Women's 2,000-Meter Mark Set

     Vivian Cheruiyot, 25, of Kenya ran the fastest 2,000-meter women's track time on U.S. soil in Sunday's Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. She was first in 5 minutes, 31.52 seconds, bettering the 25-year-old mark by American Mary Slaney of 5:32.70, also at Hayward Field. The race was part of NBC's two-hour televised package.

     Maryam Jamal of Bahrain was also under the previous mark, finishing second in 5:31.88. Kara Goucher of Portland, Ore., was seventh in the 10-runner field in 5:41.28. The top American was Goucher's training partner Amy Yoder-Begley in sixth in 5:38.34.

   Coming into the race, Jamal, ranked No. 1 in the world in the 1,500 meters, hoped to run faster than 5:30. Four of the top five finishers were from Kenya.

Posted by: pates on 6/7/2009 at 3:01 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: eugene, kara goucher, or, prefontaine classic, track and field