Marta Domínguez on her way to a national steeplechase record in Malaga (© Juan José Úbeda)
Barcelona, SpainSpain’s reigning European 5000m champion Marta Domínguez produced the vintage performance at the 15th ‘Míting Internacional d´Atletisme Ciutat de Barcelona’ last night (25) with a remarkable 9:09.39 performance in the 3000m Steeplechase.
It was a world season lead for the 33-year-old Spaniard in an event she only took on last year. She sliced more than seven seconds from her previous career best and National record set last month in Málaga and in doing so, the 2001 & 2003 World 5000m silver medallist improved on Russia’s Gulnara Samitova-Galkina’s previous world leading mark of 9:11.58.
In addition, Domínguez rose to fifth on the all-time list for the event only bettered by a trio of Russians (Galkina, Volkova, Petrova) plus Kenya’s Eunice Jepkorir to join the ranks of women who have dipped under the 9:10 barrier.
Huge technical improvement on the water jump
Ironically, the Spanish star was paced by a Russian athlete in the guise of Natalya Medvedeva. Domínguez went through the opening kilometre in a slower than scheduled 3:05.66 time but once the pacesetter dropped out of the race at halfway, the Spaniard injected a brisker rhythm to reach the 2000m point in 6:06.73 for a 3:01 split. To the delight of the crowd, the Palencia-born ace maintained her pace over the closing kilometre to romp home unopposed. Behind her, compatriot Eva Arias managed a massive PB in 9:32.48.
Arguably the best ever Spanish female athlete, Domínguez clearly decreased her rhythm in the closing 50m to take a bow to the enthusiastic home crowd and was quoted as saying: “After my last results (1500m PB of 4:04.84 the latest) and my last trainings, I knew I was in good shape. I have done a lot of work in the last weeks especially on my technique over the water jump and it seems that paid off today.”
A cautious Domínguez, whose presence at next weekend’s national championships in the same stadium is still doubtful, added: “Of course, a new career best and National record by seven seconds plus a new world top-performance are all good things but what it really matters is the Berlin Worlds. I’ll be focused on my strength work in the weeks prior to the Worlds.”
21.64 PB for Majewski, but not enough to break the Polish record!
Hers wasn’t the only significant mark at the ‘Estadio Lluís Companys’, the stadium that will host the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona in 2010.
Poland’s Tomasz Majewski may be the Olympic Shot Put champion and one of the main favourites to make the Berlin podium next August but the Polish record of 21.68m set by Edward Sarul back in 1983 has proved to be unattainable for the 28-year-old Majewski thus far.
Tthe Pole took revenge on the USA’s reigning Olympic silver medallist Christian Cantwell who had beaten him the day before in London with respective tosses of 21.82m and 21.43m. Majewski released a huge 21.64m heave in round four – his only valid attempt apart from an opening 20.30m effort - to better by 13 centimetres his previous PB while his American arch-rival had to settle for second in 20.85m, one metre shorter than his London outing but still enough to surpass Belarus’ 2003 World champion Andrei Mikhnevich’s 20.78m release for third.
A joyful Majewski declared, “I’m so glad about my new career best, it’s a great feeling. Unfortunately, that was not enough to set a new Polish record.” Asked on his Berlin ambitions the 2.04-tall Majewski said, “To win the World title will be very tough, it will be necessary for a better performance than mine today.”
22.37 SB for Campbell-Brown
Jamaica’s reigning two-time Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown kicked off the Barcelona permit as the stand-out athlete. The 27-year-old, who is also the current World champion in the 100m, arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday from her European base in Greece and announced she was eager to perform her only third 200m run this year after a minor injury prevented her to compete in Athens earlier this month.
Campbell-Brown became an overwhelming winner with an SB of 22.37 into a 0.6 m/s headwind albeit far from her 21.98 time from last year on the same track. The Jamaican, who built a half second margin over her compatriot Simone Facey (22.87), commented after the race, “I’m satisfied with today’s result as my main goal was to stay healthy and injury-free after the race. It would have been nice to have clocked 22-low but it’s still enough time for Berlin to regain my best form. I have to keep my spirit high, that’s a vital point for me.”
The author of the book “A Better You: Inspiration for Life’s Journey” – written after her second 200m Olympic title in Beijing - also confirmed that she’ll be doubling at the World championships.
