News23 Dec 2002


2002 – Middle Distances Review

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Sureyya Ayhan (© Getty Images)

In the second part of their eight edition review of the highlights of the 2002 Athletics year, A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava review the middle distance events.

MEN - Middle distances

800m
The men’s 800m year was off to a fairly slow start, which probably to a large extent was due to the fact that last year’s No. 1, Switzerland’s André Bucher missed the first half of the summer after being injured during the winter and early spring. In the absence of the Swiss the rest of the world’s 800m elite looked a little bit lost, without his attacking way of running which kept the pace stiff and the race competitive.

Also, last year’s statistical World Leader Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovskiy was even more enigmatic this year. Rather than grabbing the chance to fill the 800m void created by the absence of Bucher, the Russian raced even more sparingly than before and decided to make the 400m his priority at the European Championships.

Thus the 800m didn’t really come to life until the ‘B’ race at the Zurich Golden League meet on 16 August. There the Kenyan trio of Wilfred Bungei, William Yiampoy and Japhet Kimutai suddenly - after lacklustre first half seasons - showed brilliant form, battling each other so hard that Bungei and Yiampoy with their 1:43.64 and 1:43.69 both got under the previous world leading time.

Suddenly, it seemed that the paralysing spell that had gripped the world of 800m running had been lifted. During the same evening the ‘A’ race made Bungei’s reign as the world leader very short lived indeed: Kenyan Joseph Mutua 1:43.33 and Dane Wilson Kipketer 1:43.59 both surpassing Bungei’s mark.

Just one week later in Brussels, Kipketer produced the first 1:42 of the year winning in 1:42.74 and then another week later in Rieti came the very best race of 2002 - and one of best races ever timewise - with Kipketer improving to 1:42.32 and the fifth placed runner recording 1:43.15! However, this race effectively marked the end of the season, making 2002 a year when the top runners seemed to have hit peak form much too late.

However, his late rush of results, at least at face value made the final world list reach “normality” with 10th place around 1:44.0. The major new player in the elite was 27 years old American David Krummenacker who proved to be consistent on the 1:44-level, and who scored two major wins at Paris and Rome.

The big improver was Spaniard Antonio Reina who didn’t display the same consistency - at the European Championships he even missed the final - but who lowered his PB by a total of over two seconds. Reina’s 1:43.83 gained extra significance because it did not come when finishing in the pack of a paced race but when winning the IAAF World Cup!

But the main man of the year wasn’t an unfamiliar face. On the contrary it was world record holder Wilson Kipketer who demonstrated his best form since the bout of malaria which he suffered in early 1998! In 2002, Kipketer chose his races carefully, won eight out of nine competitions (everything but Zürich) and did so in quite an impressive manner. So if Bucher intends to recapture the No. 1 position in 2003, he will have to work very hard indeed to succeed.

800m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points 

1. Wilson KIPKETER 72 DEN 1360
2. André BUCHER 76 SUI 1346
3. William YAMPOY 74 KEN 1332
4. David KRUMMENACKER 75 USA 1329
5. Wilfred BUNGEI 80 KEN 1326
6. Joseph Mwengi MUTUA 78 KEN 1320
7. Yuriy BORZAKOVSKIY 81 RUS 1311
8. Djabir SAID-GUERNI 77 ALG 1310
9. Hezekiel SEPENG 74 RSA 1307
10. Pawe³ CZAPIEWSKI 78 POL 1305 
 

1500m
What superlatives are there left to describe Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj? The athlete who has dominated the 1500m since 1996 compiled another seasonal record that no one but he himself has ever been even close to: Undefeated and amassing seven races at 3:30.00 or better! The absolute highlight was the Zurich race where El Guerrouj’s world leading mark of 3:26.89 gave him a winning margin of four seconds over a field that contained all the other top 1500m-runners of the year!

Generally his strongest opponent just like last year was Kenya’s Bernard Lagat but this summer the Kenyan was not even once really close to upsetting the Moroccan. Perhaps Lagat’s countryman Cornelius Chirchir - still a junior - will be able to mount a serious challenge in the near future. His four races at 3:30/3:31 all surpassed the existing world junior record.

But at the same time Chirchir himself has to look out for an even younger countryman: Alex Kipchirchir: The latter ran a 3:32 at age 17! Although reigning Olympic Champion Noah Ngeny had another year struggling in vain to regain his lost brilliance, the Kenyans actually seem to be well on their way to - quite soon -establishing a general grip on the 1500m, just as firm as the one they already hold on the 5000m and 3000m Steeplechase.

Serious upcoming opposition from former middle distance powers like Great Britain is not yet seen on the horizon, and the previously apparently seamless succession of North African world leaders (Aouita - Morceli - El Guerrouj) seems to have run into – temporary? - trouble. But of course El Guerrouj is a seriously tough act to follow.

However, even if Kenya will be dominating the top-10 of the 1500m in the near future this does not of course necessarily mean that they also will occupy the No.1 slot. The overriding impression of the 2002 season was that Hicham El Guerrouj is anything but ready to relinquish his leading position any time soon. Especially, as he still has the motivation of achieving the one missing major honour in his collection: The Olympic Gold, where the next chance is just two years away.

