Double dash success for Laverne Jones in Hengelo (© organisers)
Laverne JonesFerrette produced the fastest 60m clocking in two years to highlight the BW-Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe on Sunday (31).
A capacity crowd of 4500 packed the Europahalle for the 26th BW-Bank Meeting, the second of nine IAAF Indoor Permit Meetings in 2010, for the year’s first major international invitational in Europe, and across the board, they were treated to a solid slate of impressive early season performances.
[Note: Updated 1 February 00:45 CET.]
In a dominating performance, Jones-Ferrette lowered her own US Virgin Islands record in the short dash, clocking a world-leading 7.09 in the heats, the fastest in the world since the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia.
She wasn’t quite as fast in the final, but still clocked 7.11, also under her previous best of 7.14 set 16 days ago, and more than two-tenths ahead of the rest of the field. Miryam Soumare of France was a distant second, well back in 7.27.
"I am getting faster and faster," Jones-Ferrette said. "Let’s see what happens in Düsseldorf. At the World Indoors my first goal will be to reach the final, and then I want to be in contention for a medal."
Jones bounces back, NR for Svoboda in 60m Hurdles
In the women’s 60m Hurdles, Lolo Jones shook off the sluggishness that led to a runner-up finish in Glasgow on Saturday with a clear victory in 7.90, another of the seven early season world leads* on the afternoon.
The reigning World indoor champion dusted off the cobwebs with a 7.97 in the heats, before cruising to victory in the final over fellow American Yvette Lewis, who clocked a 7.99 personal best.
"It wasn't a bad for me today," Jones said. "In my heat I took the first three hurdles superb but did not do well on the final ones. Strangely in the final it was just the other way round. My aim during this indoor season is to attack the US record and winning gold at the World Indoor Championships."
There was another strong showing in the men’s race as well, courtesy of Czech Petr Svoboda. The bronze medallist a year ago at the European indoor championships first equalled his career best of 7.55 in the heats before taking the final convincingly in 7.50, a Czech national record. American Allen Johnson, at 38, ran well, finishing runner-up in 7.58 ahead of compatriot Eric Mitchum (7.73).
"This is unbelievable!" a thrilled Svoboda said. "I have good technique and my coach tells me that I get better from race to race and that I could run 7.46 in Doha. I would like to win a silver medal there. It is great to beat Allen Johnson – he is my idol and I watch him on video almost daily to improve my technique."
Two metres for Friedrich
For the locals, the biggest draw was high jumper Ariane Friedrich, and the reigning European indoor champion fulfilled any and all realistic expectations with her first two-metre clearance of the season.
Opening her competition with an easy clearance at 1.89m, Friedrich needed three tries at both 1.95m and 2.00m before sailing clear. With the victory clearly sealed - runner-up Viktoriya Klyugina topped out at 1.92m – and with some slight back pain, Friedrich called it a night.
The longest events of the evening, the men’s and women’s 3000m, also produced early season world leads. In his first indoor appearance since the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow, 3000m Steeplechase World record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen took a comfortable victory in 7:43.44 *, more than five seconds clear of former compatriots Joseph Kiplimo (7:49.08) and Shadrack Korir (7:49.13).
In the women’s race, Kenyan Sylvia Kibet ran away from Russia’s Anna Alminova in the final kilometre to win unpressed in 8:41.24, also a meet record. Alminova, the European indoor champion at 1500m, held on for second clocking 8:47.57.
"I like running in Karlsruhe," Kibet said. "Whenever I run here I achieve a personal best. It worked again today and I now hope that I can may be run a bit faster next week in Stuttgart. After that race I will go back to Kenya to prepare for the World Indoors, where I will want to win a medal."
Strong, dominating opener for Burka
There was an even more dominating display in the women’s 1500m, with Gelete Burka prepping for her World indoor title defence with a solid 4:03.92. Burka, one of just five women who have ever dipped under four minutes indoors, was in a class of her own, romping over the field by more than 10 seconds. Frenchwoman Félix Fanjanteino was a distant second, but was likely nonetheless pleased by her 4:14.64 personal best.
Kenyan Gideon Gathimba, second in the Karlsruhe 1500m a year ago, moved up a notch this time around, beating Ethiopian Gebremehdin Mekkonnen 3:37:01 to 3:37.46, also another world lead.
Former Olympic and reigning European indoor champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy opened his season with a strong 1:45.94 victory in the 800m, but he had unexpected company. Twenty-one year-old Jakub Holusa produced his second personal best of the month, finishing a close second in 1:46.09, a second national record on the day for the Czech Republic.
The men’s 60m was considerably closer that the women’s, with just 0.01 seconds separating the top-three. The photo reading gave Lerone Clarke of Jamaica the victory over Nigeria’s Egwero Ogho-Oghene, both credited with 6.64. For the latter, it was a personal best. Germany’s Christian Blum was just a tick back in 6.65 in third, but ahead of reigning World indoor champion Olu Fasuba who clocked 6.67.
Elsewhere...
In the men’s Long Jump, the eight-metres mark – currently the world lead - wasn’t quite breached, but the top three finishers came as close as they possibly could in a closely fought competition. Frenchman Salim Sdiri took top honours with his first round 7.99m leap, just ahead of China’s Li Jingzhe and Andriy Makarchev of Ukraine, who reached 7.98m and 7.97m, respectively. For the second and third place finishers, both jumps were personal bests.
Another French infield victory came in the men’s Pole Vault, with Romain Mesnil beating Germans Malte Mohr, Alexander Straub and Raphael Holzdeppe on countback. The quartet topped out at 5.61m.
Bob Ramsak with assistance from Jorg Wenig for the IAAF
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