Panamanian rising star Alonso Edwards managed a fine win in the men’s event with a 20.25 clocking (-1.0m/s), his second fastest ever time after his impressive NR of 20.00 in Réthimno on 20 July while Jamaica’s Steve Mullings cruised to a 20.32 runner-up place.
Elsewhere...
The men’s 400m featured two athletes ranked among the top-five on this year’s world list, Tabarie Henry of the Virgin Islands and Ireland’s David Gillick, both credited with 44.77 for respective National records performances but the victory went to Congolese Gary Kikaya, a 44.10 PB athlete, who only needed 45.35 to be successful in Barcelona ahead of Gillick (45.48) and Tabarie (45.54). Natasha Hastings of the USA snatched the win in the women’s side but was far from her SB clocking 51.30 to Cuban Indira Terrero’s 51.87.
The hurdles events witnessed the victories of Poland’s Anna Jesien in the women’s 400m with a 55.23 time while USA’s Jason Richardson took top spot in the 110m thanks to a 13.39 (+0.1) performance ahead of Jamaica’s Dwight Thomas (13.41).
The 1500m events went for local athletes as 2009 World indoor leader Nuria Fernández won the women’s section in an outdoor PB of 4:02.43 and the reigning European indoor medallist Diego Ruiz took the men’s side in 3:36.97 ahead of fellow Spaniard Arturo Casado, runner-up in 3:37.79.
Wesley Kiprotich headed a 1-2-3 sweep for Kenya in the 3000m Steeplechase with a 8:17.01 outing while his compatriot Silas Kipruto found no challenge in the 5000m event which he took in a SB of 13:08.98. The victor in the women’s event was Hungary’s Krisztina Papp in an SB of 15:30.72.
On the infield South Africa’s reigning World indoor champion Godfrey Mokoena managed an 8.29 win (+1.9) in the Long Jump ahead of USA’s Brian Johnson, who produced a slightly windy 8.09m leap. Hungary’s Zoltan Kovago defeated the home stars in the men’s Discus thanks to a 66.23m fifth round release while Frank Casañas relegated Mario Pestano to third with respective throws of 65.49m and 64.51m, all of them conquerors of Poland’s reigning Olympic silver medallist Piotr Malachowski (64.28m). Finally, Cuba’s Lisvanys Pérez grabbed a 2.28m win in the men’s High Jump.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
It was a world season lead for the 33-year-old Spaniard in an event she only took on last year. She sliced more than seven seconds from her previous career best and National record set last month in Málaga and in doing so, the 2001 & 2003 World 5000m silver medallist improved on Russia’s Gulnara Samitova-Galkina’s previous world leading mark of 9:11.58.
In addition, Domínguez rose to fifth on the all-time list for the event only bettered by a trio of Russians (Galkina, Volkova, Petrova) plus Kenya’s Eunice Jepkorir to join the ranks of women who have dipped under the 9:10 barrier.
Huge technical improvement on the water jump
Ironically, the Spanish star was paced by a Russian athlete in the guise of Natalya Medvedeva. Domínguez went through the opening kilometre in a slower than scheduled 3:05.66 time but once the pacesetter dropped out of the race at halfway, the Spaniard injected a brisker rhythm to reach the 2000m point in 6:06.73 for a 3:01 split. To the delight of the crowd, the Palencia-born ace maintained her pace over the closing kilometre to romp home unopposed. Behind her, compatriot Eva Arias managed a massive PB in 9:32.48.
Arguably the best ever Spanish female athlete, Domínguez clearly decreased her rhythm in the closing 50m to take a bow to the enthusiastic home crowd and was quoted as saying: “After my last results (1500m PB of 4:04.84 the latest) and my last trainings, I knew I was in good shape. I have done a lot of work in the last weeks especially on my technique over the water jump and it seems that paid off today.”
A cautious Domínguez, whose presence at next weekend’s national championships in the same stadium is still doubtful, added: “Of course, a new career best and National record by seven seconds plus a new world top-performance are all good things but what it really matters is the Berlin Worlds. I’ll be focused on my strength work in the weeks prior to the Worlds.”
21.64 PB for Majewski, but not enough to break the Polish record!
Hers wasn’t the only significant mark at the ‘Estadio Lluís Companys’, the stadium that will host the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona in 2010.
