As probably everyone knows by now, Friday night, Dathan Ritzenheim ran 12:56.27 for 5000m at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich. His time broke Bob Kennedy's American record, which has stood for 13 years.
What has Ritz done lately?
In the last calendar year plus two days, Ritz has beaten America's great hope in the marathon, Ryan Hall, in the 2008 Olympic Marathon (finishing 9th), beaten America's great hope in the 10,000m, Galen Rupp, in the World Championships (finishing 6th), and run faster than any American in history in the 5000m.
I think it might be time to get on the Ritz bandwagon.
Meb Keflezighi's American record in the 10,000m is 27:13.98. Will Ritz take a shot at the record this year?
The last American to hold the AR in the 5000 and 10,000 simultaneously? Ritz's new coach, Alberto Salazar.
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8 comments:
You said he broke Bob Kennedy's World Record.... dont you mean American record?
That's what I meant, alright. Thanks for catching the slip.
a letter on letsrun pointed out a pretty amazing fact about ritz. he's now faster than "5,000 meter world record breakers Ron Clarke, Lasse Viren, Emil Puttemans, Dick Quax, Henry Rono, David Moorcroft or even Said Aouita ran in their entire careers.
In fact, Ritz's time is faster than Haile Gebrselassie's 12:56.96 World Record from 1994."
after watching that race the other day i immediately went out and hammered a marriot (8 miles from my house) because I was so pumped. A truly shocking and inspiring performance.
Just watched the race on NBC. Very unimpressed by the commentary, he was a total afterthought even by the US announcers. When the Russian broke the women's PV record, there was barely a crack in his voice. When will T&F get the coverage in the US that is deserves and gets in Europe?
Maybe never, and that's why there is universalsports.com with the British announcers, and constant interruption-less action, watching the networks is just so much worse aside from the HD factor
Recent intereview with Ritz says he ran a 13:44 5k at elevation six days before his 10k in Berlin:
"Ready To Go In Berlin –
Ritz said that he knew he was in very good shape heading into Berlin as he had run a 5k time-trial in St. Moritz in 13:44 just six days before the 10k in Berlin (Wikipedia lists St. Mortiz’s altitude at 5,978 ft so a 13:44 at that level converts to probably something between 13:05 to 13:10 at sea level)."
He was in good shape.
There is an excellent personal interview with Ritz post-race on Flotrack. It's great to see how happy, humble and satisfied he is to grab Kennedy's record while clocking a monster PR.
http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/235529-2009-weltklasse-zurich/199908-ritz-video-interview-after-breaking-the-american-record-in-the-5k
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