Alistair Cragg running to a famous victory over Bekele in Boston (© Victah Sailer)
Madrid, SpainSome runners avoid the target of ‘favourite’ on their back but for Irishman Alistair Cragg, the world leader in the 3000m, the role of favourite suits him just fine, as he prepares to race the 3000m in the 28th European Indoor Championships this weekend (4-6 March).
"My running developed in that kind of environment. That's what I'm used to," said the 24-year-old who collected seven individual NCAA titles while at the University of Arkansas. “I feel the pressure, but it's good. It's nice to be able to be in a position where I can get the pressure.”
For most of the millenium’s first four years, Cragg was the dominant force on the American collegiate scene where he was the man to beat, and rarely was. Now he’s ready to expand his competitive resume. Despite qualifying for the 5000 metre final in Athens last year, where he finished 12th, the South African-born Irishman was little known outside U.S. collegiate circles until his shock defeat of Kenenisa Bekele at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on 31 January. Cragg admits that under more normal circumstances, such an outcome wouldn’t come to pass nine out of ten times. But the race did instil confidence, and his performance in that race, 7:39.89, remains the fastest this season. Looking back, he thinks he could have run much faster, perhaps even faster than his 7:38.59 national record from 2004.
“I haven't been able to compete much in Europe because of university commitments. I kind of feel like whatever I've done there has gone unnoticed, which is ok. But it's my time now, and now that I'm done there, it's time to transfer all my success there onto the track here.”
In Madrid, he’s hoping to team up with Mark Carroll, the 2000 European Indoor champion at 3000m, and take two of the three medals for Ireland for the first time ever in these championships.
“We've got a good opportunity to get two medals out of here,” Cragg said. “I know Mark wants one of us to win it. And we're going to try our best to put ourselves in that position.”
Carroll, who has primarily been training for the Marathon in recent years, clocked 7:46.60 in late January, the fourth fastest among entrants here. Cragg said that he and Carroll know the primary foe will be Spaniard Reyes Estevez, a 1500 metre specialist who recently lowered his PB in the longer event to 7:43.80.
“I respect a guy like Estevez a lot, I grew up watching his running,” Cragg said. “He's a 1500 metre specialist, but he's coming to what I can run. Obviously Estevez can kick quick, and we're going to make sure that he can't do that at the end of the race. How we run will determine weather he can close with us. I know he can close in 50-flat off of a slow pace, but I don't know what he can do off of a fast pace.”
After undergoing a hernia operation last November, Cragg said he hadn’t even planned on an appearance in Madrid, or anywhere on the track indoors.
“We just started working on strength work and mainly we were focusing on World Cross Country. I stepped on the track a couple of weeks before Boston, and ran a few sessions, and all of a sudden I could run a 7:40 off of what I was doing for cross country.”
With a strong base behind him along with a couple key wins, Cragg’s indoor season, one that was unforeseen just four months ago, has been a very reassuring one. And he’s bringing that self-assurance not only to the line in Friday morning’s qualifying round, but to what he sees as potentially a very fast final with Carroll and Estevez on Saturday night (5 March).
“It's just a lot of confidence. I think that with both of us in the race, we could work together and make it exciting. Two Irish people, and lot of Spanish people, I think it can be good for the crowd. It'll be fun. [Estevez] has got a big kick but if you stretch him out too far he can't use it. He's probably the biggest guy out there besides my teammate Mark Carroll so it'll be an exciting time.”
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
MADRID on the IAAF WEBSITE
The IAAF website will be publishing end of session - AM & PM - reports during the three days of competition in Madrid (4 - 6 March), offering along with our usual mixture of feature stories and general news, comprehensive coverage of every significant event that occurs at the 28th European Indoor Championships.