1500m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points

1. Hicham EL GUERROUJ 74 MAR 1449
2. Bernard LAGAT 74 KEN 1404
3. Cornelius CHIRCHIR 83 KEN 1355
4. Rui SILVA 77 POR 1344
5. William CHIRCHIR 79 KEN 1343
6. Laban ROTICH 69 KEN 1319
7. Mehdi BAALA 78 FRA 1314
8. Robert RONO 78 KEN 1305
9. Reyes ESTÉVEZ 76 ESP 1292
10. Vyacheslav SHABUNIN 69 RUS 1290 
 

WOMEN - Middle distances

Although the women's 800m had a depth better than in years, the brighest star of the women's middle distances was not a two lap runner at all. Süreyya Ayhan (TUR) who already showed her potential with three brave races at Edmonton last year, was the real surprise of the season. Ayhan started her competitive year at the European Championships and clocked three world leading times at 1500m.

The 800m season was also a good one, but none of the runners who made good results was able to be the true leading figure of the middle distances. Jolanda Ceplak (SLO) was the world leader both indoors and outdoors, but Maria Mutola got the best of her several times. But Mutola herself lost twice during the season and Ayhan's class in 1500m was way better. Overall depth in both the middle distance's was better than last year with the 1500 m improving most.

800m
The year started with a very good indoor season. The Ghent meeting produced the first fast times and then Jolanda Ceplak and Stephanie Graf (AUT) both got under the World Indoor record at the Vienna European Indoor Championships. Ceplak won with 1:55.82 and Graf was right behind in 1:55.85.

Outdoors, although Ceplak did produce a fast world leading time of 1:55.19 in Heusden-Zolder, her summer season was not as good as her indoor meetings had promised. Ceplak's second best time was only 1:57.63.

Maria Mutola (MOZ) ran the best outdoor season as she only lost twice. Mutola's fastest time of the year, 1:56.16 came in the Monaco race where she suffered a shock defeat in the last metres of the race. There Zulia Calatayud (CUB) won in a personal best time of 1:56.09, but this big win did not catapult the Cuban to even better things as was expected. Calatayud has long been predicted the next great 800 m runner from Cuba following in the example of Ana Quirot, who was the last athlete to run quicker (1:54.82 in 1997) than Ceplak's world leader this season, but Calatayud is yet to prove that in the long run.

Overall the year was quite similar to 2001 as there were 26 athletes under 2 minutes this season, in comparison to 25 last year, with 31 in the Olympic year of 2000.

800m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points

1. Maria de Lurdes MUTOLA 72 MOZ 1387
2. Jolanda ČEPLAK 76 SLO 1351
3. Zulia CALATAYUD 79 CUB 1320
4. Maria Teresa MARTÍNEZ 76 ESP 1293
5. Diane CUMMINS 74 CAN 1289
6. Nicole TETER 73 USA 1277
7. Agnes SAMARIA 72 NAM 1264
8. Ludmila FORMANOVÁ 74 CZE 1260
9. Svetlana CHERKASOVA 78 RUS 1249
10. Kelly HOLMES 70 GBR 1247 
 

1500m
Five women went sub 4 minutes this season but there was really only one runner people will remember from 1500m in 2002.

Süreyya Ayhan did not race at all before the European Championships in Munich, but registering her first personal best of 4:04.42 in the heats there. She won all her four finals of the season with ease and in a fashion which will be remembered for a long time. Ayhan started all races with determination and left others behind right from the start. With these straight forward tactics she managed to go under 4 minutes three times with the best of 3:57.75, the World leader for 2002. Last time someone had more sub 4 minutes races was in 1998 when Svetlana Masterkova had four.

Apart from the races in which Ayhan was in, many runners excelled during the season. An early winner of Grand Prix meetings was a new name from Romania, Maria Cioncan, but she only managed to win the first of Golden League meetings at Oslo.

Zürich offered a rare race with 4 women under 4 minutes. Gabriela Szabo (ROM) won the race from Suzy Favor Hamilton (USA) but Turkey's Ayhan was not running in this meeting, as it was only five days after her big win in Munich.

Depth was much better than last year, in 2002 there were 24 athletes at 4:04 or better, with only 16 in 2001. The 2000 Olympic year had 23 runners of this standard or better, so this year really showed good improvement even without a major world wide championship at stake.

1500m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 17 Dec 2002
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points

1. Süreyya AYHAN 78 TUR 1351
2. Alesya TUROVA 79 BLR 1347
3. Suzy FAVOR HAMILTON 68 USA 1345
4. Yelena ZADOROZHNAYA 77 RUS 1323
5. Carla SACRAMENTO 71 POR 1312
6. Natalya GORELOVA 73 RUS 1310
7. Maria CIONCAN 77 ROM 1309
8. Judit VARGA 76 HUN 1306
9. Regina JACOBS 63 USA 1301
10. Geraldine HENDRICKEN 70 IRL 1281 

 

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