Haile Gebrselassie at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships (© © Allsport)
Haile Gebreselassie – last seen winning two golds at the World Indoor Championships in Japan, makes his outdoor debut on Sunday May 30 at the Adriaan Paulen Memorial in Hengelo (the Netherlands).
The Ethiopian will attempt to break the world record for 2 miles he set at the same venue two years ago.
On that occasion Gebrselassie had been offered a $1 million bonus to be the first man to clock less than 8 minutes – and missed by just 1.09 seconds. Hengelo has a special place in the Ethiopian’s heart as he is based in the Netherlands during the summer season and has been managed by a Dutch former world record holder Jos Hermans throughout his career.
Gebrselassie set his first world record in Hengelo in 1994 – 5000m in 12:56.96, and has tried for another every year since, which guarantees a full house at the Fanny Blankers Koen stadium. In 1995 he improved the 10,000m best to 26:43.53. In 1997 he successfully attacked the two miles and last year he set a phenomenal 10,000m mark of 26:22.75. His only "slip up" was in 1996, the year he won Olympic gold at 10,000m, when he ran 7:34.66 for 3000m, well outside the record of 7:25.11.
But aside from local hero Haile, Hengelo promises some exciting contests. In the women’s 400m hurdles, Romania’s European Champion Ionela Tirlea, so impressive in Maebashi where she won the 200m and in her races outdoors this season, takes on the 1995 World Champion Kim Batten. In the women’s 5000m, Kenya’s marathon ace Tegla Loroupe will test her track credentials against the likes of Anita Weyerman, the Swiss athlete who won bronze at 1500m in Athens 97 and Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, who won the European Challenge at 10,000m in Barakaldo last month. The men’s 800m features two talented South Africans: the Olympic silver medalist Hezekiel Sepeng and the rising star Johan Botha, who narrowly beat Wilson Kipketer to win the World Indoor Championships’ title in Maebashi.
Astrid Kumbernuss, the Olympic and World Champion in the shot put, continues her comeback after a period of maternity leave while her compatriot Tanja Damaske, the European champion, is the favourite in the women’s javelin.
