Yesterday I posted the first edition of my World Points Standings, the men’s sprints. Today I continue with the men’s distance events.
800 meters
1. Abuber Kaki Khamis, 75
2. David Lekuta Rudisha, 63
3. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, 59
4. Abraham Chepkirwok, 53
5. Yusuf Saad Kamel, 46
5. Alfred Kirwa Yego, 46
7. Dmitrijs Milkevics, 35
8. Khadevis Robinson, 32
9. Richard Kiplagat, 30
10. Dmitriy Bogdanov, 29
Our two great newcomers, Kaki and Rudisha, are head and shoulders above the rest.
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Politics Rears Its Ugly Head
Political friction between Qatar and Ethioipia has resulted in a boycott by the Ethiopian federation of the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix meet. Indoor world champions Deresse Mekonnen (1500m) and Tariku Bekele (3000m) had been scheduled to run.
More: PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung), Austria
Instead…
of the Ethiopians, look for some superstars at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix meet. Jeremy Wariner will run the 200m, Allyson Felix will run the 400m and Blanca Vlasic will compete in the heptathlon. Just kidding, she’s sticking to what she knows - the high jump (with Wariner and Felix branching out from their usual events, I couldn’t resist!).
More: IHT
Where In The World Is…
Tuvalu? It’s a tiny island nation in Oceania located northeast of Australia. It boasts a population of 11,992 and a land area of 10 square miles. “So what?” you ask. Well, it is the newest member country of the IAAF, the world’s governing body of track & field, which now has a membership of 213.
More: Afrique en ligne, France
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Asafa: 80% Chance He’s Race Thursday
Asafa Powell, still healing after cutting his knee, says he is “70 to 80″ percent sure he start in Thursday’s Melbourne Grand Prix. He also wants a lifetime ban for drug cheats, against whom he says he’s certain to run in Beijing.
Read more at: [Melbourne Herald Sun][Jamaica Gleaner]
Central Florida: New Hotbed of Track
With new residents Tyson Gay and Veronica Campbell leading the way, Central Florida’s Clermont is the newest hotbed of elite track and field. Gay and Campbell, along with several other adidas-sponsored athletes are training there for the Beijing Olympics.
Read more at: [Orlando Sentinel]
Tariku Bekele - Craig Mottram Showdown Will Have To Wait
Tariku Bekele has pulled out of Thursday’s Melbourne Grand Prix, leaving Craig Mottram disappointed. Mottram had wanted to race the Ethiopian at the 5000m distance in front of a home crowd.
Read more at: [The Age, Australia]
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IAAF Overrides British Governing Body Ruling
British sprinter Dwain Chambers got support from the IAAF when UK Athletics ruled him ineligible for a “comeback” because of a 2003 positive test for steroids. In a messy dispute that could end up in court, UKA is sticking to a ruling stating that retired athletes must undergo a year of negative tests. The IAAF, however, is stating that they never received an official retirement letter, so the rule does not apply to him unless UKA can produce such a letter.
Read more at: [Times Online, UK][Athletics Weekly][More]
Michael Johnson Backs IAAF’s Pistorius Ban
Michael Johnson, the retired 400m world-record holder, agrees with the IAAF’s decision to ban double-amputee Oscar Pistorius because his prosthetic legs (dubbed “Cheetahs”) offer him an “unfair advantage” over other athletes. “If he was racing at the same time as me,” Johnson said, “I would also think the same thing.”
Read more at: [The Tide]
Wariner and Legendary Coach Hart Ways
Clyde Hart, Baylor’s legendary coach who trained Michael Johnson, has parted ways with current 400m world champion Jeremy Wariner after a contract dispute in which Wariner sought to reduce the coach’s percentage. Sanya Richards will continue to train under Hart.
Read more at: [Waco Tribune]
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A strong men’s 3000m race is shaping up for the Reebok Boston Indoor Games scheduled for Saturday, January 26 at the Reggie Lewis Track Facility at Roxbury Community College in Boston.
Leading the field will be Australia’s Craig Mottram, the defending champion and the 2005 IAAF World Championships bronze medalist at 5000m. “It will be a good opportunity to measure my race form after some very good training down here in Australia since November,” said Mottram via e-mail from his high altitude training base in Falls Creek, Victoria.
