Bernard Lagat at 40 named USATF Athlete of the Week for 10K WR
Bernard Lagat ran an amazing 27:48 10K Sunday for a masters world road best. Even more amazing? USATF hadn’t named him Athlete of the Week this season until Wednesday. Here’s what USATF posted: “Bernard Lagat wins USATF Athlete of the Week after his outstanding performance at the Morrisons Great Manchester Run on Sunday, May 10 in Manchester, England. Lagat (Tucson), a seemingly ageless 40 years of age, set a masters world best in the road 10 km with his time of 27:48, surpassing the previous world best of 28:00.3 set by Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie in 2013 at age 41. He also broke the American masters record of 29:37, set by Steve Plasencia in 1998.â€
USATF continued:
In April, Lagat set a new American masters record for the road 5 km at the Carlsbad 5000 in 13:41, breaking John Tuttle’s 1999 record by 38 seconds. Lagat also set the masters world indoor record of 3:54.91 at the Wanamaker Mile at February’s NYRR Millrose Games.
Other notable performances this week include:
Jared Ward (Provo, Utah) won the USATF 25 km Championships in 1:14:57 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Maria Michta-Coffey (Farmingville, New York) was the fifth-place finisher at the Pan American Race Walk Cup in Arica, Chile, where she crossed in 1:34:06.
Demi Payne (New Braunfels, Texas) set another collegiate record in the pole vault with her 4.71m/15-5.5 clearance at the Southland Conference Championships.
Matthew Maton (Bend, Oregon) ran 3:59.38 at the Oregon Twilight meet to become only the sixth high school boy ever to a run sub-4:00 mile.
Now in its 14th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on www.usatf.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.
2015 Winners: January 15, Chris Derrick; January 21, Demi Payne; January 28, Casimir Loxsom; February 4, Anselm LeBourne; February 11, Jenny Simpson; February 18, Brycen Spratling; February 25, Maksim Korolev; March 4, Shannon Rowbury; March 11, Mary Norckauer; March 18, Daloria Boone; March 25, Irene Obera; April 2, Michael Stigler; April 8, Allen Woodard; April 15, Joe Kovacs; April 22, Vashti Cunningham; April 29, Jasmin Stowers; May 6, Sanya Richards-Ross; May 13, Bernard Lagat.
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