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By IAAF Staff / www.iaaf.org - real,- BERLIN-MARATHON thanks the IAAF for its
support
Surging into the penultimate bend in the men’s 1500m, El Guerrouj
quickly established a 10 metre lead which Lagat could never narrow. El Guerrouj
simply laid his cards on the table and asked the rest to follow with a better
suit but Lagat and the others had no better hand. The winning time for Guerrouj
was 3:29.96, a world season’s best, to Lagat’s 3:31.59 – his
season’s best - with France’s Mehdi Baala a distant third in a
respectable 3:33.55.
By the time the metric milers set foot on the track the weather conditions
had dramatically improved. Throughout the earlier part of the programme the
track glistened and sparkled as the rain poured into the Stade de France.
Romania’s Gabriela Szabo, the world 1500m and Olympic 5000m champion,
who has yet to decide whether to run the shorter or longer distance at the
European championships in Munich this August, started in the first track race,
the 3000m.
It was pace makers all the way until two laps to go when Szabo found herself
in the lead with Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere, the world indoor 3000m record
holder and runner-up to Szabo last week in Oslo at 5000m, on her shoulder. This
was how the situation stayed until the Romanian stepped up a gear with 300m to
go.
It was clear that this increase of pace would not be enough as Adere stayed
within a metre or two of her down the back straight. But as she entered the
final bend, Szabo sensed the danger, switched on cruise control and eased away
from the Ethiopian, opening up a 2-metre gap by the finish.
Szabo’s winning time was a dramatic improvement on her previous world
season’s lead (8:38.03) finishing here in 8:31.88, with Adere second
8:32.31 and Kenya’s Edith Masai third 8:33.94. Kayoko Fukushi’s
8:44.40 in 7th was a Japanese record.
The start list for the men’s 400m hurdles possessed all the right
ingredients: the Sydney Olympic champion, the Edmonton world champion and the
gold medallists from the previous two editions in 1999 and 1997. The race lived
up to its billing as Felix Sanchez, the world champion from the Dominican
Republic blasted out of the blocks, establishing an early lead which he was
never to relinquish.
This was only Sanchez’s second hurdles race of the season and it
confirmed he had been right to concentrate on his speed by running flat
400’s during the last month or so, as his pace was certainly not lacking
tonight. Sanchez’s time was 47.91 was way inside the previous world
season’s best of 48.02. Though his victory was never in doubt,
Britain’s Chris Rawlinson (2nd 48.26) and France’s Stephane Diagana
(3rd 48.28) did close down a little on him in a desperate battle for second
place.
“This may only be my second race of the year at 400m hurdles but I
already feel strong, “ said Sanchez, who also confirmed he had suffered
an injury earlier this year. But after two wins in a row over the world’s
best, he was now thankful for the enforced rest.
Minutes later the women’s one lap hurdles was won by Australia’s
reigning world junior champion Jana Pittman in 54.58 - a new personal best -
with Jamaica’s 1996 Olympic champion Deon Hemmings second in 54.64,
USA’s Sandra Glover third in 54.94 and 1999 world champion Daimi Pernia
of Cuba fourth in 55.24, all setting season’s bests. It is quite possible
that the 1, 2 positions here today will be replicated in a few weeks time when
Pittman and Hemmings travel to Manchester, England for the Commonwealth
Games.
Reuben Kosgei, the Kenyan world and Olympic steeplechase champion, finished
back in 5th place in a race won by Kenyan compatriot Ezekiel Kemboi in a
personal best of 8:10.11. Kemboi who is only 20 years old, lives and trains at
the IAAF High Performance Centre in Eldoret, Kenya, and was the victor in the
Lausanne Grand Prix.
The steeplechase was particularly well received by the Paris crowd as
finishing second behind the young Kenyan was Bouabdallah Tahri, whose 8:10.83
establishes him as the firm favourite for European gold in Munich this summer.
His time was the continental season’s lead by some seven seconds.
The start of the women’s 100 metres coincided with a heavy downpour
which turned the well-roofed Stade de France into a shower cubical for the
Olympic champion Marion Jones. But she determinedly ignored the wet conditions
winning in an impressive 10.89 world season’s best in a negligible wind
(+0.1 m/s). Jamaica’s Tayna Lawrence, second in 11.04, and
America’s Chryste Gaines, third in 11.06, also ran superbly considering
the conditions.
