Bernard Lagat turned his hip number into a prophecy in the final of the men’s 1,500 meters.
Given hip number “1” for the first time in his career, the 2007 world champion at 1,500m and 5,000m completed the same double at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.
“I made a joke out of it,” Lagat said. “I’m like, ‘They know my number.’ Every time I’ve been given hip number 13, I win every time. I’ve never been given number one, ever, so I made a joke out of it.”
Knowing he wanted to get to the front early, Lagat was in the lead pack from the beginning and finished right where he started, taking control of the 1,500m on the last lap, just like he did in the 5,000m, pulling away down the stretch.
He finished in 3:40.37, easily beating Leo Manzano and Lopez Lomong.
Manzano was just over a half-second behind Lagat in 3:40.90, while Lomong crossed the line in 3:41.00.
“That is exciting,” Manzano said. “I hear everybody say it is a dream come true, but I guess you really don’t know what it feels like until you make it. Let’s just say I almost don’t believe it. I am excited, really excited.”
Lomong revealed after the race that he had twisted his left ankle last week and felt it flare up with 500 meters to go.
“I was basically fighting through it,” he said. “I just did what I had to do. If they were going to have to cut my leg off at the finish line, so be it.”
Oregon Track Club Elite’s Will Leer climbed as high as fourth place in the homestretch, passing defending U.S. champion Alan Webb at the end, and finished in that position.
“Pick off as many guys as I could,” Leer said of his goal coming down the homestretch. “Run as hard as I could through the line. (Coach Frank Gagliano) told me just race the race and really be a competitor, run five meters through the line, and that’s what I did. I could have been complacent … but I pushed through the line and ended up getting fourth.”
Webb did not speak to reporters after the race.
With only six runners in the final having met the Olympic ‘A’ standard of 3:36.60 coming into the meet, it was expected to be a fast race with several competitors taking it out hard to try to get the standard.
Instead, the pace lagged from the beginning until Gabe Jennings, one of the runners without the standard, surged to the front after 300 meters.
“I wanted it real bad,” he said. “Even still, I wasn’t on pace. When you’re leading 10 guys who can all run 3:33, it’s tough.”
Even with Jennings pushing the pace a little bit, it was clear early on that it would not be fast enough.
“When I saw Gabe go to the front, I thought the pace was really gonna go, but 62-flat (for the opening lap), that’s not gonna cut it,” Leer said.
All three Olympic qualifiers were born outside the U.S., a fact that was not lost on any of them.
“This is a country that I absolutely love,” Lomong said, “and I will go represent it and get to wear that uniform.”
“It shows that American is the place where dreams can happen,” Lagat said. “The three of us are living the American dream. My goal now is to do my best for this country.”
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