By Jake Willard
In a race that was surrounded by talk of breaking records, the men’s 2 mile at the Prefontaine Classic featured a competitive field and much jostling for position throughout. But nobody was willing to take the lead, or face the wind.
Before the race Friday, former Nike runner Matt Tegenkamp had a feeling the race was going to be close to his American record of 8 minutes, 7.07 seconds, which he set at the 2007 Prefontaine Classic in 2007. But while Friday’s race did feature a record performance, it did not come close to the American or meet records anticipated.
Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega outkicked American Paul Chelimo to take the victory in 8:20.01. The 18-year old was “very happy” with the victory despite not feeling strong and the “tough wind,” he said.
Chelimo, who was vocal on Twitter back in April about chasing Tegenkamp’s record, crossed the finish line in 8:20.91. “I did not feel 100 percent today. The 13:09 took the best out of me,” he said, referring to his time from the Shanghai Diamond League 5,000-meter race two weeks ago.
Chelimo also cited the wind as a deterring factor from taking the lead early. “We didn’t go with the pacers, and that is when I knew I did not want to be the sacrificial lamb,” he said. After falling back in the pack after the first mile, Chelimo, the Rio Olympics silver medalist at 5,000 meters, worked his way back into the race in the last lap.
But a national record was set — by Norway’s Henrik Ingebrigtsen, who finished fifth in 8:22.31. “All in all I felt pretty good,” he said following his first 2-mile race. “I didn’t suffer at all during the race.”
Ingebrigtsen, who had suspicions about the race going out at record pace, realized at 1 kilometer that they were not going to hit the expected 8:05 pace. “I heard 62 something, then 2:04, 2:05, then 3:09. We were slow from the start,” he said. “After 100, the pacemakers had 10 to 15 meters on us already.”
It was the slow pace that caused the pack to bunch up coming into the bell lap. The Norwegian found himself boxed in the last 200 meters as he was preparing to make his final kick. “That was really frustrating because I was certain that I could be at least top three,” Ingebrigtsen said. “I got yelled at by my coach for making that mistake, but hopefully I’ll learn something from that and not do it again next time.”
While the 2 mile is an off-distance that is not often run professionally, the common attitude among several competitors was that this was a good race effort as they go back into their training. “I am going to go back and train, train and train,” Chelimo said.
Barega even was excited to run another in the future, hoping to run between 8:00 and 8:05.
