LausanneWerknesh Kidane of Ethiopia took the senior women’s long course 8km title at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne-La Broye when she out-sprinted long-time leader Deena Drossin of the United States.
Drossin led almost from the start but had to be content with the same position she occupied last year when beaten by Britain’s Paula Radcliffe in Dublin.
Kidane, the 1999 World junior cross country champion, cruised along in Drossin’s slipstream for much of the race before sprinting clear with about 300m to go.
The 21-year-old crossed the line to claim her first senior title in a time of 25:53, with the plucky Drossin clocking 26:02.
In third, Kidane’s team-mate Merima Denboba ran 26:28, with another Ethiopian, Eyerusalem Kuma, a further two seconds back in fourth.
In fifth, Magdeline Chemjor was first Kenyan runner home in this third race on day one of the two-day championships. Chemjor ran 26:33, with team-mate Pamela Chepchumba sixth with 26:35, another Kenyan Elizabeth Rumokol seventh with 26:37 and Drossin’s team-mate Colleen De Reuck eighth in 26:49.
Not surprisingly, Ethiopia won the team title from Kenya and the United States.
Hayley Yelling of Great Britain had led the early stages, but Drossin soon hit the front and began the split up the field with a relentless ‘Radcliffesque display’ of aggressive front running on this rolling, rutted course at Switzerland’s national equestrian centre.
The 30-year-old American had said before the race: "I’m going to be aggressive right from the start, that’s the way I race best." And she meant it, too, forging ahead, surging hard into small inclines that punctuated the circuit.
A 2:26:53 marathon runner, Drossin played to her strength by trying to run the sting out of the finish of her rivals. Initially, Asmae Leghzaoui of Morocco and Denboba tried to go with her, but soon Drossin had only Kidane for company. Unable to shake her off, eventually Drossin had to concede to the Ethiopian¹s blistering finishing sprint.
It was not entirely unexpected, as Kidane has a great pedigree as a track runner. She placed seventh in the Sydney Olympic 5000m final aged 18 and has run 8:41.58 for 3000m and 14:43.53 for 5000m.
At the 2001 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she had placed fifth in the short-course (4km) race and took silver over the same distance in 2002.
This winter her pre-race form included victories in Belfast, Haro and at the Ethiopian championships. Although her preparation was far from perfect, with defeats in Newcastle and Seville.
Jason Henderson (Athletics Weekly) for the IAAF

Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia took the senior women’s long course 8km title at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne-La Broye when she out-sprinted long-time leader Deena Drossin of the United States.

Kidane completes Ethiopian first day triumph - women's long course race in Lausanne

29 March 2003LausanneThe image of Kenyan endurance invincibility was struck a further damaging blow in the men's short course race at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships when the defending Ethiopian champion, Kenenisa Bekele, retained his crown, despite partying the night before.
The 20-year-old, who uniquely won both titles last year, is now poised for a repeat double. The Ethiopian team seem convinced that he would also defend the long course crown on Sunday.
Bekele himself was less sure. He questioned whether he would have recovered sufficiently. "It was hard, and I am tired," he said.
His Dutch manager, Jos Hermens, had suggested he conserve energy by winning close home, and he followed that strategy today.
Bekele covered the 4030 metres circuit of the Swiss National Equestrian Centre near Lausanne in 11min 01sec, finishing three seconds ahead of Kenya's John Kibowen, with with Richard Limo third in 11:06.
Yet little over 500 metres from home, Bekele's diminutive figure was flanked by the Kenyans, and he drifted back into third before delivering a searing finish from 250m out.
"I believed I had won," said Kibowen, winner in 1998 and 2000. Kenyan honour was partially salvaged, however, for they extended their reign as team champions to 18 years. Limo was followed across the line by Michael Kipyego and Thomas Kiplitany, giving them team gold with 14 points to 31 for Ethiopia. Morocco were third on 44. France were the leading European nation, fourth, but three of their counters were African-born, and two previously ran for Morocco.
Moroccan-born Spaniard, Yousef El Nasri, the former European junior cross-country champion, was the first official European finisher in ninth, but the first European-born runner to cross the line was Christian Belz of the host Swiss, immediately followed by Chris Thompson of the UK.
The Kenyan aura had initially cracked 12 months earlier, when Bekele destroyed them individually in Ireland.
It was said that the method previously employed by Kenya for final team selection, following their championships, had led to contenders for their final line-up cutting one another's throats in training. Their best form had been left in the camp at Embu, and they were over the hill by the time they arrived in Dublin.
They believed they had prepared better this time, but are still looking for an answer to Bekele, who must have demoralised his rivals even more, when he admitted he was still suffering the affects of recent typhoid. Bekele had gone on an official IAAF dinner cruise the previous evening. He did not want to miss it, never having been on a boat before. He did not get to bed until after midnight.
Yet he was sharp enough to charge on the heels of the Kenyan leaders, through the opening kilometre in 2:35, and always staying close, alert to whatever tactic the Kenyans might essay.
Kibowen admitted they had had no specific plan, other than to live up to the national tradition of running in front.
So beating Bekele should be easy. All one has to do is stay in front of him.
Doug Gillon (The Herald) for IAAF

