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Team USA wins DecaNation in Paris
Team USA rose to the occasion to take top honors over runner-up Germany and five other nations at the 2006 DecaNation at Charlety Stadium in Paris, France.
Created and hosted by the French Athletics Federation in 2005, the event provides a simple, concentrated formula that features national teams from around the world.
Ten events were contested for both men and women, with one event specialist from each nation competing in each event - 100m, 400m, 1500m, 110m hurdles, 3000m steeplechase, high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot put and hammer throw. The winner of each individual event earned 9 points for his or her team, with 7 points for second, 6 for third, and down to 1 point for eighth.
Team USA won six events in amassing 104.5 points for the win. Germany won three events and finished as the runners-up with 100 points followed by Poland (3rd- 90.5 points), France (4th-88), Ukraine and Russia (5th-70) and Spain (7th-54).
U.S. team captain Reese Hoffa won the men's shot put with a heave of 21.29 meters/69 feet, 10.25 inches. Other American winners included 2005 world champion Tianna Madison, who posted her best performance of the year with her winning long jump of 6.60 meters/21 feet, 8 inches.
2003 NCAA Outdoor champion Ryan Wilson contributed to Team USA's winning effort by crossing the finish line first in the men's 110m hurdles in 13.40 seconds. Other top performers were Jesse Williams, who won the men's high jump (2.25m/7 feet, 4.50 inches), Brianna Glenn finishing first in the women's 100 meters in 11.27 seconds and Dee Dee Trotter capturing the women's 400 metes in 50.85 seconds.
For more information on the 2006 DecaNation in Paris, including the complete results, visit www.iaaf.org.
Americans win at Rieti
U.S. stars Bernard Lagat, Lashinda Demus, Brad Walker, Jason Smoots and Stephanie Durst all won their individual events Sunday at the 2006 IAAF World Athletics Tour meet in Rieti, Italy.
Two-time Olympic medalist Bernard Lagat won the men's 1,500 meters with his time of 3 minutes, 39.68 seconds, which nearly matched his American record time of 3:29.30 set with his win at Rieti last year. "What makes Rieti so special for middle distance runners is that we have no big meeting feeling," Lagat said on the IAAF website. "I do not feel pressure and I compete very relaxed. I ran badly in Zurich because I felt sick there. But after winning the 3000 meters in Birmingham I began thinking that I could run 3:29 in Rieti."
2005 World Outdoor Championships women's 400m hurdles silver medalist Lashinda Demus, who owns the four fastest times in the world this season, won against a strong field in Rieti in 53.67 seconds. Fellow American Tiffany Ross-Williams was the runner-up in 54.20.
Current world leader and reigning World Outdoor Championships silver medalist Brad Walker won the men's pole vault in Rieti for the second year in a row with his clearance of 5.87 meters/19 feet, 3 inches. Other U.S. winners included Jason Smoots in the men's 100 meters in 10.01 seconds and Stephanie Durst in the women's 200 meters in 22.51 seconds.
For more information on this event, including the complete results, visit www.iaaf.org.
New American relay record set in Brussels
As a team from Kenya was setting a new men's 4x800m relay world record Friday at the Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels, Belgium, a swift quartet of Americans also bettered the existing world mark in setting a new American record.
The Kenyans ran 7:02.43 to set the new world record as the American squad of Jebreh Harris (1:47.05), Khadevis Robinson (1:44.03), Sam Burley (1:46.05) and David Krummenacker (1:45.69) finished second in 7:02.82, also under the previous world mark of 7:03.89, run by Great Britain in 1982. The U.S. crushed the American record of 7:06.5, set by the Santa Monica Track Club in 1986.
Team USA split times courtesy of Bob Ramsak of Track Profile Report.
Road racing enthusiast Robbins dies
Retired psychiatrist Charley "Doc" Robbins, who competed in the Manchester Road Race for 50 consecutive years, died last Thursday after a brief illness. He was 85.
Robbins, who resided in Middletown, Connecticut, and often ran in his bare feet, was a top runner at Manchester High School, was a two-time national marathon champion and finished third in the 1944 Boston Marathon. He was in his prime during World War II, but never competed in the Olympics because the Games were canceled in 1940 and 1944.
He returned to Manchester in 1945 to help revive the annual road race.Robbins won the race in 1945 and 1946 and set records in the 40-, 50-, 60-, 70- and 80-year-old age groups. He ran at Manchester a record 57 times. He missed the 4.748-mile race once, in 1951, because he was in medical school in Cleveland.I
In 2001, before his 50th consecutive Manchester race, Robbins told the Hartford Courant, "It's like being old. I used to think it was half brains and half planning. But now I think living to be old is 99 percent luck. And the same thing goes for 50 years in a row. You just have to be lucky."
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