If you saw any of the distance events at the just concluded Beijing Olympics (not that NBC showed much above 400 meters), the dominance of East African runners was fairly overwhelming. Astonishing athletes like Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, who won the 5,000 and 10, 000 meters, and Kenyan marathon champ Sammy Wanjiru make the sport look, well, easy. They glide along for mile after mile at a pace that most of us American couch potatoes couldn't sprint for 100 yards, even if we were being chased by wolves. No bouncing or wasted motion, impeccably light on their feet, perfect arm carriage--it's almost like a different sport than the one practiced by Seattle runners and joggers around Green Lake or along the Burke-Gilman Trail.

But do you have to run pretty to run? Not according to UW physician Peter Cavanagh, who was quoted in an interesting New York Times story on Friday. He says,

“The notion that there is one way to run is not, in my opinion, correct,”

So no excuses this fall and winter for not lacing up your shoes and going out for a run in the rain. Even if you can't be a classical stylist like Haile Gebrselassie (the Ethiopian world record holder in the marathon), you can bull through your workout like the late, great Steve Prefontaine. (Or Czech legend Emil Zátopek, pictured above.) Maybe we should put Cavanagh's slogan on a T-shirt.

Seattle's best bet for an individual track and field gold in the Olympics apparently no-heighted in qualifying rounds earlier today (Beijing time). Mountlake Terrace resident and UW grad Brad Walker, the defending world champ in his event, may not have even attempted to vault, according to the IAAF results posted here. The American record holder in his event has been managing back injuries (like most who compete in his whiplash-inducing discipline). Sometimes vaulters can struggle with winds, or miss the mark on their run-up to the pit--failing to even make an attempt. We'll try to update later today. Click here for a photo of the disappointed athlete. Two other Americans qualified for the Olympic final, to be held on Friday.

After swirling winds at the U.S. Olympic trials created big problems for former UW pole vaulter Brad Walker, who made the team in Eugene in less than dominating style, the world's No. 1 ranked athlete in his event was back on form in a big Athens meet. He won the event with a 5.90 meter mark (around 19 feet, or two stories off the ground--without using an elevator). If the Mountlake Terrace resident keeps jumping at that level, he'll almost certainly bring home an Olympic medal. But will NBC, which did such a terrible job with the Olympic Trials, show that event live? If would help, of course, if there were an extra-athletic human interest story--like getting cancer, losing his puppy, or agreeing to appear on The Bachelor in a special Olympics edition. Hey, wait a minute, that last one might actually be a good idea...

We've told you about Mountlake Terrace's Brad Walker before. He's the UW grad and No. 1 rated pole vaulter in the world. A few weeks ago, he set a new American record in his event (6.04 meters, or about 19' 9" and change) at the new Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene. That's the same facility where the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials are now being held. Today was the finals for the men's pole vault, which is a notoriously finicky discipline. Big guys, built like NBA guards, run full speed down a runway with a long bendy pole that jams suddenly into a hole, propelling the athlete up, upside down, and (if all goes right) over a bar way up in the clouds. It's a hit or miss sport. Some days you have it, some days you don't. Back in 2004, the favorite failed to make the squad (top three go to the games)

Today, Walker barely avoided disaster....

The UW women's track program is about to get a lot better. One of its prize recruits is California high school phenom Christine Babcock from Irvine's Woodbridge High School. This season she set two national prep records by running 4:33.82 for the 1,600 (just shy of a mile) and 4:16.42 for the Olympic distance of 1,500 meters--qualifying for the women's Olympic Trials later this month in Eugene. High school sprinters sometimes qualify, but among distance runners, her accomplishment is almost unheard of. (You'd have to go back to Mary Decker for such a prodigy.) She's a long shot to make the team, but in this nice interview here, she discusses how she found the UW to be "the perfect place." And you better believe she was recruited by everyone--Oregon, Stanford, etc.

It's quite a coup for head coach Greg Metcalf. I hope I'm wrong, but I think only a few of his current athletes qualified for the Olympic Trials (Jordan Boase in the 400 meters, Norris Frederick in the long jump, plus a few more who only hit the "B standard" as opposed to the "A standard" necessary to compete in Beijing this August). So the program is clearly headed in the right direction.

As we reported last fall, pole vaulter Brad Walker, a 2003 UW grad and resident of Mountlake Terrace, is the region's top prospect for the Olympics. In fact, he just broke the American record in his event, as USA Today reports, at this weekend's Prefontaine Classic meet down in Eugene.

Walker's jump of 6.04 meters (or 19 feet, 9 and 3/4 inches) not only makes him the favorite in the Olympic Trials (also in Eugene, beginning June 27) but in the Beijing games, too (which begin Aug. 8), since no one in the world has jumped as high in seven years. Here's the IAAF summary of the Pre meet; and a bit more detail on Walker from a blog post last fall.

Another 10 centimeters higher (about four inches) stands the world record of 6.14 of Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka (generally considered the greatest ever in his sport), which now 14 years old. After the Olympics, where he'll hope to earn a gold medal, you've got to figure that's on Walker's list.

You can be forgiven for never having heard of Brad Walker, but the former UW star’s name is one you ought to remember next year, at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. A former NCAA champ who today resides in Mountlake Terrace, he just won the pole vault (on Monday, Sept. 1) at the world track and field championships in Osaka, Japan. He earned the silver medal at the 2005 event, after failing to make the Olympic squad in 2004. Thus having steadily improved since graduating the U-Dub four years ago, he’s now the de facto favorite for Beijing, with all the pressure on him to win.

Even then, how come he’s so little known in his home town? Speaking by phone from Zurich, about to compete in Friday’s super-prestigious Weltklasse meet (like Carnegie Hall for T&F geeks), the 26-year-old Walker said, “As a NCAA champion, I would receive significantly more press than I do as world champion.” Training at the U.W. or going to the hardware store, “I definitely don’t get recognized in the Seattle area. I leave Seattle…people come up and shake my hand and ask if I’m the world champion. I am the No. 1 pole vaulter in the world.”