Welcome to the Science of Sport, where we bring you the second, third, and fourth level of analysis you will not find anywhere else.

Be it doping in sport, hot topics like Caster Semenya or Oscar Pistorius, or the dehydration myth, we try to translate the science behind sports and sports performance.

Consider a donation if you like what you see here!


Did you know?
We published The Runner's Body in May 2009. With an average 4.4/5 stars on Amazon.com, it has been receiving positive reviews from runners and non-runners alike.

Available for the Kindle and also in the traditional paper back. It will make a great gift for the runners you know, and helps support our work here on The Science of Sport.



Saturday, November 03, 2007

No Cinderella Story at the USA Men's Olympic Marathon Trials:

Saturday morning in New York City, mostly in Central Park 131 qualifiers lined up to battle for the right to represent the USA in Beijing next year. In short it was not a Cinderella story as the favorites established their dominance, although not from early in the race. There was one notable change to the format this year---runners were accepted on a number of different qualifying times from 5000 m up the marathon distance. This added quite a bit of depth although there were many runners making their debut or making only their second attempt at this distance.


Noel takes a back seat

Tropical depression Noel was threatening to put a real damper on the weather, but in the end the runners had to face only a bit of wind and nothing too hectic. Temps were in the low 40's at the start as Michael Wardian from Virginia became the first "TV Runner" and took an early 100+ m lead. In Wardian's defense, though, the pace was pretty pedestrian at the start as the pack was on pace for only about a 2:20 finish. Most of the runners were likely elated at the early pace as it gave them a chance to stay with the favorites. However after approximately nine miles things started to change.

The first move - What was Sell thinking?

Around nine miles someone surged, and suddenly Abdi Abdiraham, Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall, Fasil Bizuneh, and Dathan Ritzenheim had a gap. Brian Sell of Team Hanson, who lead for 20 miles in the pre-Athens trials, did not respond. This was surprising as it was not a massive acceleration, and instead the five seemed to float away slowly. Nevertheless, Sell and the others let them go while many pundits and fans must have been thinking what a bad tactic that was. Dan Brown responded late and bridged the gap after a few minutes. He was followed by two counter-attacks, first by Josh Cox and then by Khalid Khannouchi, both of which failed.

In the end Sell's patience payed off as he took third eventually (2:11:40) behind Ritzenheim (2:11:07) and Ryan Hall. Hall's 2:09:09 was a US Olympic Trials record although was not surprising as he ran 2:08:24 in his debut in London this year. Hall also has a 59:43 half-marathon best, also an American record.

The final results looked like this:

1) Ryan Hall (2:09:02) (Trials record)
2) Dathan Ritzenheim (2:11:07)
3) Brian Sell (2:11:40)
4) Khalid Khannouchi (2:12:34)

Should Dathan Ritzenheim qualify for the 10000 m event, he has indicated that he might forgo his spot on the marathon team as he is more interested in the 10,000 m. This would allow Khannouchi the opportunity to compete for the USA in the marathon, which is something to which he has aspired since the pre-Sydney trials, but has been hampered by injury.

Sad news from the race - death of Ryan Shay

In the meantime, the breaking news from the trials is the sudden death of Ryan Shay, who apparently collapsed around the five-mile mark. We are working hard to find out details, and you can be sure that we will have a full analysis of the physiology behind this tragic event.

See our other posts on sudden death during exercise:
Death at the Chicago Marathon
Autopsy report from Chicago Marathon
Analysis of a hospitalized runner
No evidence of dehydration in Chicago Marathon death




4 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a slight correction:

That was not actually Adam Goucher (who, though he did qualify via a track time, did not actually compete in the Trials); rather, it was Fasil Bizuneh, who ultimately finished 13th.

Ross Tucker and Jonathan Dugas said...

Hi lm, and thanks for visiting us at The Science of Sport.

Point taken, and correction made. I did not have sound on my feed at that point in the race, and so I was going on look---the tall frame and beanie cap looked like Goucher to me, but clearly it was Fasil.

Thanks again for the correction!

Kind Regards,
Jonathan

Anonymous said...

Nice to find your site. I like the scientific side, although I would have liked this even more back some years ago when I was racing (but not fast enough to get into Saturday's race).

Hall's time was 2:09:01.x and rounded to 2:09:02, not the :09 you have. It is minor, although it does switch the times with Lel. I have said elsewhere that I think that Hall would have won on Sunday; a slight adjustment, I think he might have beaten Lel.

Ross Tucker and Jonathan Dugas said...

GHi 26mi235,

Yikes! I missed that, and not sure where the :09 crept in since I did that post on Saturday afternoon.

Thanks very much for pointing that out, though, and keeping us honest!

Glad to hear you are enjoying The Science of Sport, and we glad to count you as a reader!

Kind Regards,
Jonathan