Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com)
This Day in Track & Field–October 22
1949—Czech Emil Zátopek regained the World Record in the 10,000-meters, running 29:21.2 in Ostrava, the site of his 1st World Record that was set in June.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10,000_metres_world_record_progression
29:28.2 Emil Zátopek Ostrava, Czechoslavakia 6-11-1949
29:27.2 Viljo Heino Finland Kouvala, Finland 9-1-49
29:21.2 Zátopek Ostrava 10-22-49
29:02.6 Zátopek Turku, Finland 8-4-50
29:01.6 Zátopek Stará Boleslav, Czechoslavakia 11-1-53
28:54.2 Zátopek Brussels, Belgium 6-1-54
28:42.8 Sándor Iharos Hungary Budapest, Hungary 7-15-56
http://www.runningpast.com/emil_zatopek.htm
1966—Marty Liquori, a senior at Essex Catholic H.S.(NJ), won the Eastern States X-Country title at NY’s Van Cortland Park, setting a Course Record of 12:23.2 (2-1/2 Miles).
1978—Running the distance for the first time, Norway’s Grete Waitz won the NY City Marathon in 2:32:29.8, more than two minutes faster than the World Record of 2:34:47.5, which had been set in 1977 by Germany’s Christa Vahlensieck, who had dropped out of the NY race.
Swearing she would never run another marathon because of the pain involved, Waitz soon had a change of heart and would become a favorite of NY City fans after winning the race an additional 8 times! She would also win the marathon at the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 and finished 2nd to Joan Benoit in the first women’s Olympic marathon in 1984.
Waitz, who lost her battle with cancer in 2011, had already established herself as one of the world’s best female distance runners, setting two World Records in the 3000-meters and winning the first of her five World X-Country titles in early 1978.
After finishing a disappointing 3rd in the 3000 at the European Championships in Prague in late August, Waitz was contemplating retiring when the idea of competing in the NY City Marathon was brought up during a post-race dinner with her husband Jack and fellow Norwegian Knut Kvalheim, who was an All-American miler at Oregon.
Jack Waitz mentioned that he was trying to get his wife to run a marathon and Kvalheim, who had previously run the race, suggested she run in New York, which was less than two months away. Kvalheim told Grete, “Run the marathon, take a week’s vacation, and finish your career in great style”. The decision to run was made, setting in motion the second phase of her already accomplished career.
Starters/Finishers: 9,875/9,357; Men: 8,875/8,688, Women: 1,000/769
Other Notable Finishers
Men:2.Ian Thompson (Great Britain) 2:14:12…6.Jack Foster (New Zealand) 2:17:28, 7.Chris Stewart (Great Britain) 2:17:47…12.Frank Shorter 2:19:32…20.Ron Hill (Great Britain) 2:20:29, 21.Tom Fleming 2;20:37…25.Jim Rafferty 2:21:24…30.Pete Squires 2:22:59…35.Dick Buerkle 2:23:56…47.Norb Sander 2:25:53, 48.Paul Fetscher 2:26:01, 49.Don Kardong 2:26:04…60.Julio Piazza 2:27:33…63.Gary Muhrcke 2:28:06 (1st winner of the race in 1970)
Women: 2.Marty Cooksey 2:41:48…17.Miki Gorman 2:57:08…21.Nina Kuscsik 2:58:10…28.Joan Uliyot 3:02:41
Results: https://results.nyrr.org/event/781022/compare
History: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Marathon
NYRR Hall of Fame: http://www.nyrr.org/about-us/nyrr-hall-of-fame/grete-waitz
Marathon Legend:
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grete_Waitz
NY Times Tribute: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/sports/20vecsey.html
2000—Khalid Khannouchi set an American Record of 2:07:01 while winning the Chicago Marathon for the 3rd time in 4 years. He represented his native Morocco when he won in 1997 and 1999 (he would win again in 2002). He had set a World Record of 2:05:42 while winning here in 1999.
Khannouchi, who became a U.S. citizen on May 2, had hoped to represent the U.S. at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but injuries forced him to miss the U.S. Trials.
Kenya’s Catherine “The Great” Ndereba followed up her win at the Boston Marathon in April with a win here with a National Record of 2:21:33. Finishing 2nd in 2:22:36 was fellow Kenyan Lornah Kiplagat, who would start competing for the Netherlands in 2003.
Ndereba would win again in Chicago the following year with a World Record of 2:18:47, and went on to win World titles in 2003 and 2007 and Olympic silver medals in 2004 and 2008.