The image of Kenyan endurance invincibility was struck a further damaging blow in the men's short course race at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships when the defending Ethiopian champion, Kenenisa Bekele, retained his crown, despite partying the night before.

Invincible Bekele - men's short course race in Lausanne

A devastating attack in the last 200m of the women’s junior race at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne-La Broye, was enough to secure the gold medal for Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba, on the 6215m course at the national equestrian centre.
Peninah Chepchumba of Kenya who was fifth in 2002, made her race intentions very obvious from the beginning, taking an immediate dual lead with compatriot Jepchumba Koech the national junior champion, as the field of 104 runners came together some 150m after exiting the team pens on the starting line.
Behind the Kenyan duo the rest of the leading pack quickly took shape, and it was very much a Kenyan verses Ethiopian dual match that resulted. Only Anesie Kwizera of Burundi and South African Irvette Van Blerk were even temporarly able to battle with a pack of&nbsp; four Kenyans and four Ethiopians that held sway by the end of the first kilometre, which was passed in a little over three minutes (3:07).
The principal figures in the pack in addition to&nbsp;Chepchumba and Koech, who continued to push the pace throughout the first lap, were the Ethiopians Meselech Melkamu, the national junior champion, Sentayehu Ejigu, Gelete Burka and Dibaba, who of all the Ethiopian squad kept her face buried within the leading pack for much of the first lap.
However, when Chepchumba started pushing the pace just before the start of the second full and final lap of the course, followed closely by Melkamu, suddenly Dibaba who was the World junior silver medallist last year, was made to show what form she was in.
The Kenyan drive continued as Chepchumba piled on the pace, with the result being that the original leading pack broke down to just her, and the three Ethiopians Melkamu, Burka and Dibaba, who were bunched up close behind. Emily Chebet the only other Kenyan within sight was slightly off the back of this group, and she was never able to close with this leading quartet.
Chepchumba encouraged by the devastation that her relentless push was causing seemed to go up a further gear into overdrive, and suddenly her three green vested Ethiopian pursuers became just one, Dibaba.
The two runners had run totally contrasting races, with Dibaba never inclined to put any effort into making the race which the Kenyan had so far dictated. Here perhaps was the root of Chepchumba’s ultimate demise, as the gigantic effort which she had put into the early stages must certainly have weakened her strength for the final sprint to the finish.&nbsp; 
With 500m to go, Chepchumba was trying increasingly desperately to break the grip of Didaba who was running at her heels.
However, 150 metres later rather than having secured her leading position, the Kenyan found herself running side by side with the Ethiopian,&nbsp;and as the two turned into the finishing straight it was Didaba who burst into the lead.
Dibaba’s alchemy was completed successfully as the finish line was crossed in 20:21, and&nbsp;the silver of 2002 was turned very impressively into gold as a result of&nbsp;a miraculous finishing kick.
Chepchumba came in only a second behind (20:22), with Gelete Burka (20:28) a distant third. With fellow Ethiopians Melkamu in fourth (20:33) and Eligu in sixth (20:56), the team title went to Ethiopia too (14 points), with the defending champions Kenya in silver (22 points), and a Moroccan team led by Mariem Al Aoui Selsouli (13th 21:54) in a distant bronze (78 points), as is indicated by the vaste points difference.
Britain's reigning European junior champion Charlotte Dale was the first European home in 14th (21:56), with local girl Stefanie Murer the first Swiss home in 21st place (22:38).
Didaba who is a cousin of double Olympic 10,000m champion Derartu Tulu, becomes the first Ethiopian winner of this junior title since Werknesh Kidane in 1999, who as an incidental postscript to this afternoon’s action at the first day of the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships later was to become the senior women's long course winner.&nbsp;
IAAF

