KIMbia Athletics

Though the final times weren’t scorching, Chris Solinsky and Matt Tegenkamp ran a fair pace, then proceeded to kick down some of the world’s top middle distance runners in Sunday’s Prefontaine Classic 3k — a great early-season result for the Wisconsin alums.  Solinsky took 3rd behind double World Champions Bernard Lagat and Saif Saaeed Shaheen, despite being in the midst of what he called “a heavy training phase getting ready primarily for the US championships and World Championships.” While Chris said the first kilometer felt a little fast, he settled in mid-race, and in the race’s final stanza — where most experience sensations such as “pain” and “excruciating pain” — he was able to rather enjoy himself:

The last lap was a ton of fun as I was able to stay with the pack quite easily, and produced a decent finish.  I do wish I would have moved up a little earlier to have been in better position when Shaheen and Lagat started moving, as I had last 100 equal to Lagat’s, but my positioning put me too far off to be in contention.

Indeed, having closed down to within inches of Shaheen, one can’t help but think Chris should challenge the Qatari steeple specialist to a two-mile next time out, as Sunday, the former Badger just barely ran out of real estate.

Teammate Matt Tegenkamp took home a fourth-place finish, but, rather than his defeat of superstar Eliud Kipchoge and Olympic Medalist Moses Ndiema Masai, the post-race banter around the running community centered on what some “pundits” felt was an ill-advised move up the rail, which Teg made with just over 200m to go.  Subsequently boxed throughout the final turn, Teg still ran himself from 6th into 4th once he had some breathing room in the homestretch. He explained what he was seeing when he made his early move on the inside:

It started out missing the initial move of Lagat and Shaheen.  Because of that, Alistair [Cragg] got in position to move past Kipchoge going into the turn.  I was hoping that with Alistair challenging Kipchoge to the outside, Kipchoge would try to push Alistair out and make him run wide… which would have opened up the rail for me.  At that speed, it would have been very hard for me to make a move to pass in lane three going around a turn: it was a judgement call and this time it did not work out.  I am focused more on learning from the mistake of not being in better position from 250 to go.  We were all bunched up and I should have been on Alistair’s shoulder. If I had done that I would have been able to jump when Lagat went.  It was a good early season lesson!

The takeaway went beyond a tactical lesson, though, as the Missouri native drew confidence from the strong placing, saying, “I am still very happy with the race especially considering all the intense training we have been doing leading into this meet. This race is going to be a huge benefit for USA champs.”

Ranking 3rd and 4th among Americans in the 5000, even before Sunday’s encouraging 3k, Solinsky and Tegenkamp have every reason to be excited to get back on the Hayward Field track at the US National Championships, which begin June 25th.