{"id":615,"date":"2011-11-23T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=615"},"modified":"2011-12-29T08:35:38","modified_gmt":"2011-12-29T16:35:38","slug":"2011-in-review-womens-1500-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=615","title":{"rendered":"2011 in Review \u2013 Women\u2019s 1500 Meters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Typically when in doubt, the result of the year\u2019s Major championship does wonders to help sort out the top athletes on the season. When it comes to ranking this year\u2019s women\u2019s 1500 however, Daegu rendered itself fairly useless in the matter.<\/p>\n

The season got going in earnest as Anna Mishchenko (UKR) won the first stop on the Diamond League in Doha with a WL 4:03.00 \u2013 setting a decent early pace. Mishchenko showed consistency in Rome running 4:03.53, but that was only good for 4th<\/sup>place as Maryam Jamal (BRN) laid the hammer down coming home in 4:01.60 for a new WL. Jamal would lower that SB three days later in Hengelo, scorching the oval for a 4:00.33 to turn back the PR\u2019s of Kalkidan Gezahegne (ETH, 4:00.97), Siham Hilali (MAR, 4:01.33), and Irene Jelegat (KEN, 4:02.59).<\/p>\n

The Prefontaine Classic would see one of the year\u2019s best fields take to the track with Gelete Burka (ETH) emerging victorious in a tactical 4:04.63 ahead of Jamal (4:05.44), Morgan Uceny (USA, 4:06.32), Nuria Fernandez (ESP, 4:06.66) and Nancy Langat (KEN, 4:07.04). New York would see yet a different victor as Kenia Sinclair (JAM) would win the wind hindered race in 4:08.06 over Uceny (4:08.42), Gezahegne (4:08.46) and Burka (4:09.84) \u2013 as no one was dominant over the first half of the Euro season.<\/p>\n

Morgan Uceny would then win a very tough U.S. championships in 4:03.91, running away in the final half lap from Jenny Simpson (4:05.66), Shannon Rowbury (4:06.20), and Christin Wurth Thomas (4:06.21) \u2013 Wurth Thomas missing out on a trip to Daegu by the narrowest of margins. A berth to Daegu secured, Uceny would head to Europe picking up wins in Lausanne (over Mishchenko, Gezahegne, and a back in 10th<\/sup>Jamal) and Birmingham (again over Gezahegne and Jamal) before heading to Monaco \u2013 the last big 1500 before Daegu. Monaco would be one of the year\u2019s fastest races as Jamal once again found her way to the front of the line winning in 4:00.59 ahead of Btissam Lakhouad (MAR, 4:01.09) and Uceny (4:01.51, PR) who left it a bit late this time out, closing well but not catching the top two.<\/p>\n

And so they would enter the World Championships with Jamal and Uceny on a role and Gezahegne and Lakouad running well. But the script was turned on its head in Daegu. Things seemed \u201cnormal\u201d through two and a half laps. Then midway through the second turn of the third lap Hellen Obiri (KEN) would trip and fall, taking Uceny down with her. Uceny would be unable to recover, and though she didn\u2019t fall, Jamal seemed knocked out of her rhythm as well. The final lap would see Natalia Rodriguez (ESP) take control and look to steal the race, as she would lead coming off the final turn. As they headed up the final stretch Jenny Simpson (USA) and Hannah England (GBR) would turn on the afterburners, catching and passing Rodriguez with Simpson coming away the victor (4:05.40), England (4:05.68) and Rodriguez (4:05.87) filling out the medals.<\/p>\n

The top women would gather for one last go \u2018round in the Diamond League final in Brussels with Uceny getting redemption, a world leader, and a new PR with a 4:00.06 win over all of the principals from Daegu, and the season, in tow \u2013 taking us to the top five rankings.<\/p>\n

With the medalists from Daegu not playing a major factor the rest of the season ranking was a tad difficult, but not impossible \u2013 and note that none of the top women has a winning record for the season as the women raced fairly often and did a good job of playing \u201cRo Sham Bo\u201d with each other.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#1<\/strong><\/td>\nMorgan Uceny<\/strong><\/td>\nUnited States<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

At the end of the day Uceny earned my #1. He 4 \u2013 5 record was statistically the best. She led the world on the clock at 4:00.06. She had key wins in Lausanne, Birmingham, and Brussels; was 2nd<\/sup> in New York and 3rd<\/sup>in Eugene & Monaco \u2013 placing well when she didn\u2019t win. And she was 2 \u2013 1 over my #2 \u2013 all enough to garner the top spot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#2<\/strong><\/td>\nMaryam Jamal<\/strong><\/td>\nBahrain<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Jamal was #2 on the clock with her 4:00.33. Her 3 \u2013 5 record came courtesy of wins in Rome, Hengelo and Monaco; a 2nd<\/sup> in Eugene; and 3rd<\/sup>s in Birmingham & Brussels. So like Uceny in most cases she placed well when she didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#3<\/strong><\/td>\nAnna Mishchenko<\/strong><\/td>\nUkraine<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Mishchenko is the one of the few top finishers from Daegu in my top five, having finished 4th<\/sup> at Worlds. She was the busiest of the top rankers with a 4 \u2013 9 record on the season. She won in Doha and at the Colorful Daegu meet early season. She was 2nd<\/sup> in Lausanne and finished 3rd<\/sup> in Rieti & Stockholm (ETC) in addition to a pair of 4th<\/sup>s in Rome & Brussels \u2013 solid enough to earn 3rd<\/sup>here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#4<\/strong><\/td>\nHannah England<\/strong><\/td>\nGreat Britain<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Britain\u2019s silver medalist in Daegu garners the 4th<\/sup> spot here. The British champion was 2nd<\/sup> in London, 3rd<\/sup> in Barcelona and 5th<\/sup>in Brussels. Finishing well often enough to parlay silver into the #4 ranking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
#5<\/strong><\/td>\nKalkidan Gezahegne<\/strong><\/td>\nEthiopia<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The fifth placer from Daegu gets the same spot here. Runner up in Hengelo & Birmingham; 3rd<\/sup> in New York; and 5th<\/sup>in Doha & Lausanne she was the most consistent of those not in the top four.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So there you have it. That\u2019s how I saw the women in the 1500. Next the men\u2019s 1500 \u2013 and a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Typically when in doubt, the result of the year\u2019s Major championship does wonders to help sort out the top athletes on the season. When it comes to ranking this year\u2019s women\u2019s 1500 however, Daegu rendered itself fairly useless in the matter. The season got going in earnest as Anna Mishchenko (UKR) won the first stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[58,66,67,64,65,18],"class_list":["post-615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-58","tag-england","tag-gezahengne","tag-jamal","tag-mishchenko","tag-uceny"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-9V","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615\/revisions\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}