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Olympics Blog

Track and field trials off to a hot start ....

By Helene Elliott
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EUGENE, Ore.--So we’re officially underway. The first event was the first heat of the first phase of the heptathlon, the 100-meter hurdles.

The crowd may have been sparse, but this is the first day of a loooong competition so there’s no sense in burning yourself out so early.

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There’s a nice breeze so the heat shouldn’t be a problem for the moment.

And right off the bat Hyleas Fountain delivered the first noteworthy performance of the day with a 12.65 in the hurdles, setting three records. That gave her a strong start with 1,178 points (competitors get points based on their times/distances).

--Helene Elliott

Olympics Blog
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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