Other Notable Finishers:
Men: 2.Josephat Kiprono (KEN) 2:07:29, 3.Moses Tanui (KEN) 2:07:49…7.David Morris (USA) 2:12:00…10.Josh Cox (USA) 2:13:55
Women: 4.Elana Meyer (RSA) 2:31:59…6.Libbie Hickman (USA) 2:32:09.
https://www.espn.com/moresports/news/2000/1022/832418.html
Top 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Chicago_Marathon
Khannouchi: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/khannouchi-former-marathon-world-record-holde
https://www.letsrun.com/2012/khannouchi-pinkowski-0328.php
https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/kenya/catherine-ndereba-14289341
2000—The World Junior (Under-20) Championships are known for producing future stars, and this year’s edition in Santiago, Chile, produced no fewer than 17 (!) future World or Olympic Champions
Men’s 5000—2.Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele…3-time Olympic Champion (2004/10,000, 2008/5000,10,000)…won 16
World titles
Men’s 110-Hurdles—4.China’s Liu Xiang 2004 Olympic and 2007 World Champion
Men’s High Jump-1.South Africa’s Jacques Freitag 2003 World Champion
Men’s Pole Vault—4.Australia’s Steve Hooker 2008 Olympic gold medalist
Men’s Javelin—2.Norway’s Andreas Thorkikildsen 2-time Olympic Champion (2004, 2008), 2009 World Champion
Women’s 5000—2.Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar…2-time Olympic (2004,2012) and World (2007,2013) Champion
Women’s 100/200—Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell(Brown)…2-time Olympic Champion in the 200 (2004,2008).
Women’s 400/400h—1.Australia’s Jana Pittman 2-time World Champion-400m Hurdles (2003, 2007)
Women’s 400h—2.Jamaica’s Melaine Walker 2008 Olympic & 2009 World Champion
Women’s 1500—1.Kenya’s Nancy Langat 2008 Olympic champion
Women’s High Jump—1.Croatia’s Blanka Vlašić…2-time World Champion (2007, 2009)
Women’s High Jump—4.Russia’s Anna Chicherova 2011 World & 2012 Olympic Champion
Women’s Pole Vault—Yelena Isinbaeva…World Record holder, 2-time Olympic (2004,2008) and 3-time
World (2005,2007,2013) Champion
Women’s Pole Vault—10. Brazil’s Fabiana Murer 2011 World Champion
Women’s Javelin—10.Germany’s Christina Obergföll 2013 World Champion
Heptathlon—Sweden’s Carolina Klüft…2004 Olympic champion, 3-time World Champion (2003, 2005,2007)
Heptathlon—4.Czech Barbora Špotáková 2xOlympic (2008, 2012) & 3xWorld (2007, 2011, 2017) Champion–Javelin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_World_Junior_Championships_in_Athletics
2006—Just as Kenya’s Robert Cheruiyot (2:07:35) raised his arms to celebrate his imminent win at the Chicago Marathon, he slipped on a wet race decal at the finish, falling backwards and hitting his head on the roadway. In addition to suffering a mild concussion, he also had minor bleeding on the surface of his brain. He spent two nights in a local hospital, but made a full recovery. It was the 2nd major victory of the year for Cheruiyot, who won the Boston Marathon in April.
Following Cheruiyot across the line (without incident) were fellow Kenyans Daniel Njenga (2:07:40) and Jimmy Muindi (2:07:51), and American Abdi Abdirahman, who ran what would turn out to be the fastest time of his career—2:08:56.
The first 4 finishers in the Women’s division all set National Records—Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere (2:20:42), Russia’s Galina Bogomolova (2:20:47), Australia’s Benita Willis (2:22:36), and Mexico’s Madaí Pérez (2:22:59).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWheGgqmq0A
https://www.espn.com/olympics/trackandfield/news/story?id=2634958
https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/mens-winner-and-several-womens-national-recor
Top 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Chicago_Marathon
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2006-10-24-0610240016-story.html
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Chicago_Marathon
Born on This Day*
Will Sumner 22 (2003) 2023 NCAA Champion—800m (Georgia/Freshman)…7th Indoors
Member of Georgia’s 4×400 that finished 2nd at the 2023 NCAA Indoor Championships…7th Outdoors
Turned pro prior to the 2023 U.S. Championships, where he finished 5th
An Achilles injury cut short his 2024 season (DNF’d in 2 races)
Concentrated on the 400 in 2025—lowered his personal best to 45.06
2022 World Junior/Under-20 Champion—4×400, Mixed 4×400,
Set National H.S. Indoor Records in the 500m (1:01.25) and 600m (1:15.58) in 2022
Born to run—parents are former Villanova All-American ½-milers Brad Sumner and Tosha Woodward…broke his dad’s family
record of 1:46.33 when he ran 1:46.20 at the 2023 SEC Championships.
