The Trials So Far

The first four days of the Olympic Trials were a wonderful stage for U.S. track and field, and after two rest days, the action begins again today.

Highlights from the first half of the trials included the Oregon sweep in the men's 800 meters, in which (as Alan Webb said) "the Olympic team changed nine times" in the last 150 meters. Nick Symmonds laid off the early pace (50 flat first 400) and he and Andrew Wheating blew everyone else away in the final straight. Lopez Lomong drifted out into the second lane in those last few meters, allowing Christian Smith to dive into the third spot, ahead of early front-runner Khadevis Robinson.

Men's 800m - NBC Video (Requires Silverlight)

In Monday's men's 5000m finals, defending world champion Bernard Lagat won the mad sprint to the finish, with Matt Tegenkamp (fourth fastest American all-time behind Lagat, Bob Kennedy and Sidney Maree) taking second, and Ian Dobson (PR 13:15.33) taking third. The only surprise might have been Dobson, who outkicked Belota Asmeron and Chris Solinsky for his first Olympic berth.

Here's the video, with a few unfortunate mid-identifications in the early laps.

Men's 5000m - NBC video

Solinsky made a gutsy move to take the lead with 1000 to go, but didn't have the finishing speed to hold on.

The women's 10,000 was a showcase for Shalane Flanagan who is attempting the 5000, 10,000m double, who outkicked defending world bronze medalist Kara Goucher. The race was also thrilling for 3rd-place finisher Amy Begley, who had to run a sub-70s final 400m to meet the Olympic "A" standard and earn a ticket to Beijing.

Women's 10K - NBC Video

And then there was the Men's 100m, and six guys under 10.00, led by Tyson Gay's fastest-elapsed-time-in-the-history-of-the-world (but don't use the "R" word) 9.68, aided by a favorable 4m/s wind.

So what's next?

Today's finals include the mens and women's 400m (will LaShawn Merritt take down Jeremy Wariner?) and the women's steeplechase (American Record for Jenny Barringer?). Today is also the first round of qualifying for the men's 1500, with lagat, Alan Webb, and Leonel Manzano the favorites to make the team. the 1500 also features two New England athletes, Boston's Said Ahmed (Boston English, Arkansas) and New Hampshire's and Stanford's Russell Brown.