Just like for much of his professional career, the weight of the world was on Alan Webb’s shoulders at the 2004 Olympic Trials.

Webb was on fire early that season, notching major victories in the Ostrava 1500 meters in a personal best time of 3:32.74 and at Prefontaine Classic in a mile PR of 3:50.87, making himself the prohibitive favorite to not just make his first Olympic team but to win the Trials.

In typical Webb fashion, he went straight to the front, but not in all that fast of an early pace — 59.1 at 400 meters and 1:57.2 at 800 meters. From there, Webb put in a MASSIVE surge to open up a 20 meter lead over the span on a single straightaway. It was quite a remarkable move that signaled Webb was a man among boys in the field he was racing.

Final results:

  1 Alan Webb                    Nike                   3:36.13
  2 Charlie Gruber               Nike                   3:38.45
  3 Rob Myers                    Unattached             3:38.93
  4 Christopher Lukezic          Unattached             3:40.05
  5 Jason Lunn                   Nike                   3:40.81
  6 Nathan Robison               Unattached             3:40.99
  7 Donald Sage                  Stanford               3:41.26
  8 Said Ahmed                   Arkansas               3:42.77
  9 Christopher Estwanik         Nike Farm Team         3:43.03
 10 Zachary Griffin              Nike Farm Team         3:43.38
 11 Michael Stember              Nike                   3:47.42
 12 Scott McGowan                New Balance            3:49.50

Webb, however, was unable to carry that fitness on throughout the summer. He ultimately failed to advance past the 1500 meter first round in Athens.