Kelly Holmes running in Sheffield (© Getty Images)
Britain’s World 800m silver medallist Kelly Holmes highlighted the ‘Gran Premio Reebok Ciudad de San Sebastián’ - EAA meet - held yesterday (Saturday 3 July)when taking an overwhelming win in the 800m.
It was Holmes’s first appearance over the two-lap event this outdoor season after her three 1500m outings in June (best of 4:03.73 for second in Eugene, USA) and the 34-year-old Briton proved to be full of energy and strength only seven weeks prior to the Olympic Games in Athens.
The race started cautiously and the leading group went through halfway in a modest 59.70 with Holmes still in 7th place running comfortably in the middle of a tight pack.
In her effort to reach the top the Commonwealth 1500m champion had to run wide in lane 2 all the following bend but, despite that, she easily took command of the race with 200m to go, sharing the lead with Russia’s Natalya Tsyganova.
Holmes’s home straight was an awesome display of powerful running and she romped home in 1:58.71 for a new meeting record, exactly half a second ahead of Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi while a fading Tsyganova came third marginally outside the 2:00 barrier in 2:00.09.
Holmes’s splits (59.9-58.8) clearly suggest she is currently in 1.57m form at 800.
She flew from San Sebastián to Madrid on Sunday morning and will arrive in the altitude of Navacerrada (Madrid) later today before coming back to the UK to contest next weekend’s Norwich Union Olympic Trials in Manchester.
Yesterday’s 1:58.71 is the fourth fastest time in the world so far this season.
Fine 1500 victories for Spaniards: 3:33.63 and 4:03.98
With previous splits of 55.63 (400) and 1:53.95 (800), Kenya’s Daniel Wamgubu led the race until de 1100m mark, crossed in 2:38, performing as the second pacemaker. It was then that Spain’s Álvaro Fernández took full charge of the race and blew away the field majestically to build up a handsome margin over the last lap which took only 55 seconds.
The 23-year-old Spaniard won unchallenged in a PB of 3:33.63 which means a huge step forward in the always tough task of making the Spanish 1500m squad for a major event. 2001 European U-23 1500m champion Wolfram Muller of Germany and Kenya’s Mike Too finished second and third in 3:36.17 and 3:36.39 respectively.
On the women’s side of things, Spain’s Nuria Fernández also reached the Olympic standard by winning the 1500m by pipping Morocco’s B. Ghezielle in the closing stages to clock a season’s best of 4:03.98. Ghezielle ran 4:04.19 for second, and Russia’s Yuliya Chizhenko was a close third in 4:04:58. Spain’s Zulema Fuentes-Pila also reached the Olympic standard clocking a lifetime best of 4:05.35.
Bitok untroubled in 5000m
Kenya’s twice Olympic 5000m silver medallist Paul Bitok will not be in Athens trying for a third medal but yesterday he showed great form and held off his young compatriot (14 years his junior) James Kwalia in the men’s 5000m. At the bell, no less than seven athletes remained still in contention but in the last 200m the Kenyan duo remained unchallenged by four Spaniards who ran under 13:20.
Bitok’s winning time was 13:12.78, 54 hundredths ahead of Kwalia with European 10,000m champion José Manuel Martínez in third with a 13:15.39 clocking. The twin García brothers, Roberto and Carlos, set PBs and Olympic qualifying times of 13:16.13 and 13.16.40, while Carlos Castillejo in seventh ran 13:19.47.
Britain’s European Cup (Super League) winner John Mayock ran a season’s best of 13:22.99, slightly outside the Olympic “A” requirement of 13.21.50.
Thrilling and domestic steeplechase
The 3000m steeplechase line-up featured three top-8 runners from last year’s Worlds in Paris, Spain’s Eliseo Martín (bronze medallist), Luis Miguel Martín (6 th), and José Luis Blanco, 8th on that occasion. However, yesterday their finishing position produced quite the opposite result with Blanco out-sprinting Spanish record holder Luis Miguel Martín after the last barrier, their respective times being 8:20.87 and 8:21.09 with Eliseo Martín back in third, 8:22.67.
The women’s 5000m witnessed a Kenya-Ethiopia fight again. This time it was Kenyan Ines Chenonge who gave a win to her country with a 15:00.76 performance, while the Ethiopians Teyiba Erkesso and Mestawat Tufa finished not far in 15:02.28 and 15:02.43 respectively.
Victories for World 400m bronze medallist
World Indoor bronze medallist Congo’s Gary Kikaya took the men’s 400m; Tunisia’s Sofiane Labidi went out fastest in lane 3 but Kikaya managed to overtake him in the home straight for victory in 45.09, 0.12s clear of Labidi, while Jamaica’s Davian Clarke finished third in 45.59.
In the women’s race, Senegal’s World 400m bronze medallist Amy Mbacke Thiam stormed to victory in 51.79, 0.19s ahead of Guyana’s Aliann Pompey.
Close battle in the women’s High Jump
Spain’s Marta Mendía took the High Jump on count-back from the Russian duo of Olga Kaliturina and Yelena Fedoseyeva, the three of them clearing the bar over 1.95m; Mendía had first time clearances at all heights including 1.95.
In the women’s 200m the win went to Cydonie Mothersill of Cayman Islands in 22.68, well ahead of France’s Sylviane Felix, timed at 22.91.
Spain’s Carlota Castrejana was a comfortable victor in the women’s Triple Jump by leaping 14.12m in her opening try, while Russia’s Anastasiya Ivanova kept her country’s supremacy in the Pole Vault with a 4.48m clearance. The local heroine Naroa Agirre was runner-up with 4.40.
Aother notable winner was Estonia’s Alexander Tammert in the men’s Discus with a fifth round heave of 66.42m, while Spain’s Mario Pestano twice unleashed a 65.23 distance to take second. Both throwers had also competed the night before in Rome.
Also in the infield Spain’s Manuel Martínez and Petr Szehlik of the Czech Republic threw the same distance, 19.66 in the Shot but the win went to the Spaniard by virtue of a further second try.
Finally, in the men’s 800m Bahrain’s Yousef Saad Kamel proved to be the strongest but romped home in a modest 1:46.36. Adam Miller of Australia was successful in the men’s 200 clocking 20.94 in a tailwind of 1.7.
Emeterio Valiente for the IAAF
