EUGENE, Ore. — Jenny Simpson once again proved she is the best American runner at 1,500 meters.
Sunday at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at Hayward Field, the former University of Colorado distance starheld the lead and closed hard with a 59-second lastlap to holdoff Shannon Rowbury, the American record holder in the event. Simpsonwon in4 minutes, 4.74 seconds, securing a spot on her third straight Olympic team.
“I just felt really strong,” said Simpson, who has the eighth-fastest time in the world this year at 1,500 meters. “I knew that I had a great month of training. My coach and I said going into this, ‘There’s not a month we would have tradedthis month for as far as preparation.’ It was perfect.”
Rowbury ended upsecond in4:05.39.
“It was a bit of amessy race,” Rowbury said, describing the pushing and tripping. “But with my dancing background, I’ve always been pretty quick on my feet. I just had confidence in myself and tried to stay patient until the final turn and find an opening. When I got it, I went hard.”
In third was Brenda Martinez, who had been a serious contender to make Team USA in the 800 and medal at the Olympics but was tripped up in the closingmeters Monday in the event’s final and finished a heartbreaking seventh. Sunday, she lunged at the line to finish in4:06.16,three-hundredths of a second ahead of fourthplace Amanda Eccleston.
When the result flashed on the scoreboard, the Hayward Field crowd roared itsapproval.Simpson trottedover to embrace Martinez, still on the ground.
“My heart sings for Brenda,” Simpson said. “I’m so proud of her. I don’t think there’s anyone else who could do what she did this week.”
"I'm so proud of you" 😭😭😭😭
A heartfelt moment after the 1500m Final. Watch more here:
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics)
It was a hair-raising moment that capped a sensational race. One-quarter of the 12-woman field wereformer CU Buffs — Simpson, Sara Sutherland and Sara Vaughn, who at 30 years old .
At the gun, Vaughn shotfearlessly to the front, knowing she had to attain the Olympic standard and finish in the top three to make the Rio team. Simpson was near the leadbut pinned along the inside railforthe first lap and a half.
“I know that my coaches and husband and people must have been watching, thinking, ‘OK, how is she going to get out of this?’ ” she said. “The first lap and a half was very much about staying calm and not just about me being able to get into a better position, but also getting into that position without taking someone out. Because if I fall or someone else falls, that’s bad for everyone.”
She squeezedalongside Vaughnwith around twolaps to go and was in front by the bell.
“I said, ‘When I go to the lead, never relinquish it,’ ” she explained. ” ‘Stay in the lead. As you feel pressure come up behind you, keep the lead, keep the lead, keep the lead.’ If I’m not going to make this Olympic team,some people are going to have to take it from me — pry it from my crazy-gripped hands.”
Simpson cranked the last 250 meters with Rowbury closing and won by less than a second. Meanwhile,Vaughn stayed near the front until the field passed her in the final 200 meters. She finished seventh in4:10.28. Sutherland was ninth in4:10.70.
“I couldn’t find another gear. The fatigue set in,” said Vaughn, whofinished with her best placing in a U.S. championship. “It’s just fitness. I did everything I could tactically. I ran the perfect race. I would have rather not led so much … but it wasn’t out of my wheelhouse.”
Simpson, who will now take ona month of hard training, is looking for redemption afterlast year, the result of losing a shoe midway through the race.Her best finishon the international stage came in 2011, when she won goldat worlds.
A year later at theLondon Olympics, she ended up in what was one of the worst races of her career. Afterward, , Mark Wetmore, and rebounded in 2013, — a race in which, the substance that led to the suspension of tennis player Maria Sharapova.
Simpsonmade her first Olympic team in 2008 in the steeplechase, finishing ninth in Beijing and setting an American record in the process. She improved on that mark and held the record for seven years — well after transitioning to the 1500 —untilteammate and training partner Emma Coburnin May.
“What this feels like is another beginning,” Simpson said, looking ahead to the Rio Games. “Another beginning for another story line, and I really hope this is a wonderful, successful story.”
