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At the Sound Running Track Meet in San Juan Capistrano, CA, American and international athletes raced distances from 800m to 10,000m. Many of the athletes entered the meet looking for Eugene World Championships qualifying standards. Some were after the Commonwealth Games and European Championships times. Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Sarah Inglis of Scotland are two, for example.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Ingebrigtsen competed in the 5000m event, cruising to a victory with his final lap sprint to clock a 13:02.03 performance. Finishing in second place was Germany’s Mohamed Mohumed in 13:03.18 and American Joe Klecker for third with his 13:04.02 performance — both new personal bests. Mohumed had led until the final lap, then Ingebrigtsen took over.
The 21-year-old Norwegian owns a best of 12:48.45. He also owns eight national records or bests and earned the Tokyo Olympic gold in the 1500m distance with his 3:28.32 performance, his personal best. He will be looking for more of that this summer in Eugene.
Eight athletes in the race ran World Championship qualifying marks below the 13:13.50 standard.
Sarah Inglis
Sarah Inglis, who recently moved to South Carolina from Vancouver, British Columbia, is a Scottish athlete, looking to take her running to the next level. She did just that by qualifying for both this summer’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships clocking a 15:16.90 finish time, which is a new personal best for the 30-year-old. Inglis finished in 15th place.
She joined Puma Elite recently, with the hopes of pursuing the marathon distance. Her best is 2:29:41. Inglis ran that time in Dec. 2020 at the one-off The Marathon Project that took place in Chandler, AZ. The performance left her just 11 seconds off the Tokyo Olympic standard of 2:29:30.
American Natosha Rogers with the Hansens Brooks Project took the 5000m win in the time of 15:05.22. Taryn Rawlings with adidas took second in the time of 15:05.94. Natalie Rule with New Balance clocked a third-place finish time of 15:06.50. Like the men, eight of the athletes ran under the World Championships standard of 15:10.00.
For Rogers, it was a near-best performance. In 2021, the now 31-year-old clocked a lifetime best of 15:04.95 in Irvine, CA. Rawlings and Rule set new personal bests in the race.
Footnotes: Canadian Lindsey Butterworth narrowly missed the Worlds qualification standard in the 800m clocking a 1:59.59. The standard is 1:59.50. Her best is 1:59.19. The two athletes ahead of her Allie Wilson and Nia Akins went 1-2 in 1:58.18 and 1:58.82, respectively.
Canadian Gabriela DeBues-Stafford won her 1500m race in a cruisy 4:03.20. She recently made news — not for her seven national records — but for moving from Bowerman Track Club in Oregon to the Athletics Canada West Hub in Victoria, BC. Her move was precipitated due to the distraction created by the Shelby Houlihan doping case. Her younger sister and brother apparently have both left as well.
Full results from the meet are here>>
