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Sam Prakel takes third in World Athletics road mile championships...


RIGA, Latvia--University of Washington volunteer coach Sam Prakel (right/photo courtesy World Athletics) finished third in the inaugural World Athletics road mile championship race through the streets of Riga, as the first eleven men ducked under four minutes, led by Prakel's USA teammate Hobbs Kessler (center), who broke Prakel's recently ratified world road mile record, crossing the line first in 3:56.13.

With a strong field in the race, Prakel's world record of 4:01.21, set at the US road mile championships in April and ratified last month as the initial world record, was going to get broken. 

The question going into the world road championships was by how much and by whom.

The 35-man field started off quickly. And just as quickly, a group of twelve  men went to the front, taking up nearly the entire width of the road before making the first right hand turn past the 400 meter mark.

Just past the 1 kilometer mark, recent Washington grad Kieran Lumb went to the front, but there were still ten men in position for the win as they made the charge for the finish, just past the Monument of Freedom.

Hobbs Kessler positioned himself in the middle as Prakel moved to the left to get some running room for the last 100 meters. In the end, Kessler hung on for the win in 3:56.13, flanked on his right by Great Britain's Callum Elson in second in 3:56.41, and Prakel on the left third in 3:56.43.

Lumb finished fifth in a Canadian road mile record 3:56.98.

Courtesy of World Athletics, here is the finish of the race:


In the women's half marathon, Washington alum Izzi Batt-Doyle of Australia finished 14th in 1:10:08, in a race won by Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya in 1:07:25.

The men's half marathon saw Washington alum Jack Rowe finish 30th in 1:01:39, as Kenya's Sabastian Sawe won in 59:10.


NOTE: World Athletics contributed to this report.

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