News29 Jul 2007


Webb 1.43.84 in Heusden

FacebookTwitterEmail

Alan Webb in the 800m in Heusden-Zolder (© Nadia Verhoft)

HeusdenZolder, BelgiumThe highlight of an exciting evening of world class athletics at the KBC Night of Athletics was the men’s 800m where the American Mile record holder Alan Webb won a stunning duel against Canadian Gary Reed in 1.43.84, only 10 hundredts outside the world leading performance of 2007.

The KBC Night of Athletics 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.

The meeting in Heusden-Zolder was also marked by a flood of national records and personal bests. In the women’s 3000m Steeplechase no less than 7 national records were broken, with the first five of the race finishing inside 9:30. In the men’s race, Mustafa Mohamed broke the Swedish steeplechase record from Anders Gaerderud to win the event in 8.05.75. The home crowd also cheered emphatic wins from their local stars Kim Gevaert in both the 100m and the 200m and from Tia Hellebaut in the High Jump.

Webb cements his impressive Osaka credentials

The weather conditions were ideal in Heusden when the gun went off for the men’s 800m. The race was paced extremely well and exceptionally fast by Nahashon Ruto. The Kenyan passed the 400m mark in 49.72 and kept the pace going beyond the 500m mark. Alan Webb accelerated when Ruto dropped off but was immediately overtaken by Canada’s Gary Reed who apparently wanted to shock the American. It looked as if Reed would run away from Webb, but the American didn’t give up, gradually closing on Reed and overtaking him in the very last metres of the race. Webb was delighted when he saw the clock stop at 1.43.84, Gary Reed ran a season’s best time of 1.44.07 and Nabil Madi froim Algeria finished third in a personal best of 1.44.54.

World class steeplechasing from Mohamed and Ouhaddou

Brahim Taleb and Hamid Ezzine seemed to be in control of the 3000m Steeplechase when the pacemakers dropped off the race. At that time, Tareq Mubarak Taher from Bahrain and Mustafa Mohamed formed the leading group with the two Moroccons. With 600m to go, the Swede made a confident move and took command of the race. He impressively continued his effort to win in 8.05.75, a Swedish record.

“Indeed, I broke the record of Anders Gaerderud, the 1976 Olympic champion,” said Mohamed. “After 31 years, it had become a myth. I did not expect to run so well today, but it’s true that I have been training very hard this year and I’m getting stronger and stronger. I came back from a high altitude training camp in St Moritz just two day ago now and that pays off. Definitely, things are geared towards Osaka now but before that I want to attempt to break the European record in Stockholm, in front of my home crowd. I came already close today,” said Mohamed.

Moroccon Hanane Ouhaddou and Roisin McGettigan from Ireland were operating at the front in the women’s 3000m Steeplechase and they kept the pace very high indeed. Rosa Morato of Spain was all the time struggling to keep in touch of the leading group, but she had a surprisingly strong finishing kick and finished in second place behind the astonishing Moroccan. Ouhaddou smashed her personal best by almost 28 seconds. National records were recorded for Morocco, Spain, Ireland and also for Liz Galaviz for the United States, Sophie Duarte for France, Christina Johansson for Sweden and Minori Hayakari for Japan.

Moustaoui and Baday dominate the 1500m and the 5000m

Mohamed Moustaoui clearly dominated the 1500m. Nobody was able to follow the Moroccon’s acceleration with 500m to go. At the finish, the gap between Moustaoui and the following group was more than two seconds. Moustaoui finished in 3:33.73 and he will be a real threat in championships races indeed.

In the 1500m it seemed as if Ahmed Baday was inspired by his compatriot’s victory in the 5000m. Baday comfortably followed the pace in a leading group of six and convincingly outsprinted his rivals in the finishing stages. The Moroccon’s winning time was 13:11.09. Eleven athletes finished inside 13:20.

The women’s 1500m was an American occasion. Shalane Flanagan took the initiative with 400m to go, but Erin Donohue moved passed her with a courageous effort and won the race in 4.05.56, breaking her PB. Fellow American Amy Mortimer came in third.

A superb piece of sprinting by Gevaert

“The organisers put me in a very strong field in both the 100m and the 200m”, said Kim Gevaert. “It was almost Golden League level that I had to compete at.” But Gevaert did her homework in an excellent way. In the 100m Me’Lisa Barber was the better starter, but Gevaert came through in fluent motion. Gevaert had to move into higher gear still with Carmelita Jeter (USA) quickly sprinting on her left shoulder, but she crossed the line victoriously in a wind assisted  11.04 (+2,3). Jeter was second in 11.05, Barber third in 11.11.

In the 200m, Muriel Hurtis-Houairi put the pressure on Gevaert. The Frenchwoman came first off the bend but then faded dramatically in the straight. LaShauntea Moore took the lead, but in an ultimate effort Gevaert was able to overtake the American and to win the race and she was loudly cheered for that by her fans. “I felt tired and I really had to struggle for victory in that 200m,” said Gevaert, “but I’m very happy to win both sprint events today. I really want to thank all the fans here, it helped me a lot to get the best out of me. Technically, the races went just fine and that boosts my confidence a lot.”

Thomas upsets the American sprinters

Mike Rodgers (USA) was the most impressive in the heats of the men’s 100m sprint, when he cruised to 10.14. Leroy Dixon (USA) won the other heat, but Jamaican Dwight Thomas was by far the strongest in the final, finishing in 10.15. Christopher Williams completed the Jamaican sprint success by winning the 200m in a wind assisted 20.31.

It looked as if Josephine Onyia from Spain would make it a start to finish win in the 100m Hurdles, but LoLo Jones (USA) edged her out in the very last metres to repeat her 2006 win at the KBC Night of Athletics.

The men’s 400m went to Andrew Rock in 45.39.

Hellebaut wipes away the doubts

Tia Hellebaut, the European outdoor and indoor champion wiped away all recent doubts about her form, by convincingly winning the High Jump with 1.95m. “This was probably my best competition of this season,” said the Belgian. “My programme and my preparation are focused on Japan. It’s true that I had some technical and physical problems recently, but that is part of the sports. I’m not worried at all, I’m confident and on schedule.”

In the Pole Vault, Jacob Pauli cleared the same height as Belgian Kevin Rans, but the American won on countback with 5.70m. The Discus Throw was won by Robert Harting from Germany with 64.50m and the tight Triple Jump duel between Olha Saladuha and Dana Veldakova was won by the Ukranian with 14.37m. The Slovakian Veldakova jumped to 14.35m, but unfortunately both performances were wind assisted.

“Again, the KBC Night of Athletics was a great success,” concluded meeting organiser Christophe Impens. “The performance level was very high and five Belgian athletes qualified for the World Championships. 10.000 fans got excited when Kim Gevaert and Tia Hellebaut turned out to be victorious.”

Ivo Hendrix for the IAAF

Click here for FULL RESULTS

Pages related to this article
Disciplines
Loading...