Justin Gatlin winning in Shanghai (© Getty Images)
The international athletics season more or less concluded on Friday (23) with a rare high class meeting in Korea. Several Helsinki World Championship medallists competed at the World Cup Stadium in Daegu with double World champion Justin Gatlin gathering most of the attention before the meeting.
No record, just the win
The Korean press had eagerly waited for Carl Lewis' Korean all-comers record of 9.92 seconds in the 100m to fall, but conditions were far from perfect and the American's result from the 1988 Olympics stayed in the record books.
The temperature falling below 20 C during the meeting and with a strong headwind of 1.9 m/s in the front straight it was only about the win this time. Gatlin and fellow American Leonard Scott were side by side until 70m when Gatlin finally broke away to record a narrow win. Gatlin clocked 10.26s before Scott's 10.28s second place result.
Allen Johnson (USA), the Helsinki bronze medallist who had won four previous World Champs, was another top athlete in Daegu. Johnson also competed in last year's international meeting in Busan and now came back to record another win in 13.59s. Another American medallist from Helsinki, Brad Walker, won the Pole Vault with 5.65m result. Walker took the silver in the World Champs.
Latvian Eriks Rags won the Javelin Throw with a 81.15m toss and Wilfred Bungei outsprinted another Kenyan William Yiampoy in the 800m with times of 1:47.40 and 1:47.45 respectively.
Easy win for Williams but sprint finish for Dibaba
In the women's events double World champion over 100m and 4x100m relay, Lauryn Williams (USA), recorded an easy win to finish in 11.50s. April Steiner (USA) won the pole vault with a result of 4.21m with Jillian Schwartz (USA) recording the same height for the second place.
Another double World champion (5000/10,000m), Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH), won a sprint finish 5000m race in 16:30.57. Older sister Ejagayou was second in 16:32.42, with Korean Lee Eun-Jung finishing in third in 16:37.97. The three were together until the start of the last lap when Tirunesh Dibaba accelerated from third place to take the lead.
Marestella Torres (PHI) won the women’s Long Jump with a best mark of 6.57m and Korean national record holder Jang Jeong-Yeon was the best in the women’s Javelin Throw with 55.60m season's best winning result.
Mirko Jalava for the IAAF
Top Results
Men
100m (-1.9)
1 Justin Gatlin USA 10.26
2 Leonard Scott USA 10.28
200m
1 Shinji Takahira JPN 21.20
800m
1 Wilfred Bungei KEN 1:47.40
2 William Yiampoy KEN 1:47.45
3 Sadjad Moradi IRI 1:48.28
5000m
1 Gebregziabher Gebremariam ETH 13:42.74
2 Mark Bett KEN 13:53.79
110m Hurdles
1 Allen Johnson USA 13.59
2 Rohallah Ashgari IRI 13.88
3 Park Tae-Kyong KOR 13.90
Pole Vault
1 Brad Walker USA 5.65
2 Ryo Onodera JPN 5.30
Triple Jump
1 Jadel Gregório BRA 16.77
2 Paolo Camossi ITA 16.19
Javelin Throw
1 Eriks Rags LAT 81.15
Women
100m
1 Lauryn Williams USA 11.50
2 Guzel Khubbieva UZB 11.76
3 Endurance Ojokolo NGR 11.78
800m
1 Amina Aït Hammou MAR 2:10.51
2 Mestawet Tadesse ETH 2:10.80
5000m
1 Tirunesh Dibaba ETH 16:30.57
2 Ejagayou Dibaba ETH 16:32.42
3 Lee Eun-Jung KOR 16:37.97
100m Hurdles
1 Olena Krasovska UKR 13.52
2 Lee Yeon-Kyuong KOR 13.61
3 Moh Siew-Wei MAS 13.81
Pole Vault
1 April Steiner USA 4.21
2 Jillian Schwartz USA 4.21
3 Roslinda Samsu MAS 4.01
Long Jump
1 Marestella Torres PHI 6.57
2 Jung Soon-Ok KOR 6.36
3 Olesya Belyayeva KAZ 6.34
Javelin Throw
1 Jang Jeong-Yeon KOR 55.60
2 Lee Young-Sun KOR 53.20
3 Indre Jakubaityte LTU 52.63
