Undecided until two weeks ago regarding her participation at the World Indoor Championships, Ukrainian Zhanna Block validated her decision to extend her indoor season to include the Birmingham competition with a powerful 7.04 win.
This was the fastest time in the event for two years.
Both the American runners appeared to have excellent starts, and the pair waged an unknowing duel while running on opposite sides of the sprinting runway. Angela Williams barely won the race for her second World Indoor silver medal with 7.16, just ahead of Torri Edwards’ 7.17.
Slovenia’s Merlene Ottey gave chase, but had to be satisfied with a prizeless fourth place in 7.20.
Note:
In December 2011, the Athletics Federation of Ukraine announced that Block had been disqualified for a period of two years for violating anti-doping rules in 2002-2003. This was confirmed by World Athletics in June 2012, when she was declared to be guilty of “taking advantage of, use or attempted use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited technique”. All of Block’s results from November 30, 2001 were annulled, meaning that the rightful medallists in Birmingham were Williams, Edwards and Ottey.
