fastest time by an American in the 49-year history of the event.
Elsewhere
Canada may have a third male 5000m athlete to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Mo Ahmed and Justyn Knight ran 12:50.12 and 12:51.39 on Thursday in Florence, Italy. Saturday night, at the Harry Jerome Track Classic in Burnaby, Vancouver’s Lucas Bruchet clocked a big personal best with a 13:12.56 performance.
Lucas Bruchet beat the Olympic Standard last night at the Harry Jerome Classic! His time of 13:12.56 in the 5,000 metres is the latest amazing performance by a Canadian distance runner! pic.twitter.com/EkQCIVRqvS
— Athletics Canada (@AthleticsCanada) June 13, 2021
Meanwhile, at the same meet, Vancouver’s 2016 Rio Olympic fourth-pace finisher in the 50K racewalk event broke the Canadian 10,000m record with a 38:39.72 performance.
In Windsor, ON, three Canadian women ran sub-2:01 in the 800m event. Melissa Bishop-Nriagu clocked a 1:59.60, which is the Johnny Loaring Classic meet record.
Madeleine Kelly and Lucia Stafford finished 2-3 in 2:00.11 and 2:00.80, respectively. They are seeking the Olympic standard of 1:59.50, which Bishop-Nriagu has already achieved.
Regan Yee inched towards the Olympic standard in the 3000m steeplechase clocking a new personal best of 9:31:07. The stadnard is 9:30.00. She is running out of time, but deadlines are not new to the Hazelton, BC native, as she qualified for the World Athletics Championships at the 11th hour once before.
