Clayton Murphy Runs 1:42 For Bronze

Aug 15, 2016

David Rudisha Defends Olympic 800 Gold, Clayton Murphy Runs 1:42 For Bronze

Article: Dennis Young

In a fast-starting Olympic final, David Rudisha ran 1:42 to defend his Olympic title in Rio. Clayton Murphy became the third-fastest 800m runner in American history with a 1:42.93 performance for a bronze medal. It's the first American male 800m medal since 1992--three years before Murphy was born.

Results:
1. 1:42.15 David Rudisha (KEN)
2. 1:42.61 Taoufik Makhloufi (ALG)
3. 1:42.93 Clayton Murphy (USA)
4. 1:43.41 Pierre-Ambroise Bosse (FRA)
5. 1:43.55 Ferguson Rotich (KEN)
6. 1:44.20 Marcin Lewandowski (POL)
7. 1:46.02 Alfred Kipketer (KEN)
8. 1:46.15 Boris Berian (USA)

Rudisha is the first man to defend his Olympic 800m title since Peter Snell did so in 1964, and delivered the third straight win for Kenya.

It was a weird race. Rudisha's teammate Alfred Kipketer took out the race hard, coming through 200 meters in 23.2 seconds with Rudisha right behind and the rest of the field two or three meters back. But then Kipketer slowed down the pace, and the field caught up to him for a 49.3 400m split. Rudisha shared the lead for much of the second lap, with Makhloufi and Bosse chasing and the rest of the field running more conservatively.

Murphy--whose PR was 1:50 at the end of 2014--played it perfectly. He gently bumped Berian to get out of a box with 230 meters to go, worked his way to fourth by the homestretch, and mowed down Bosse in the last 30 meters.

The race was fast as hell. Rudisha's 1:42.15 is more than a second off his world and Olympic record, but only five men have ever run faster than that. Makhloufi's time makes him the seventeenth-fastest performer of all time, and Murphy is now the third fastest American ever.

Makhloufi's performance should not be overlooked between Rudisha's greatness and Murphy's Americanness. He's the first man to become an Olympic medalist in both the 1500m and 800m since current IAAF president Sebastian Coe medalled in both in the 1980 and '84 Games.

For Murphy, it's been a rise that dozens of blogs and Ohio newspapers will justifiably call "meteoric." At the beginning of 2015, his 800m PR was 1:50. At the beginning of 2016, he was a 20-year-old college junior with zero NCAA titles. In June, his plan was to run the 1500m at the Olympic Trials before missing the Olympic standard by an at the time seemingly-agonizing 0.03 seconds at the Portland Track Festival.

The day before that race, Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier ran 1:43.55 for a NCAA record that track fans justifiably lost their collective minds over. Murphy, who turned pro after finishing his junior season at Akron, ran more than half a second faster than that tonight.

It's a genuinely historic medal for Murphy and the United States. Johnny Gray won the last American medal in the Olympic 800m in Barcelona in 1992, though Rich Kenah and Nick Symmonds medalled at the world championships between now and then.

Gray is still the American record holder, and his pupil Duane Solomon is still No. 2. But Murphy's run tonight surpassed Symmonds's 2012 Olympic time, making Murphy the No.3 American ever and the fourth one under 1:42. The Akron product taking bronze means that athletes from MAC schools have three of the last five American medals in the men's 800, in a period spanning 44 years.

Shaunae Miller Upsets Allyson Felix For 400m Gold!

Miller, 22, upset Allyson Felix, 30, in the women's 400m final tonight by .07 seconds. The former Georgia athlete dove across the finish line to run 49.44, a new personal best, while Felix finished in 49.51.

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Photo by James Lang - USA TODAY Sports

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Miller and Felix were out fast, and coming around the final turn it looked like the Bahamian had big lead on Felix. Just as she did at the U.S. trials, Felix ate up the lead down the final 100m, but it wasn't enough. Miller dove, though it looked more like a stumble across the finish line.

This is Miller's first Olympic appearance and first global gold. She finished runner-up to Felix at last summer's world championship and was the best 400m runner all season, clocking a world leading time of 49.55 at the London Diamond League. But she flew under the radar during the Olympic build-up with now seven-time Olympic medalist Felix as the headliner.

Beating Felix and winning gold shouldn't come as a surprise, though. Miller is a prodigy. She won the 2010 World Junior Championship when she was just 16 years old. The following summer, she ran 51.84 to win the World Youth Championships. She competed at the 2012 Olympic Games but injured her hamstring in the prelim.

She attended the University of Georgia for only one season, but took home the NCAA indoor title in 2013 and was runner-up behind Team USA 400m hurdler Ashley Spencer at the outdoor championships. She went on to compete at the 2013 World Outdoor Championships in Moscow and finished fourth in the 200m. After tonight's victory, it's safe to say people will be talking a lot more about Shaunae Miller.

This is Felix's seventh Olympic medal. She passed Jackie Joyner-Kersee for the most medals won by an American woman in track and field and she is now tied with Irena Szewinska (Poland), Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica) and Shirley Strickland (Australia) for total Olympic medals in the sport. Medals in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays later this week would make Felix the most decorated (nine total medals) woman in track and field history, tied with Merlene Ottey of Jamaica.

