News31 Jan 2004


2003 IAAF Grand Prix Review – Part Two

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Kenenisa Bekele takes a short turn at the front in the Hengelo 10,000m (© Detlef Moritz Abebe)

Mel Watman of “Athletics International” continues his review of the 2003 IAAF Grand Prix series –

Part Two: June

June 1, Hengelo, Netherlands
(Grand Prix)

For some time Haile Gebrselassie had been singing the praises of his young Ethiopian compatriot Kenenisa Bekele, predicting that one day the double double world cross country champion  would succeed him as a world record holder on the track … but the man many judge as the greatest ever distance runner had not bargained on the 20 year-old getting the better of him at 10,000m just yet. Bekele was equally surprised. He had simply been hoping for a quick time in his 10,000m track debut at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games, but he ended up on a hot and sticky evening outkicking his idol, 26:53.70 to 26:54.58, thanks to a sub-56 sec last lap. Another precocious talent, James Kwalia (18) from Kenya, trimmed the world junior mile record to 3:50.39, while at the other end of the age scale the Bermuda-born Dutchman Troy Douglas (40) clocked 10.42 for 100m into a 2.2m wind for a world masters record.

June 3, Milan, Italy
(Grand Prix II)

Few would have predicted it at the time, but two of the winners at the Notturna di Milano meeting would eventually emerge as world champions. Djabi Saïd-Guerni, the Algerian bronze medallist at the 1999 World Championships and 2000 Olympics, took the 800m in 1:45.49 and world junior cross country champion Eliud Kipchoge led home six other Kenyans in a 13:11.01 5000m. There was a strong Kenyan presence also in the 1500m but that race went to the Ukrainian revelation Ivan Heshko, whose pre-2003 best was 3:37.07 but here ran 3:33.67 for a national record he was later to trim to 3:32.01.

June 6, Turin, Italy
(Grand Prix II)

Sharpening up for his senior debut at 5000m in Ostrava six days later, Hicham El Guerrouj opened his season in characteristically impressive fashion at the Primo Nebiolo Memorial. Ticking off the kilometres in 2:30.4, 2:32.1 and 2:27.7 he clocked 7:30.23 for 3000m, winning by 70 metres. The sole Italian victory of the meeting, staged in memory of the late IAAF President, came from Magdelin Martínez, who triple jumped 14.77m for a national record. The men’s triple jump also yielded a world class result as Walter Davis reached a wind assisted 17.46m with his only valid effort.

June 7, Seville, Spain
(Grand Prix)

The Andalusian city lived up to its reputation as one of the hottest spots in Europe with the thermometer reaching a sweltering 38ºC, and there were some sizzling performances to match at the Meeting de Atletismo Sevilla. Marc Raquil unleashed his ungainly but undeniably effective finishing surge to take the 400m in a French record of 44.80, Wilfred Bungei followed up his world-leading 1:43.05 800m in Hengelo with a 1:43.62 victory over Yuriy Borzakovskiy (1:43.93), and other highlights included a 69.62m discus throw by Róbert Fazekas, an Italian women’s hammer record of 70.30m by Ester Balassini and a two metre high jump by 35 year-old Inga Babakova, a height she has attained in 11 of the past 12 years.

June 7, Palo Alto, USA
(Grand Prix II)

The strength of women’s high jumping in the USA was apparent at the Oracle US Open as, for the first time ever, four Americans cleared 1.95m or higher. The winner was the 1.88m tall Amy Acuff. Her jump of 1.97m was her best for two years, yet she won only on countback against Karol Rovelto (formerly Damon/Jenkins) who first equalled her personal best of 1.93m before improving to 1.95m and 1.97m. A 9.94 100m six days earlier had suggested Maurice Greene was on his way to recapturing his speed of old, but he suffered another of many setbacks by being shunted into third place over 200m in 20.43 behind J J Johnson (20.26) and John Capel (20.42).

June 8, Tula, Russia
(Grand Prix II)

The only notable men’s result at the Znamenskiy Memorial was an 81.04m hammer delivery by Ivan Tikhon, who would have only two more competitions (83.64m in the Belarus Championships and 84.32m in Minsk) prior to claiming the world title. The women’s events were more productive as Natalya Khrushchelyova ran 1:58.05 for 800m, Yelena Zadorozhnaya 4:03.58 for 1500m (with Tatyana Tomashova, destined to become world champion, a distant third in 4:06.28) and Olga Kuzenkova threw the hammer 71.38m.

