Thursday, January 26, 2017

Three Olympic medallists set to clash over 3000m in Boston

06 JAN 2017 General News Boston, USA

Three Olympic medallists set to clash over 3000m in Boston


Olympic 5000m silver and bronze medallists Paul Chelimo and Hagos Gebrhiwet will take on Olympic 800m bronze medallist Clayton Murphy at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix when the US middle-distance runner steps up in distance at the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting in Boston on 28 January.
Gebrhiwet has made it on to the 5000m podium at the past two IAAF World Championships, finishing second in 2013 and third in 2015. His best time for 3000m indoors, 7:32.87, is the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix meeting record, the North American all-comers’ record and the world U20 indoor record.
Chelimo will be making his New Balance Indoor Grand Prix debut. The 26-year-old took a surprise silver medal over 5000m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, setting a lifetime best of 13:03.90 in the process.
Murphy won the NCAA 1500m title last summer before going on to win the 800m at the US Olympic Trials. At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the 21-year-old took the 800m bronze medal in a PB of 1:42.93, making him the third-fastest US man in history.
Three national U20 record-holders have also been confirmed to make their New Balance Indoor Grand Prix debuts: Noah Lyles, Candace Hill and Donavan Brazier.
Lyles is the world U20 champion at 100m. Before winning that title in Bydgoszcz last summer, Lyles finished fourth in the 200m at the US Olympic Trials, breaking the long-standing national high school record with 20.09.
Lyles will compete in the 300m in Boston, while Josephus Lyles, Noah’s 18-year old brother and a double world U18 medallist, will race over 60m.
Hill made history in 2015 when, as a 16-year-old, she ran a world U18 best of 10.98 in the 100m, becoming the youngest ever to break the 11-second barrier. Hill went on to win gold in the 100m and 200m at the 2015 IAAF World U18 Championships and last year won gold medals in the 100m and 4x100m at the IAAF World U20 Championships.
Donavan Brazier won the NCAA title at 800m in 1:43.55, breaking both the NCAA and US U20 records that had been set 50 years earlier by Jim Ryun. Brazier will be racing over 600m in Boston.
These athletes will be joined at the event by the previously announced Olympic champions Matthew Centrowitz, Jenn Suhr, and Ekaterini Stefanidi, and Olympic bronze medallists Jenny Simpson and Emma Coburn.
Now in its 22nd year, the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix has played host to eight world records and 13 American records.
Organisers for the IAAF
2017 IAAF World Indoor Tour calendar
28 Jan – Boston, USA
1 Feb – Dusseldorf, GER
4 Feb – Karlsruhe, GER
10 Feb – Torun, POL
18 Feb – Birmingham, GBR

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