Upload a Photo Upload a Video Add a News article Write a Blog Add a Comment
Blog Feed News Feed Video Feed All Feeds

Media

Photos (70)
View
Videos (36)
View
News (30)
View
Blogs (0)
View
 

Folders

 

 

Symmonds fourth in star-studded London 800 - OTCElite.com

Published by
Matt Scherer   Aug 6th 2011, 12:19am
Comments

Symmonds fourth in star-studded London 800

The highly-competitive 800-meter race at London’s Diamond League meet could be indicative of things to come, though OTC Elite’s Nick Symmonds is hoping for a slightly better result at the World Championships in Daegu, Korea in three weeks.

Racing against the best half-milers in the world on Friday evening at Crystal Palace, Symmonds came in fourth behind world-record holder David Rudisha of Kenya, Abubaker Kaki of Sudan and Boaz Lalang of Kenya. Rudisha clocked a meet-record setting time of 1 minute, 42.91 seconds, Kaki ran a season-best 1:43.13, Lalang also recorded a 2011-best of 1:44.13, and Symmonds was just behind him in 1:44.40.

“That was a solid performance,” OTC Elite head coach Mark Rowland said from London. “Nick’s training is going well and we know that Worlds will be completely different to the Diamond League series.”

Home-country favorites Chris Thompson and Jemma Simpson, a pair of Brits who live and train in Eugene, represented the OTC Elite well in the 5,000 and the 800 respectively. Thompson managed fourth in the 5k, with a mark of 13:34.31, while Simpson was ninth in a deep 800-meter field in 2:00.69.

Both were competing for the first time in two months, due to injury, and will not be able to represent Great Britain at the World Championships.

“They did not have enough time to prove sufficient fitness after their respective injuries,” Rowland said of both runners. “Subsequently, time to prepare effectively for Daegu ran out, so now we need to resume our normal routine of training and target a couple of decent races in September. There’s still a lot to be achieved this season before preparing for the winter program and the Olympic year.”

Earlier in the day, OTC’s Ben Bruce – who recently hit the IAAF ‘A’ Standard in the 3,000 steeplechase in Barcelona – grabbed eighth place in the London steeple, with a mark of 8:35.26.

Action at Crystal Palace continues on Saturday, with OTC Elite’s Jesse Williams (high jump), Russell Brown (Emsley Carr mile), Bridget Franek (3,000 steeplechase) and Lauren Fleshman (5,000) all competing. Live streaming video is available at UniversalSports.com.


Becky Radliff
OTC Elite
(541) 343-7847



Hashtags#otc-elite
 

More news

History for Oregon Track Club Elite
YearVideosNewsPhotosBlogs
2022 5      
2021 2 1    
2020 3 2    
Show 14 more
Hashtags#otc-elite
 
 
+PLUS highlights
+PLUS coverage
Live Events
Get +PLUS!