Friday, August 15, 2008

Goucher 10th in Olympic 10,000m Final;
Shani Marks Misses Triple Jump Finals

Track and field competition at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad began today. Here are the up-to-the-minute Minnesota headlines and links:

Kara Goucher, the Duluth East alum who won a bronze medal at last year's World Championships, finished 10th in the 10,000 meter final in a PR 30:55.16. Goucher fell off the lead pace near the 6 kilometer mark of the race.

"My pace was quick and I started to get hot and I made a major mistake," Goucher told USA Track & Field. "I let that be my excuse."

Shalane Flanagan, who defeated Goucher at the Olympic Trials in the event, took the bronze medal in the race in an American Record 30:22.22.

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba won the race in an Olympic Record 29:54.66.

Full results of the event are HERE.

Stats: Goucher is now the #3 American female 10,000m performer ever ... behind only Flanagan's 30:22.22 and Deena Kastor's 30:50.32.

The Pioneer Press has a story and photos HERE.

The Star-Trib has a photo HERE.

The Duluth News-Tribune's live-blog of the event is HERE.

There's a good photo of Goucher from early in the race HERE.

Earlier, NBC posted a feature on Goucher HERE.

Goucher is slated to compete in next Tuesday's prelims of the the 5,000 meter run.

Shani Marks, the Olympic Trials champion, did not advance to finals in the triple jump. The Apple Valley and University of Minnesota alum finished 13th in her flight with a mark of 44-1 1/4.

Marks, whose PR is 47-2 1/4, needed a jump of 46-6 1/4 or better to advance. She opened her first Olympics with a 43-3 3/4 mark, followed by the 44-1 1/4. Marks fouled her third and final jump of the prelims.

"It just wasn't my day," Marks told USA Track & Field. "The experience has been wonderful, today wasn't."

Full results of triple jump prelims are HERE.

A short Star-Tribune story is HERE.

A slightly longer Pioneer Press story is HERE.

Two great Star-Trib photos are HERE and HERE.

Rasa Troup, the University of Minnesota alum who represents her native Lithuania, finished a non-qualifying 8th in her steeplechase prelim. Her time of 9:30.21 established a new national record for the Baltic nation.

Troup missed advancing by less than two seconds.

Full results of the event are HERE.

The Pioneer Press has a short story and a photo of Troup HERE.

Stats: Troup has now broken the Lithuanian record in the steeplechase 8 times. See a record chronology HERE.

Roman Cress, the St. Thomas alum who represented the Marshall Islands at the Games, finished 8th in his 100 meter prelim in 11.18. Former world record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica won the heat in 10.16.

Full results of the event are HERE.

A nice Pioneer Press story on Cress's race is HERE.

Jay Weiner of MinnPost has one HERE.

Stay with us ... DtB will add content -- photos, quotes, links, details, etc. -- to this post as the day advances. Join us through the weekend for further coverage of the Olympic Games.

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