Steve Prefontaine vs Gerry Lindgren in 2 Mile, 1969

[Music] you're looking now at the field for the two-mile run and at Lane one on the inside to the left from Villanova Marty Liguori of course is the AAU champion and the mile stepping up today to the two-mile in lane number two from Spokane Washington Jerry Lindgren in lane three from Yale Frank Shorter and in lane four is the high school sensation he's graduated now from Coos Bay Oregon Steve Prefontaine but two mile run and this should be a very good one for very evenly matched druthers Marty liquori the NCAA an AAU mile champion Jerry Lindgren one of America's great distance runners Frank Shorter who won the NCAA six mile title this year and Steve Prefontaine who is destined to be one of America's very best in the next year or two they've moved off to a leisurely beginning with shorter Prefontaine than Lindgren and liquori track here not exceptionally fast and a bit of a swirling wind that will probably hold down the time a bit but the competition of course is definitely here Frank Shorter holding a lead Prefontaine on his shoulder now Jerry Lindgren in the middle of the track moves up to take the lead as they come to the end of the first 440 and they are off to a pedestrian 67 and 2/10 second beginning now Lindgren of course feeling this very slow pace picks it up tremendously and has already broken away from the field he has a good six or seven yards on Prefontaine with shorter a couple of strides behind him and liqueur running at the back of the field jerry Lindgren is making a good comeback after an Achilles injury ruined in 1968 he ran his best to my eye when he did eight thirty five four and finishing second to Jack bachelor in the West Coast relays at the AAU Championships in Miami he was narrowly edged by Tracy Smith in 1318 point for Jerry's had a stomach condition that's plagued him for the last three years but it seems to be arrested now and he's looking very good at this moment as he is pulling the field through the first half mile and it's 209 five so Jerry picked it up there with a sixty two point three lap and we're in better shape now for a little faster two-mile Steve Prefontaine is from Coos Bay Oregon he's just graduated from Marshfield High School there he's five nine and a half weighs 145 he's 18 years old this year he set a high school two-mile record with a tremendous eight 41.6 in which he ran the second mile in four sixteen six which is really excellent going on the second mile he also has a 406 flat to his credit this year which he did in winning the Golden West meet for high school seniors and he has come up right now to Lindgren and he's passed Jerry it has gone into the lead coming in now to the end of three-quarters of a mile with Prefontaine the leader then Lindgren in second and liquori and shorter running together back in the third position three fifteen point three for the three-quarters of a mile and Steve Prefontaine with about two yards on Jerry Lindgren Steve ran his first three mile race in the AAU championships and after dropping back during the early part of the race he picked it up nicely with an excellent finish took place for thin 1343 flat and he has signed the letter of intent for the University of Oregon so he'll be under the tutelage of Bill Bowerman for the next four years and that means we can expect something very good indeed from Steve Prefontaine he and Lindgren running right together just to stride apart and about 10 yards behind them are the two Easterners Marty liquori from Villanova Frank Shorter from Yale coming in now to the end of a mile get even Lindgren and Prefontaine with liquori and shorter running behind them about 20 yards to the rear for 22.6 for the mile so they ran 67 - for the first lap 62 3 for the second 65 8 for the third and now 67 3 for the forest so they're running right about now at an 8:45 pace and they're picking it up a bit down the backstraight Prefontaine and Lindgren with a good 25 yards now on liquori and shorter Marty liquori has been bothered by an arch problem for the last six weeks which is practically curtailed his training he consulted a specialist in Los Angeles on the way over and hopefully orthopedic support inlays that are being made will arrest the problem he is America's premier Marlar at this moment - with Jim Ryun out of the track and field picture for the rest of 1969 the wind down on the track just a bit difficult for these runners holding him back just a bit 531 six the time for one and a quarter miles Prefontaine a very good finisher Gerry Lindgren of course acknowledged as an excellent finisher Jerry Lindeman was the hero of the USA USSR meet in 1964 when as a Spokane high school boy he defeated the Russians over 10,000 meters and he won the NCAA three-mile six mile double three years running while at Washington State and now Lindgren is right up even with Steve Prefontaine the two products of the Pacific Northwest Lindgren from Spokane Washington Prefontaine from Coos Bay Oregon I get a lot of rain in Coos Bay Oregon but obviously it didn't hold back Prefontaine in his preparation for 1969 when he obliterated all high school records over two miles with his eight 41.6 of course linking around eight minutes forty seconds while the high school boy indoors but he did not approach that outdoors 6:40 point eight now for one and a half miles Linton now back in the lead doing the heavy work Prefontaine now dropping back just a little bit as Lindgren picks up the tempo down the backstraight about two yards separating them with liquori and shorter well out of it in third and fourth positions jerry Lindgren was ninth in the Olympic Games at Tokyo in the 10,000 meters and he shared the world record in six miles at 27 11.6 with Billy Mills when they finished in a virtual dead heat at the 1965 AAU Championships he holds the American record for 5,000 meters at 13 33 8 which he did in 1968 when he defeated world record holder Ron Clark at Modesto [Applause] run lap get destroyed separating Lindgren and prefontaine's seven 46.7 the time with one lap to go so we're going to have a time of somewhere around 8:45 if they spread on the last lap as we believe they will then been moving out now down the backstraight lengthening out away from Prefontaine who was obviously not up to Lindgren's a temple here Jerry looking very good he spent the last few weeks up at Lake Tahoe running in the rarefied air there and certainly has benefited him because he's an excellent forum here he has about 200 yards to go now is he's in the middle of the turn spreading nicely Prefontaine moving as best he can the bet that he's about 15 yards to Lindgren's arrears and Jerry coming off the turn down the straight good meal it fit arm action 15 yards ago [Applause] winning this 2-mile 3.8 in 22 second McCoy something a bit of a sprint will finish in third position and shorter coming across in fourth the official times in the two-mile run Gerry Lindgren 8:45 six Steve Prefontaine 8:48 eight Marty liquori nine minutes flat Frank Shorter 902 flat

Channel: Mohd A'sim Yusree

Views: 469,373

Rating: 4.8046098 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: csZGZZMLkOc

Length: 9min 58sec (598 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 28 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/problynotkevinbacon]

My buddy and I were just watching this yesterday. This is classic weird racing by Pre. He made so many unnecessary moves.

[u/I_Like_Cats_CR]

I guess it's the time for Without Limits rewatch.

[u/KKvanMalmsteen]

Go Pre

[u/EtienneAP11]

Absolutely inspiring