Wallace Spearmon 'turns it on' as he catches the field and clocks 19.90 for 200m - USATF nationals (© Getty Images)
World 200m silver medallist Wallace Spearmon has become the third fastest man in history, running the half lap in 19.65 seconds in front of a crowd of nearly 50,000 spectators at the Colorful 2006 Daegu Athletics Meeting, in Daegu, Korea, on Thursday. This result was achieved in still conditions with the wind reading showing 0.0.
Spearmon who had reduced his 19.89 personal best (London, 22 July 05) at his last two meetings – 19.88 Stuttgart (10 Sep 06) and 19.87 Athens (17 Sep 06) – when respectively coming second at the World Athletics Final and then taking victory at the World Cup, is now only headed on the all-time list by USA compatriots Michael Johnson (19.32 – World record, 1996) and Xavier Carter (19.63).
Significantly, the 21 year-old is now faster than another American Tyson Gay who stormed to a 19.68 win over Spearmon at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart.
Considering that Carter’s 19.63 was also established this summer- in Lausanne on 11 July - the 2006 outdoor season has been a remarkable one for the men’s 200m, an event which had been languishing in relative sprinting obscurity since the retirement of Michael Johnson.
"I was just very happy to break my own record," said Spearmon. "The crowd were very involved here and it has been a great day. I am really starting to run fast."
Spearmon won the race with a huge margin of 1.65 seconds before second finisher Shinji Takahira of Japan who clocked 21.30 result.
Liu Xiang storms to win over Johnson
In the pre-meet publicity the most awaited clash of the meeting had been that at 110m Hurdles between China's reigning Olympic champion and World record holder Liu Xiang, and America’s Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic winner and four-time World champion.
The race again did not disappoint, with the American starting far quicker and still leading with two hurdles to go just as had been the scenario in Shanghai last Saturday (23). Again in another storming finish Liu Xiang overtook his rival, who had beaten him to the World Cup title in Athens, to win by two hundredths of a second in a time of 13.14. Another American Aries Merritt took the third place in a time of 13.36.
In a slow men’s 800m race it was an all Kenyan finish with three athletes dipping to the line at once. Wilfred Bungei just edged William Yiampoy winning in 1:48.26 before Yiampoy’s 1:48.36. Ismael Kombich was third in 1:48.46.
Leonard Scott (USA) won the 100m in 10.21 and Philemon Kimutai was fastest in a 1500m sprint finish in 3:53.09. James Kwalia (QAT) took the 5000m win in 13:36.29.
In the men’s field events 2004 Olympic gold medalist Stefan Holm (SWE) won at 2.30m after being challenged by Grzegorz Sposób (POL). Both cleared 2.24m and then passed 2.27m. Holm cleared 2.30m with first attempt and Sposób failed – after this both moved to 2.33m which was too much this time.
Kim Duk-Hyung (KOR), who set a national record of 16.88m last week in Yokohama, came close to his best again here. Kim won the triple jump with a top mark of 16.81m before Aarik Wilson (USA) who jumped 16.76m for the second place. Roman Valiyev (KAZ) was third with a season’s best of 16.64m.
Aleksandr Ivanov (RUS) won the men’s javelin with his best throw landing at 79.46m. Park Jae-Myong (KOR) was second at 78.68m before Peter Esenwein (GER) who threw 76.15m.
Isinbayeva takens women's Pole Vault
Yelena Isinbayeva (RUS) highlighted the women’s competition winning the pole vault with a second attempt clearance at 4.70m. The Russian made three unsuccessful attempts at 4.80m afterwards.
Tatiana Grigorieva (AUS) set a personal best 4.58m for the second place bettering her earlier one 4.57m from Yokohama four days earlier. The Australian had to wait for more than five years before that Yokohama mark, her previous best before that competition, 4.56m, was also set in Yokohama in September 2001. Nastja Ryjikh (GER) was third with a 4.35m result.
The women’s running events were quite low key. Torri Edwards (USA) won the women’s 100m in 11.35 ahead of another American Lauryn Williams finishing far behind in 11.71 for the second place.
Yelena Soboleva won the Russian duel in the 800m. She won in 2:03.76 ahead of Svetlana Cherkasova’s 2:04.39. Iryna Lishchynska (UKR) was fastest in a slow 1500m naturally finishing in a sprint. The Ukraine athlete clocked 4:22.52 before Sarah Jamieson (AUS) 4:22.65 and Lidia Chojecka (POL) 4:22.87. Natalya Ivoninskaya (KAZ) won the women’s 100m hurdles in 13.40.
In the other two women’s field events Chung Soon-Ok (KOR) set a national record of 6.68m to win the long jump. This was the third time the record was beaten this season. In May Chung jumped 6.52m to better her earlier record in Osaka, but then lost the record to Kim Su-Yeon (6.53m) later that month. Here Chung bettered the record twice first jumping 6.55m in round two and 6.68m in round four before passing her two remaining attempts.
Olga Rypakova (KAZ) was second with a personal best of 6.63m and Bronwyn Thompson (AUS) took the third place with a 6.45m result.
Barbara Madejczyk (POL) won the javelin with a 59.37m throw before 18-year-old Kim Kyong-Ae (KOR) who set a personal best of 54.11m.
Mirko Jalava and Chris Turner for the IAAF
Leading results
Men
100 (-0.5)
Leonard Scott USA 10.21; 2 Olusoji Fasuba NGR 10.28; 3 Uchenna Emedolu NGR 10.53; 4 Takeyuki Muraki JPN 10.58; 5 Jeon Duk-Hyung 10.68; 6 Son Hae-Sung 10.72; 7 Lim Hee-Nam 10.75; 8 Woo Jae-Eun 10.83; 9 Park Pyung-Hwan 11.08.
