Tegenkamp 4th in Stockholm 3000m; Solinksy Falls, DNF
It’s been an up-and-down season for Matt Tegenkamp. Expectations were very high coming into the season after last year’s 13:04.90 5000m PR and his easy victory at the U.S. Indoor Championships this winter. He lived up to those expectations in his first major outdoor race, the Prefontaine Classic. There he broke Alan Webb’s American Record at two miles by more than four seconds, running 8:07.07. The Tegenkamp camp let out a collective sigh of relief - last year was not a fluke.
It’s hard to say that Matt has struggled since that race - he’s run two PRs at 1500m and narrowly missed winning his first outdoor U.S. Championship - but the way things were going, it was easy to expect a PR every time out. First was Lausanne, an off race for Matt at 5000m; he ran 13:27.06. It was perhaps his only chance to go after the magical 13:00 barrier this season, being the lone 5000m race on his schedule outside of the usually-tactical World Championships. Matt took the race in stride. “It was a good callousing effort. And if 13:27 is a bad day, then I’ve come a long way.”
Matt turned his focus to the Monte Carlo 3000m. With 1000m to go, he was in position and running fast. But when the chase pack made a surge down the homestretch with just over 
two laps to go, Matt hesitated. He missed the break and ran alone for the final two laps. His time of 7:37.31 was fast, his second fastest ever, but there was still a sense of disappointment. “I was hesitant to cover the move. After that it was over,” Matt reflected after the race. At any other point in his career, it would have been considered a great race. But with expectations, however unfair and ambitious, at an all-time high, Matt needed to “get his season back on track.”
The next stop was in Heusden for a 1500m after the London floods kept him from a race in Madrid. It was a solid effort, despite a poor start and getting cut off with 100m to go. His time was off of his best, but Matt knew he was ready for Stockholm. “That’s the first time I felt on the top of my game since Nationals,” Matt said. “I’m ready for Stockholm.”
On the other side of the coin was his teammate, Chris Solinsky. Despite a dominant victory at the NCAA Championships (5000m), there were few expectations for Chris leading into the U.S. Championships. His goal was to finish in the top three, but few people blinked an eye when that didn’t happen. “He has a great future ahead of him, but he’ll have to wait his turn,” one journalist told me. But a 7th place finish didn’t sit well with Chris, an overachieving farm boy from rural Wisconsin. “Man, that race pissed me off,” Chris told me in Twickenham, UK, our summer training base. “I wanted to make the World Championship team and to be honest, the race played right into my strengths. I just didn’t get the job done.”
But Chris would rebound quickly, both mentally and physically. Perhaps with less self-imposed pressure, Chris went on a tear, setting four PRs in as many races. First was a low-key 1500m race in Malmo, a great introduction to the European circuit. He finished 4th in 3:39.26. He followed that performance with another 1500m PR, and a win, in Gent - 3:37.26. A great start and a sign of things to come.
With two smaller meets behind him, it was time for Chris to step out on the big stage - a 3000m at Sheffield, UK. One month earlier Chris was racing the best runners in college; now he was up against the best runners in the world, including Kenenisa Bekele and Craig Mottram. If there was a feeling of being out of his league before the race, it didn’t show once the gun sounded. Chris tucked in near the back of the pack and covered every move that he needed to. With 1000m to go, Bekele made a huge surge that broke open the race. Chris stayed on his pace and closed strong to finish in 7:36.90 - a PR of 15 seconds and only one second behind Mottram. Chris was excited after his race, but criticized himself for not going after Mottram sooner. “I told myself before the race that I belonged here; that I could run with these guys. But for a split second, when Bekele took off, that went out the window. I’m happy of course, but I’m upset that I didn’t cover that move better. Next time I’ll be ready.”
The “next time” came in Heusden on a perfect evening for distance running. The 5000m race there, known as “the Stanford of Europe” for the large number of American athletes and PR performances, has historically been fast and evenly paced. This year’s event was no different. Chris ran confidently near the front of the pack and again covered all the moves. With 500m to go, he started to move up to put himself in position.
“I told myself before the race to put myself in position to win. I wanted to make sure I was there with one lap to go so Jerry (his coach) and I decided that with 500 meters to go, I’d have to be moving with forward momentum.”
Ironically, it was at exactly that point that Chris’s momentum would come to a screeching halt. An athlete went down, two in front of Chris. The fall started a chain reaction that caused the athlete right in front of Chris to go down hard. Chris stumbled badly, but managed to hurdle the two athletes sprawled out on the track. “I just told myself, ‘Don’t go down. Don’t go down.’”
Not only did Chris stay on his feet, but the altercation gave him a jolt of adrenaline that allowed him to close the gap on the leaders, who capitalized on the pile-up to put distance on the field. With 150 meters to go, Chris was moving strong on the outside, but didn’t have the final gear needed down the stretch to win. A win would have been nice, but the time was just as sweet - 13:12.24; another 15-second PR.
So that brings us to today, the DN Galan where conditions at the Stockholm Olympic Stadium are perfect for distance running. Built for the 1912 Olympic Games, the stadium has seen 83 world records and boasts some of the most knowledgeable and engaged spectators in the world. The race is loaded with talent, including Bekele, Bernard Kiptum, Kevin Sullivan, Boniface Songok, and Edwin Soi. It is Chris’s final European race and, besides the Falmouth mile later this week, perhaps his final track race of the season. Can he finish it off with a 5th consecutive PR? For Matt it’s the end of the first half of his season. After Stockholm he’ll return home to Madison for more training before heading to Osaka, Japan for the World Championships. After Osaka he returns to Europe for races in Brussels and Zurich, two of the best meetings on the circuit. Matt needs the confidence to carry him into the second half of the season; Chris needs to finish off his season on a high note.
There were early rumors of a Bekele world record attempt, but like most races, these things aren’t determined well in advance. Skyping with Chris last night he wrote, “I have no idea about the pace. No one knows anything.” I guess the conditions weren’t perfect enough for Bekele; there was no record attempt, which made the early pace manageable for Matt and Chris. At 1400m they both sat near the back of the pack, looking very comfortable. Then disaster struck. Coming around the bend, Chris and another athlete went down hard. Up ahead, Matt came through the mile in 4:03 and starting to move up through the pack. Chris got back on his feet, but did not finish the race. Matt continued to move through the pack. At the 2000m mark, Bekele had separated himself from the chase pack, which seemed content to race for second place as the pace slowed. With two laps to go Matt moved up on the outside and began to push the pace. At the bell he led a pack of five athletes. Down the stretch he still held onto second place, but was passed by two athletes just before the line. His effort was good for fourth place and a time of 7:35.68, less than a second off of his PR.
For Matt, the race definitely gives him confidence heading into Osaka. Not to mention the mental break that he’ll get returning home to his wife in Madison. For Chris, it’s an unfortunate end to a great debut European season. He’ll be disappointed, but hopefully a fast race in the Falmouth Mile this week will take away some of the sting.
Stay tuned this week for complete coverage of the Falmouth Mile (saturday) and Falmouth Road Race (sunday).
