Rare air indeed - Blanka Vlasic improves to 2.07 in Stockholm (© Hasse Sjogren)
A wonderful summer night in Stockholm brought out three unique exploits. All the spectators in the fully packed Olympic Arena will remember Blanka Vlasic’s 2.07 leap, Jeremy Wariner’s 43.50 lap and Kenenisa Bekele’s 7:25.80 in the 3000m with a splendid second half of 3:38. These were but three historical results that highlighted the 41st DN Galan.
The DN Galan meeting is a Super Grand Prix status event as part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour 2007.
Vlasic’s rise continues
When local hero Kajsa Bergqvist and Russian Champion Anna Chicherova went out at 2.01 Vlasic had a clean sheet with five spotless leaps. She continued with 2.03 at her second attempt which already guaranteed a one-carat diamond before she attacked her own Croatian record of 2.06 with the bar raised to 2.07. The second effort was close and the third successful. Only World record holder Stefka Kostadinova has jumped higher outdoors.
Bekele pounces in the 3000m
With the current form he is displaying, Bekele needs to find someone who can better manage to assist him with world record pace setting, because the 25-year-Old Ethiopian is definitely in such shape. The rabbits left him alone at the front after a first half clip of 3:47. The multiple world champion stepped up the pace and produced a couple of 58-second laps, reaching the finish in 7:25.79 to become history’s sixth fastest man over the distance.
Ideal sprint conditions
Stockholm’s Olympic Arena was bathed in sunshine and the sprinters really enjoyed the high temperatures, reaching upwards of 30 degrees C. Jaysuma Saidy Ndure set the tone by improving the Scandinavian 100 meters record already during the afternoon. The Norwegian won the B-final in 10.07. But better times were to come.
A big PB for Richards in the 100m...
All the sprint races but one developed into fine duels. Sanya Richards and Me’Lisa Barber ran shoulder-to-shoulder for 90 metres in the 100, until Barber managed to edge Richards by just .02 seconds in 11.03. In the process, Richards sliced almost a quarter of a second from her previous personal record of 11.28, from 2001. It may have been a little bit to much considering that she was going to be back a couple of hours later to run the 400.
... but upset by Felix in the 400
Richards’ return at the end of the meeting shaped into another fierce bout. This time it came against 200m World champion Allyson Felix who hunted down Richards in the homestretch to score a major upset to win in the Stadium Record time 49.70. It was the first sub-50 second performance for Felix as Richards lost again by the margin of two hundreds of a second!
Derrick Atkins repeated duplicated Richards’ feat. He battled with Jamaican Asafa Powell to the finish, with the World record holder getting the edge by just .01 seconds to win 10.04 to 10.05 running against a slight headwind.
Wariner moves up to No.3 all-time
The men’s 400m was the only sprint race where there were no doubts about who would be the winner. World and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner was in fact challenged by compatriot Kerron Clement, who was actually leading after 300 metres. But Wariner’s extremely strong finish generated the sixth fastest race ever, 43.50, to equal Quincy Watts’ Olympic gold medal-winning run from Barcelona. Only Michael Johnson and Butch Reynolds, both World record holders, are the only quarter-milers who have produced better times. Clement also recorded a new PB (44.48), even if he lost a second to Wariner during the final 100 metres. Darold Williamson and Sanjay Ayre likewise broke the 45-second barrier.
“I didn’t see Kerron until 300 metres, next to my hip. Then I kicked as I’m supposed to do,” Wariner said. “This was only my second race since May. I liked the conditions, I didn’t feel the wind. I feel confident going into the worlds, half a second faster than the others, even if there’s still some technical work to do. As long as I run my race no one is gonna beat me.”
Can he collect another stadium record diamond in 2008? ”The next diamond will be harder to get!”
A Diamond for Merrit as well
The third sprint duel was between Aries Merrit and Ryan Wilson in the 110m Hurdles. A close look at the photo finish showed that the former World Junior champion was 0.01 seconds ahead of Wilson who is this year’s third fastest hurdler, 13.09-13.10, fast enough to gain the evening’s second diamond. Merritt warmed up by winning the odd 4x110 meter hurdles relay with the US team a couple of hours earlier.
Olympic silver medallist Marian Oprea impressed with four 17+ meters jumps (he passed the fourth and fifth round), topped by a winning 17.32 leap. Aarik Wilson, the winner in London last Friday, almost reached the Romanian with his last jump of 17.27.
“I jumped very well today, the headwind gave me some trouble, but it was my season’s best. I love to compete here,” said Oprea.
Koech delivers first Steeplechase sub-8 of the year
Later on the steeplechasers were greeted with ideal conditions, almost no wind and lower temperatures. John Langat launched the race at World record pace with a 2:37 first kilometre. Former World Junior Champion Mike Kipyego followed the race favourite Paul Kipsiele Koech until the 2000m mark, but couldn’t keep up with Koech any longer and eventually faded to fifth. Koech really tried to show that he wants to go to Osaka, despite his fourth place in the Kenyan trials, and produced the first steeplechase time below eight minutes in the 95 year-old arena, clocking a world-leading 7:59.42
The Stockholmers loved the race as European leader Mustafa Mohamed confirmed his 8:05 race in Heusden ten days ago by advancing to second place in 8:07.83, once more faster than Anders Gärderud’s World record from his victorious Olympic final of 1976, a mark that lasted as the Swedish record for 31 years.
Three Swedish victories delight the crowd
Three home victories at the end of the meet delighted the crowds even more. Stefan Holm finally found a quality jump. The Olympic High Jump Champion revealed last week that he has jumped 2.35 in training – his best ever – and tonight he managed to duplicate it in front of the Swedish audience. That propels Holm to Osaka as the co-leader of this year’s world lists along with Donald Thomas, who finished fourth in Stockholm with 2.27, the same achieved by runner-up Linus Thörnblad and American Jesse Williams, the third man tonight.
“My legs didn’t feel 100 percent okay, so it did surprise me that I jumped this high today,” Holm declared after his fourth victory at DN Galan.
In the 100m Hurdles, European Champion Susanna Kallur executed an aggressive race. She gained her second success against World Champion Michelle Perry - the first time was at Rome’s Golden Gala last year - who was faster between the hurdles but couldn’t match Kallur’s splendid hurdling technique. Kallur won by 0.07 in 12.66.
The Swedish triple triumph was completed by Heptathlon Olympic and World Champion Carolina Klüft who produced the five longest jumps of the meet, all of them beyond 6.50, topped by her winning 6.65.
Neighbouring Norway also collected a victory, thanks to another one of DN Galan’s competing Olympic Champions - there were eight in all - Andreas Thorkildsen. He was content with three throws and who could blame him when the second one landed at 89.49 meters, his best of the year?
The women pole vaulters proved that the astonishing competition in the London Super Grand Prix last Friday, with seven women over 4.60, could be the mark of a new dimension. Svetlana Feofanava and Monika Pyrek shared the victory at 4.70, while third placed Katerina Badurová improved the Czech record to the same height.
All of Deena Kastor’s best 5000 races have been in Stockholm. It was her third time below 15 minutes, but the first time as a winner. In the absence of Meseret Defar, Linet Masai proved to be the American’s toughest antagonist. The Olympic Marathon bronze medallist outshined the Kenyan in the final 500 meters by three seconds in 14:52.21.
Elsewhere, American J.J. Johnson bettered his season’s best in the 200m by the smallest of margins. With 20.32 he eclipsed the winner of the 100 meter B race, Saidy Ndure, by almost a tenth of a second.
Lorenzo Nesi for the IAAF
