Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Minnesota's Fastest: Anderson Wins in 4:04.84

Team USA Minnesota's Gabriele Anderson ran herself to the top of the Minnesota all-time women's 1500-meter list with a 4:04.84 victory at the Meeting Internazionale di Atletica Leggera in Lignano, Italy on Tuesday.

Anderson (pictured) beat Great Britain's Lisa Dobriskey (4:05.27) and Serbia Marina Muncan (4:06.48) for the win.

Anderson foreshadowed the breakthrough when she clocked a 2:02.83 800m PR in Belgium on Saturday.

“I felt really good during this race,” Anderson said in a Team USA Minnesota media release.  “I’ve been in so many situations this year where I was trying to run a sub-4:06 race, and in each of those races, I hadn’t felt quite as in control as I did last night.  Getting a PR in the 800 a few days ago helped build my confidence going into this 1500."

With her Italian triumph, the Perham native and University of Minnesota graduate moved ahead of two Olympians and a Minnesota Track and Field Hall of Famer to become the state's fleetest metric miler of all time.

Anderson, a cancer survivor whose PR was 4:06.46 when she toed the starting line yesterday, eclipsed 2004 1500m Olympian Carrie Tollefson (4:06.13), Minnesota Hall of Famer Sarah Thorsett (4:05.87), and 2008 and 2012 Olympian Kara Goucher (4:05.14) on the state all-time list.

“I knew it could be a great opportunity to run fast if I took advantage of it," Anderson added.  "I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a breakthrough race because we weren’t exactly on pace for a really fast time until the last lap.  I knew my training indicated that I was capable of being faster than I’ve run earlier this year but you never know what’s going to happen in a race.”

In men's competition in Lignano, Minnetonka native Will Leer finished 4th in the 1500m in 3:37.96.

Find complete Lignano meet results HERE.

Photo by Becky Miller.

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