U.S. track and field athlete Lopez Lomong lost track of the laps during a 5000 meter race last week and stopped running one lap too early. However, Lomong managed to hold it together and still won the race with a time good enough to qualify for the Olympics.
It happened at the Payton Jordan Invitational which was held at Stanford University. Lomong picked up his race pace with two laps to go and ran a lap in 53.2 seconds, then slowed down after crossing the finish line and put his arms out to celebrate as if he had completed the race. However, someone alerted Lomong that he had one more lap to run, and Lomong had to fight his way through another lap after having expended the extra energy sprinting on the previous lap.
Fortunately, Lomong is a good enough athlete to still run a decent last lap and finish in first place despite his mistake, so he deserves credit for that. It should also be pointed out that this was the first 5000 meter race of Lomong's career, having never ran a distance longer than 1600 meters, so that could explain the confusion on his part.
Video via Flotrack.com. H/T NBC Olympics.
It happened at the Payton Jordan Invitational which was held at Stanford University. Lomong picked up his race pace with two laps to go and ran a lap in 53.2 seconds, then slowed down after crossing the finish line and put his arms out to celebrate as if he had completed the race. However, someone alerted Lomong that he had one more lap to run, and Lomong had to fight his way through another lap after having expended the extra energy sprinting on the previous lap.
Fortunately, Lomong is a good enough athlete to still run a decent last lap and finish in first place despite his mistake, so he deserves credit for that. It should also be pointed out that this was the first 5000 meter race of Lomong's career, having never ran a distance longer than 1600 meters, so that could explain the confusion on his part.
Video via Flotrack.com. H/T NBC Olympics.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
