Kieran Lumb takes down Canadian 3,000m track record for 2nd time in 4 days
Doug Harrison | CBC Sports | Posted: September 10, 2023 7:20 PM | Last Updated: September 10, 2023
Runner has thrived since not qualifying for world semis; Brendon Rodney 3rd in 200m
Kieran Lumb has had little trouble shrugging off a slightly disappointing performance at the World Athletics Championships.
The Vancouver runner was sixth in the men's 3,000-metre race on Sunday in Zagreb, Croatia but, more importantly, lowered the Canadian record for the second time in four days.
Lumb stopped the clock in seven minutes 36.46 seconds, nearly 2.5 seconds faster than his effort last Wednesday in Rovereto, Italy, where he placed third in 7:38.92. Sunday's effort also ranks as the world's 12th fastest time in the event this season.
Moh Ahmed, Canada's first Olympic medallist in the men's 5,000, held the previous national mark of 7:40.49 from the Hanžeković Memorial meet in Zagreb on Aug. 29, 2017.
"Feels like I've got a second wave of momentum and fitness after worlds," Lumb, who was running 7:43.57 this past January, told Athletics Illustrated after his effort in Rovereto. "Just enjoying racing right now."
WATCH | Lumb shines in Zagreb in another Canadian record effort:
While Ahmed moved on to distance running, Lumb told Canadian Running recently the 1,500 will remain his signature race.
The 25-year-old ran the 1,500 last month at worlds and was eighth in his heat in 3:36.66 in Budapest, Hungary but didn't qualify for the semifinals. Lumb set a personal best of 3:34.55 in the event on Sept. 3 in Padova, Italy.
Multiple personal bests in 2022
"You realize how simple the sport is," Lumb told Canadian Running on the valuable perspective gained watching the later rounds of the 1,500 in Budapest. "I think it has given me a different approach to racing."
Last year, Lumb also set PBs outdoors in the 800m, track mile, road mile, 5000, 10,000 and indoor 5000.
He'll represent Canada at the inaugural World Athletics Road Running Championships, which begin Sept. 30, and race the men's mile at the two-day event in Riga, Latvia.
In other Canadian results Sunday, Brendon Rodney ran 20.42 for third in the men's 200, won by Kyree King in 20.10. His American teammate, Brandon Carnes, was second in 20.19.
Jerome Blake of Kelowna B.C., placed sixth (20.99) in the eight-man field.
Madeline Price was sixth in the women's 400, stopping the clock in 52.66 seconds, 1.73 seconds behind winner Laviai Nielsen of Great Britain.
The 27-year-old from Toronto was a member of Canada's Olympic women's 4x400 relay team that finished fourth in Tokyo two years ago.
Philibert-Thiboutot 18th at 5th Avenue Mile
Elsewhere, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot finished 18th in the men's professional race at the 5th Avenue Mile in New York City.
He completed the 1,609-mile road event in four minutes, two days after setting a North American record on the track in the men's 2,000m at a Diamond League meet in Brussels.
Josh Kerr of Great Britain, who won world championship gold in the 1,500 last month, took Sunday's race in 3:47.9 for the third fastest time in event history and fastest since 1995.
"It's a very different effort to run a mile down the street in flats versus running around the oval with spikes," Kerr said in a statement released by the New York Road Runners organization. "I didn't have the performance I wanted to have last year, so I wanted to make that right.
"It's nice to end the season on a high, and it's difficult to do at any point in anyone's career at the end of the year. I've been training and racing for a long time this year and I was glad to put on a performance like that today."
More than 9,000 runners raced Sunday across several divisions.
On Friday, Philibert-Thiboutot's 4:51.54 clocking for eighth place among 11 finishers lowered his Canadian record by over four seconds (4:56.88) and is less than one second faster than Jim Spivey's 4:52.44 North American mark from 1987.
The 32-year-old Philibert-Thiboutot didn't reach the world final but had gained automatic entry to the Paris Olympics next summer, finishing 21-100ths under the qualifying standard at a July Diamond League meet in Silesia, Poland.