2003 - Middle Distance Review

In the second part of their eight edition review of the highlights of the 2003 Athletics year, A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava review the middle distance events.

MEN - Middle Distance

800m
In 2002 this event didn’t really catch fire until very late in the summer but in 2003 it was the other way around. When the European summer season opened numerous 1:43-marks were posted.

Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei impressed stringing together 1:43.05 – 1:43.62 – 1:43.24 within the first twelve days of June! But also Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA) and Yuriy Borzakovskiy (RUS) got off to brilliant starts recording several fast times during the first summer weeks.

However, the rest of the year did not live up to this dramatic beginning. Actually there was just one single sub-1:44 time – Japheth Kimutai winning the Kenyan trials at altitude! - recorded during the two prime-time months between 5 July and 4 September!

But the summer certainly finished on a high note with “the race of the year” at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, won by Bungei in 1:42.52. It contributed all the top six performers of 2003!

The mystery remains why the main part of the summer was devoid of fast races. That Bungei, the clear No 1, due to illness (a bout of malaria) missed about a month shouldn’t have stopped the others from performing well during July and August.

That Djabir Said-Guerni - after a very limited season and nothing exceptional accomplished before Paris - took the World title taking advantage of the various tactical errors made by his fellow competitors is symptomatic.

If runners like Mulaudzi, Kipketer, Sepeng and Borzakovskiy who less than a week later in Brussels were capable of 1:42/1:43, had brought that same kind of form to the Paris final the outcome might have been very different.

With runners born in the 1980’s occupying approximately half of the top-15 positions there are reasons to look positively on 800m-running in the upcoming years. But what perhaps is really needed to bring on more fast times is the return to full strength (after two years severely disrupted by injuries) of Edmonton World Champion André Bucher. Because then you could always trust the pace to be 'honest'!

800m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003  
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points

1. Mbulaeni MULAUDZI 80 RSA 1372
2. Wilfred BUNGEI 80 KEN 1355
3. Yuriy BORZAKOVSKIY 81 RUS 1354
4. Wilson KIPKETER 72 DEN 1337
5. Hezekiel SEPENG 74 RSA 1334
6. Joseph Mwengi MUTUA 78 KEN 1303
7. André BUCHER 76 SUI 1295
8. Bram SOM 80 NED 1293
9. Djabir SAID-GUERNI 77 ALG 1283
10. David KRUMMENACKER 75 USA 1276

1500m
Although in 2003 he had a considerably more restrictive competitive schedule in the 1500m than in previous years, the event still very much belonged to Hicham El Guerrouj. For the 8th straight year the Moroccan dipped under 3:30, adding three more such clockings to his already unique total (just about 50% of all the 60+ marks under this barrier!), and he won all seven competitions he entered including the World Championships.

But despite winning and running fast he also had to handle some really tough opposition from France. Mehdi Baala tracked El Guerrouj almost to the finish line both in the World Championships final (lost by just 0.44) and in the fastest race of the year in Brussels (lost by just 0.58).

But it was still Kenya that provided the bulk of fast runners occupying places 3-4-6-7-8-9-11-13 on the year list. Despite this depth in the 3:30-3:32 bracket, Kenya didn’t have any success in the World Championships having to be content with just a 4th (Paul Korir) and a 10th place (Isaac Songok). Add to that only a 6th place in the 800m and it is very obvious that Paris was a major disappointment for the - on pure number of world class runners – number one middle distance nation on the planet.

'The revelation of 2003' instead came from Ukraine in the form of 24 years-old Ivan Heshko. Coming into this summer with a 3:37 PB he began with four races in June at 3:32-3:33, and then proved he was for real by grabbing the bronze with another 3:33 in the World Championships in late August.

It should also be noted Europe as a whole had some kind of resurgence with 8 sub-3:34 runners from 6 different nations and no less than 9 out of the 12 finalists in Paris!

But why has this “blue ribbon” event lost its attraction in Africa? There were just seven African runners in the starting lists for the first round of the 1500m in Paris!

