Webb rebounds at perfect time

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Alan Webb heard his naysayers and began to doubt himself.

Two years without a breakthrough, two years of sub-par performances and two years of constant criticism are difficult enough to withstand for an experienced athlete, let alone someone recently out of high school.

Webb was anointed the future of American middle distance running as a high school athlete in 2001 when he surpassed the decades-old national prep mile record.

“Regardless of what those people were saying, those thoughts crossed my mind,” he said last week. “Maybe I was a fluke. Just because at a lot of points last year I thought things were going to start turning around, and I don’t understand what’s going on. What am I doing here?

“I consider myself a pretty persistent person. I kept running, and now that everything’s starting to go my way, in the future it will make things easier. It was a good lesson for me to learn. You just have to be persistent and keep running.”

That’s what Webb did. And in a matter of eight weeks this spring and summer, he went from not-quite to Olympic contender.

He strides into tonight’s quarterfinals of the 1,500 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials a huge favorite. So much so that none of his closest competitors recently has run within five seconds of his personal record of 3 minutes, 32.73 seconds. That is the sixth-best U.S. mark all time, set in a meet in the Czech Republic on June 8.

Only David Krummenacker, who’s questionable after finishing a disappointing fourth in the 800 on Monday, is in Webb’s class. The semifinals are tomorrow, and the finals Sunday.

“Just [running in] the meet is a huge, huge step in my career,” said Webb, who resides and trains in Northern Virginia. “Making the Olympic team has been a goal of mine since I started sports when I was 6 years old. That would mean more to me than just about anything else I could accomplish in track.

“In terms of my preparation, I’m trying to keep my mind off it as much as I possibly can. It’s a little bit draining. It’s a big, big, big thing. It’s a big responsibility to have to go out and perform with such a big title on the line — United States Olympian. That’s something nobody can ever take away from you. You can be a former world record holder, but you’re always an Olympian.”

At the end of 2003, however, the Olympics seemed like a long shot for Webb. Two years removed from his moment of fame as a senior at South Lakes High School in Reston — the 3:53.43 mile at the Prefontaine Classic that broke Jim Ryun’s 36-year-old mark — Webb had made little if any progress.

He chose to go to Michigan instead of turning pro and earned All-American honors by finishing 11th at the NCAA cross country championships. An Achilles’ tendon injury forced him to redshirt his indoor season, and his times during outdoor suffered as he recovered. In fact, he ran a 3:59.82 1,600 meters (just short of a mile) to anchor Michigan’s distance medley at the 2002 Penn Relays, a time not close to his high school marks.

When the school year ended, Webb left the Wolverines, returned to Northern Virginia and turned pro, signing an endorsement deal with Nike. He enrolled at George Mason — only as a student — and began training again with his high school coach, Scott Raczko.

“I think in the long term it was just the thing for me to do,” Webb said. “It just didn’t work out, which is OK. I’m not the first person to transfer to a different school.”

The change didn’t help, at least not right away. Webb barely made the final of the 1,500 at last year’s U.S. outdoor championships and finished 10th. Then, less than a month later, his season was ended by an appendectomy, and any dreams of the Olympics were just that — dreams.

As Webb recovered, Ryun, now a Republican congressman from Kansas, lent some encouragement.

“He was one of the ones who would always say, ’Take your time, things will come, you’re real young and just be patient,’” Webb said. “Patience was the general theme.”

Webb turned his attention to cross country races to start the year, finishing fourth at the U.S. championships in February. His confidence began to return.

“We just were very consistent with our training. Just slowly but surely getting faster and faster,” Webb said.

He won the 5,000 meters at Penn Relays in April, but his breakthrough came at the Home Depot Invitational in Carson, Calif., in May, where he beat a decent field to win the 1,500 in a personal best 3:35.71. He followed that with a 3:33.70 in his first overseas race in Hengelo, Netherlands, on May 31 before running what was then the top time in the world this year in the Czech Republic.

At this year’s Prefontaine, Webb erased any doubts about his improvement by shattering his mile mark from three years ago with a 3:50.95 against no competition, good for eighth on the all-time U.S. mile list and the fastest mile ever by an American on American soil.

“I was just very, very happy to finally see myself running the way I envisioned myself running,” Webb said. “It was just a big burden lifted off of me.”

Those times have renewed expectations Webb finally will become America’s next middle distance great.

“Some kid at a clinic I did two months ago asked me about Alan Webb, and I said I thought his career was over,” said Steve Scott, a three-time Olympian who set the U.S. record in the mile with a 3:47.69 in 1982, when he was 26. “And then the very next day, he runs 3:35 at Home Depot. He’s been able to race from the front, the middle and the back both in Europe and in the United States. He basically ran a time trial alone with the rabbit at Prefontaine. All the ingredients are there. He’s definitely made me a believer.”

Webb’s work ethic also has made a believer of former Georgetown runner Steve Holman, who was America’s top middle distance runner in the 1990s.

“I think Webb will go under 3:30 this year,” said Holman, a project manager for an investment firm. “I heard about his workouts, the last hard one before the trials, and he’s ready. It was impressive: 12 400-meter intervals, very fast. I could never have done that workout. And he wasn’t even pushing it, I’ve been told. I’m a big fan of his.”

Anything close to Holman’s prediction would break the Olympic trials record of 3:35.15, set by Scott in 1980.

“Our philosophy is that if you run to win, you’ll run fast,” Webb said. “But there’s no secret that championship races tend to go a little slower and be tactical. But some of those guys are going to at least try to go after [the Olympic qualifying standard]. It’s going to be really interesting.”

Even if Webb makes the team, a medal would be a stretch. Twelve runners have beaten his personal best since June.

“His focus shouldn’t be on the Americans,” Holman said. “He’s taken it to the next level. … He’s so fit, so healthy. There is no doubt he will qualify for the Olympics this year. I’m a believer now.”

Webb seems to be taking it all in stride.

“I’m extremely proud to be able to put an American up there at the top of the list,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s a neat feeling to know that I’m young. I plan to be at more than one Olympic Games. There’s no time constraint. I can tell you right now, if I make the Olympic final and it comes down to the last 100 meters, I’m going to put everything I can on the line. But it’s nice to know I have time.”

• The Associated Press contributed to this article.