This Day in Track & Field History, April 9, 2024, Edwin Flack wins 800m (1896), Ben Eastman sets 800m WR (1932), DeAnna Price (2021), Valarie Allman (2022) sets AR discus, by Walt Murphy News and Results Service

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By Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission.

This Day in Track & Field–April 9

1896—Two days after winning the 1500 at the Athens Olympics, Australia’s Edwin “Teddy” Flack won a 2^nd gold medal in the 800-meters. Nicknamed “The Lion of Athens”, Flack was Australia’s first Olympic champion. He also entered the Marathon, but was unable to finish the race after becoming “delirious with dehydration”, and lost his two tennis matches in Athens!

https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/627

http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/council/about-casey/history/edwin-flack

Marathon Report: https://www.olympedia.org/results/56017

Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Flack

1932–Ben Eastman set an American Record of 1:51.3 for 880-yards at Stanford. The mark was not ratified as a World Record.

Hall of Fame Bio(2006): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/ben-eastman

1965—Texas A&M’s Randy Matson set the first of his 4 American Records in the Shot Put, reaching out to 67-11  ¼ (20.70) in a quad-meet held at his College Station, TX home facility. His mark also bettered Dallas Long’s World Record of 67-10 (20.67), but it was never ratified by the IAAF (for unknown reasons).

1988—UCLA senior Gail Devers ran 12.71 in the 100-meter hurdles in Fresno to break Stephanie Hightower’s six-year old American Record of 12.79 (She also set a Collegiate Record). She went on to become one of the greatest sprinters/hurdlers in history, winning 2 Olympic gold medals in the 100-meters and 3 World titles in the 100-meter hurdles (along with 1 in the 100-meters).

2021— DeAnna Price, the reigning World Champion in the event, threw the Hammer 257-10 (78.60) in Columbia, Missouri, breaking her previous American Record of 256-8 (78.24) that she set in 2019. She would improve her AR to

263-6 (80.31) at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.

Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNdyCEInQvL/

The U.S. now has 4 of the 8 longest throwers in history.

272-03    (82.98)  Anita Włodarczyk Poland           2016

263-06   (80.31)  DeAnna Price USA               2021

263-00   (80.17)  Brooke Andersen USA           2023

260-07    (79.42)  Betty Heidler Germany              2011

257-11    (78.62)  Camryn Rogers (Canada)          2023

255-11   (78.00)  Janee’ Kassanavoid (US)        2022

255-03    (77.80)  Tatyana Beloborodova  Russia  2006

255-02   (77.78)  Gwendolyn Berry USA            2018

2022—Valerie Allman, the 2021 Olympic Champion, added a foot to her American Record in the Discus by throwing 234-5 (71.46) at the Triton Inv. in LaJolla, CA. It was the longest throw in the world in 30 years! Her previous AR of 233-5 (71.16) was set in 2021.

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2022/04/08/valarie-allman-discus-american-record/

https://trackandfieldnews.com/article/another-american-record-for-valarie-allman/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUBoQexS9xE