Eunice Jepkorir en route to bronze in Osaka (© Getty Images)
Huelva, SpainReigning World 3000m Steeplechase bronze medallist Eunice Jepkorir produced the standout performance at the ‘Gran Premio Iberoamericano’ held Friday (13) in the southwest city of Huelva.
The 26-year-old Kenyan smashed her own Area record of 9:14.52 by clocking with her 9:11.18, the fastest in the world this year. Ethiopia’s Sileshi Sihine’s sub-13:00 5000m victory was the leading performance on the men’s programme.
Mighty Jepkorir
Bouncing back from her disappointing ninth place last Friday in Oslo, where she clocked 9:37.94, Jepkorir showed awesome form in Huelva to propel herself into the Olympic medal picture at the Beijing Games in two month’s time. Paced through the opening kilometre in a brisk 3:01.21, the Kenyan still had the company of up to three steeplechasers in the guise of the Ethiopian pair of Mekdes Bekele and Sofia Assefa plus Portugal’s Jessica Augusto, who was making her debut at the event.
But that triumvirate could not live with the Kenyan’s blistering pace for much longer and the second kilometre was covered in 6:06.06 by a lonesome Jepkorir who offered a magnificent display of solo running over the closing 1000m to romp home unchallenged in a massive PB and world leading mark of 9:11.18. On her fifth appearance on Spanish ground this season, Jepkorir built a huge advantage of nine seconds on Ethiopia’s World junior bronze medallist Bekele, runner-up with a huge PB of 9:20.23, slicing nearly 12 seconds from her previous best.
9:22.50 debut for Augusto
The minor place on the podium was taken by Augusto in her first ever try at the discipline. The 27-year-old, eighth last March at the Valencia World indoors over 3000m, seems to have found her favourite event after lowering Sara Moreira’s 13-day old NR by the handsome margin of 12 seconds.
A faltering Assefa could at least held off the challenge of top Spaniard Rosa Morató, the eighth finisher at the Osaka Worlds (9:35.08 and 9:35.91 their respective times) while the eagerly awaited debut of Spain’s double 5000m European champion Marta Domínguez ended with a 9:39.18 clocking, still inside the Olympic qualifying time.
A delighted Jepkorir commented: “After my below par performance in Oslo I didn’t expect such a fast time, but the pacemakers did a good job and everything was right.” Asked on her Olympic’s ambitions, the all-time fourth fastest athlete for the event said: “A gold medal? Let’s see. I come back to Kenya to prepare the Kenyan trials and then I’ll return to Europe for some competitions before the Olympics.”
Sihine unopposed in the 5000m
The 5000m event had been billed as a Sihine’s serious attempt to dip into sub-12:50 territory to set a new season best, but finally the reigning World and Olympic 10,000m silver medallist had to be satisfied with a solid 12:58.41 performance. His Ethiopian compatriots Legese Lamiso and Birhanu Gima Tefera had the task of cruising the 3000m point at 7:42 but they only manage a 7:47 time so Sihine’s chances of a very fast time had already vanished by then.
The current World 10,000m leader at 26:50.53 ran in solitude the final 2000m to finish in 12:58.41, and was never threatened by Kenya’s Kiprono Menjo, who marginally bettered his PB to 13:06.17.
Three Spaniards inside 13:16
There was a thrilling battle for the minor place on the podium position which went to Kidane Tadese ahead of European 5000m champion Jesús España. The former, who is Zersenay Tadese’s younger brother, finally prevailed thanks to a 13:13:17 massive PB for 16 seconds while the 29-year-old Spaniard also set a PB of 13:13.32 getting the better of fellow compatriots Juan Carlos de la Ossa and Carlos Castillejo, 13:14.91 and 13:15.72 their respective clockings. In doing so, the three Spaniards are the fastest European specialists so far this season.
Savigne and Onyia successful again
Cuba’s reigning World (indoor & outdoor) champion Yargelis Savigne stamped her authority in the women’s Triple Jump to take her fourth win in a row on this outdoor campaign following victories in Havana, Turin and Moscow earlier this month, always in the 14.77m-14.81m range. The 23-year-old leapt to a 14.72m win in round 4 into a slight headwind of 0.2 and backed up her win with a 14.69m second try while Spain’s reigning European indoor champion Carlota Castrejana came a distant runner-up in a SB of 14.05m in her opening leap.
Josephine Onyia, one of the sensations of this early stage of the Olympic year, grabbed a comfortable12.82 win (-0.2) in the 100m Hurdles against a low-key field headed by runner-up Adriana Lamalle of France, timed at 12.95.
In other events, Spain’s European indoor 1500 silver medallist Arturo Casado was a convincing winner in 3:35.83 out sprinting Algerian Kheddar Samir (3:36.09), while two more Spaniards secured the Olympic qualifying standard in the guise of Diego Ruiz and Reyes Estévez, 3:36.26 and 3:36.33 respectively.
The very last event on the programme, the men’s 3000m Steeplechase, witnessed Ethiopa’s Nahom Mesfin’s commanding victory in 8:14.87; still a junior, Mesfin succeeded over Qatar’s Abubaker Ali Kamal, runner-up in 8:15.80 while Spain’s José Luis Blanco took a minor revenge on Jukka Keskisalo of Finland as the latter snatched gold ahead of Blanco at the Goteborg Europeans. The 33-year-old Spaniard took third in 8:23.27 some four seconds clear of the Finn, sixth in 8:27.47, still a SB after the hamstring injury which prevented him to compete last year.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
