Mo Farah drops down; David Rudisha drops out of Nike Prefontaine Classic...
So much for talking about Mo Farah (left/photo by Paul Merca) and David Rudisha…
The Nike Prefontaine Classic announced that Farah, the reigning Olympic champ at 5000/10000 from Great Britain, who lives in Portland and trains under Alberto Salazar at the Nike Oregon Project, asked to switch from Friday night's 10000 and instead will run the 5000 on Saturday against a field that includes Washington State alum and former world champion Bernard Lagat; Farah's training partner and Olympic 10000m silver medalist Galen Rupp; Thomas Longosiwa of Kenya, who nosed out Lagat for the bronze in London; teenager Isiah Koech, last year's #3 ranked runner in the world at this distance; and Kenya's Edwin Soi, the bronze medalist at this distance in the 2008 Olympics.
According to the meet promoters, Farah picked up a stomach virus after the Occidental College High Performance meet, and is still recovering from it.
An MRI was performed Wednesday at the Slocum Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Eugene on the knee of Kenya's David Rudisha, the world record holder in the 800m. The scan showed bruising of the bone and underlying ligaments. Efforts Thursday to test out the knee during a light workout did not go well, and Rudisha has had to withdraw from the Prefontaine Classic 800m.
On a positive note, London Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross will make her season debut in the 400, and will face silver medalist Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain and bronze medalist DeeDee Trotter of the USA.
In college news, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference named Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen as its female track & field athlete of the year.
The senior from Marshfield HS in Coos Bay, Oregon last week won the NCAA heptathlon title with a score of 5340 points.
At the conference meet, she won the heptathlon, 100 hurdles, long jump, and ran a leg on the winning Falcon 4 x 100m relay, and also scored in the high jump and 200 meters. That effort gave Worthen the Outstanding Performer of the championships.
Additionally, she set conference career records for most individual wins at 7, and most individual and relay victories (10). She also tied the GNAC record for most career points scored of 115, set by Bridget Johnson of Western Oregon between 2003-06.
In the meantime, we will see you in Eugene!
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