Saif Saaeed Shaheen comes off the water jump in Athens (© courtesy of tsiklitiria.org)
Athens, GreeceOn a cloudy and blustery evening in the Greek capital, World champion and record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar fell short on improving his own World 3000m Steeplechase mark, yet his 7:56.32 performance was still of the highest quality, one of eight world leads at “Tsiklitiria 2006” Athens Super Grand Prix, in Athens' Olympic stadium this evening.
Saladino’s 8.65 topples Olympic champion again
The fluctuating wind at this IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting was such that in the men’s Long Jump, Irving Saladino of Panama, the world season’s leader (8.56m – 14 May) was blown by a 3.3m/s wind to a huge 8.65m win, which would have made it nine 2006 bests tonight if the assistance had been no more than the legally allowable 2m/s. Still the 23-year-old would not have been disappointed as he beat World and Olympic champion Dwight Phillips for the second time this summer. The American had a best of 8.30m (+2.4). Greece’s Luis Tsatoumas who was third with 8.26m (+2.5).
Season's bests
Despite a small sized crowd of spectators present in the vast Olympic arena, the night was an extremely satisfying one in terms of the results produced on the track and in the infield.
There were impressive 2006 season world leads in the following events – MEN: 800m, 1500m, 3000m Steeplechase; WOMEN: 1500m, 3000m Steeplechase, 400m Hurdles, Triple Jump and Javelin Throw.
Shaheen supreme with sixth fastest ever time
You cannot take anything away from Shaheen in terms of effort, in strong windy conditions with pacing assistance in particular from France’s Vincent Le Dauphin, the 23-year-old Qatari made every effort to improve his World record of 7:53.63 but it was not to be. Finishing well ahead of former World and Olympic champion Reuben Kosgei (8:09.79), the 23-year-old Shaheen clocked 7:56.32, the sixth fastest ever time in history.
"It was a difficult race," said Shaheen. "I made a bad start, found my rhythm later but the weather didn't help."
Borzakovskiy delivers in his usual style
Earlier on in the men’s track programme we had also witnessed world season bests in the 800m and 1500m, both delivered in the similarly dominant style by their winners, respectively Yuriy Borzakovskiy and Daniel Kipchirchir Komen.
Over the two laps, we witnessed a vintage performance by Russia’s Olympic champion. Borzakovskiy using his well-known ‘come late sprint finish’, returned to the track upon which he had claimed his Olympic title two years before, sped down the finishing straight in lane four, easing past his opponents in majestic style. He timed his run to perfection, allowing him enough opportunity to cheekily blow a kiss of satisfaction and raise an arm in salute to the spectators, as he ducked past World Indoor champion Wilfred Bungei of Kenya just metres before the finish line.
The first four men home beat 1:44, with Borzakovskiy the winner in 1:43.42. The holder of the season’s previous best (1:44.13), Khadevis Robinson of the USA came in 7th (1:44.21).
Komen takes-up the pace from the off
Kipchirchir Komen also made it look easy in the 1500m but his tactics were in stark contrast to that of the Russian. The 21-year-old Kenyan followed the heels of his compatriot Gilbert Kipchoge, the official pacemaker, and when all assistance was ended he found himself with a huge margin over the field. Giving chase throughout the race was Ukraine’s World Indoor champion Ivan Heshko and as much as he closed down the lead, which on entering the final lap was about 30 metres, he could not get close to the Kenyan who finished in 3:30.27, the best time in the world for this season (3:32.34 previous 2006 best, Rashid Ramzi).
Heshko finished strongly in 3:31.78 bringing Tarek Boukensa with him in the final pursuit which gave the Algerian a career best of 3:31.85 in third.
The women’s 1500m also brought a world lead with Yelena Soboleva of Russia negotiating the perils of a field of 19 opponents - yes, 19 other athletes! - to become the first woman outdoors this season to beat 4 minutes. The 23-year-old who this winter set a new World Indoor record for the distance (3:58.28) and then took a silver at the World Indoor Championships, verified that form outdoors this evening with a massive new personal best of 3:56.74. Her previous best was the 4:00.47 she set when taking the Russian title on 15 June.
Compatriot Yuliya Chizhenko who had beaten Soboleva to the World Indoor gold, was a well beaten second on this occasion in 3:58.02, having done much to keep the early pace strong.
