Colin Jackson wins fourth European 110m Hurdles title (© Getty Images)
The countdown to retirement has begun for World record holder (and two-time World champion) Colin Jackson of Great Britain. And there was no better way to begin the journey into the athletics' sunset than with a victory at the 9th TEAG Indoor meeting, last night (31 January).
Admittedly, his winning time of 7.58 on Friday night in Erfurt--his first in four appearances here--is not likely to end up occupying a significant page in Jackson's diary. After all, he has bettered that clocking a staggering 95 times in his indoor career.
Tonight's win wasn't even a clear victory, as Maurice Wignall of Jamaica was also given a spot atop the victory stand alongside Jackson with the same clocking, when the finish photo couldn't separate the two hurdlers.
But the Welshman's race indicated that he was not at all planning to limp out of the limelight. This is a serious season, all the way.
"It's inspiring," commented Jackson in conversation with the arena announcer. "Three thousand fans coming out on a night like tonight [after an all-day snow storm]. I wish I could go on longer."
Jackson added that he would make six more apperances during the short indoor season before the final curtain falls in Birmingham at the World Indoor Championships in mid-March.
When asked if he would consider going into coaching after his retirement, his answer was swift and definitive: "No way."
Sprint speed also figured significantly in two world-leading performances during the evening.
Double European Indoor 60m gold medallist Jason Gardener of Great Britain was the slowest out of the blocks in the 60 metres,
but he clawed his way back to the lead and won the race in this year's best of 6.52.
Asafa Powell of Jamaica (6.57), who had taken an early advantage, and veteran sprinter Eric Nkansah of Ghana (6.65) took the next two places.
James Beckford, who recently moved his European training base to a village near Erfurt, won the Long Jump with the season's best leap of 8.17. The Atlanta silver medallist was attacking the board with precision all evening, coming within a centimetre or two of the foul line on most attempts. In all, four of the Jamaican's five
legal jumps were eight metres or better.
American Dwight Phillips, who started the evening with a 6.59 win in a 60-metres heat, passed up a spot in the sprint final to concentrate on the Long Jump. Although he found himself chasing Beckford all evening, the pace set by the Jamaican led to a 8.09 season best for Phillips, who finished second.
The local headliner in Erfurt, as always, was Sydney 800-metres champion Nils Schumann. Running in the 1000 metres, the German patiently followed the pace of Kenyan Robert Chirchir before bolting to the lead with one lap remaining.
Glody Dube stayed glued to Schumann's shoulder as the pair charged down the final backstretch. Those few seconds gave the Botswanan just enough of an idea of Schumann's remaining reserve to plot his own final strategy. With 100 metres
remaining, Dube blasted forward to take the lead from Schumann and carried this advantage into the finish. The final times for the pair were a mediocre 2:22.04 and 2:22.32, but it was the kind of race Schumann had figured he could win.
"The pacemaker was too slow," he complained to the gathered press afterwards. "I made some mistakes on the final lap," he critiqued. "I should have been running faster at that point." Schumann will travel to Stuttgart for an 800-metres race on Sunday.
The Pole Vault competition had originally been scripted as an alternating men's and women's event. In an attempt to bring both competitons to a climax at the same time, the women were to have jumped at a height, followed by the men at a height.
That idea was abandoned when the respective start lists contained three female and eleven male jumpers. The wait between heights for the women would have been excruciating.
Co-world leader Annika Becker of Germany won the women's competition at 4.53, but not before giving a would-be indoor personal best 4.63 at least one good attempt.
The men's event also went to a German, as Tim Lobinger the reigning European Indoor champion, cleared 5.71 on his first
attempt, with Adam Ptacek of the Czech Republic taking second on misses at the same height, an indoor personal best.
Grit Breuer looked to be in good early-season form, as she overtook Jamaican Sandie Richards off the final bend in the women's 400 Metres to win, 52.22 to 52.69.
Karin Mayr of Austria easily won the women's 60 metres in 7.27, with Germany's Esther Moeller taking the next spot with 7.35.
An even bigger margin of victory was claimed by Jamaica's Lacena Golding-Clarke in the 60m Hurdles, as her 7.97 vastly outdistanced Astia Walker of the US (8.11) and Juliane Sprenger of Germany (8.12).
Ed Gordon for the IAAF
TEAG INDOOR 2003
Erfurt, Germany
31 January 2003
RESULTS (all GER except as noted):
MEN
60 METRES: 1. Gardener (GBR) 6.52 (world leader); 2. Powell (JAM) 6.57; 3. Nkansah (GHA) 6.65; 4. Moke (CGO) 6.67; 5. Predanic (SLO) 6.71; 6. Osei 6.82; 7. Ostwald 6.84; 8. O Koenig 6.89.
Heat 1: 1. Phillips 6.59; 2. Powell 6.63; 3. Nkansah 6.77; 4. Ostwald 6.85; 5. H Blume 6.92. Heat 2: 1. Gardener 6.54; 2. Moke 6.70; 3. Predanic 6.70; 4. Osei 6.83; 5. O Koenig 6.89.
400 METRES: Race 1: 1. Hackelbusch 47.05; 2. Goller 47.64. Race 2: 1. Clarke (JAM) 47.11; 2. Faller 47.14; 3. Vathistas (GRE) 48.46.
