Steve Mullings on his way to victory in Rovereto (© Daniele Mosna)
Rovereto, ItalyJamaican sprinters dominated the sprints in the 45th edition of the Palio della Quercia in Rovereto yesterday (1). Sherone Simpson ran 11.04 in the women’s 100 metres, one of the few wind aided marks of a meeting generally dominated by headwinds, conditions which Lerone Clarke and Steve Mullings ignored to set new meeting records in the men’s 100 metres heats.
The Palio della Quercia in Rovereto is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece.
A brand new Mondo track which was inaugurated before the start of the official programme and some interesting results were produced on the new surface.
Two heats were held in both the women’s and men’s 100 metres. The top three from each heat plus the two fastest losers advanced to the final.
Kelly Ann Baptiste from Trinidad and Tobago, who reached the semifinal at the World Championships in Berlin, clocked 11.39 (headwind -1.7 m/s) in the first heat. Olympic silver medallist Sherone Simpson ran the fastest time of the two heats with 11.22 (headwind -1.1 m/s), which was just 0.07 sec. off her seasonal best set in Padua on Sunday (30).
In the final Simpson confirmed that she is coming back to her best form after undergoing surgery last autumn, winning in 11.04 with a tailwind of +2.8 m/s. Baptiste clocked 11.10 for second place, while third went to Briton Emma Ania with 11.21. Jamaican World championships finalist Aleen Bailey took fourth in 11.23.
“I did not expect this fast race today”, admitted a very happy Simpson. “I am leaving to go to Brussels tomorrow to run the 100 metres on Friday.”
Mullings lowers meet mark to 10.05
In the men’s 100 metres, Jamaican sprinters showed impressive form from the heats. Lerone Clarke (PB 9.98 from winning B-race in Zürich) clocked 10.11 into a headwind (-1.1 m/s) and so improved the meeting record held by Asafa Powell since 2002. But then in the second heat Steve Mullings, who was fifth in the World champs 200m, lowered the mark again to 10.05 (-1.2 m/s) beating Antigua and Barbuda’s Brendan Christian (10.29).
The headwinds did not abate for the final and -1.5 m/s breeze slowed the participants with Mullings running 10.07, edging Clarke, 10.13.
“I was prepared for a fast time. The headwind was strong and the track was a bit soft. The crowd were fantastic and I want to come back next year. I have two more races in Brussels and Dubnica this week,” said Mullings.
Abakhumova’s throwing exhibition
Russian Olympic silver and World bronze medallist Mariya Abakhumova won the women’s Javelin Throw with 65.37m on her fourth attempt. Abakumova backed up her winning result with her three next valid attempts each of which would have won the competition (65.22 – 62.94 -62.91). Sunette Viljoen from South Africa finished runner-up with 62.63m.
Russia also took the win in the men’s Javelin Throw where Ilya Korotkov was the only thrower to go over the 80 metres with his spear - 82.10m.
Lagat back to form beats Cusma
The expected highlight for Italian fans was to be the 800m run of World Champs finalist Elisa Cusma, and she duly took the lead at 500 metres after pacemaker Anna Mischenko had clocked in 58.39 at the bell. However, Cusma, who won here last year, while keeping the advantage until the final bend was passed by Kenya’s Olympic 1500 metres champion Nancy Lagat who won in 1:59.17, with Cusma finishing second in 1:59.61.
Lagat is returning to her best form after a shaky start to her season. The Kenyan clocked 4:01.64 in Zürich last Friday and may become a factor in the final part of the season. Cusma will run her next race at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels on Friday (4).
“I am happy because it is my PB in the 800 metres. I felt confident especially because I saw that I was improving. I ran my fastest race in Zürich. My next race will be in Rieti (6) where I will run the 1500 metres,” said Lagat.
Head winds slow the hurdlers too
A strong headwind of -2.0 m/s slowed the men’s 110m Hurdles where USA’s three-time World and twice Olympic silver medallist Terrence Trammell cruised to a easy win in 13.54 beating compatriots Jeff Porter (13.65) and four-time World champion Allen Johnson (13.68)
“A win is always a win. The time was not very fast because of the headwind but it’s ok,” said Trammell.
USA’s Damu Cherry clocked a winning 12.97 (-1.2 m/s) in the women’s 100m Hurdles, narrowly missing the meeting record held by Nigerian Angela Atede by 0.03.
Kenyan Joseph Kiplimo set a new meeting record in the 5000 metres (the final race of the meeting) with 13:12.48 to win ahead of compatriots Matthew Kisorio (13:13.38) and Jonas Cheruiyot (13:28.51).
Ruth Bisibori, the Kenyan steeplechase specialist, dominated over the 3000 metres flat last night winning in 8:45.46, just missing the meeting record of 8:44.78. Almenesh Belete took second place with 8:51.76, while Italian Silvia Weissteiner caught Janet Kiptoo in the final part of the race to take third in 8:57.58.
William Collazo from Cuba, a Berlin semi-finalist (44.93), clinched the win in the 400 metres in 45.48 beating Sudan’s Jusif Rabah (45.76) and World Championships semi-finalist Matteo Galvan from Italy, third in 46.15.
Russia’s Tatyana Polnova vaulted 4.53m on her second attempt to win the women’s Pole Vault on count-back from German Caroline Hingst. Lisa Ryzich finished third with 4.48.
Andrei Tereshin from Russia had a clean jumping card up to 2.26m in the men’s High Jump, winning on count back at that height from 2005 World champion Yuriy Krimarenko; both failed at 2.29m.
South Africa’s Olympic and World silver medallist Godfrey Khotso Mokoena suffered his second defeat in just two days in the men’s Long Jump. Ukraine’s Andriy Makarchev, who beat Mokoena in Padua, managed to win again over the South African in a modest competition where none managed to jump over 8 metres. Makarchev jumped 7.90m prevailing over Mokoena by four centimetres.
Reigning European Indoor bronze medallist Olga Kucherenko from Russia leapt to 6.76m overtaking compatriot Irina Simagina in the women’s Long Jump who had been leading until the fourth round with 6.71m.
The men’s 800 metres went to Kenyan Reuben Bett who crossed the finish-line in 1:46.11.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
