Alan Webb
Born Jan. 13, 1983
Career Highlights: 2004 Olympic Trials 1,500m champion; National high
school record holder for indoor mile, outdoor mile and 1,500m; 2001 Big
Ten Conference Cross Country champion; 2002 Big Ten 1,500m champion
Webb earned the world-class status he promised as a high schooler by
winning four major races in 2004: the Home Depot Invitational,
the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, CZE, the Nike Prefontaine Classic.
His time of 3:32.73 at Ostrava (at that time) was the second fastest in
the world in the 1,500m that year, while his 3:50.85 from the Pre
Classic was the world’s fastest mile (at that time) in 2004. Webb
set a personal best at the following outdoor competitions in 2004: Home
Depot – 3:35.71; Hengelo- 3:33.70; Ostrava – 3:32.72; and
Prefontaine – 3:50.85. His 800-meter time of 1:46.53, run June 5
in Seville, was also a personal best. His win at the Olympic Trials
provided final vindication for him as the top American middle-distance
runner. The Olympics was a learning experience, as tactical errors
prevented him from advancing out of the first
round…”stupid, stupid, stupid,” he said of his race.
A high school phenom after breaking Jim Ryun’s prep mile record
for sophomores in 1999, Webb in 2001 became an internationally heralded
athlete. At the New Balance Games in January, Webb’s mile time of
3:59.86 seconds at New York City’s Armory made him the first
American high school miler ever to run under four minutes indoors. At
the Prefontaine Classic May 27 in Eugene, Ore., a well-paced race and a
final lap of 55.3 seconds enabled Webb to run a 3:53.43 in the Bowerman
Mile, breaking the national HS record of 3:55.3 that was set by Jim
Ryun 36 years earlier. Equally impressive was that Webb finished fifth
overall in a star-studded international field…Webb’s
splits at 400m and 800m were 58.1 and 1:57.8
respectively…”It was the most exhilarating experience of
my life,” said Webb…Webb’s performance was the
fastest mile time by an American on U.S. soil since 1998, and made him
the 19th-fastest American in history. Webb’s success has caught
the attention of current track and field stars. In the wake of his
performance in Eugene, Webb appeared on the “Today Show”,
the “Early Show,” “Good Morning America” and
other national media outlets…news of his feat also made page A-1
of the New York Times…Followed up his run at Prefontaine by
winning the Virginia state HS 800m title in 1:47.74 to become the
fourth-fastest high schooler ever at the distance…also ran 47.4
for his leg of South Lakes HS’s 4x400m relay at the state
meet…during the summers Webb worked at the shoe store his high
school coach, Scott Raczko, managed (Footsteps) in Reston,
Virginia…as a freshman at the University of Michigan in Ann
Arbor, the school started charging admission to events he competed in
that were previously free…after winning the Big Ten Conference
cross country title in 2001, Webb was named the Big Ten’s Athlete
of the Year for cross country and later placed 11th at the NCAA Cross
Country Championships…an Achilles injury forced him to sit out
the 2002 indoor track season…he bounced back to win the Big Ten
Outdoor Championships 1,500m and placed fourth in the 1,500m at the
NCAA Championships…Webb left the University of Michigan in June
of 2002 to turn professional and be coached again by his high school
mentor Scott Raczko…Webb is continuing his collegiate education
at George Mason University…enjoys playing the guitar in his
spare time…Webb’s father Steven is an economist for the
World Bank. His mother Katherine is a speech pathologist…a
former competitive swimmer in the breaststroke, he credits the sport
for building his strength and his cardiovascular system without the
wear and tear on his legs…known for going out for ice cream the
night before his sub-4 miles in high school.
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