A devastating attack in the last 200m of the women’s junior race at the 31st IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne-La Broye, was enough to secure the gold medal for Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba, on the 6215m course at the national equestrian centre.

Dibaba’s alchemy defies Chepchumba - women's junior race in Lausanne

LausanneIt was an idyllic evening cruise. The kind of trip money cannot buy. The respective presidents of the IAAF and International Olympic Committee faced one another across the table. Guests of Lamine Diack and Jaques Rogge: sponsors, media and former luminaries of the sport, were waited upon by stewards attentive to their every whim at the IAAF Dinner on the eve of the 31st World Cross Country Championships, who stood poised to recharge glasses on a night of convivial celebration.
The comforting lights of Lake Geneva's shore slid by on a warm evening which carried more than a hint of spring. Yet fretting on board, immune to the attractions, was Kenenisa Bekele's contingent, perversely marooned on board when the vessel sailed.
The man who uniquely had captured both long and short course titles a year ago, had failed to realise that a near four-hour voyage was on the menu, along with a canapé of fresh goats' cheese, émince de bouef, three cheeses, chocolate mousse, and coffee.
While those around him tucked in, Bekele, the favourite for whichever race he decides to contest, contented himself by putting to the test the English lessons recently taken, reading statistician Mark Butler's excellent new history of the sport: "The Toughest Race in the World".
Yet the Ethiopian's hopes of penning a further remarkable chapter of his own surely took a dent with his unwanted odyssey.
"When does the programme end?" quizzed his anxious minder, as the courses followed all too leisurely. After the coffee, we ventured Desert had not yet been served. The shore lights receded once again in the black night.
Bekele, well past bed time, even though he is 20, may have been in the figurative soup, yet seemed unperturbed.
Had he been lured on board by Kenyan rivals, one wondered unworthily? Earlier, Bekele had spent an emotional day. Prior to a press conference in front of the world's media, he had made a private visit to Lausanne's Olympic Museum.
In its depths he had seen the tributes and memorablia associated with the feats of his legendary compatriots: Olympic champions Abebe Bikila, Mamo Wolde, and Haile Gebrselassie.
The last of these is a man with whom Bekele is comfortingly familiar. Multiple World and Olympic champion Haile is his mentor. The other two, however, are remote legends, part of the myth and legend of his nation, from an era long before he was born.
"I had only heard of them, but had seen nothing about them," he said, profoundly moved. "I am very proud to have seen this. My dream is to be an Olympic champion, and I hope one day that my picture will be in this museum."
If he was refreshingly open about his track ambitions, the man who is already a legend on the country, after that Dublin double 12 months ago, was less transparent about his hopes for this weekend at the Swiss national equestrian centre some 60 kilometres from Lausanne.
"It's no problem for me when I run," he said bravely in English before an intimidating crowd in the Olympic auditorium.
Pressed as to whether he would attempt both, he said: "I don't know yet which race I will run."
He is entered for both, with the short event this afternoon at 2.30. "If everyone is there, it will be tough competition," he ventured, but there was "no specific person" whom he feared.
He give disturbingly conflicting information about recent activities. Two days earlier his Dutch management team had denied rumours of typhoid, stating that a recent illness was merely food poisoning, which had lost him just a few days' training.
Bekele said it had indeed been typhoid, and had cost him seven days. "One week I rest. Now I am OK."
Close to death? He seems a bit lively for that.
"At this moment I don't know whether I'll run one race or two," he said. "I will talk after the short race with the federation, and then decide."
So did he personally wish to run both? "Nobody expected it last year. This year everyone is asking the question. It's been difficult to concentrate on the race. It is difficult being the favourite...I try to do the same as last year."
Well, last year, the Ethiopian camp kept everyone guessing. In that they succeeded. Now, Bekele is proving a master at continuing the deception tradition.
What rang truest was his assertion that Ethiopia has team tactics ready to counter the Kenyan cohort which is bidding to continue a five-year monopoly of the short course title, and 17 years in command of the long course honours.
"The team has trained in the last months together, as a team. We will have a tactic, and run together," he promised.
And the unscheduled boat trip? That just clouds the waters. 
Doug Gillon (The Herald) for IAAF

