Ryan Gregson placed second in the famous Emsley Carr Mile in Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium in the Diamond league athletics series last Saturday night.
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What a night for Australia with another Aussie Stewart McSweyn surprising Gregson at the finish to take the race. This was a first for Australia in this famous mile race held every year in England since 1953 and now included in the Diamond League athletics series.
This second placing for Gregson came just two weeks after he came second to the Olympic champion Matt Centrowitz in the 1500 metres in the London meeting of the Diamond League.
The former Kembla Joggers runner, now based in Victoria, was happy with his second placing after doing the hard running in a well-planned race but it was not the result he wanted.
“‘I’m happy. I had a calf strain through the week and had to take a few days off, so I was a bit tentative. I didn’t get to 100 per cent pace, but good enough. I didn’t hurt it again during the race so that’s great,” Gregson said after the race.
“I found myself near the lead at the bell so I thought ‘hold them out’ as I did in Osaka. But Stewy is much better than that field.”
The Australian 1500m record holder kept to the lead group in fourth position only behind the pacemaker James Magut of Kenya who took the first 400 metres in a fast 56 seconds.
Gregson maintained his composure during the next 400m with the pacemakers now including Djibouti’s Hiss Bachir extending their lead to nearly 15 metres, taking the 800m in 1 minute 53 seconds.
With Magut now dropping out, Bachir took over the pacing to cover the 1200 metres in 2:57 but Gregson still kept in touch with him.
At the bell, Gregson took over the lead with some aggressive running in the final lap but was slowly being challenged by McSweyn, normally a 5000m runner who was fifth in the recent Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Coming into the final 100m straight, Gregson was still in front and heading for the finish line until McSweyn surged forward and overtook him to win in 3:54.60.
Gregson, who tired on the final stretch had to be satisfied with second place in 3:55.10, not far from his personal best of 3:52.24. Third place went to USA’s Paul Chelimo in 3:55.86. Chelimo is a former Kenyan runner.
“Consistency is what I am aiming for”, Gregson said as he now prepares for the Diamond League 1500m finals in Zurich in two weeks.
