News Archive

In Paris last Saturday (8),

Olympic champion Meseret Defar had set the agenda, now tonight it was the World

title holder Tirunesh Dibaba who was dictating the tactics, and as a result we

were treated to another splendid last lap sprint between the two petite

Ethiopians in the women’s 5000m.

Whereas a week ago Defar

had set out her stall and let the World champion make a counter attack, tonight

Dibaba never allowed the World record holder to get her nose in front. The bell

sounded with 13:55 on the clock, and soon after Defar’s pursuit

of Dibaba began, as both women kicked. Defar never came closer than about 5

metres of her compatriot, with Dibaba showing a fleet turn of speed to close on

the finish in 14:52.37, with Defar second in 14:53.51. The top-8 broke 15

minutes.

Koech impressive;

American record broken after 21 years!

An impressive solo effort

following the heels of the designated pacemakers brought Olympic bronze

medallist Paul Kipsiele Koech of Kenya a sub-8mins clocking of 7:59.94,

second only to World champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen’s 7:56.32 in Athens on 3 July. Koech was followed home

by the third, fourth and fifth quickest times of the summer from fellow Kenyans

Richard Matelong (8:07.50) and Olympic silver medallist Brimin Kipruto

(8:08.32), and Morocco’s Abdelkader Hachlaf (8:08.78 PB). In 5th was an

American record for USA’s Daniel Lincoln, his time of

8:08.82 improving on Henry Marsh’s ancient mark of 8:09.17 established back on 28

August 1985.

Bekele comfortably

shows heels to Shaheen and Songok

Ten men went under 13

minutes in the 5000m outlining the quality of the race but the real story was

not about times it was about a three-way battle for middle distance running

supremacy. Kenenisa Bekele, the World record holder, came out on-top in 12:51.44,

the second fastest time of the summer. He had gone marginally quicker when

winning in Paris last week (12:51.32).

The victory was what was

important tonight, as the Ethiopian’s finishing burst was able to see off

double World Steeplechase champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Bahrain, whose 12:51.98 was an Asian

record, and