1000 METRES: 1. Dube (BOT) 2:22.04; 2. Schumann 2:22.32; 3. Sneberger (CZE) 2:23.31; 4. Kuehn 2:23.47; 5. Battani (MAR) 2:24.28; 6. Legath 2:26.89; 7. Co 2:27.25; 8. Stephan 2:27.29; 9. Jaworski 2:27.88. Pace: R Chirchir (KEN) 27.10, 57.10, 1:27.33, 1:56.04.
3000 METRES: 1. Tola (ETH) 7:54.41; 2. Proell (AUT) 7:55.40; 3. Buc (SLO) 7:55.97; 4. LeDauphin (FRA) 7:58.63; 5. Assmus 8:02.62; 6. Hedrit 8:17.42; 7.Preuk 8:20.04; 8. Foerster 8:20.68; 9. Wisniewski (POL) 8:21.70. Disqualified:
Schuetz. Pace: Sha Lagat (KEN): 2:34.87; 5:14.09.
60 METRES HURDLES: 1. Jackson (GBR) and Wignall (JAM) 7.58; 3. Lichtenegger (AUT) 7.63; 4. Fenner 7.68; 5. M de Souza (BRA) 7.72; 6. Blaschek 7.75; 7. Crews 7.77; 8. Hudec (AUT) 7.80.
Heat 1: 1. Wignall 7.64; 2. Lichtenegger 7.66; 3. M de Souza 7.76; 4. Crews 7.77; 5. Fenner 7.78; 6. Bitzi (SUI) 7.83; 7. Edorh 7.84; 8. Doskoczynski 7.98. Heat 2: 1. Jackson 7.63; 2. Blaschek 7.74; 3. Hudec 7.84; 4. Ross 7.93; 5. Schindzielorz 7.94; 6. Korving (NED) 8.09; 7. Monachon (SUI) 8.14.
POLE VAULT: 1. Lobinger 5.71; 2. Ptacek (CZE) 5.71; 3. Gorshkov (RUS) 5.61; 4.Buckfield (GBR) 5.61; 5. Spiegelburg 5.61; 6. Otto 5.51; 7. Stolle 5.51; 8. Gibilisco (ITA) 5.51; 9. Janacek (CZE) 5.31. No height: Yeremenko (UKR), at 5.31;
Boergeling, at 5.51.
LONG JUMP: 1. Beckford (JAM) 8.17 (world leader) [x - 8.00 - 7.97 - 8.12 - 8.17 - 8.05]; 2. Phillips (USA) 8.09 [x - x - 7.89 - 7.83 - 8.00 - 8.09]; 3. Gaisah (SLE) 7.98; 4. Zyuskov (UKR) 7.78; 5. Bigdeli 7.73; 6. Moudrik (MAR) 7.68; 7. S Mueller 7.50; 8. Marciniszyn (POL) 7.50; 9. Moede 7.47; 10. Pohle 7.26; 11. Dachev (BUL) 7.24; 12. Lampart (CZE) 7.15.
WOMEN
60 METRES: 1. Mayr (AUT) 7.27; 2. E Moeller 7.35; 3. B Mueller 7.40; 4. Dowdie (JAM) 7.42; 5. Wakan 7.57; 6. Habel 7.58; 7. S Moeller 7.59; 8. Moeckel 7.87.
400 METRES: Race 1: 1. Mishchenko (UKR) 54.01; 2. Hartmann 55.78; 3.Germann (AUT) 55.91. Race 2: 1. Marx 52.76; 2. Mahrarens 54.05; 3. Kette 54.24. Race 3: 1. Breuer 52.22; 2. Richards (JAM) 52.69; 3. Yefremova (UKR) 52.81.
800 METRES: 1. Meissner 2:03.87; 2. Hammon (MAR) 2:03.99; 3. Gurtovenko (UKR) 2:04.94; 4. Visschers (NED) 2:05.67; 5. Knippel 2:05.73; 6. John (TAN) 2:07.79; 7. J Becker 2:08.05; 8. Petersen (NOR) 2:08.28. Pace: Urbansky 29.63,
1:00.85, 1:32.58.
2000 METRES: 1. Schultz 5:56.65; 2. Schnurrenberger 6:11.94 (was first in the "junior" division); 3. K Moeller 6:23.35; 4. Moeldner 6:24.53; 5. Klawonn 6:24.87; 6. Mensing 6:25.20; 7. Peters 6:25.74; 8. Dreier 6:29.46. Disqualified: Viellehner.
60 METRES HURDLES: 1. Golding-Clarke (JAM) 7.97; 2. Walker (USA) 8.11; 3. Sprenger 8.12; 4. Machado (BRA) 8.19; 5. Krauel 8.19; 6. Davis (USA) 8.25; 7.Meyer 8.28; 8. Timm 8.31.
Heat 1: 1. Golding-Clarke 8.01; 2. Davis 8.30; 3. Krauel 8.32; 4. Timm 8.33; 5. A Meyer 8.35; 6. Woelfling (AUT) 8.38; 7. Klein 8.54. Heat 2: 1. Sprenger 8.13; 2. Walker 8.21; 3. Machado 8.29; 4. Rehwagen 8.37; 5. Komoll 8.46; 6. Krause 8.82.
POLE VAULT: 1. Becker 4.53 [4.13 - 4.33 - 4.43 - 4.53/3 - 4.63/xxx]; 2. Hamackova (CZE) 4.33; 3. Molnar (HUN) 4.33.