Posted: April 20, 2005

Athletics: Lagat Will Become Multiple U.S. Record Holder

From David Monti

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

By David Monti with Bob Ramsak

While the turmoil surrounding Bernard Lagat gaining U.S. citizenship before the 2004 Olympics has only begun to swirl, it looks like one thing is a virtual certainty: he will become a U.S. record holder at both the 1500m, indoors and outdoors, and the mile when USATF votes to ratify records later this year.

"As far as I'm concerned, Lagat's marks are American Records and I fully expect that they will be ratified at this year's Annual Meeting," said IAAF council member, Bob Hersh, who is also on the board of USATF. The annual meeting is usually held in December.

USATF Communications Director, Jill Geer, agreed. "You have to be a U.S. citizen to set a U.S. record, and that's about it. I imagine that marks Bernard has run will be submitted to our records committee as a U.S. record. The committee approves records once a year, at our annual meeting."

Lagat gained U.S. citizenship on 07-May-2004, therefore his 3:27.40 1500m, set at the Weltklasse in Zürich last summer, would be the fastest ever by an American. The same would go for his 3:49.89 indoor mile run in Fayetteville last February, and the 3:33.34 1500m en route time set in that race.