New York – The 106th Millrose Games’ women’s 400 meters will comprise a golden trio of Olympic champions.
Their names especially should be familiar to Big Apple track & field followers as two are New York natives and the other has been at her best when competing in New York City.
Brooklyn-born Natasha Hastings and Mary Wineberg along with Francena McCorory, whose 50.06 at adidas Grand Prix at Icahn Stadium is a personal best, all have claimed Olympic gold medals in the 4x400m relay.
“This should be one of the most exciting and entertaining races of the meet,” said Dr. Norb Sander, Executive Director of the Armory Foundation.
Both Hastings and Wineberg were members of Team USA’s 4×400 gold medal team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Hastings, a grad of New York City’s A. Philip Randolph Campus High School and University of South Carolina, ran on a gold-medal relay at an IAAF global event five straight years (2007-11). Last year she took the 400m bronze in the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.
Last Saturday, Hastings established this year’s world-leading 400m time (52.11) at the Five Nations Match in Glasgow, Scotland. A handful of time zones away the same day at the Armory, Wineberg won the 400 meters in the New Balance Games just .01 seconds off Hastings’ pace.
Wineberg started her running career in New York innocently enough as a 4-year-old during a Block Party Street Race. Ever since then she’s been running to fame. The University of Cincinnati Hall of Fame sprinter – where she is a volunteer assistant track coach – hopes to use the Millrose Games as a pivotal springboard to the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
McCorory is the most recent 4×400 gold medal champ as she ran USA’s third leg in the 2012 Olympics in London that helped defeat runner-up Russia by more than three seconds. McCorory was a member of the 2011 USA gold-medal 4×400 squad during the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Her individual resume at Hampton University (Va.) includes an NCAA Outdoor championship and two Indoor titles. She ran 50.54 to break Diane Dixon’s 19-year-old NCAA indoor record with her 2010 win.
University of Arizona senior Georganne Moline no doubt will challenge the talented trio. Moline finished fifth in the 2012 Olympic 400-meter hurdles with a personal best 53.92.
The 106th Millrose Games will be the second stop of USA Track & Field’s nationally televised 2013 Indoor USATF Championship series. The meet will be delivered live on ESPN3 from 7-10 p.m. on February 16 and 8-10 p.m. February 17 on ESPN.
The USATF Championship Series also includes the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston Saturday (February 2) and the USATF Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque March 1-2.
Tickets to the 106th Millrose Games can be purchased online by going to the website link below and group sales can be completed by calling the Armory at 212.923.1803, at either extension 7010 or 7037.
MEDIA CREDENTIALS: Media covering the 106th Millrose Games need to apply online at http://www.armorytrack.com/Credential.
Go to www.millrose-games.org for further information on the Armory and Millrose Games and to www.usatf.org for further information on USA Track & Field.
