An historic event occurred last night at Stanford as Chris Solinsky ran 26:59.6 to shatter the American Record that was 27:13.98. It was a fabulous run but what was more surprising was that this was his debut at the distance and the race had been billed as Galen Rupp's attempt to break the record and Chris upstaged the runner from the sister training group. Also, Chris becomes the first non-African born runner under 27 minutes.
The IAAF story above has a good recounting of the race and you can see Flotrack's finish of the race but a quick summary is the rabbits took it through mid-race on 27:10 or so pace and then Rupp took over the lead and pulled everyone along with Chelanga, Salel, and Solinsky close behind (Bairu may have been there too). Rupp made a move with 3 or so to go, Solinsky went with him and passed him with about 2 to go and closed in about 1:56. Rupp finished 4th in 27:10, breaking Meb's former AR time, but Salel and Chelanga beat him, Chelanga setting a new Collegiate Record.
Quite an impressive race, especially considering it was his debut, but clearly shows he is likely in sub-13 5000m shape which it appears is his goal for the year, or rather breaking Dathan Ritzenhein's AR of 12:56 is the goal. He'll be running one in Oslo in early June and then another at the Pre-Classic in July.
It is shaping up to be a great summer for American distance running. Look for Rupp to come back strong and Matt Tegenkamp who went sub-13 last year should have a another go at the AR. Enjoy!
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