KIMbia Athletics

You know the times Chris Solinsky has put up this year. Now, here’s a little perspective to go with them, before he finishes up his season in Rieti on Sunday:

• Solinsky owns the #1 all-time American performance for 10,000m. With room to spare.
• He is the only American ever to have run under 12:58 more than once.
• He is the only American ever to have run under 12:59 three times.
• In 2010, Solinsky averaged 12:59 for the 5000m in four races.
• This season alone, he turned in the #2, #4, and #5 all-time American performances for 5,000m… 60% of the five best performances in US history!

By comparison, the fastest 5000m season, prior to Solinsky’s 2010, would have to go to a fellow member of the KIMbia family — Bob Kennedy, in 1996.  Kennedy’s record in 5000m finals that year was a staggering 13:12.14, 12:58.75 (AR), 13:12.35, 12:58.21 (AR), 13:06.12, 13:04.14, and 13:20.24.  At the time, those races notched the #1, #2, #6, #8, #11 and #12 American performances of all time. (#4, #5, #7, and #9 also belonged to him, from prior seasons. The word “wow,” comes to mind.) Kennedy’s average 5000m from that season is an extremely impressive 13:07.

What do all these numbers mean? Read the full article

Chris spent some time in the mixed zone after his race in Zurich, breaking down his thoughts on the last 5000m he would run in this stellar season.

Thoughts on the race itself:

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Last year, Chris Solinsky‘s PB was 13:12. A good time for an American distance runner: a very good time for an active American distance runner. He made his first World Championships team. But he wanted more.

This past week, Chris was marveling at how prescient some of his words from last summer have turned out to be, words captured in the final episode of Wisconsin to Worlds. Watch below:

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Fast fact: Chris Solinsky had never done a press conference in his entire career as an elite runner. No longer. Solinsky made an appearance at the press conference for Weltklasse Zurich, along with some of the most sought-after names in the sport: Lolo Jones, David Oliver, Mo Farah, Carmelita Jeter and Veronica Campbell-Brown, among others. Here’s a clip in which he addresses — once more — all the interest in his unique blend of speed and size:

OK, so you’ve run some of the fastest times of any American ever.  You can mix it up with the big boys on the pro circuit.  What’s next?  Chris Solinsky talks here, just three days before he races in Zurich, about wanting to take the next step and start making all the other big boys worry.

26:59. 12:56. 13:08. 12:55. For many, that collection of performances would make for a great career. Yet Chris Solinsky has strung together those four absolutely world-class performances in a single break-out season. Solinsky was 6th in Oslo, in the deepest 5000m in history. If he had run nothing other than the 13:08 he logged at the Pre Classic — so far his slowest race of the season — he would still have made himself the 7th fastest American performer of all-time. (Not to mention, it would have made a strong improvement on the 13:12 PB he carried into this year.)

Yet, beyond those hallmarks to consistency, Solinsky can also count the 10,000m American Record and two flirtations with the American Record for 5,000m among his achievements this year. Now, he is just days away from his final 5000 of this season-of-a-lifetime: Weltklasse Zurich on Thursday. Read the full article

Andrew Bumbalough will bring a broad range and impressive college credentials to KIMbia Athletics, after completing his career as a Georgetown Hoya. The Tennessee native has logged top-notch personal bests of 3:38.23 for 1500m and 13:30.77 for 5000m, against an 8th place finish in the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships, making him one of the more versatile athletes to come out of the US college ranks.

Previously, Bumbalough — which is pronounced with a long “O” sound — represented the United States in 2006 at the IAAF World Junior Championships, both in cross country and in track and field as a competitor in the 1500m. This season, he placed third in the NCAA 5000m final, before coming to US Nationals and taking third among all senior men, sandwiched between KIMbia runners Tim Nelson (2nd) and Brent Vaughn (4th), in the results.

We asked Andrew to share a bit about himself as a person and as a runner.
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The final time may have been six seconds slower than her World Leader, but there’s no doubt that Lineth Chepkurui remains Queen of the Roads after winning the 2010 AJC Peachtree 10k in Atlanta on Sunday.  Returning to the site of her 2009 triumph, Chepkurui clocked 30:51 to win the women’s race by a whopping twenty-one seconds and finish within shouting distance of the world-leading 30:45 she ran in New Orleans three months prior.  Left in her wake was a field that included Olympian Kim Smith and Boston Marathon champion Dire Tune.

Chepkurui left the rest of the women behind early in the proceedings, and explained, “I didn’t want to worry about anyone … I just wanted to run my own race.”  Nor should she have much reason to worry: running even faster than she did in a stellar 2009 campaign, the African and World Best’s for 10k — 30:27 and 30:21, respectively — might offer the best challenge for her talents, presently.

The USATF 10k Road Championships were also contested as part of the Peachtree Men’s Race with several KIMbians in the field. Read the full article

Runner’s World chatted (briefly) with Matt Tegenkamp in the final days before Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic, the sixth stop in the inaugural season of the IAAF Diamond League. Along with teammate Chris Solinsky, Tegenkamp will compete in the Men’s 5000m against many of the best in the world, including World Championship-medalists Tariku Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge and Joseph Ebuya, and the hottest name in the 5000m event at the moment, Imane Merga, winner in Oslo and Rome, and third in Doha. Fans are hoping to see the first-ever sub-13:00 clocking on US soil, and both KIMbia athletes figure to be in the mix.

However, while Solinsky ran 12:56.66 in Oslo on June 4th, Tegenkamp’s sterling 12:58 PB was logged last summer, with his 2010 season spent only on under-distance to this point: three runs at 1500 meters. As Runner’s World spent its recurring “A Brief Chat With” feature with Matt, interviewer Peter Gambaccini focused largely on Tegenkamp’s entering the unknown of his first 5,000m of the season. Tegenkamp was quite candid on his plan of attack, even offering up some first-rate racing advice:

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Brent Vaughn, his wife Sara, and daughter Ciara welcomed a new addition to their family, yesterday morning. Daughter #2, Calia Evelyn Vaughn was born in the early hours of Tuesday, and mother and baby are doing well.  Congratulations to Brent and the rest of the Vaughn family!