Princeton University Athletics
Cabral 10th in the Steeplechase at Worlds
August 25, 2015 | Men's Cross Country, Men's Track and Field
Results l FloTrack Interview Aug 22 l Video of Final l LetsRun Interview Aug 24
- story courtesy of HepsTrack
At the 2012 London Olympics, Donn Cabral made waves by leading the opening laps of the men's steeplechase final. In addition, Cabral was one of two American men in that final – a record for Team USA at the Olympics. He ended up finishing in 8th place with a time of 8:25.91.
Earlier today, Cabral did almost a visual repeat of the Olympic final in the IAAF World Championship steeplechase final. Within 1.5 laps into the race, Cabral was in the front of the 12-person pack, dictating the pace with Kenya's Conseslus Kipruto and doing his best to avoid any physical contact with the other athletes like he experienced in the qualifying heats. They went through the 1st 1,000m in 2:49.50 (note – faster than the Olympic final, which he led through in 2:52.70 for the first 1,000m). But shortly after that time was posted, Kipruto's comrade Jarius Kipchoge Birech began to surge, thinning out the pack and forcing Cabral to drop back. Cabral tried to stay with the main pack, but he kept falling back – he was sitting in 8th place at the 2,000m mark and dropped to 9th at the bell. He tried to pick up the speed during the bell lap, but he ultimately finished in 10th place with a time of 8:24.94. Cabral was not pleased with his overall performance as he shared with Letsrun.com that he “just didn't have the legs to do what I wanted to do today.”
But there are two takeaways that are worth noting. While the finish was lower than what he had done at the 2012 Olympics, his time was faster almost a second. Also, Team USA had their best ever performance in the steeplechase as Cabral joined Dan Huling (5th – 8:14.39) and Evan Jager (6th – 8:15.47) in the top 10.
Kenya ended up sweeping the top four spots, led by the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi in 8:11.28.