All eyes were on Felix, the reigning Olympic 200m champion, as she went for her first 400m Olympic gold after failing to qualify for the 200m at the U.S. trials. But the road to Rio has not been easy for Felix. In April, she dropped a weight on her ankle in the weightroom and was forced to pull out of several big events prior to the Olympic trials. She raced at two smaller competitions in June and managed to win the U.S. Championship in the 400m on July 3.

Shericka Jackson of Jamaica earned bronze in 49.85, while Americans Natasha Hastings (50.34) and Phyllis Francis (50.41) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Americans Advance in 110m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles

All three U.S. men advanced safely out of the 110m hurdle preliminary rounds.
Jeff Porter finished an obvious second behind Omar McLeod in heat one, but McLeod was letting up at the line when Porter was leaning toward the finish. McLeod is the favorite to win gold in Rio after running 12.98 in Shanghai earlier this season, and having a nearly flawless 2016.

Devon Allen qualified out of his section by running 13.41, tying with Greece's Konstadinos Douvalidis for the win. In his first major international competition, Allen hit one of the early hurdles and looked a bit off balance. The football player and track star at the University of Oregon has the second-fastest time in the world (13.03) and will go back to Eugene after the Olympics to get ready for the Oregon football season.

Ronnie Ash bounced back from his 2015 world championship false start disqualification by winning his section in 13.31.

Because of the heavy rain, an additional hurdle race will take place after tonight's regularly scheduled athletics program for athletes who did not qualify from sections one and two. If a competitor runs faster than any of the time qualifiers (listed below), they will advance to the semifinal.

Men's 110m Hurdles Semifinalists:

Auto Qualifiers:
13.27 Omar McLeod (JAM)
13.31 Dimitri Bascou (FRA)
13.31 Ronnie Ash (USA)
13.32 Orlando Ortega (ESP)
13.36 Pascal Martinot-Lagarde (FRA)
13.41 Konstadinos Douvalidis (GRE)
13.41 Devon Allen (USA)
13.50 Jeff Porter (USA)
13.50 Andrew Pozzi (GBR)
13.50 Gregor Traber (GER)
13.52 Balazs Baji (HUN)
13.52 Andrew Riley (JAM)
13.55 Lawrence Clarke (GBR)
13.56 Yordan L. O'Farrill (CUB)
13.59 Milan Trajkovic (CYP)
13.61 Eder Antonio Souza (BRA)
13.63 Johnathan Cabral (CAN)
13.63 Joao Victor De Oliveira (BRA)
13.66 Jeffrey Julmis (HAI)
13.70 Antwon Hicks (NGR)

Time Qualifiers:
13.62 Yidiel Contreras (ESP)
13.63 Damian Czykier (POL)
13.64 Antonio Alkana (RSA)
13.65 Petr Svoboda (CZE)

Women's 400m Hurdles Semifinalists:

All three American women earned spots to compete in the semifinal of the 400m hurdles.

17-year-old hurdle phenom Sydney McLaughlin had a gut-wrenching performance in the first heat. She faded to fifth overall in a finishing time of 56.32. But with the first three in each heat plus the next six fastest times advancing, McLaughlin's mark landed a time fast enough to advance into the semifinal.

Olympic Trials runner-up and former Texas All American Ashley Spencer cruised to victory in heat three with a winning time of 55.12. Spencer crossed the line well ahead of runner-up Leah Nugent who finished in 55.66.

Spencer also competed in the 400m at the Olympic Trials and finished seventh in the final, but came back and claimed the runner-up and automatic Team USA spot in the 400m hurdles.

Olympic Trials winner and world leader Dalilah Muhammad established herself out of heat five with a winning time of 55.33 to beat Noelle Montcalm.

Muhammad has been experiencing a breakthrough year after posting a huge personal best of 52.88 at the Olympic Trials in July.

Auto Qualifiers:
54.88 Ristananna Tracey (JAM)
55.12 Ashley Spencer (USA)
55.20 Sara Slott Petersen (DEN)
55.33 Dalilah Muhammad (USA)
55.46 Eilidh Doyle (GBR)
55.54 Zuzana Hejnova (CZE)
55.55 Wenda Nel (RSA)
55.66 Leah Nugent (JAM)
55.78 Ayomide Folorunso (ITA)
55.89 Emilia Ankiewicz (POL)
55.93 Sage Watson (CAN)
56.07 Joanna Linkiewicz (POL)
56.07 Noelle Montcalm (CAN)
56.13 Janieve Russell (JAM)
56.14 Viktoriya Tkachuk (UKR)
56.24 Anna Titimets (UKR)
56.40 Grace Claxton (PUR)
56.61 Olena Kolesnychenko (UKR)

Time Qualifiers:
55.91 Yadisleidis Pedroso (ITA)
56.06 Stina Troest (DEN)
56.25 Janeil Bellille (TTO)
56.26 Lauren Wells (AUS)
56.32 Sydney McClaughlin (USA)
56.36 Denisa Rosolova (CZE)

The men's 110m hurdles and the women's 400m hurdles semifinals will take place 7:40 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. ET on August 16th.