News02 Feb 2011


World indoor champions to headline hot 1500 fields in Birmingham

FacebookTwitterEmail

Deresse Mekonnen of Ethiopia on his way to winning gold in the 1500m final (© Getty Images)

Ethiopia's reigning World indoor 1500m champions Derese Mekonnen and Kalkidan Gezahegne will be headlining their respective fields at the AVIVA Grand Prix in Birmingham, UK, on 19 February, the penultimate stop on the eight-meeting IAAF Indoor Permit 2011 series.

Mekonnen, still only 23, captured back-to-back World indoor crowns in 2008 and 2010, and opened his 2011 indoor season with flair, foiling Bernard Lagat's attempt to take a ninth Mile victory at the Millrose Games in New York last Friday. Mekonnen mastered the tight turns of the small Madison Square Garden track to defeat Lagat by nearly half a second in 3:58.58. The Ethiopian won in Birmigham a year ago in 3:33.10, still the career best indoors for the 2009 World Championships silver medallist outdoors.

He'll square off against Kenyan Silas Kiplagat, who sprang to the fore in 2010 in Monaco's Samsung Diamond League fixture, where he clocked 3:29.27, the fastest time in the world last year. Augustine Choge, a former World youth and junior champion who reached the 1500m finals at both the 2008 Olympic Games and 2009 World Championships, will also toe the line. Andrew Baddeley, Mark Draper and Lee Emanuel will be defending their British turf.

Gezahegne, who won't turn 20 until 9 May, will start as favourite against a field of challengers lead by Irene Jelagat, the 22-year-old Kenyan who moved up in the ranks last year to finish fifth over the distance at the World Indoor Championships.

The programme will also include a face-off between one of the fiercest rivalries in the sport where David Oliver, last year’s dominant high hurdler, will take on Cuba’s Dayron Robles, the reigning Olympic champion and World record holder, in the 60m Hurdles. Oliver’s American compatriot, Aries Merritt, the current world leader at 7.46, will also be in the field along with Briton Andy Turner, the reigning European champion outdoors.

Elsewhere, middle distance sensation Abubaker Kaki of Sudan will lead the 1000m field, Phillips Idowu and Christian Olsson will square off in the Triple Jump, and Jenny Meadows returns to the scene of her first of two British 800m national records set last year.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
Pages related to this article
Disciplines
Loading...