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Friday, January 28, 2011
Mile Run Delivers Upset Amid Twists at Millrose: After more than a century, the Millrose Games maintain their position as a singular event in track and field.
There are the tight quarters and manic activity, suggesting a three-ring circus; the officials circling the track in tuxedos add to the effect. There are the widely disparate events — representing, in a sense, the highbrow and lowbrow of track and field — clattering along the curved wooden track of the Garden, a techno beat thumping all the while in the background.
Chief among them in recent years has been Bernard Lagat, who has won the Wanamaker Mile, the meet’s marquee event, a record eight times.
But he failed Friday to capture his ninth, losing to Deresse Mekonnen, a 23-year-old Ethiopian and the current world indoor champion, who finished in 3 minutes 58.58 seconds.
Lagat led for the first seven laps of the 11-lap race before Mekonnen overtook him. Lagat made three furious passing attempts in the last two laps — his gold chain swaying against his purple top — but fell short, finishing in 3:59.01.
“The straightaways are just that small,” Lagat said, holding his index fingers in front of his face. “He held his position.”
The race served as a tense, scintillating coda to an otherwise whimsical night.
Ashton Eaton won the Millrose Multi Challenge, a quirky event created this year to bring together three of America’s best decathletes. His scores for the three challenges — the shot-put, 60-meter hurdles and high jump — were enough to beat Trey Hardee, the gold medalist at the 2009 world championships, and Bryan Clay, the gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics.
“There was a lot of nervousness in this young man, because the competition that I faced,” Eaton said. “But there’s a lot of fight in this young man.”
The women’s 60-meter hurdles featured Queen Harrison, 22, a native of Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., who was named the top female collegiate track and field athlete in the country last year and has generated much buzz this season.
But Harrison struggled off the blocks, and it was Vonette Dixon, 35, a veteran hurdler from Jamaica, who prevailed with a time of 8 seconds. Harrison finished in 8.19 seconds for fourth place.
“My speed is not quite there, because I’ve been working on my strength,” Harrison said.
That these games were a dry run of sorts for the outdoor season — including the world championships this August in Daegu, South Korea — was a recurring theme among the athletes Friday night.
