Posted: January 23, 2004

Athletics: Krummenacker Gives U.S. Middle Distance Medal Hope

By David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved < RaceResultsWeekly.com>

The 2000 Olympics in Sydney was a best-forgotten low point of U.S. middle distance running, at least amongst the men. In the 800 meters no American man managed to advance out of the first round, and in the 1500 meters only one man, Jason Pyrah, even made it to the final. He finished 10th.

The venerable U.S. 800m record holder Johnny Gray was the last American man to win an Olympic middle distance medal, getting the bronze in Barcelona back in 1992. One must look all the way back to 1968 to find the last U.S. Olympic medal in the 1500m for a man: Jim Ryun in Mexico City.

But some light began to break through the darkness last year when American David Krummenacker flew to Birmingham, England and startled with world with a gold medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships at 800m, beating world record holder and 2000 Olympic silver medalist, Wilson Kipketer of Denmark. One reporter called it "the biggest upset of the championships." Krummenacker agreed.

"I don't know if I could put this into words," the soft spoken Krummenacker told RRW Assistant Editor Bob Ramsak after his victory. "I wish everyone in the world could have this feeling once in their lives."

Maybe, but twice would be even better.

Krummenacker opens his 2004 campaign on 31-Jan in Boston at the adidas Boston Indoor Games, an aperitif for his anticipated feast in Athens when he hopes Olympic gold will be on the menu.

"I'm excited just because it's an Olympic year," Krummenacker said in an interview in New York last Wednesday. "I haven't made an Olympic team before, so anytime you have an off-season between September, and you don't compete again until January, it's kind of a little bit of a lull where you're just training day-in and day-out. It's a little bit rigorous and you kind of hunger for the competition."

Krummenacker will not defend his IAAF World Indoor Championships title in March in Budapest. His plan is to stay focused on Athens, building up slowly so he can hit his peak in August. The 800 meters is his primary focus, but he'll also race 1500 meters or the mile from time to time, and will possibly double at the U.S. Olympic Trials in July in Sacramento, Calif.

"Part of that trick [for peaking at the Olympics] for me is that I'm not running the World Indoor Championship this year, simply because the Olympic Games is so far away, and in the middle distances in order to compete well at a championship you have to be doing some pretty quality work," said Krummenacker. "I just think it's difficult to peak at a World Indoors, and be able to medal there, and then five months later to be at an Olympic Games and be peaking again. I'm just trying to do this low-key; I'm training through indoors and then the Olympic Trials I'll be in very good shape, and at the Olympic Games at the actual peak."

An Olympic medal is every athlete's dream, and a gold medal is always a longshot, even for a world class performer. Analyzing the situation, Krummenacker, 28, has concluded that his chances are excellent to get on the podium in Athens, and very good to mount the top step.

"I really think it's possible," he said of his gold medal chances. "I've raced with the best in the world and I've been fortunate enough to beat just about everyone. If you look at anybody who's in the top-10 in the world you've seen I've beaten them all before. It's not ego to say I can win; you have to have faith in what you're doing."

Krummenacker emerged as America's top middle distance runner in 2002, when he achieved the fastest-ever combined times by an American for both the 800 and 1500 meter events in a single season: 1:43.92 and 3:31.93, respectively. He also set the U.S. record for 1000m indoors: 2:17.85. Although his 2003 season had an incredible start with his world indoor victory, a hamstring injury just prior to the U.S. Outdoor Championships last June prevented him from running his best later in the year. He won the U.S. title easily in 1:45.53, praising his physical therapist for getting him ready to run. But on the seventh day of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics near Paris last August, Krummenacker did not advance out of the semi-final round.

"Unfortunately, in that last 200 I didn't have the snap I needed to hold the other guys off," he said after leading through 400 meters.

But with the hamstring injury behind him, Krummenacker is poised to take the mantle from Johnny Gray and pull the Americans back into Olympic medal contention.

"I don't think of it as a responsibility," he summarized. "I have a lot of fun in my running. To me, life is all about making the most of whatever you're doing. You don't really think so much about what other people are saying or what other people are expecting. You have to have fun while you're doing it and do it to the best of your ability. Wherever that falls for me, whether it's an Olympic gold medal or the Olympic final, whatever... If people say, 'hey, you brought the U.S. to that point, I'm grateful for that.'

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