Poland’s Tomasz Majewski may be the Olympic Shot Put champion and one of the main favourites to make the Berlin podium next August but the Polish record of 21.68m set by Edward Sarul back in 1983 has proved to be unattainable for the 28-year-old Majewski thus far.
Tthe Pole took revenge on the USA’s reigning Olympic silver medallist Christian Cantwell who had beaten him the day before in London with respective tosses of 21.82m and 21.43m. Majewski released a huge 21.64m heave in round four – his only valid attempt apart from an opening 20.30m effort - to better by 13 centimetres his previous PB while his American arch-rival had to settle for second in 20.85m, one metre shorter than his London outing but still enough to surpass Belarus’ 2003 World champion Andrei Mikhnevich’s 20.78m release for third.
A joyful Majewski declared, “I’m so glad about my new career best, it’s a great feeling. Unfortunately, that was not enough to set a new Polish record.” Asked on his Berlin ambitions the 2.04-tall Majewski said, “To win the World title will be very tough, it will be necessary for a better performance than mine today.”
22.37 SB for Campbell-Brown
Jamaica’s reigning two-time Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown kicked off the Barcelona permit as the stand-out athlete. The 27-year-old, who is also the current World champion in the 100m, arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday from her European base in Greece and announced she was eager to perform her only third 200m run this year after a minor injury prevented her to compete in Athens earlier this month.
Campbell-Brown became an overwhelming winner with an SB of 22.37 into a 0.6 m/s headwind albeit far from her 21.98 time from last year on the same track. The Jamaican, who built a half second margin over her compatriot Simone Facey (22.87), commented after the race, “I’m satisfied with today’s result as my main goal was to stay healthy and injury-free after the race. It would have been nice to have clocked 22-low but it’s still enough time for Berlin to regain my best form. I have to keep my spirit high, that’s a vital point for me.”
The author of the book “A Better You: Inspiration for Life’s Journey” – written after her second 200m Olympic title in Beijing - also confirmed that she’ll be doubling at the World championships.
Panamanian rising star Alonso Edwards managed a fine win in the men’s event with a 20.25 clocking (-1.0m/s), his second fastest ever time after his impressive NR of 20.00 in Réthimno on 20 July while Jamaica’s Steve Mullings cruised to a 20.32 runner-up place.
Elsewhere...
The men’s 400m featured two athletes ranked among the top-five on this year’s world list, Tabarie Henry of the Virgin Islands and Ireland’s David Gillick, both credited with 44.77 for respective National records performances but the victory went to Congolese Gary Kikaya, a 44.10 PB athlete, who only needed 45.35 to be successful in Barcelona ahead of Gillick (45.48) and Tabarie (45.54). Natasha Hastings of the USA snatched the win in the women’s side but was far from her SB clocking 51.30 to Cuban Indira Terrero’s 51.87.
The hurdles events witnessed the victories of Poland’s Anna Jesien in the women’s 400m with a 55.23 time while USA’s Jason Richardson took top spot in the 110m thanks to a 13.39 (+0.1) performance ahead of Jamaica’s Dwight Thomas (13.41).
The 1500m events went for local athletes as 2009 World indoor leader Nuria Fernández won the women’s section in an outdoor PB of 4:02.43 and the reigning European indoor medallist Diego Ruiz took the men’s side in 3:36.97 ahead of fellow Spaniard Arturo Casado, runner-up in 3:37.79.
Wesley Kiprotich headed a 1-2-3 sweep for Kenya in the 3000m Steeplechase with a 8:17.01 outing while his compatriot Silas Kipruto found no challenge in the 5000m event which he took in a SB of 13:08.98. The victor in the women’s event was Hungary’s Krisztina Papp in an SB of 15:30.72.
On the infield South Africa’s reigning World indoor champion Godfrey Mokoena managed an 8.29 win (+1.9) in the Long Jump ahead of USA’s Brian Johnson, who produced a slightly windy 8.09m leap. Hungary’s Zoltan Kovago defeated the home stars in the men’s Discus thanks to a 66.23m fifth round release while Frank Casañas relegated Mario Pestano to third with respective throws of 65.49m and 64.51m, all of them conquerors of Poland’s reigning Olympic silver medallist Piotr Malachowski (64.28m). Finally, Cuba’s Lisvanys Pérez grabbed a 2.28m win in the men’s High Jump.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