June 10, Bratislava, Slovakia
(Grand Prix II)

Top male performers at the Cena Slovenska meeting were Alleyne Francique, winner of the 400m in 45.01, and Dragutin Topic, who did not attempt anything higher after jumping 2.31m. On the women’s side, the 2001 world champion Amy Mbacke Thiam ran 51.15 for 400m and her compatriot from Senegal, Kéné Ndoye, set a national triple jump record of 14.44m although that was still far short of her 14.72m when placing third in the World Indoor Championships.

June 12, Ostrava, Czech Republic
(Super Grand Prix)

Watched by a capacity crowd, the Golden Spike meeting was the occasion for Hicham El Guerrouj’s long awaited “debut” at 5000m. True, he had been bronze medallist at that distance in the 1992 World Junior Championships (13:46.79), behind Haile Gebrselassie and Ismael Kirui, but he had just turned 18 then; now he was 28 and the greatest 1500m/mile runner the world has ever seen. Sure enough he made a brilliant start, a time of 12:50.24 ranking him seventh on the all-time list … but he didn’t win the race for the Emil Zátopek Trophy. Ahead of him in a staggering 12:48.81, a time bettered only by Gebrselassie and Daniel Komen, was the world’s top steeplechaser, Stephen Cherono. The 20 year-old Kenyan (as he was then), whose previous best was 13:11.55, sped away from the Moroccan off the final bend. It was a great meeting for the Kenyans as Wilfred Bungei (1:43.24 800m), Cornelius Chirchir (3:31.17 1500m) and Ezekiel Kemboi (8:06.19 steeplechase) all notched up fine victories. Alesya Turova won the women’s steeplechase in 9:20.28, second only to her world record.

June 15, Villeneuve d’Ascq (Lille), France
(Grand Prix)

Three of France’s brightest medal prospects for the World Championships two months hence showed top form at the Meeting du Nord. Manuela Montebrun flung the hammer  out to a French record of 74.50m and had a second best (73.19m) which was also beyond anything achieved by Yipsi Moreno (71.59m); Christine Arron – just under a year after giving birth to a son – clocked her fastest 100m time for three years with 11.08; and 1500m hope Mehdi Baala displayed an enviable turn of speed to win the 800m in his second fastest ever time of 1:44.17. Kéné Ndoye added no less than 40cm to her Senegalese triple jump record with 14.91m and Svetlana Feofanova failed at the world record height of 4.82m after vaulting 4.72m.

June 24, Trikala, Greece
(Super Grand Prix)

Transferred from Athens to Trikala while the Olympic Stadium is being renovated, the Tsiklitiria Meeting featured the best ever in-depth women’s pole vault contest. Svetlana Feofanova had a perfect card (4.40m, 4.50m, 4.60m, 4.70m) until missing three times at a world record 4.83m, and for the first time four women cleared 4.60m or higher, six made at least 4.50m and 12 went over 4.30m. The women’s triple jump was outstanding too as both Yamilé Aldama and Tatyana Lebedeva registered 15.00m, the Cuban-born athlete winning by virtue of her second best distance (14.98m to 14.92m), and in the men’s long jump Dwight Phillips leapt a personal best of 8.44m just four days after claiming the US title some 7000 miles away in California.

June 29, Prague, Czech Republic
(Grand Prix II)

The Josef Odlozil Memorial is a meeting dedicated to a notable  runner, but it was a field event – the men’s hammer – which attracted most attention. With his final two throws Koji Murofushi despatched the implement 84.86m (a Japanese and Asian record) and 84.80m, the world’s longest throws since 1988. Only Yuriy Sedykh (world record holder at 86.74m) and his then Soviet colleague Sergey Litvinov (best of 86.04m) have ever exceeded Murofushi’s marks. It was some competition as Adrian Annus threw 82.73m and Libor Charfreitag a Slovakian record of 81.81m; in all the 80m line was surpassed ten times.


Click here for the 2003 Grand Prix section

Click here for the 2003 World Athletics Final 

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