Report29 Jul 1999


Portugal's Sacramento runs year's fastest 1500m

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Portugal's Carla Sacramento winning the 1997 IAAF World Championships 1500m title (© Getty Images)

Portugal's Carla Sacramento showed she is moving into form in time to defend her women's World Championships 1500 metres title with the fastest time in the world this year on Thursday.

Sacramento took the lead at the halfway stage, eased well clear on the final lap and stopped the clock at four minutes 01.93 seconds. The previous best this year was by American Regina Jacobs who ran 4:02.41 in Eugene, Oregon, last month.

It was Sacramento's first serious effort over the metric mile this season. Previously she has dabbled in a variety of other distances from 800 metres to 3000 metres at Grand Prix meetings.

She will now go into next month's World Championships in Seville among the favourites for the blue riband event at which she won the gold medal two years ago in Athens.

The IAAF Permit meeting in this Catalan city, had a home winner to cheer when Andres Diaz won the men's 1500 metres in a personal best of 3:31.97.

Diaz, who won the Spanish outdoor title for the first time on Sunday, would have gone quicker still but for looking around at his rivals as he came off the final bend. Only four other men have gone faster this season than the 1999 World indoor 1500 bronze medallist.

Spain' Reyes Estevez finished second in 3:34.37 but the 1998 European champion is still not back to full fitness after suffering a serious calf strain two months ago.

Kenya's William Yampoy sprinted from obscurity to win the men's 800 metres in an impressive 1:44.38. He timed his finishing surge to perfection, hitting the front with 70 metres to go and sliced nearly a second off his personal best to lead home two of his fellow Kenyans.

David Kiptoo was second in 1:44.99 while Luka Kipkoech was third in 1:45.65.

American shot putter C J Hunter, the husband of phenomenal sprinting talent Marion Jones, produced the highlight of the field events, throwing 21.11 metres.

Niurka Montalvo, the 1995 world championship women's long jump silver medallist who wore the colours of Cuba until she obtained Spanish citizenship earlier this year, was one centimetre short of her own Spanish national long jump record with a leap of 6.84 metres.

Russia's Tatyana Shikolenko, the 1998 European women's javelin silver medallist, produced her best effort of the season with a winning throw of 64.25 metres.

Other notable marks came from Jamaica's Merlene Frazer, who won the women's 200 metres in 22.56 seconds, while Ireland's Susan Smith produced her fastest time of the season with her 400 metres hurdles victory in 55.11 seconds.

Reuters for the IAAF

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