Nine under 2mins
We also nearly witnessed a season’s fastest time in the women’s 800m, a race which another Russian Olga Kotlyarova, the former 400m runner, dominated with a 1:57.86 victory. The quality of the performance is well proved by the fact that nine women ran home in under two minutes with Ukraine’s Tetyana Petlyuk (1:57.93) and World champion Zulia Calatayud (1:57.94), the next best.
The remaining World leads on the track came in the women’s 400m Hurdles and 3000m Steeplechase, and what times they were!
Demus changes gear to defeat Halkia
Lashinda Demus, the US champion at 400m Hurdles, took on the Olympic gold medallist on the very stage where Greece’s heroine Fani Halkia had triumphed in 2004. Coming off the last bend together with the Greek, Demus had kept her final change of gear in reserve and when she engaged it she throttled away with ease in the finish straight to clock a 53.03 seconds wins. The time was a personal best and made the 23-year-old American the 12th equal fastest hurdler of all-time. Halkia, one of the eleven in front of her on that list, finished a good second place in 53.71 which was a season’s best for the champion who is returning from a year-out due to injury.
Janowska’s Polish record defeats Russians
Poland’s Wioletta Janowska produced a national record of 9:17.15, to become the fourth fastest woman of all-time at the 3000m Steeplechase, in what was the seventh fastest race ever. The top four finishers this evening all improved their personal bests with the Russians Lyubov Ivanova (9:21.94) and Tatyana Petrova Tatyana (9:22.96), and Australian Victoria Mitchell (9:30.84) the Pole's closest rivals. There was also a Finnish record for Johanna Lehtinen in 8th place (9:40.28).
Lebedeva bounds to 15.23m
Reigning double World Indoor Triple Jump champion, Tatyana Lebedeva, who is the Olympic gold medallist at the Long Jump, dominated the former event today with a 15.23m performance, which added exactly 23 centimetres to her world season’s best. It was a legal jump with a +0.6m/s wind. In a superb competition in which five women jumped further than 14.70m, not so lucky was another Russian Anna Pyatykh who broke 15 metres (15.17m) to take second place but had the assistance of a 2.4m/s wind so it is a result which will not count as a new personal best.
The 25-year-old Pyatykh took the lead in the first round with a wind assisted mark at 14.85, improved to 14.91m in the second, where Cuba’s Yargelis Savigne also jumped 14.91m (-1.3m/s), which ultimately would be good enough for third place. Lebedeva took command briefly with a world leading 15.16m, but Pyatykh’s fourth attempt at 15.17m changed the classification again. However, Lebedeva, the 2003 and 2005 outdoor World champion replied with 15.19m in fifth, before producing her winning jump of 15.23m in the last round of the event.
Jamaica’s World champion Trecia Smith was fifth with 14.74m.
Germany’s spear fest
A World champion was also beaten in the other field event to establish a world season lead tonight. World and Olympic women’s Javelin Throw gold medallist and World record holder Osleydis Menendez of Cuba was well beaten by the German duo who she had vanquished at last summer’s World Championships.
The European record holder Christina Obergföll, the runner-up behind the Cuban in Helsinki 2005, sent the Javelin flying to 66.91m, so surpassing the previous world best of the season (65.50m, 24 June). Next came World bronze medallist Steffi Nerius with her 63.63m, while the World record holder managed a best of 62.84m for third. The previous world leader, Czech Barbora Špotáková was fourth with 62.66m.
Other highlights…
Greek record holder Periklis Iakovakis led the men’s 400m Hurdles for about 300m only to be passed and beaten by World champion Bershawn Jackson – 48.00 to 48.33 at the finish. Kerron Clement the victor over Jackson at the USA nationals was well back in eighth 49.32.
Portugal’s European champion Francis Obikwelu, won both his semi-final and the final of the men’s 100m, improving his year’s best to 10.03 in the process. Torri Edwards, 2003 World champion, won the women’s race in 11.14 seconds.
Sweden’s World champion Kajsa Berqgvist won the women’s High Jump with her season’s best leap of 2.00m, leaving one of the joint world season leaders (2.03m) Blanka Vlasic (CRO) back in second on 1.94m.
Germany’s Kirsten Blom won a wind-assisted women’s 100m Hurdles race in 12.69 (2.3m/s).
Double World and Olympic champion Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania set a meeting record in the men’s Discus Throw with 69.36m, while in the men’s Pole Vault, Germany’s Tim Lobinger and Italy’s Giuseppe Gibilisco both cleared 5.80m, the former winning on count back.
Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF
with assistance from Chris Turner
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