1500m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003  
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points

1. Hicham EL GUERROUJ 74 MAR 1406
2. Paul KORIR 77 KEN 1349
3. Bernard LAGAT 74 KEN 1332
4. Cornelius CHIRCHIR 83 KEN 1330
5. Ivan HESHKO 79 UKR 1324
6. Alex KIPCHIRCHIR 84 KEN 1316
7. Rui SILVA 77 POR 1293
8. Benjamin KIPKURUI 80 KEN 1285
9. Robert RONO 78 KEN 1276
10. Mehdi BAALA 78 FRA 1272

WOMEN – Middle Distance

Maria Mutola (MOZ) and Süreyya Ayhan (TUR) were the strongest figures in the women’s middle distance running over 800m and 1500m respectively. However, Ayhan very surprisingly lost the Paris final to Tatyana Tomashova (RUS) despite running the race exactly like she always runs, fast from the start. So, even with the same names at the top of the events as last season, the roles were exchanged in 2003, now Maria Mutola is the one with the win streak.

800m
A couple of years ago it seemed that Mutola was losing her grip on the number one spot over 800m. However, she heavily bucked that trend during the 2003 season, Mutola, now 31 years-old, continued her win streak which started from the Commonwealth Games in Manchester 2002 and was unbeaten during 2003.

The Mozambique star did not lose over any distance and she even won all the preliminary rounds as well, indoors and outdoors. Mutola won 15 800m finals during this season and extended her win streak (finals) to 21. She also won two 1000m races and one over 600m, with her world leading 800m time of 1:55.55 being the fastest run by her since 1997.

Other runners, who had previously been threatening Mutola, went slightly backwards, Jolanda Ceplak (SLO) and Stephanie Graf (AUT), who just returned from an injury, were really not able to challenge Mutola like they did in 2002.

One new name also came to the picture, Mina Ait Hamou (MAR) was the third quickest in the world lists at the end of the season with 1:57.82, and finished fourth in the Worlds in Paris.

Depth again stayed the same, like in 2002, this year had 25 athletes under two minutes, with 26 in 2001, and 31 in 2000.

800m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003  
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points

1. Maria de Lurdes MUTOLA 72 MOZ 1390
2. Jolanda CEPLAK 76 SLO 1329
3. Kelly HOLMES 70 GBR 1313
4. Mina AIT HAMMOU 78 MAR 1312
5. Stephanie GRAF 73 AUT 1309
6. Natalya KHRUSHCHELYOVA 73 RUS 1286
7. Diane CUMMINS 74 CAN 1276
8. Faith MACHARIA 76 KEN 1264
9. Claudia GESELL 77 GER 1256
10. Larisa CHZHAO 71 RUS 1244

1500m
Süreyya Ayhan of Turkey started her season in the same way as 2002. She raced very very little, three finals before Paris, including two world leading runs in the Golden League competitions of Berlin and Zürich.

However, the World Championships final brought a big surprise for athletics fans, the race started as had been expected - fast from Ayhan - but the final lap proved that even the Turk can’t just use the same tactics every time and win. In the final straight Ayhan was caught by Tatyana Tomashova of Russia and could only just hold off a surprising run from Hayley Tullett (GBR).

It was a very fast women’s 1500m final with all the medallists under 4 minutes. For Tomashova and Tullett it was the first time under that magic barrier and both ended their season’s with the Paris results as their personal bests.

Overall it was a bit of a weird season for 1500m running because Ayhan raced so little again. After the big disappointment in Paris, she came back to win in Brussels with a national record and a world leading time of 3:55.33 and she also won the World Athletics Final a week later. All the bigger meetings over 1500m were deeply affected by the fact that she was not running before August.

The quality of the event was equal to 2002, again there were 24 athletes under 4:04, like in 2002, 2001 had only 16 and even Olympic year of 2000 23.  

1500m - IAAF WORLD RANKINGS - as of 15 Dec 2003  
Position - Name - DOB - Country - Points

1. Süreyya AYHAN 78 TUR 1382
2. Yekaterina NOZKOVA-ROZENBERG 80 RUS 1338
3. Hayley PARRY-TULLETT 73 GBR 1317
4. Tatyana TOMASHOVA 75 RUS 1314
5. Yelena ZADOROZHNAYA 77 RUS 1304
6. Jackline MARANGA 77 KEN 1294
7. Naomi MUGO 77 KEN 1291
8. Irina LISHCHINSKA 76 UKR 1288
9. Judit VARGA 76 HUN 1277
10. Joanne PAVEY 73 GBR 1273