Mottram clocked an Australian record 7:39.24 when he won in Boston last year, running 54.99 for the final 400m despite taking the opportunity to celebrate a little in the final lap. “That was one of my best races, ever,” he told Race Results Weekly after the race. Mottram also won the two-mile event which was held at this meet in 2006.
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When the IAAF Golden Series resumes on Friday night, Zurich’s rebuilt state-of-the-art Letzigrund Stadium won’t be the only new development at one of the world’s richest single-day meetings. For the first time in the sport’s professional era, the annual Weltklasse competition will not employ the services of pacemakers.
And that suits Bernard Lagat, the recently minted world champion at 1500 and 5000 meters, just fine.
“It’s fantastic,” said Lagat, who will contest the 3000 on Friday. “People always run fast and they get personal bests with pacemakers, but then again it’s so important that the race becomes tactical.”
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While critics said he had bitten off more than he could chew, Bernard Lagat swallowed up the field of the men’s 5000m final here tonight, becoming the first man to win both the 1500m and 5000m at an IAAF World Championships in Athletics. He also became the first American to win a 5000m world title.
It mattered not his winning time of 13:45.87 was the slowest in the history of these championships. In fact, it was the painfully slow early pace which set the stage for Lagat to use his unmatched closing speed to clinch the title over Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, the 2003 world champion. In a memorable sprint to the finish, Lagat just edged his former compatriot by 13/100ths of a second, running about 52 seconds for the final lap.
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Meseret Defar, the reigning Olympic gold medalist and world record holder at 5000m, claimed her first outdoor world title on the pentultimate day of the 11th IAAF World Championships at Nagai Stadium.
Helped by a plodding pace set by fan favorite Kayoko Fukushi, who was doubling back from the 10,000m, Defar did little but wait for 11 of the 12 and one-half laps. In the early going, she simply trailed a step behind Fukushi who was turning gentle 74 and 75 second laps. It wasn’t until the 11th lap that Vivian Cheruiyot tried to jump start the race with a sub-72 circuit. At the bell, Defar applied the pressure, but held her big sprint for the end.
“In the last 400 meters I increased the length of my stride,” said Defar after the race as if teaching a class. “And in the last 200 meters I used my sprint to win.”
Elementary, my dear Watson! Her 58.6 second final lap gave her a more than adequate cushion at the finish, grabbing the gold medal in 14:57.91, Ethiopia’s third of these championships.
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Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia, the younger brother of Kenenisa, and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, won their respective heats of the 5000m as the 11th IAAF World Championships finished its sixth day at Nagai Stadium.
Bekele recorded an improbably slow time of 13:46.42 to win his heat off of a very slow initial pace. Indeed, there was such a large group of athletes still together at the bell that Algeria’s Khoudir Aggoune, Kenya’s Isaac Songok and Joseph Ebuya, and Morocco’s Ahmed Baday were unable to advance to Sunday’s final despite finishing within two seconds of Bekele. Only the top five from each heat automatically qualified for the final.
“I was worried about the weather,” Bekele said in a statement released by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation. “It was very difficult out there and I hope to do well in the final.”
Jesús España of Spain, Bernard Lagat of the USA, Hicham Bellani of Morocco, and Moses Kipsiro of Uganda were the other qualifiers from the first heat. Lagat won the gold medal in the 1500m last night. He chose to celebrate with an ice bath and a pizza before getting to bed to rest up for tonight’s race. The slow pace definitely saved him precious energy.
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By all indications, Craig Mottram passed the first major 5000m test of the summer with flying colors. The 27-year-old Australian out-maneuvered and ultimately out-kicked the finest field assembled yet this season to take a significant 13:04.97 victory at the 46th running of the Golden Spike Meeting on Wednesday night, a major stepping stone on this year’s road to the World Championships in Osaka.
“It’s great to be able to compete against that field, which is pretty much what I’m going to face at the World Championships, barring a few people who didn’t run tonight,” said, Mottram, the reigning world bronze medallist. “And I was able to control it from the front for the last four or five laps. I wasn’t expecting to do that, but to be able to stay relaxed over the last two laps like I did tonight is something that I’ve probably gained through a bit more experience more than anything else. I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that two years ago. That’s just one added bonus for me now.”
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