Last Saturday at Stanford, a cadre of KIMbia athletes hit the track running, tallying two personal bests, six USATF qualifying marks, and one each of the IAAF “A” and “B” standards — in what were season-opening races for most. Matt Tegenkamp, second in the 5k to Olympian Alistair Cragg, said, “It took couple of laps to get comfortable in the crowd but after that I felt right at home. [...] There is still a lot of work to be done but it is a great start and probably a better effort than a straight time trial. ” Remember, Teg’s 13:22 (IAAF “B”) comes in his first race since a winter spent rehabilitating a lower leg injury, and is his fastest 5000 since 2007…
Tim Nelson‘s sterling 10k also deserves a closer look. In a race rabbitted by teammate Chris Solinsky, Tim showed great patience and control, hanging back in the pack early — he was around 13th at the mile mark — before smoothly and decisively moving to stay with the leaders as the pace began to thin the front pack just past halfway. Hitting each of the first two miles in close to 4:25, Tim began rattling off laps of 66 seconds, coming through 5k in 13:47. Then, after passing 4.5 miles, he took the lead from teammate Simon Bairu, rescuing the pace, which had sagged to 68 seconds per lap, and returning to metronomic 66′s. Tim would close in 62 to nail down a PB of almost half a minute and that precious World Champs “A” standard. Final time, 27:36.99.
A strong run by almost any measure, but especially when examined in the context of history. Tim’s time ranks him a little more than one second outside of the Top 10 American Men, All-Time at the 10k distance. (Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein is the 10th fastest performer, at 27:35.65.) Currently sitting at 14th, every athlete on the list ahead of Tim has either qualified to the Olympics or held an American Record (or both). Good company to be in, for certain.
Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow, as Tim Nelson responds to your questions! And for those of you who can’t wait for more of Tim Nelson, find a breakdown of Tim’s splits, below…
ALL SPLITS APPROXIMATE
1 mile – 4:25
2 mile – 4:25 (9:50)
3 mile – 4:24 (13:14)
4 mile – 4:27 (17:41)
5 mile – 4:28 (22:09)
6 mile – 4:25 (26:34)
1k – 2:46
2k – 2:47
3k – 2:44 (8:17)
4k – 2:46
5k – 2:45 (13:47)
6k – 2:47
7k – 2:48
8k – 2:46 (22:09)
9k – 2:47
10k – 2:40 (27:36.99)
Opened in: 67
Closed in: 62
Fastest: 62 (#25)
Slowest: 68 (#5, #17)
Other: 5 straight 66′s (#9-13)
