Meseret Defar destroyed the field in the women's 2 mile run, breaking Regina Jacobs' world record of 9:11.97 by exactly 1.5 seconds with a time of 9:10.47. Second place finisher Megan Metcalf of Canada, ranked 46th in the world in the 1500m, was barely in the same zip code as Defar, finishing in 9:37.04.
Jenn Stuczynski set a new American record in the women's pole-vault with a vault of 4.84m (15' 10 1/2") taking the record away from Stacy Dragila who began her comeback today after Achilles surgery nearly a year ago. Dragila represented herself well, finishing 6th with a 4.29m (14' 3/4").
In the men's 100m dash, Tyson Gay coasted to the finish yet still ran a blazing early-season world's best time of 9.79. It was slightly over the allowable wind so it will not count as an American record. Gay's performance threw down a gauntlet to the other sprinters and showed that he is ready to be crowned as world's fastest human later this summer. Derrick Atkins finished 2nd in a fast 9.86. Maurice Greene fared poorly today, finishing last in the preliminaries in a time of 10.84, thus not advancing to the finals. His stride exhibited the same kind of hitch it has had in the last two injury-riddled years. Let's hope Greene can fix whatever is broken. It'd be a shame to see this sprint maestro finish his career with a low note like this one.
In the women's 100m dash, Torri Edwards overtook Jamaica's Veronica Campbell at the tape to win in a world's best time of 10.90. Campbell finished just 1/100th of a second back in 10.91. Both are fine early-season times and bode well for a hot rematch between the two women in Osaka.
Jeremy Wariner fought a tough backstretch wind to win the men's 400m dash in a time of 44.60. He was the only runner to finish in under 45 seconds today. Outstanding track meet. Visit the Adidas Track Classic website for complete results.
