Olympic Standards Abound at the Track Meet

Great Britain’s Laura Muir takes down a talent field in the women’s 800 meter run at the Track Meet, leading five women under 2 minutes.

By Kate Walkup

The Sound Running Track Meet kicked off with Andrea Seccafien and Zouhair Talbi winning the women’s 10,000 meters (31:13.94) and men’s 10,000 meters (27:20.61), respectively, on Friday night in Irvine, CA.

Seccafien and Talbi set the tone for the meet, pushing each of their heats to Olympic standards for the top three finishers.

Seccafien’s final 800 meters propelled her into a significant lead, ultimately carrying her to a 30-second PR and a new Canadian record by almost 28 seconds. She clocked a 68-second lap before the bell, which extended her lead even further over the rest of the field. 

The action that followed the next morning continued the excitement. A number of athletes recorded Olympic standards throughout the day; notable among the performances was Trayvon Bromell’s win in the men’s 100m dash with a time of 9.92 seconds. 

The women’s 1,500m runners also came out ready to race. Olympic standards were achieved by top three finishers Katie Snowden (4:02.98), Kate Grace (4:03.54) and Jessica Hull (4:04.16).

Snowden moved from fifth to first in the final 100 meters, which ultimately pushed the top three under the Olympic-standard qualifying mark. 

1,500m specialist Laura Muir pulled out a dominant win in the 800m, finishing under the Olympic standard in 1:58.71. After her victory, Muir explained that she had wanted to see where her quickness was at and teased the idea of focusing more on the 800m instead of the 1,500m in preparation for Tokyo. 

“I just wanted to come out here and test my speed,” Muir said. 

The top three finishers in the men’s 110m hurdles clocked in under the Tokyo standard as well, led by Omar McLeod with a time of 13.11 seconds. 

Sifan Hassan put on an impressive show in the 5,000m to close out the meet, setting herself apart from the rest of the field right from the starting gun. Her performance, a solo 14:35.34 victory, reaffirmed the Dutch superstar as a medal favorite for the Olympic Games later this summer.

The top nine finishers in the women’s 5,000 all crossed the line under the Olympic standard, with American Josette Norris crossing the line in second in a huge personal best of 14:51.42.