Favorite and long-shot win Waikiki Mile; Decker-Slaney takes a giant step
By Timothy Carlson

Mary Decker-Slaney

Mary Decker-Slaney, still giving thanks that her seven leg operations are still holding after a year of hard racing and training, showed that at 38 she still has good measure of her legendary speed. She earned the echoing cheers of thousands along Kalakaua Avenue when she answered three surges by current world 3,000-meter champion Sonia O’Sullivan, only to fall to the last relentless push to the finish line of the Waikiki Mile.

But Decker-Slaney, who once held the world record in the mile at 4:16:71, was not thought to be a likely challenger of O’Sullivan this day. Nonetheless, Decker-Slaney cracked the 4:30:00 barrier by 1.47 seconds and finished as runner-up to the prohibitive favorite O’Sullivan, who sped to a course record of 4:26:43 to take $14,000--$8,000 to win, a $3,000 bonus to crack 4:30:00, and $1,000 for each second under the mark.

O’Sullivan--who suffered gastrointestinal problems that kept her from medals in the 1996 Olympics after an unbeaten year in 1995 in the 3,000 meters and a world championship in the 5,000 meters--had plenty of horsepower to make a fourth surge and leave a strong field, which included defending champion and U.S. Olympian Regina Jacobs a distant seventh in her wake.

Leah Pells of Canada was third in 4:29:90, Suzy Hamilton of Wisconsin was fourth in 4:31:52, and Sinead Delahunty of Ireland was fifth in 4:34:77.

"I made my move right after the turnaround, and nobody went with me," said the smiling Irish star who made a victory tour down the avenue and shared high-fives with happy fans. "So I saved something for another surge at the end."

Sonia O’Sullivan

After the race Decker-Slaney called her effort "a huge step forward. After all I had been through this year I was quite satisfied with my result."

Decker-Slaney was making a comeback to hard racing this year after three years off serious training because of stress fractures and compartment-syndrome injuries. Many of the sport’s pundits wrote her off, putting it to an aging child star losing her edge. They repeated her career obituaries after her disappointing early exit from the Olympics.

But it turned out Decker-Slaney is still at a prime competitive edge when she is healthy.

"It’s the first race I have run where I could run well after I was diagnosed as suffering from exercise-induced asthma in August," she said.

Decker-Slaney said that she had had several cardiac tests done after her disappointing 15:42 in the 5,000-meter preliminary heat at the Olympics in August.

"I thought I had a heart problem," she said. "I had trouble getting my breath and felt a tightness in my chest." It seems the spring pollen of her hometown of Eugene, Oregon, was one of the triggers. "I know it had a big effect on me in the Olympics."

Now Decker-Slaney and coach Alberto Salazar are treating the asthma, and although it has not disappeared, she is much closer to her old form.

Canadian Graham Hood--almost overlooked in the pre-race hype over defending champion Philemonn Hanneck of Zimbabwe, a resurgent Marcus O’Sullivan of Ireland, and 1996 Olympic 1,500-meter bronze medalist Stephen Kipkorir of Kenya--saved his best surge for last to outsprint 800-meter specialist Rich Kenah of the United States by 0.4 seconds and longshot Moses Kigen of Kenya by 0.66 seconds to steal the Men’s Nike P.L.A.Y. Waikiki Mile.

"I knew from last year that the last stretch of road is longer than you think, so I saved something for the end," said the 24-year-old Hood, a graduate of the University of Arkansas distance-runners dynasty.

"When Kipkorir took off at 600 meters to go, I covered his surge cautiously but didn’t let it all play out. Then at the end I saw Kipkorir and Kenah slowly coming back to me and I knew I had 'em. I just hoped that somebody behind me like Marcus O’Sullivan wasn’t coming up on me."

Kipkorir was thrown off-stride avoiding a spectator as he approached the turnaround and never quite recovered his rhythm, dropping to ninth.

Marcus O’Sullivan, 34, who decided to put off a planned retirement when he set a PR and Irish record 1,500 meters (3:33:15 at Monaco) earlier this year, was off his game this week.

"I just had a bad feeling about this week," he said. "I had been sick to my stomach and did not have another gear when they passed me while I was going along at my mono pace. I guess I psyched myself out."

O’Sullivan finished fourth in 4:00:00.

Timothy Carlson is a frequent contributor to Outside Online.