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World Championships in Athletics: Men's 1500m Bronze Medal for American Matt Centrowitz
From USA Track & FieldSeptember 6, 2011
Daegu, South Korea
On Saturday, September 3 at the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, Kenyan Asbel Kiprop won the Men's 1500m in 3:35.69. American Matthew Centrowitz earned a surprising bronze medal (3:36.08) in the race. Kiprop is only the third runner in history to win a 1500m gold medal in both the Olympics and World Championships. Centrowitz won both USA and NCAA outdoor championship 1500m titles earlier this summer.
Photo by Victor Sailer, www.PhotoRun.net: Matt Centrowitz (left) reached the finish line in time to secure third place and a medal. Asbel Kiprop (far right) won the 1500m.The men's 1500m race began with Nick Willis of New Zealand taking the lead, and 21-year-old Matt Centrowitz of Arnold, MD following him in second. They were unable to hold the pace past 600m and began to drift back into the field. Centrowitz ran through the bell lap in the middle of the pack but never let the leaders completely break away. On the final curve, Centrowitz unleashed a fearsome kick on the outside and moved into third place.
In the men's 1500m, Team USA has medaled in three World Championships in a row; Bernard Lagat won bronze in 2009 and gold in 2007. Centrowitz is the youngest American to ever medal, and was the youngest of the men's 1500m field. Curiously, the three youngest athletes became the three athletes on the men's 1500m podium.
Quotes from Matt Centrowitz in Daegu: “I’m still trying to figure it out. Taking that victory lap I didn’t think it was real. It was a tough race and it was similar to the semis with a little tactics in there. It just came up to not giving up that last 200 meters.
“We [Americans] definitely had a great showing here. She [Jenny Simpson, women’s 1500m champ] went in a couple days of go and was definitely inspiring and made me think it was possible that I could come close to something like that, that is when I really started believing. She set the tone.
“I was happy. I was in a good position. He [New Zealand’s Nick Willis] was clicking off a very even pace and I didn’t really want to look at the time, but it felt pretty comfortable.
“They went so hard with 350m to go. Even if I wanted to I couldn’t cover them it was so hard, they were so fast. Each 50 [meters] was [catching] just one more guy, one more guy, then I found myself almost in medal position, and l kept digging down.”
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