Solinsky

Last night at the Zurich Weltklasse meet, Chris Solinsky went head-to-head with the best (healthy) 5000m runners on the planet and looked every bit like a contender.

There was a time not long ago when Galen Rupp's 13:07 personal best would have been big news and cause for optimism about the future of American distance running. But these are new days, and Tegenkamp, Ritzenheim, and especially Solinsky have raised the bar way higher.

Solinsky, especially, has establish a new plateau that would have seemed unthinkable even last year. He set the American record and ran the fastest 10,000m time in the world this year. He has run 12:56 once and 12:55 twice this summer, and owns three of the top sixteen times in the world this year. Were it not for former world champ Bernard Lagat's 12:54 at Oslo, Solinsky would have the AR at 5000 to add to his AR at 10000.

And because he's not satisfied, neither are we. Solinsky's quotes after Zurich make it clear that he didn't care about the time; he wanted to win the race. He didn't want to settle being 3rd best in the world. He didn't want to settle for giving Diamond League winner Imane Merga everything he could handle in the last 100m, he wanted to beat him, and Keninisa's little brother, too.

But he beat all ten Kenyans who finished the race, including...

Eliud Kipchoge (PR 12:45)
Vincent Chepkok (PR 12:51)
Edwin Soi (PR 12:52)
Lucas Rotich (PR 12:55)

For good measure, he beat Mo Farah the European champion, who "only" ran 12:57 to set a new U.K. record, besting Dave Moorcroft's 28-year-old standard.

Based on times, Solinsky has just completed the greatest 5000m season in American history. But, as he reminds us, he didn't win anything, and he won't be happy until he does.

As for Rupp, let's not forget about or dismiss him. In 2010, he has run PRs at one mile, 3000m (indoor and out), 5000m (indoor and out), and 10,000m. He still has the fourth fastest 10K time in the world this year (in a race where he set the pace in the latter stages). He has had a long, productive year. Time to rest and regroup and come back next year to run sub 27 and sub 13.

It's a little more than a year until the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea, but these guys have us dreaming of medals.