200 (0.0)
Wallace Spearmon USA 19.65; 2 Shinji Takahira JPN 21.30; 3 Lim Hee-Nam 21.44; 4 Kaaron Conwright USA 21.51; 5 Park Sae-Jeong 21.54; 6 Jeon Duk-Hyung 21.56; 7 Ha Dong-Min 22.19; 8 Cho Young-Wook 22.23.
800
Wilfred Bungei KEN 1:48.26; 2 William Yiampoy KEN 1:48.36; 3 Ismael Kombich KEN 1:48.46; 4 Lee Jae-Hun 1:50.50; 5 Masato Yokota JPN 1:50.65; 6 Park Sung-Su 1:50.96; 7 Dmitriy Tarasenko KAZ 1:51.42; 8 Cho Jae-Deuk 1:52.56.
1500
Philemon Kimutai KEN 3:53.09; 2 Youcef Abdi AUS 3:53.15; 3 Park Young-Min 3:53.37; 4 Mikhail Kolganov KAZ 3:54.27; 5 Park Jung-Jin 3:54.69;
6 Shin Sang-Min 3:57.21; 7 Lee Sung-Woon 3:59.07.
5000
James Kwalia QAT 13:36.29; 2 Leonard Patrick Komon KEN 13:40.37; 3 Satoru Kitamura JPN 14:02.44; 4 Jeon Eun-Hoi 14:19.22; 5 Eom Hyo-Seok 14:20.71; 6 Lee Kyo-Gik 14:22.59; 7 Lee Du-Haeng 14:23.11; 8 Seo Haeng-Joon 14:23.20; 9 Hiroshi Ino JPN 14:27.67; 10 Song Ha-Min 14:44.39.
110H (-0.3)
Liu Xiang CHN 13.14; 2 Allen Johnson USA 13.16; 3 Aries Merritt USA 13.36; 4 Park Tae-Kyong 13.91; 5 Lee Jeong-Jun 14.01; 6 Nazar Mukhamedzan KAZ 14.17; 7 Lee Hyun-Woo 14.36.
HJ
Stefan Holm SWE 2.30; 2 Grzegorz Sposób POL 2.24; 3 Hikaru Tsuchiya JPN 2.18; 4 Oh Jin-Wook 2.15; 5 Sergey Zasimovich KAZ 2.10; 6 Ha Choong-Soo 2.05; 6 Ji Jae-Hyung 2.05; Ivan Ukhov RUS NH.
TJ
Kim Duk-Hyung 16.81/1.2; 2 Aarik Wilson USA 16.76/1.1; 3 Roman Valiyev KAZ 16.64/1.1; 4 Ko Dae-Young 16.22/0.2; 5 Lee Jae-Goo 15.81/1.0; 6 Lee Kang-Min 15.39/0.8; 7 Asuka Zeniya JPN 15.14/0.9; 8 Park Hyung-Jin 14.64/1.2.
JT
Aleksandr Ivanov RUS 79.46; 2 Park Jae-Myong 78.68; 3 Peter Esenwein GER 76.15; 4 Eriks Rags LAT 74.27; 5 Jung Sang-Jin 70.86; 6 Chu Ki-Young 66.45; 7 Goo Yun-hoi 66.26; 8 Kazushige Eno JPN 63.25.
Women
100 (-0.1)
Torri Edwards USA 11.35; 2 Lauryn Williams USA 11.71; 3 Yuliya Gushchina RUS 11.80; 4 Alena Neumiarzhytskaya BLR 11.84; 5 Saori Kitakaze JPN 11.91; 6 Oh Hyung-Mi 12.22; 7 Kim Ha-Na 12.47.
800
Yelena Soboleva RUS 2:03.76; 2 Svetlana Cherkasova RUS 2:04.39; 3 Akari Kishikawa JPN 2:04.70; 4 Lee Yun-Kyong 2:09.27; 5 Kim Mi-Sun 2:11.50.
1500
Iryna Lishchynska UKR 4:22.52; 2 Sarah Jamieson AUS 4:22.65; 3 Lidia Chojecka POL 4:22.87; 4 Mestawat Tadesse ETH 4:23.20; 5 Svetlana Lukasheva KAZ 4:24.98; 7 Kieko Shinada JPN 4:30.02.
100H (-0.5)
Natalya Ivoninskaya KAZ 13.40; 2 Aleksandra Antonova RUS 13.42; 3 Jenny Adams USA 13.45; 4 Lee Yeon-Kyoung 13.57; 5 Jeong Hye-Rim 14.15.
PV
Yelena Isinbayeva RUS 4.70; 2 Tatiana Grigorieva AUS 4.58; 3 Nastja Ryjikh GER 4.35; 4 Jillian Schwartz USA 4.05; 5 Choi Yun-Hee 3.70; 6 Lee Young-Ah 3.30; Kang Ji-Yeon NH.
LJ
Chung Soon-Ok 6.68/1.6 NR; 2 Olga Rypakova KAZ 6.63/0.6; 3 Bronwyn Thompson AUS 6.45/1.1; 4 Kim Su-Yeon 6.36/1.1; 5 Yukari Nakahara JPN 6.16/1.0; 6 Cho Eun-Jung 6.07/1.8; 7 Park Eun-Hee 5.79/1.0.
JT
Barbara Madejczyk POL 59.37; 2 Kim Kyong-Ae 54.11; 3 Marharyta Dorozhon UKR 52.38; 4 Kim Hyun-Ju 51.58; 5 Lee Young-Sun 51.48.
