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Matt Centrowitz talks post-Olympic experience, 2017 goals

By Kevin Liao

May 7, 2017

How do you reset goals after achieving the pinnacle of track and field?

“Go out and try doing things I haven’t done before,” explained Matt Centrowitz, the 2016 Olympic 1500 meter gold medalist.

Life changed for Centrowitz after his triumph in Rio. Sponsor obligations that come with being a gold medalist, or what Centrowitz called “extracurricular things,” became a bigger part of his life, to the point that it impacted his training and race performances.

“It was tough at first coming off the high,” Centrowitz said after finishing second in a preliminary 5000 meter heat at the Payton Jordan Invitational. “I didn’t get the consistent base that I had the year before.”

After a few lackluster indoor races, Centrowitz decided to shut down his indoor campaign early. It wasn’t until then, with the outdoor season on the horizon, that Centrowitz was finally able to get over the Olympic haze.

His goals for 2017?

“I still haven’t gotten a world outdoor title and there are some times I want to get down,” Centrowitz said.

Some of those times include a possible chase of the 1500 meter American record, currently 3:29.30 held by Bernard Lagat.

“I just has to be the right opportunity,” Centrowitz said. “Hopefully Monaco presents itself.”

Centrowitz is off to altitude training in preparation for the Prefontaine Classic on May 27.

With his newfound stature, expect the former Oregon Duck to get an extra loud welcome at Hayward Field.

Some other notes from Payton Jordan:

  • The women’s 10,000 meters was a preview of what we could see at USA’s in a little under two months. Amy Cragg ran an impressive 31:17.20, her second fastest time ever, to finish in second place. Trailing her were Emily Sisson (31:32.53) and Kim Conley (31:35.88), both of whom set personal bests. Emily Infeld was also in the race but dropped out around four miles in what was a planned training session. Add in Molly Huddle, 2016 Olympian Marielle Hall, and Jordan Hasay coming off her blazing Boston Marathon finish, and the women’s 10k in Sacramento could be pretty damn fun to watch.
  • Edward Cheserek’s much hyped NCAA 5000 meter record chase turned out to be a flop. After a solid early pace, no one pushed the pace after the rabbit dropped out. As the lead group of four kicked with a lap to go, Cheserek was gapped, ultimately finishing seven seconds behind race winner Justyn Knight of Syracuse. We can acknowledge Cheserek’s greatness and also say this — he’s a great racer, not necessarily a great time trialer. And that’s totally okay. History has proven great championship runners who don’t have amazing PR’s (ahem, Mo Farah) tend to do just fine in their careers.
  • Gabe Grunewald’s inspiring journey continued at Stanford as she competed in her first race since the 2016 Olympic Trials. In that time, she discovered a recurrence of cancer in her liver, underwent surgery to remove the cancerous tumor last August, and then this March learned the surgery had not cleared all parts of the cancer. She’s now off to New York City to seek medical advice on her next steps. Her performance on Friday night — 4:20.17 for eighth place — was an afterthought. We’re all just amazed that she even made it to the starting line.

(Centrowitz photo: Erik Aguilar/@CSFMag)

Kevin Liao

Sacramento-based amateur runner, photographer and writer. Once interviewed Taoufik Makhloufi in French. Enjoys politics a lot. Follow him on Twitter @RunLiao.