A resurgent Alan Webb moves to the front of the pack

Former prep star surpasses another Jim Ryun mark on eve of Olympic Trials

The last couple of years showed that Alan Webb doesn't walk on water. This came as a surprise to some.
The last few weeks have shown that he runs awfully well on land. While this shouldn't have come as a surprise, it did.

Webb heads into next month's U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials on a remarkable roll. The former high-school sensation has registered personal bests in his last five races, the latest coming Saturday at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore. Returning to the scene of his breakthrough performance three years ago, Webb won the Prefontaine mile in a world-leading time of 3 minutes, 50.85 seconds. It was the fastest time ever run by an American miler on U.S. soil, supplanting the legendary Jim Ryun's 3:51.1 from 1967.

In just one month, the 21-year-old Webb has gone from has-been to Olympic medal contender. Personable but not outwardly cocky, he shies away from even calling himself the Olympic Trials favorite. But the aggressiveness Webb showed Saturday spoke volumes about his true intentions. Passing through three laps in a sizzling 2:51.1, Webb tired on last lap and fell short of his goal of becoming the first American to run a sub-3:50 mile in 13 years.

"I came up a little short, but that's OK," Webb said. "I won with a personal best, and if I keep doing that, eventually I'll be the world record holder and world and Olympic champion."

Webb is currently the 2004 world leader in the 1,500 and the mile. He has nearly a five-second gap on his U.S. competitors heading into the Olympic Trials. First-round heats in the men's 1,500 will be held Thursday, July 15, at Hornet Stadium. The final is scheduled for Sunday, July 18.

"I'm not thinking about the Olympics at this point," Webb said. "I just want to focus on the Trials and make sure I'm in the top three. You can't take any race for granted. Great athletes always step up when the pressure's on, and the pressure's definitely on."

Webb's last five races bear a quick recap, if only to demonstrate the type of run he's on:
-May 22, Home Depot Invitational, Carson, Calif. - Webb won the 1,500 in 3:35.71, a personal best by two and a half seconds and an Olympic 'A' qualifier. He won the race by more than three seconds.
-May 31, Fanny Blankers-Koen Games, Hengelo, Netherlands - In his first international race, Webb finished fourth in the 1,500, lowering his best to 3:33.70. That time moved him into eighth place on the all-time U.S. list.
-June 5, Seville Grand Prix, Spain - Webb won the 'B' race of the 800 meters in 1:46.53, a personal best.
-June 8, Ostrava Grand Prix, Czech Republic - Racing against an outstanding field that included Bernard Lagat, the Olympic bronze medalist in 2000, Webb won the 1,500 in 3:32.73. That time jumped him to sixth on the all-time U.S. list and represented the fastest winning time by an American in 16 years.
-June 19, Prefontaine Classic, Eugene, Ore. - Webb followed a stiff pace set by Kenya's Laban Rotich through three laps. When Rotich, a 3:47.65 miler, dropped out, Webb was forced to run the final lap alone. With a sellout crowd of 12,376 exhorting him, a visibly spent Webb crossed the finish line in 3:50.85.

Three years ago, these were the sort of results expected of Webb. He became the first high school runner to run a sub-four-minute mile indoors. At the 2001 Prefontaine Classic, against a mile field that included world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj, Webb finished fifth in the mile in 3:53.43. His clocking eclipsed the 36-year-old prep record of 3:55.3 set by Ryun in 1965.

Overnight, he became a media darling, appearing on the "Today Show" and Good Morning America." When Webb returned to Eugene three weeks later to compete in the U.S. Championships, ESPN was on the front of the bandwagon, interrupting "SportsCenter" to televise the final of the men's 1,500 live. Webb's fiifth-place finish at nationals didn't temper the expectations. He was headed for the University of Michigan, which featured one of the country's top collegiate middle-distance programs.

It's not that Webb was a bust in his single collegiate season at Michigan - he won the Big Ten Conference title in cross country and finished fourth in the 1,500 at the 2002 NCAA Championships. But he expected more and longed for the comfort zone provided by his high school coach, Scott Raczko. Webb signed a lucrative endorsement deal with Nike and moved back home to Fairfax, Virginia.

In 2003, he seemingly took another step backward, finishing seventh at the U.S. indoors and 10th outdoors. He was 10th in the Prefontaine mile, running five seconds slower than he did as a high schooler. The track zealots who inhabit Internet chat rooms were ready to write him off.

But Webb said he never lost faith. He likened his "slump" to the one Tiger Woods went through when he rebuilt his golf swing in the late 1990s.

"I knew that eventually things would come around," he said. "It was just a matter of time."
Webb's agent is Ray Flynn, a 3:49.77 miler for Ireland in the early 1980s. Flynn doesn't see this second round of great expectations as any trouble for his client.

"He's a much more mature athlete this time around, physically and mentally," Flynn said. "The expectations from 2001 were definitely premature, and coping with the media only added pressure. This time around, he is
more experienced and knows what he can do"

Flynn said Webb has a particularly mature approach to training.

"I admire how he leaves no stone unturned," Flynn said. "He was again the last one to leave the track in Eugene, spending an hour on a total warm-down after signing the last kid's autograph."
Webb doesn't regret running so fast in 2001, even if being the guy who broke Jim Ryun's unbeatable record created sky-high expectations.

"It was a life-changing experience," he said. "It opened up a lot of opportunties. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me."

The last American to win an Olympic gold medal in the men's 1,500 meters was Mel Sheppard in 1908. Ryun won a silver medal at the 1968 Olympics, victimized by Kip Keino and Mexico City's altitude. Assuming he gets through the Olympic Trials, Webb will face perhaps the greatest 1,500-meter man of all-time, Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj, a month later at the Olympic Games in Athens. It would be a stretch at this point to consider Webb in El Guerrouj's class, but he's closing the gap.

"I'm just trying to win races and run faster than I've ever run before," Webb said. "This is definitely a good time to be running well."