WHATEVER THE WOMEN’S 10,000 lacked in Tokyo team clarity, it made up for it in excitement.
Elise Cranny led the first 7 kilometers, splitting 16:21.52 at halfway. During the next, former Oklahoma State star Taylor Roe made a move that whittled a pack of 8 down to 4. Cranny, Weini Kelati (now Kelati Frezghi) and Emily Infeld chased after Roe, while such prominent names as Jessica McLain, Karissa Schweizer and Keira D’Amato were dropped.
Roe looked strong leading until 600 remained, but it was far from settled. The last lap and a half was everything a track & field fan could hope for in a championship race, with four lead changes and constant shuffling for the medals.
Kelati pushed ahead with about 550 left, and Cranny and Infeld covered the move; with 250 to go, Infeld surged to the front; 20m after that Cranny regained the lead.
Coming off the final bend, Infeld (31:43.56) took the lead for good over Cranny (31:44.24) and Roe (31:45.41) moved back into a podium position over Kelati (31:46.37).
Infeld clocked 65.50 on the final lap. Cranny finished in 66.16 and Roe 66.93.
This season has been quite the resurgence for 35-year-old Infeld. Her best days seemed almost a decade behind her, with World and Olympic teams in ’15, ’16 and ’17, including a bronze in Beijing 10 years ago. But this year, she broke 31:00 for the first time with a 30:59.38 in March at The TEN, and now she has her first national title on the track.
In her wake were the ’24 OT champ (Kelati) and the 2023 USATF winner (Cranny).
The plane tickets to Tokyo are unsettled, however. No American has met the extremely stringent 30:20.00 entry standard. In fact, as of this writing, no woman in the entire world has done so on the track — Kenya’s Janeth Chepngetich is the world leader at 30:27.02. However, 12 have qualified via the road.
If the qualifying spots are left entirely to World Athletics rankings, then the best American hopes currently seem to be Kelati (who came into the meet 7th in the WA rating) and Schweizer (15th). Parker Valby (20th) is injured. Infeld came into the weekend 66th and Cranny was unranked. On the marks list, however, Cranny is No. 8 and Infeld No. 21. The final rankings list will be published August 27.
WOMEN’S 10,000 RESULTS
(July 31)
1. Emily Infeld (Brk) 31:43.56
(pace: 78.88, 85.05 [2:43.93], 84.20 [4:08.13], 81.66 [5:29.79], 80.81 [6:50.60], 79.49 [8:10.09], 79.66 [9:29.75], 74.69 [10:44.44], 74.85 [11:59.29], 75.47 [13:14.76], 75.65 [14:30.41], 74.66 [15:45.07], 75.65 [17:00.72], 75.92 [18:16.64], 76.50 [19:33.14], 76.65 [20:49.79], 75.80 [22:05.59], 74.27 [23:19.86], 72.61 [24:32.47], 72.80 [25:45.27], 73.02 [26:58.29], 73.92 [28:12.21], 73.48 [29:25.69], 72.37 [30:38.06], 65.50)
(finish: 65.50, 2:17.87, 4:45.27);
2. Elise Cranny (NikeSwoosh) 31:44.24
(66.16, 2:18.91, 4:46.36);
3. Taylor Roe (PumaE) 31:45.41
(66.93, 2:20.11);
4. Weini Kelati (UArmDS) 31:46.37
(68.44, 2:20.82);
5. Jessica McClain (Brk) 32:03.84;
6. Karissa Schweizer (NikeSwoosh) 32:10.82;
7. Keira D’Amato (NikeSwoosh) 32:19.40;
8. Amanda Vestri (Brk) 32:28.90;
9. Claire Green (TrsmPDC) 32:58.33; 10. Katie Izzo (adi) 33:00.13; 11. Elena Henes (adi) 33:06.17; 12. Vanessa Fraser (Sauc) 33:08.28; 13. Katie Camarena (Sauc) 33:18.27; 14. Cailie Hughes (Puma/MnDE) 33:23.29; 15. Abby Nichols (HOKANAZE) 33:38.06; 16. Sophia King (unat) 33:49.55; 17. Savannah Shaw (UnionAC) 34:00.95; 18. Madison Offstein (CPark) 34:31.27;… dnf—Rosina Machu (HOKA), Katrina Coogan (NBal), Jessica Gockley-Day (Sauc).
