Haile Gebrselassie floats to 3000m win in Boston (© Victah Sailer)
Five potent worldleading performances at the hands (and feet) of star runners left an unmistakable stamp of quality on the 20th edition of the LBBW meeting, which was held today.
Sixth fastest ever 3000m for Geb
Haile Gebrselassie was in Karlsruhe for the fifth time in his career - always to run the 3000 metres - and the nearly 31-year-old running legend showed a “fountain-of-youth” form with a world-leading 7:29.34 performance. It was history’s sixth-best clocking in that event (and number-four on the Geb all-time list).
Never was Daniel Komen’s seemingly impossible world record ever under discussion. All that the five-time global 10,000m champion had promised was a crack at Kenenisa Bekele’s season-topping time from two weeks ago.
“There’s a big difference between 7:30 and 7:29,” said the Ethiopian, wiping the sweat from his brow and trying to return to a normal respiration rate. “No one seems to respect something starting with 7:30 quite like they do a 7:29.”
Concerning his seeming love affair with the Europahalle, Gebrselassie pointed to the “good, bouncy track, not terribly hard, plus the good air” which resulted from the mild outside afternoon temperatures and the ability of the facilities management to open the windows and refresh the air in the hour before the race.
The Ethiopian, who will run the Two Mile in Birmingham on Friday as his final preparation for the Budapest World Indoor Championships (5 - 7 March), made no secret of the fact that this indoor season was undertaken as preparation for the Athens Olympics.
“I really needed to work on my speed this winter,” he explained. “Last year, the races I lost were always in the last lap. I had to do something about that.” When asked if he were slowly becoming an old man, he quickly snapped, “Not yet!”
Following Gebreselassie into the finish, but at a distance, were his countryman, Abioyote Abate (7:38.43), and four-time European cross-country champion Sergiy Lebid of Ukraine (7:43.29 NR).
Lebid, an infrequent habitué of indoor meetings, was smiling broadly afterwards, and he confirmed that Budapest had just moved into his season plans. “Why not? There won’t be any pacemaker there, and I’ve got good finishing speed.”
Gardener blasts to 6.46 to equal his European record!
Only hours after arriving from Leipzig last night from his participation with the British team at the European Indoor Cup, Jason Gardener was once again at the sprint starting line. If fatigue was to be part of any offered excuse, it was not needed, as the season’s fastest man equalled his own world leading time of 6.48 in the heats before blasting to a 6.46 in the final, tying his own European indoor record.
In the secondary race behind Gardener, Cuba’s Fredy Mayola (6.62) nosed out Simone Collio of Italy (6.64).
Running in Karlsruhe for the first time in his career, Gardener said that the Europahalle had always been highly touted by his countrymen in the past. “Colin [Jackson] said that this place had a fast track, and I came here knowing I was in fantastic form.”
Despite running four world leading times prior to today, the two-time world indoor bronze medallist admitted that “I thought I could run another quick race. And after today, I think there is more to come.”
Mutola clocks 1:57.48
Racing for the first time in three weeks, Maria Mutola put on a powerful running exhibition with her 1:57.48 clocking in the women’s 800 metres, the year’s fastest and the Mozambique runner’s 22st consecutive win.
Holland’s Stella Jongmans took the Sydney champion through the first lap in 27.9, and Mutola was handed the lead by the time the 400 mark arrived in 57.3. A 60.2 clocking over the final two laps brought the seemingly unstoppable runner to the twelfth-fastest clocking in indoor history. Only on three other occasions has she herself run faster indoors.
Finishing behind Mutola were Natalya Khrushchelyova of Russia (2:00.68) and Romanian Liliana Barbulescu (2:01.16).
Aldama leaps 14.65 on fourth attempt
Cuban-born Yamilé Aldama, now of Sudan, may have solved her well-publicized visa problems during the past week, but for a while today, she appeared to have forgotten how to triple jump, drawing a red flag on her first three attempts. Finally she leaped 14.65 on her fourth try for a much-anticipated national record (for which there actually was no old record!).
...and Martinez lands at 14.62
It was just enough to win the competition against another former Cuban, Magdalin Martinez of Italy, who finished second at 14.62. The next places were taken by Olena Govorova of Ukraine (14.33) and Spain’s Carlota Castrejana (14.26).
South American record
The men’s Triple Jump saw a South American record 17.46 leap from Brazil’s Jadel Gregorio, who easily outpaced the season-best 17.16 from Romania’s Marian Oprea.
Heshko - 3:35.15 - outkicks Saidi-Sief
Ivan Heshko of Ukraine, the Paris bronze medallist in the men’s 1500 Metres, dropped the world best time in that event by more than two seconds with a strong 3:35.15 performance, outkicking Algeria’s Ali Saidi-Sief (3:36.02), as both runners recorded personal bests.
Heshko, Saidi-Sief and Mike Too of Kenya had separated themselves from the rest of the field with 400 left, as the Algerian acted as the pacer at that point. Then, with 150 left, Heshko put on his trademark kick and breezed home with the win.
Dulecha improves women's 1500m season's lead too
Ethiopia's Kutre Dulecha kept the “world-leading” theme alive by also taking more than two seconds off the women’s 1500 metres season best with a runaway 4:01.91 clocking, which was also an African record and the seventh-fastest performance ever.
Losing contact at the end behind Dulecha’s strong finish, and perhaps still exhausted from her own world-leading race in Stockholm three days ago, was Alesya Turova of Belarus (4:05.39), with another Stockholm participant, Hungary’s Judit Varga, running third in a national-record 4:06.04.
Gevaert fully recovered from crash
If Kim Gevaert had any questions about her recovery from an auto accident one week ago, they were answered in a most definitive way today. The double sprint silver medallist from the last European outdoor championships accelerated strongly over the final ten metres of the women’s 60 metres course to pull out a narrow win in 7.14. In the heats, the Belgian had moved even with the top of the European season list with a 7.13.
Gevaert looked to be headed for defeat at the hands of Natalia Safronnikova of Belarus when she found a miraculous lift late in the race. Safronnikova barely held on for second (7.15) ahead of Virgen Benavides of Cuba (7.16).
In the men’s 60 metres Hurdles, Maurice Wignall of Jamaica moved solidly into the number-two position in the world this season with a splendid 7.51 performance, which lowered his own national record by 0.01. Marcio de Souza of Brazil also got caught up in the fast tempo and registered a South American record 7.60 in second place. Behind that pair--and perhaps still running cautiously after a hamstring strain two weeks ago--was Olympic champion Anier Garcia of Cuba (7.67).
Lacena Golding-Clarke kept the gold flowing for Jamaica as she took the women’s 60 metres Hurdles in a season-best 7.89 to maintain her own number-two spot on the women’s list. Behind the Commonwealth champion was France’s Nicole Ramalalanirina (7.89).
The women’s High Jump turned into a two-woman show, with Blanka Vlasic of Croatia jumping a national-record 1.99 to defeat Ukraine’s Vita Palamar at 1.97. The meeting also saw Germany’s Daniela Rath - twice a 2.00 jumper this indoor season - register her first loss of the year, as her two-metre performance in Leipzig yesterday left her with only enough energy for a fifth-place 1.88.
Meeting results click here
