KIMbia Athletics

In the altitude of Albuquerque, Chris Solinsky took third place in the 3000m at the USATF Indoor Championships.  With a championship on the line, the early work was tactical and much of the field remained in contention until late, Solinsky included.

In the end, the finishing speed of double World Champion Bernard Lagat was too much to match and Lagat took home the title in 8:12.60.  Solinsky would cross the line barely a second arears, in 8:13.85, fellow Portlander Galen Rupp just four-tenths in front of him in second position.

The third-place finish both began and ended Solinsky’s indoor season, and he will return to his preparations for outdoor.

With a wedding to plan and a marriage to start, it’s been a busy winter for Chris Solinsky — to the point where it might be forgiven if he started 2010 showing a little rust.  Yet a new house, wife, and home life seem to be agreeing with the Stevens Point native, as he ran 3:55.75 at the UW Invitational in Seattle, on Saturday.  Opening the season indoors, Solinsky defeated Galen Rupp by a little less than half a second.

His 3:55.75 is a facility record at one of the fastest tracks in the world; a PB of over a second, indoors or out; his first time under 4:00 indoors; and is just .11 seconds off the current world leader.

The conclusion of the World Athletics Final means that the 2009 track and field season has come to a close for us.  We saw many terrific performances, as our thirteen athletes who hit the track turned in a total of fourteen personal best performances, and with KIMbia talents collecting six top-five finishes in the 5000m and 10,000m races at the US National Championships — including four spots on the American World Championship team.  In particular, we were proud to dominate the Men’s 5000m in Eugene, with five runners in the top nine, and to see OTC member Matt Tegenkamp join one of the most exclusive clubs in US distance running, by going under 13-minutes in the 5000m with his 12:58.56 clocking on a chilly night in Brussels.

If you have questions for any of the members of Team KIMbia about this 2009 season,  please send them to questions[AT]kimbia[DOT]net or post them in the comments below!  If you need a quick refresher on some of the performances from the season, check the athlete bio pages or our race recaps, below.  Make sure you get your questions in by the end of the day Tuesday, September 22! Read the full article

Saturday was Day One of the IAAF World Athletics Final in Greece, and in a tactical 3000m, Chris Solinsky once again showed himself to be one of the most competitive 3000m runners in the world, taking 6th place in a loaded field.  After a very slow opening mile, Leonard Patrick Komon of Kenya led the field at the completion of the second kilometer, as the pace became much more world-class.  Because athletes can only qualify to the WAF by accumulating points earned with placings at Grand Prix meets throughout the season, the field in Greece was top-notch and all of the competitors in the 3000 remained bunched in a giant pack, eight-wide, at the bell. Read the full article

In Brussels on Friday, Matt Tegenkamp joined Bob Kennedy, Dathan Ritzenhein and Bernard Lagat as the only Americans to complete 5000m in fewer than 13 minutes.  Clocking 12:58.56, Tegenkamp lowered his PB by six seconds and joined rarefied air, just 5 seconds outside of the top 25 all-time.  After a stop-and-go final kilometer that saw a 65-second penultimate lap, Tegenkamp finished 7th in the race.

Video highlights from the race — including Matt’s finish — can be viewed here. Results can be found here.

Four KIMbia athletes wore the Stars & Stripes at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany.  Tim Nelson led things off on Monday evening in the 10,000m, where he finished 17th in a field of thirty-one.  With nine sub-27:00 athletes in the field, Nelson was shooting for a top-15 finish, representative of the number of finalists taken in the 5000m. Though he fell just short of that goal, Nelson clocked 28:18 in a credible World Championships debut, wrapping up what has been a banner 2009 year for him.

Three days later, his teammates hit the track in the prelim of the 5000m.  Matt Tegenkamp and Chris Solinsky ran intelligently in what turned out to be a rather briskly-paced first heat of two, keeping themselves within reach of one of the five automatic qualifying spots at all times. With six athletes getting separation in the final lap, Tegenkamp would secure automatic qualification to the finals by crossing the line second, behind Kenenisa Bekele, while Solinsky finished sixth, first in line to earn a time qualifier.  Coming home in 13:20, Solinsky admitted to easing back a bit in the final stretch, given that the pace was as fair as it was, and expecting that his time would hold up for one of the five time-qualifiers. Read the full article

Across the Atlantic Ocean, there is a vast expanse of majestic landscape, there are bustling city streets, windmills, breathtaking artwork, there’s even something called ”tea time”, AND there is a group of American based KIMbia athletes on the European track circuit. The front half of most of these athlete’s time in Europe is over while some are just getting started. We will be checking in with the athletes to get a full report on how their summer is going. They will be grading themselves on how well they have raced so far and how well their training has been going this season. They’ll also be detailing some of their time off the track to give an idea of what life is like for them on the European circuit.

Today, the wily veteran of the KIMbia group weighs in on his season thus far. If you have read anything about Matt Tegenkamp since he finished college running and turned pro, you know that he has a laser guided focus to one race per year. This year, that race is the 5000m World Championship in Berlin on August 23.

Since winning the 5000m U.S. Championship in late June, Matt has only raced once, a 5000m in Heusden, Belgium, and he absolutely lit up the track. He finished 2nd in 13:07, missing the win by half a second and beating a pair of sub-13:00 runners in the process. After the jump, check out Matt’s report on his European season so far.

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The US 5000m team of Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky, and Evan Jager might just owe their careers to a single decision they each made individually, years apart, but which now binds them together: choosing to attend the University of Wisconsin and put their talent in the hands of Coach Jerry Schumacher. All three now live in Portland and compete as members of OTC, but this past winter, before moving out west, Matt Tegenkamp showed us around the Wisconsin campus where each athlete launched his foray into the world of big-time running.

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The annual summer migration of the American distance runner to the tracks of Europe takes many forms.  Some chase new PB’s and the time bonuses in their contracts, from vacation destinations to tiny Belgian outposts.  Others seek to raise their profile and race their way into a shoe deal.  For Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky and Evan Jager, trips to Paris and Belgium meant the opportunity to check their fitness and hone their racing instincts for the World Championships in Berlin, set to kick off just one month after their first competitions on the far side of the Atlantic.  Watch those initial efforts, and their reactions, below:  Read the full article

Matt Tegenkamp, Chris Solinsky and Evan Jager surprised the US Distance Running scene with a podium sweep in the 5000m at US Nationals. Now hear them talk about how the race unfolded and what it meant to each to compete with his teammates.