It was an idyllic evening cruise. The kind of trip money cannot buy. The respective presidents of the IAAF and International Olympic Committee faced one another across the table. Guests of Lamine Diack and Jaques Rogge: sponsors, media and former luminaries of the sport, were waited upon by stewards attentive to their every whim at the IAAF Dinner on the eve of the 31st World Cross-country Championships, who stood poised to recharge glasses on a night of convivial celebration.

Bekele’s all at sea on eve of defence

The man to beat in Lausanne, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, is being typically cagey about his plans and prospects at these World Championships. The favourite for Saturday's women's long race, Deena Drossin of the USA, is rather more candid.
"I'm going to be aggressive right from the start," Drossin explained. That's the way I race best. I'm accepting the fact that it's going to hurt real bad."
We are certain to see a new champion because, for the first time since 1987, there will be no former winners in the race. The 30 year-old Californian finished reasonably close behind Paula Radcliffe 12 months ago in Dublin, and all the signs are that Drossin is in even better form in the absence of the British star.
On February 8, she won the US road 15K title at Jacksonville in 47:12. Her winning time in the same race on February 9 last year was 48:12, nearly one minute slower. Like Radcliffe, she is clearly benefiting from the extra miles resulting from her marathon preparations.
Last year she was doing runs of 12-15 miles, this year single runs are as long as 26 miles, with weekly totals up to 130. She is known for her punishing training regime, but she has eased off for Lausanne.
"This week it's been very light," she explained. "You can't not taper down for a World championship."
Silver behind Radcliffe in Dublin was a terrific result, but Drossin now regards the experience as "bittersweet." "It had always been my goal to be in the top five," she explained, and all of a sudden I'm alongside a women [Radcliffe] who has been my idol. On the final lap I thought 'wait a second, why am I not trying to win this.' I guess I feel more worthy now."
This time Radcliffe is saving herself for the London Marathon in two week's time. Drossin will also run in London, but she's not concerned about the proximity of these championships and reminds us that she set a World road best for 5K last year, just one week after Dublin. One gets the feeling that she would not have missed this race for the world.
"Cross country is a huge love of mine," she revealed. "It gets you fabulously fit."
Drossin is in Lausanne with her fiancé, Andrew Kastor. She is confident and relaxed, despite encountering a heckler while training in the town during the week, who shouted 'Yanks go home' at the couple. On Sunday's race, she will wear a yellow ribbon "to promote peace."
A happier episode for the pair was shopping for CDs on Thursday. Not the sort of music you might expect from a 30 something, Drossin psyches herself up for races by listening to modern dance tracks and bought two compilations of that genre. "We just can't get Techno like that at home," explained Kastor.
Mark Butler for the IAAF

The man to beat in Lausanne, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, is being typically cagey about his plans and prospects at these World Championships. The favourite for Saturday's women's long race, Deena Drossin of the USA, is rather more candid.

WORLD ATHLETICS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

What price another double?

Double-double for Bekele - men's long course race in Lausanne

Masai sprints to successful defence - women's short course race in Lausanne

Kipchoge restores Kenyan pride - men's junior race in Lausanne

Kenyan hopes drown in wake of Bekele’s victory cruise