POSTED: Saturday August 29th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ritzenhein smashes Kennedy's 5,000m AR

Golden League crown Friday at the Weltklasse Zurich, the fifth leg of the AF Golden League 2009.

INDIANAPOLIS
- Dathan Ritzenhein set an American record in the men’s 5,000 meters
and Sanya Richards continued her quest to win her third Golden League
crown Friday at the Weltklasse Zurich, the fifth leg of the AF Golden
League 2009.

 

Thirteen years after Bob Kennedy set the American
record of 12:58.21 in the 5,000 meters at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting
, 2008 Olympic marathoner Dathan Ritzenhein smashed that record by
almost 2 seconds finishing third in 12 minutes 56.27 seconds. It was an
almost 20 second personal best for Ritzenhein, which makes him the
second-fastest non-African in history and only the third American ever
to run under 13 minutes.

 2009 world champion Sanya Richards won the women’s 400m in
a world-leading 48.94. Even with three-time world 200m champion Allyson
Felix coming after her off the turn, Richards sped away down the final
straight to run her third-fastest time ever. Felix finished a distant
second in 49.83. Richards is now five-for- five in Golden League
meetings this season.

 

The women’s 100m was a rematch from last
week’s world championships featuring seven of the eight Berlin
finalists in the race. Two-time world bronze medalist Carmelita Jeter
shot out of the blocks when the gun went off and powered to the finish
for the win in 10.86. Jeter was the only woman to break 11 seconds.
Reigning Olympic and World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser (JAM) was fourth
in 11.10 and Berlin silver medalist Kerron Stewart (JAM) was once again
the runner-up in 11.04.

 

Anna Willard became the fifth American
woman ever to break the four-minute barrier in the women’s 1,500m with
her runner-up finish in 3:59.38. Before this year, only two Americans
had ever broken that barrier. Berlin bronze medalist Shannon Rowbury
was fourth in 4:00.81, and Christin Wurth-Thomas was fifth in 4:01.01.

 

2008
Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper finished as the runner-up in the
women’s 100m hurdles, running 12.48 to reigning world champion Brigette
Foster-Hylton’s 12.46. Two-time USA Outdoor champion Ginnie Powell
finished fifth in 12.70 and Lolo Jones was eighth in 13.06. On the
men’s side, three-time world silver medalist Terrence Trammell once
again took runner-up honors, crossing the line in 13.17. Two-time world
bronze medalist David Payne was fourth in 13.32 and Beijing bronze
medalist David Oliver was fifth in 13.33.

 

The men’s 400m
finish was a mirror image of the podium at the Berlin World
Championships. Reigning Olympic and World Outdoor champion LaShawn
Merritt pulled away from ‘04 Olympic and two-time world champion Jeremy
Wariner coming down the final stretch to win in 44.21. Wariner finished
second in 44.62 and bronze medalist Renny Quow was third in 44.77.

 
For more information and complete results from the Weltklasse Zurich Golden League meeting, visit www.iaaf.org. 
 

     

About USA Track & Field

 

USA
Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and
field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States.
USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports, some of the
most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and
junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult
runners in the United States.

 

For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org

 

# # #

---

Keywords · Dathan Ritzenhein · Sanya Richards · USATF · athletics

---

Name: Vicky Oddi
Organization: US Track and Field
Email:
Phone: +1.317-713-4670
URL: http://www.usatf.org/

---

Please refer all questions to the company listed above issuing the press release. SFC will not be able to assist you with any inquiries and disclaims any content in these press releases.