Meseret Defar celebrates her winning double at the World Athletics Final (© Getty Images)
Hengelo, The NetherlandsMeseret Defar (ETH) and Svatoslav Ton (CZE) are in excellent shape. On Sunday (28) night they both set World leading performances in the FBK Games, the Dutch stop on the IAAF World Athletics Tour.
Largely solo run for Defar
Defar, the defending two-time World indoor champion at 3000m, ran an excellent 5000m race, despite of two failing pacemakers. The pacemakers left the track after about 1500 metres, half of the distance they were expected have run. Defar, in very good shape, managed to keep pushing herself. The Ethiopian took the lead and stormed to a world-leading time of 14.35.37.
“The pacers were really bad,” she said right after the race. “But my shape is good now.” Her next race will be in New York on the 3rd of June.
Ton leaps 2.32, defeats Holm
Ton first broke the stadium record with a 2.30m effort in the High Jump. He followed with a 2.32 clearance to win the competition, the highest clearance in the world of the young season. The Czech attempted 2.34 meters, but couldn’t make it. 2004 Olympic champion Stefan Holm (SWE) shared third place with Andrey Tereshin with both clearing 2.26. ‘I’m physically fit again, after illness and injuries last year,” said the Olympic champion in Hengelo.
Jones, Fasuba take the dashes
Marion Jones seems to be back in business. Last year she came in second in the 100 meters in Hengelo. This year she came back to make up for that, and she kept her promise: she won the race in 11.16, beating Emma Ania (GBR) and Angela Williams (USA).
“The circumstances were quite difficult here today. I wanted to run faster, but we had to wait long before the start. That was pretty cold,” she explained. Nonetheless Jones was satisfied with her result.
“It went better than last week in Mexico’, she smiled. ‘The start may have been less sharp, but technically I ran a better race today. I am healthy and ready to run fast. My goal is to run faster than I already have this year.” Jones now heads back to the United States to get ready for the national championships there. ‘I’m ready for the confrontation with the other American sprinters,” she said.
The men’s race 100 metres struggled with two false starts. It didn’t seem to bother Olusoji Fasuba very much, even though he got a bit cold and stiff. The young Nigerian athlete finished first in 10.33. In Doha he showed last week that he is fast: there he came home in 9.85, which is an African record. In the FBK-Games he was just delighted to win the race.
“This was my first race in Europe. I am very happy to win the race today, because it gave me the chance to show my face in Europe,” he said. His next European race will be the Bislett Games in Oslo, the first stop of the IAAF Golden League, on Friday. Darren Campbell and Kim Collins finished fifth and sixth.
In the men’s 10,000, Kenyan Moses Mosop seemed destined to become the winner of the race. After the pacemakers completed their duties, he pushed the pace together with Ibrahim Jeylan of Ethiopia. Eventually though, Mosop couldn’t keep up with Jeylan and fellow-Kenyan Micah Kogan as Jeylan sprinted to victory in 27.15.90. Mosop came in third in 27.27.00.
South African Louis van Zyl was the fastest man in the 400m Hurdles. In a thrilling sprint he beat Kenneth Ferguson (USA) in 49.23. The 21-year-old, winner of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March, is going to compete in Ostrava on Tuesday before returning home to resume training.
Barbara Kerkhof and Cors van den Brink for the IAAF
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