Jenny Simpson returned to the track for the first time , finishing sixth on Saturday in the 1500 meters at the Paris Diamond League meet.
Her time — 3 minutes, 58.19 seconds — was a season best for the former University of Colorado distance runner, who is coached by CU’s Mark Wetmore. It also accomplishes one of her goals headed into the final two competitions before she ends her season: To go under four minutes.
“I didn’t start out as strong this season as in the past,” she said in an interview before the meet. “I’m trying to help my world ranking.”
The race was expected to be fast, despite temperatures around 92 degrees at the start of the meet, and it delivered. Laura Muir redeemed her disappointing seventh place finish at the Rio Games and set a British national record in 3:55.22, which is also a world-leading time. It was also the 13th fastest time ever run in the event.
Simpson was two spots behind the United States’ Shannon Rowbury, who finished fourth in 3:58:00 and was also fourth at the Rio Games. The two are fierce rivals on the track. At the U.S. Olympic Trials, Simpson also beat Rowbury, who claimed the American record in 3:56.29 last year in Monaco.
“The American record isn’t an immediate goal for the next two races,” Simpson told The Denver Post. “Itap not something I’m pinning my hopes on. If I end the season with a bronze medal, I will be satisfied. I physically feel better than I ever have after a major championships. I don’t know if itap because I’ve done this for so many years and I’m better at managing the stress and the physical toll. Or itap a getting a slower start to the season.”
She will return to the track on Thursday in Zurich along with her New Balance teammate, Emma Coburn, who finished third in Paris in the women’s 3,000 meter steeplechase in 9:10.19 — her second fastest time ever — behind a world-record time from Ruth Jebet.
Jebet, a Kenyan-born runner representing Bahrain, ran an astonishing 8:52.82, crushing the previous mark of 8:58:81, which was set in 2008 by Russia’s Gulnara Samitova-Galkina. She was challenged by Hyvin Kiyeng briefly, the Olympic silver medalist, but otherwise ran largely on her own.
The top three finishers was a mirror of the results in Rio.
Coburn is trying — in these last two meets — to improve upon her American record of 9:07.63, which she ran in Rio. Like Simpson, she says she’s in the best physical condition of her career, and races on the Diamond League circuit are crafted to produce fast times, with tactics taking a back seat to speed, aided by pace-setters who take the field through ideal splits.
“The world championships take such an emotional toll,” Simpson said, speaking about the physical difficulty of running so many rounds during Olympic and world championship years. “We don’t run so fast through the rounds. Itap just that level of focus for five days in a row is really hard on your psychology.”
I'm happy to walk away from with my 2nd fastest time ever.Finishing third behind Rio gold and silver medalists.😊 On to Zurich!
— emma coburn (@emmajcoburn)
Athletes have timed their training to peak during the Rio Games, which ended Aug. 21. Most runners can hold their peak for three to four weeks, positioning these final meets to be ideal for record-breaking performances. After Zurich, Simpson and Coburn will wrap up their season at the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City on Sept. 3.
“I have enjoyed finishing with my last race in the United States,” Simpson said. “It’s a U.S. broadcast, and I can have friends and family to come travel to New York.”
Colorado Springs native Boris Berian dropped out of the men’s 800 meter field after 400 meters. that Berian has been dealing with a previously undisclosed Achilles injury since March. A message left for Berian’s agent late Saturday was not immediately returned.