Two defeats in three days at the end of last week was not on the
season’s schedule of 100m world record holder, Olympic and world champion
Maurice Greene who has ruled the roost of men’s sprinting since taking
his first world title in 1997. Greene had sat out the Lausanne Grand Prix on
Tuesday but came to Paris knowing he would not be facing his Oslo and Sheffield
conqueror Britain’s Dwain Chambers, who sustained a shoulder injury
during those two encounters with Greene.
Greene was in no mood to let his defeat streak run any further and like
Jones in the women’s straight sprint, put his head down and drove through
the rain to a solid 9.99 win. If anyone thinks the king has lost his crown,
then they have under-estimated Greene who doesn’t look set to leave
centre stage yet.
Behind Greene, Bernard Williams came second in 10.03. Following both
Americans over the line was one of the three British sprinters who beat both
Greene and Williams last Sunday in Sheffield, world junior champion Mark
Lewis-Francis who ran a legal 10.04 PB here for third (+0.4 m/s).
The sprint hurdlers also said ‘boo’ to the weather, with three
time world champion Gail Devers keeping her Golden League Jackpot quest on
track with a 12.56 victory. World champion Anjanette Kirkland clocked a
season’s best of 12.63, while Jamaica’s Bridgette Foster was third
with 12.68. All nine starters broke 13 seconds - the first time ever in the
same race.
In the men’s 110m hurdles, Cuba’s Olympic champion Anier Garcia
was the emphatic winner in 13.14, dominating Terrence Trammell (2nd 13.28) and
Yoel Hernandez (13.42), as well as Britain’s world record holder Colin
Jackson (4th 13.44) and USA’s world champion Allen Johnson (7th
13.72).
Romania’s Maria Cioncan, who won in Oslo, foundered in her bid to stay
on the trail of the Golden League Jackpot which requires seven wins from seven
meetings. The USA’s Nicole Teter just outpaced her, winning in 4:05.52 to
the Romanian’s 4:05.64. Violeta Szekely, who won all seven Golden League
events last summer for a share of the Jackpot, was never in the hunt, finishing
back in 13th 4:10.94. What a difference a year makes!
In the men’s 5000m, Kenya’s Benjamin Limo who won his first
Golden League meet in Oslo a week ago and also took the victory in Lausanne,
was not prepared to let his Jackpot chances disappear. Entering the final 100m
in 4th place, Limo sprinted past the leaders to win from Morocco’s
Abderrahim Gourmi 13:03.17 and Mohammed Amyn 13:03.80 (both personal bests) in
13:02.34.
With all the rain the approach to the high jump and pole vault bars, triple
jump pit and javelin runway looked perilous for all concerned.
Of these four events the triple jump runway was the driest as it was
slightly under the stadium roof and the 15 competitors made good use of the
weather protection. Cuba’s Alexander Martinez and Britain’s world
record holder Jonathan Edwards passed 17 metres in the first round with the
former leading with 17.10m. Sweden’s European indoor champion Christian
Olsson took the event by the scuff of the neck in round two with 17.32 and
improved to 17.60 with his third. Both Martinez and Edwards improved to 17.20
and 17.40 respectively in the same round.
However, the British World and Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards was not
going to let his route to the Golden League Jackpot be blocked by the Swede and
in the fourth produced a massive 17.75m (+1.1m/s) to slap down the
challenge.
Edwards’ riposte was enough to dampen Olsson’s resolve on a wet
and cold evening and though Martinez improved to 17.32 in the fifth, Edwards
leap had killed the opposition and effectively ended the competition.
Sweden’s world indoor high jump champion Kajsa Bergqvist, who had
jumped to a new personal best and world lead of 2.04 in Lausanne on Tuesday,
kept up her form with a third time clearance at 1.97 but couldn’t
progress past 2.02. However, 1.97 was good enough to beat Russia’s
European indoor champion Marina Kuptsova and South Africa’s world
champion Hestrie Cloete, who finished joint second having taken 1.95 on their
second attempts.
Following the earlier victory by Marion Jones in the 100m, there were two
longer women’s sprints towards the end of the programme in Paris, the
200m and 400m. The former ended with another American victory taken this time
by Kelli White (22.56) from France’s double European indoor champion
Muriel Hurtis (22.74), and a second Golden League victory for Mexico’s
Ana Guevara in a world season’s best of 50.00 seconds.
Two other Golden League contenders who failed at this second meeting
‘hurdle’ were USA’s Tim Mack in the pole vault (4th 5.55) and
women’s javelin world champion Cuba’s Osleidys Menendez (2nd
64.29). Their vanquishers were France’s Romain Mesnil (5.65) and
Russia’s Tatyana Shikolenko (64.59) respectively.