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Kiplagat Nails Beijing Qualifier Behind Tufa’s 30:38.33 Victory in Nijmegen

Posted June 27th, 2008 at 12:12 PM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

The third time was a charm for two-time defending world road running champion Lornah Kiplagat.

The Kenyan-born Dutchwoman clocked 31:04.04 in the 10,000m at the Asics Nijmegen Global Athletic meet in Nijmegen, The Netherlands, on Wednesday, well under the Dutch Olympic selection standard of 31:22. She will now join her cousin, Hilda Kibet, on the Beijing squad.

Kiplagat, the world record holder in the half marathon, fell short of the standard at the European Cup 10,000m in Istanbul in April, and dropped out of another race in Utrecht on May 30. She was ill in early June, forced to spend some time in a hospital in Kenya.

But it was Ethiopian Mestawat Tufa, this year’s world cross country silver medallist, who took top honors with a personal best of 30:38.33, to presumably collect her Olympic qualifier as well. It was the third fastest performance of the season, and the fastest by an Ethiopian this year. Ethiopian selectors generally give an Olympic spot to the the season’s three fastest. Tufa knocked nearly 22 seconds from her previous personal best from last year.