Publication Date: Friday, May 27, 2005
TRACK & FIELD
Helping raise bar in vault
Helping raise bar in vault
(May 27, 2005) Mack heads elite field in men's pole vault at Payton Jordan meet
by Keith Peters
Tim Mack took something from the 2004 track and field season perhaps as valuable as the gold medal he won in the pole vault at the Athens Olympics.
"Now my parents aren't on my case about chasing some pipe dream," Mack joked this week. "Financially, it has changed a lot. My parents don't have to send me money any more."
The 32-year-old Mack finds himself in the penthouse of his profession these days. He is the reigning Olympic gold medalist. He was ranked No. 1 in the world by Track & Field News after winning in Athens, capturing the year-end Grand Prix final and producing 19-footers in nine of his last 12 meets in '04 - including his career best and world-leading mark of 19-8 1/2.
Cleary, Mack has risen quickly since coming out of St. Ignatius High (Cleveland, Ohio) in 1991 with a best of 13-6. He found pole vaulting more fun than running distances in gym class.
"Once you find something you like to do," he said, "you just stick with it."
Mack's current task at hand is finding the magic that vaulted him to the top of the world stage last year. Motivation this season is the World Championships in Helsinki, Aug. 6-14.
Preparation for that continues Monday when Mack heads an outstanding field for the Payton Jordan U.S. Open track and field meet at Stanford's Cobb Track & Angell Field. Joining Mack will be Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson and Olympic teammate Derek Miles.
Mack (No. 3 in U.S. history) and Stevenson (tied for No. 5) combined for the top seven marks in the world in 2004. Mack won the Olympic gold with a 19-6 1/4 clearance while Stevenson took the silver at 19-4 1/4, after earlier producing a career best of 19-8 1/4.
Joining them will be Dmitri Markov of Australia (and formerly of Belarus). His career best is 19-10 1/4 at the 2001 World Championships. He ranks No. 2 all-time. Miles (19-0 3/4), Brad Walker (19-1 1/4), Ty Harvey (19-0 1/2) and Russ Buller (19-0 3/4 in 2001) round out the group of seven vaulters who have career clearances of 19-0 or higher.
Mack already has cleared 19-2 this season, overcoming some early season injuries.
"My jumps last weekend (in San Diego) were kind of a surprise to me," Mack said, "that I was able to jump 19-2 with a limited amount of training. I'm actually more ahead than I think I am. I'm stronger than I've been, stronger than last year and better technically than last year."
As for Monday's meet?
"I don't think 19-4 or 19-6 is a stretch, if the conditions are favorable," Mack said.
There should be plenty of good marks this weekend, starting with Sunday's brief schedule that features two 10K races with record possibilities.
The men's 10K shooting for the first sub-27:00 race ever on U.S. soil while the women's 10K field will be after the first sub-30:30 race ever in America.
Heading the men's 10K field will be Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia. He ran 26:53.73 to rank as the world's No. 4 performer in 2004. Chasing him will be countryman Dejene Berhanu, who ran 12:54.13 for 5,000 meters lasts season to rank as the world's No. 4 performer.
The men's 10K field will be seeking to break the U.S. All-Comers record of 27:04.20 set by Kenya's Abraham Chebii on this same Stanford track in 2001.
In the women's 10K, Ethiopia's Werknesh Kidane returns to Stanford, where she set the still-standing U.S. All-Comers record of 30:41:40 in 2003. She ran 30:28.30 last season, taking fourth in the Summer Olympics in Athens and finishing the year ranked No. 4 in the world by Track & Field News.
Other top competitors this weekend include 2004 Olympic silver medalist John Moffitt in the men's long jump, 2004 Olympic silver medalist Adam Nelson in the men's shot put, 2005 world leader John Godina in the men's shot put, 2004 Olympic 200 silver medalist Bernard Williams in the men's 100, 2004 U.S. Olympic trials 400 hurdles champion Sheena Johnson in the women's 100 hurdles, American recordholder Suzy Powell in the women's discus, 2004 U.S. Olympians Jarred Rome, Casey Malone, Ian Waltz in men's discus and 2004 U.S. Olympian Grace Upshaw of Menlo Park in the women's long jump.
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