AP News, February 3rd, 2007
A woman who seems to defy time won at a track meet that has defined longevity.
Nineteen months after giving birth to a daughter, 40-year-old Gail Devers won the hurdles against a stellar field Friday night at the 100th Millrose Games.
Devers, who has not raced much competitively in the last two years, edged ahead of 2004 Olympic champion Joanna Hayes over the final two hurdles to win the 60-meter event. Also in the field were Devers' student, Danielle Carruthers, and defending world champion Perdita Felicien.
Devers won in 7.86 seconds, the best time in the world this season and just 0.12 off the U.S. record she set in 2003. Devers, a three-time world champion, now also has won three Millrose hurdles titles.
Hayes was second in 7.91 and Carruthers was third in 7.94.
Devers, who has never retired, made it clear she's not done yet.
"There's some work to be done, but I'm improving," she said. "I just took a year off to have my daughter. Until God tells me to stop, that's when I'm going to stop."
Devers stood back for about 5 seconds while the other hurdlers settled into their starting blocks. Then she slapped both thighs and raised her arms in the air, and joined the others.
Sixty meters later, she had defeated one of the best fields her event can offer _ and she brought the crowd to its feet at the 100th consecutive running of the Millrose Games, a feat few sporting events have been able to match.
American Brad Walker was the surprise winner of the men's pole vault, defeating Steven Hooker of Australia _ who is ranked No. 1 in the world. Each jumped 19 feet, 0 1/4 inches, but Walker had fewer misses.
Tirunesh Dibaba completed an impressive week, running away from the field on the final lap to win the women's 3,000.
The Ethiopian, who set a world record in the 5,000 six days earlier in Boston, pulled away from American Sarah Hall in the last 200 meters to win in 8 minutes, 46.58 seconds. Hall held on for second place in 9:01.22, nearly collapsing after crossing the finish line.
Dibaba, a bronze medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, stayed in second place for the first half of the 20-lap race, remaining on the heels of Hall. Dibaba took the lead with 10 laps to go, though Hall kept with her until the final lap.
The sound system at Madison Square Garden blared a chorus from "Carmina Burana" as she tried to get closer to world-record pace. Then it switched to "Mission Impossible" with two laps to go, but she did not get close to the record of 8:27.86.
