News09 Dec 2013


Aman targets world indoor 600m best in Moscow

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Mohamed Aman takes down a strong indoor field (© Anders Sjogren / DECA Text&Bild)

Mohammed Aman likes competing in Moscow. The Ethiopian teenager has never lost a race in the Russian capital and it’s a record he hopes to maintain on 2 February when he competes at the Russian Winter, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting.

But victory is not the only thing that will be on Aman’s mind when he lines up for the 600m. This time he will be aiming to break the world indoor best for the distance.

The mark has stood to Nico Motchebon since 1999, the German clocking 1:15.12 in Sindelfingen. Despite several assaults on that performance in recent years, no one has yet managed to break it.

Aman came close to it at this year’s edition of the Russian Winter meeting, but had to be content with a world junior indoor best of 1:15.60.

The next time Aman appeared in Moscow was at this year’s IAAF World Championships, where he became the youngest ever winner of the world 800m title in the history of the championships.

Aman, who also won the world indoor title in 2012, will leave the junior ranks at the end of this year and his race in Moscow will be one of his first as a senior.

It won’t be an easy one either, as he is up against the second-fastest man in history over 600m; Poland’s Adam Kszczot. The 24-year-old excels indoors and has twice won the European indoor 800m title.

Kszczot also holds the Russian Winter 600m meeting record at 1:15.26, while his indoor 800m PB of 1:44.57 puts him at third on the world indoor all-time list.

Also in the field will be USA’s Erik Sowinski, who clocked 1:15.99 at this year’s Russian Winter meeting, then two weeks later set an American indoor best of 1:15.61.

It means that the 600m race in Moscow on 2 February will have three of the five fastest men of all time over the distance; all of them having got within half a second of the world indoor best in recent years.

Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

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