London Olympics: U.S. runners go the distance, find new success

LONDON — The improving Olympic fortunes of American middle-distance and distance runners, hinted at last week when Galen Rupp won the silver medal in the men’s 10,000 meters and affirmed on Tuesday when Leonel Manzano won a silver medal in the men’s 1,500 and Matt Centrowitz finished fourth, continued to progress Wednesday in preliminary-round events.

Rupp, Bernard Lagat, and Lopez Lomong advanced to the finals of the men’s 5,000 meters, which will be held Saturday, and all three women entered in the 800 advanced to their semifinal, scheduled for Thursday.

Manzano’s medal was the first for an American man in the 1,500 since Jim Ryun won silver in 1968. In addition, when Nick Symmonds and Duane Solomon advanced to the final of the men’s 800, it marked the first time the U.S. has gotten two men into that event final since 1992. The 1996 Games were the last time the U.S. had even one man in the 800 final before Symmonds and Solomon ended that streak.

In the first round of the women’s 800, Alysia Johnson Montano of Canyon Country had the top time of 2:00.47. Alice Schmidt of Coronado qualified by finishing second in her heat at 2:01.65, and Geena Gall of Grand Blanc, Mich., qualified on time at 2:03.85.

Rupp acknowledged he was tired on Tuesday but qualified on time out of the second heat in 13 minutes, 17.56 seconds, in by far the faster of the two heats. Lagat had the fourth-best qualifying time, 13:15.45. Lomong’s time was 13:26.16.

Lagat, who represented his native Kenya when he won silver in the 1,500 in the Athens Games and became eligible to represent the U.S. in 2007, said he has seen the tide turn for the U.S. in distances beyond 400 meters. He cited Centrowitz’s bronze-medal performance in the 1,500 at last year’s world championships as a key catalyst for the new success.

“I can point to the people, the guys and the women who are running,” he said. “It’s because they believe now that we can do it. They don’t look at Africans or Ethiopians and Kenyans and everybody else and feel like those guys are supposed to be the ones winning, so we whatever spots we can trade with other countries, that’s ours. No. they know now that we belong to the very top.

“They started a long time ago and Centrowitz last year and we saw Galen Rupp doing an amazing job in the 10,000 and then [Tuesday] night was the best 1,500-meter race you can ever imagine for Leo Manzano. These are the guys who are believing they can do well. Our ladies believe also. We are going to see Alysia running in the finals and I’m sure she’s doing a great job too because she believes she’s at the top. I’m happy now with the way things are going.”

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