Coached remotely by Justin Rinaldi, who also coaches Josh Hoey
PBs: 21.48 (2025), 45.06 (2025), 46.27i (2025), 1:01.17i (2025), 1:14.04i (2025/#3 All-Time World/U.S.),
1:15.35 (2025), 1:44.26 (2023), 1:48.14i (2022), 2:25.33i (2023); 2025 SB: 1:48.21
Other H.S. PBs: 1:46.53 (#4 All-Time), 1:48.14i (#3 A-T)
https://georgiadogs.com/sports/track-and-field/roster/Will-Sumner/7110
https://trackandfieldnews.com/2-national-records-for-high-schooler-will-sumner/
https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=11088703
2023 NCAA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us6_Tkw5XK0
Turning Pro: https://www.thestridereport.com/post/turning-pro-will-sumner-signs-with-adidas
Return From Injury: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKJLdCMQd9U
Jessica Hull-Australia 29 (1996) 2024 Olympic silver medalist–1500m (2021-11th)
2018 NCAA Champion (Oregon-‘20), 2019 NCAA Indoor Champion (3000)
2018 (1200) and 2019 (anchor) NCAA Indoor Champion-Distance Medley
7th at the 2022 & 2023 World Championships
4th in the 3000 at the 2024 World Indoor Championships
7th in the 3000-meters at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Eugene
Set a World Record of 5:19.70 for 2000m in Monaco in 2024
Trains in Portland, Oregon, with coach Pete Julian
PBs: 1:57.15 (‘25), 2:30.96 (‘25/Area Record), 3:50.83 (‘24/AR/#4 All-Time), 4:01.19i (’24/AR),
4:13.68 (‘25/AR/#6 A-T), 5:19.72/2k (WR), 8:24.39i (’24/AR/#9 A-T), 8:25.82 (‘24), 14:43.80 (’19/AR);
Other 2025 SBs: 8:30.91i, 15:02.74
https://goducks.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=8211
’24 OG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQUHtg_mu9o
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/jessica-hull-14464506
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Hull
https://www.instagram.com/jessicaahull/?hl=en
Tiki Gelana—Ethiopia 38 1987) 2012 Olympic gold medalist—Marathon
Won despite falling midway through the race (see SI link).
Her uncle, Gezahegne Abera, won the Men’s Marathon at the 2000 Olympics.
Comes from the town of Bekoji, which has also produced other Olympic gold medalists— Tirunesh Dibaba,
Kenenisa Bekele, Deratu Tulu, Fatuma Roba. All, including Gelana, were coached by Sentayehu Eshetu!
PB:2:18:58 (2012-Rotterdam); Last competed in 2023
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ybuZ7HMzlU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiki_Gelana
https://www.si.com/olympics/2012/08/05/tiki-gelana-ethiopia-wins-womens-marathon
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/aug/05/london-2012-womens-olympic-marathon
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/124039
Daniel Lincoln 45 (1980) 2-time NCAA Champion—Steeplechase (Arkansas/2002,2003)
2003 NCAA Champion—10,000m
Set an American Record of 8:08.82 for the steeplechase in Rome in 2006
Finalist in the steeplechase at the 2004 Olympics (11th) and 2005 World
Championships(13th)
PBs: 3:37.50 (‘06), 3:57.68 (‘04), 7:40.17i (‘04), 8:13.70 (2m/’06), 13:32.27 (’04), 28:20.20 (’03),
8:08.82(sc/’06/#5 All-Time U.S.).
Attended medical school during the last few years of his running career
Currently a physician in Portland, Oregon.
Married to Sarah Schwald, the 1995 NCAA Indoor Champion at 3000-meters. The two were teammates at the
University of Arkansas…daughter Ellery, a junior (’27) at Lincoln H.S. in Portland, has a mile best of 4:39.37
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lincoln
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/105726
Chris Fox 67 (1958) Was the head coach of the Reebok Pro Club for 5 years before returning to Syracuse as the Emeritus
head coach
Was the head coach at Syracuse from 2005 to 2018—Led Syracuse to the 2015 NCAA Div.I Men’s
X-Country title.
All-American at Auburn: NCAA-5000 (1981-6th, 1982-4th);
PBs: 13:21.60 (1983), 27:53.0 (1995), 2:13:43 (1989)
https://cuse.com/sports/mens-cross-country/roster/coaches/chris-fox/5933
http://www.runwv.com/bio/fox0303.htm
Deceased
Bruce MacDonald 92 (1927-March 30, 2020) 3-time U.S. Olympian-20k Walk (1956-16th), 50k Walk (1960-23rd, 1964-
26th)
From Olympedia:
“MacDonald became an IAAF judge, and served as an umpire at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In addition, he coached
countless world and national class race walkers. He was considered a pioneer and mentor in the USA race
walking community. In 2010, he was the first recipient of the Lori Maynard Award, given to an official for dedication to race walking as an official, organizer, and administrator. In 2002, MacDonald was honored by USATF Long Island for his lifetime contribution to race walking, noting that he had given more than 60 years of service as an athlete, coach, official, Olympian, administrator, high school, and club coach, and his service as a member of the IAAF race walking judges’ panel.”
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78724
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_MacDonald_(athlete)
https://www.usatf.org/news/2020/usatf-mourns-the-passing-of-bruce-macdonald
https://portwashington-news.com/obituary-bruce-macdonald/
https://racewalk.com/profiles/bruceMacDonald.php