Jenny Simpson\’s record-setting win earns her USATF Athlete of the Week – USA Track & Field – News

Jenny Simpson (Oviedo, Florida) won the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile Sunday for a record sixth time, equaling PattiSue Plumer's event record of 4:16.6 to lead five women under the 4:20 mark.

Simpson, who was the 1500m silver medalist at the IAAF World Championships in London last month, finished one second ahead of Britain's Laura Weightman and picked up $5,000 for her victory

Ben Blankenship was the top American man in third, crossing the line in 3:52.3. Full results can be found here.

Other notable performances:

• Galen Rupp won the USATF men's 20K road title in 59:04 with a lean at the tape to edge 2016 champion Leonard Korir.

• Jordan Hasay captured the women's title at the USATF 20K championships in 66:35, 1:13 ahead of runner-up Aliphine Tuliamuk, the reigning champion.

• Courtney Okolo won two events to lead Team USATF to the title at the DécaNation meet in Angers, France. Okolo won the 200m in 23.41 and added the 400m gold in 51.96 as the U.S. squad scored 122 points to beat runners-up France by 19.

• Matthew Forgues won the USATF 40K race walk title by more than nine minutes in 3:24:27 at Owego, New York.

• Dave Talcott was the masters 40K walk champion in 3:51:57. The 57-year-old was also one of the event organizers, and did much of the set-up on the course.

• Laura Bruess set a women's 55-59 American record in the 25,000m with a time of 1:54:05.7 at the USATF Oregon championships. She set four other American records along the way, breaking the 1 hour, 15,000m, 10 mile, and 20,000m records.

Now in its 16th year, USATF's Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week.

2017 Winners: January 5, Miranda Melville; January 12, Leonard Korir; January 19, Jordan Hasay; January 26, Keni Harrison; February 2, Michael Wardian; February 9, Mikey Brannigan; February 16, Ajee' Wilson; February 23, Kathy Martin; March 2, Keturah Orji; March 9, Noah Lyles; March 16, Christian Walker; March 23, Allen Woodard; March 30, Bob Lida; April 6, Anna Rohrer; April 12, Sydney McLaughlin; April 19, Ben True; April 26, Jordan Hasay; May 3, Clayton Murphy; May 10, Gwen Berry; May 17, Christian Coleman; May 24, Joe Kovacs; May 31, Christian Taylor; June 7, Sydney McLaughlin; June 14, Christian Coleman; Tianna Bartoletta, June 21; Ryan Crouser, June 28; Sam Kendricks, July 6; Allyson Felix, July 12; Julia Hawkins, July 19; Ajee' Wilson, July 26; Kayla Davis, August 2; Justin Gatlin, August 9; Emma Coburn, August 16; Jarrion Lawson, August 23; Kevin Castille, August 30; Darrell Hill, September 6; Jenny Simpson, September 13.

We welcome your nominations!

To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about his/her performance to communications@usatf.org.

Fans can follow along with #USATF on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook.

USA Track & Field – News