World
Junior Champion Clarke faces strong Ethiopian challenge in girl’s 1500m
Sean Wallace-Jones for the IAAF
13 July 2001 – Debrecen, Hungary -
There are pundits who would say that Australia’s young middle distance star Georgie
Clarke should crush the field here in Debrecen after her victory in last year’s World
Junior Championships and a first experience of the pressures of competition at the very
highest level with a 10th place in the Olympics 1500m semi-final – where
she timed 4:10.99, but there are a couple of young ladies from Ethiopia who are set on
proving them wrong.
Unsurprisingly, Georgie Clarke was a convincing winner in her heat of the 1500 metres in 4:22.61 – a fast time but nothing out of the world for the Australian who owns the 2001 world under 18 best of 4:08.91 – beating second-placed Steffi Günther by nearly 2 seconds after taking the lead.
But the second heat produced another fast finish from both the Ethiopian winner Yeshewaget Demlew and the second place qualifier in the heat Snezana Kostic (YUG), with 4:23.48 and 4:23.62, respectively and there was more to come in the third heat, where Demlew’s compatriot Sentayehu Ejigu crossed the line in 4:15.89, a new Championships Record. Ejigu led the field in her heat to produce the 4 fastest losers, who will also go through to the final, with the first six places all under 4:24.05.
Neither of the Ethiopians features in the 2001 world under-18 performance lists.
In the women’s high jump qualification, the standard for automatic qualification was established at 1.74 metres and none of the competitors reached the standard. As a result, the leading 12 competitors passed through to the finals, with the best qualifiers achieving a clearance of 1.74 metres.
Kenya has dominated the steeplechase for the past twenty years and this morning’s qualifying would seem to indicate that the Kenyans have no intention of relinquishing their dominion, as they won both of the qualifying heats. The first heat went to Brimin Kipruto with 5:43.81, trailed across the line by Abrham Kebeto of Ethiopia with 5:48.77. In a much more closely fought heat 2, David Kirwa (KEN) was the winner in 5:45.13 ahead of Morocco’s Brahim Taleb in a personal best of 5:45.35.
Kenya and Ethiopia also led the qualifiers in the men’s 1500 metre competition, with Isaac Songok the fastest qualifier in a personal best of 3:38.34; Sameuel Dadi of Ethiopia second fastest with 3:45.92 (also a PB) and Samson Kiplagat (KEN) third fastest with 3:47.28.
Kamghe Gaba’s tenure at the head of the men’s Octathlon was short-lived, as Estonian Rene Oruman swept into the lead after the first event of today’s competition – event 5 of the Octathlon – the 110 metres hurdles with the second fastest under-18 time in the world this year of 13.96 seconds, worth 980 points, taking Oruman’s running total to 4072. After five events, Essa Mufarrah is in second place with 4044 points and Gaba in third place with 4021.
One great throw was enough for the Czech Andrea Kvetova to take the first qualifying place in the women’s javelin with an effort of 50.19 metres. Perhaps unsurprisingly, because Kvetova is the world leader this season with 54.31 (Praha on 12 May). Seven athletes achieved the automatic qualifying standard of 46.70 and will be joined in the final by the five athletes achieving the best performances beneath the qualification standard. Just under the 50 metre mark were Kimberly Mickle (AUS – 49.73 PB) and Rachel Walker (USA – 49.24PB).
Eight athletes were automatic qualifiers in the women’s shot put, where the standard had been set at 13.90 metres. The outstanding qualifier was New Zealander Valerie Adams who set a Championships record of 17.08 metres with her single attempt. Adams’ previous best competition performance this year was the leading 2001 under-18 performance of 16.21 (Gold Coast on 1 July). Nadine Lange (GER) who had the second best attempt in qualifying managed 14.37 metres, making Adams look like a clear favourite for the Final.
