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Athletics News - 24.03. |
MOMBASA – first ever CC champs in Kenya, jubilee 35th
Suprise, surprise, surprise – Cross Country came home - 5 golds from 8 to Kenya
Kenyan team as a whole was supreme – Ethiopia with only one gold – Eritrea and Netherlands are getting their first gold medals from CC champs ever – but the biggest one – Kenenisa did not finished the race. He stopped after he was passed by Tadesse some 800 m before the finish.
„He had stomach problems. Probably due to overheating and dehydration,“ said his manager Jos Hermens for EME News. The win went to olympic 10000 m medallist Zersenay Tadesse.
Lornah Kiplagat won clearly women´s race so both last years road world champions from Debrecen got golds also in Mombasa. Kenyan born Dutch runner Kiplagat showed great experience as she had such a margin that the Ethiopeans could not catch her. She is in preparation for London Marathon and this win shows that she could be a threat there. Dibaba, Melkamu and Burika finished as expected at next places. Next best European Jessica Augusto from Portugal at 12th position. Elvan Abeylegesse from Turkey only 26th, steeple specialist Docus Inzikuru from Uganda dnfed. On the men side very high quality the 10th place of Mohammed Farah from Great Britian, it was second best individual european placing after Kiplagat. Kenyans claimed six places in top ten, best Ethiopean Markos Geneti only 14th. Four ETH runners did not finished, among them both Bekele brothers. Kenya took jubilee 20th team title in long distance.
In junior races Kenyans took all podium places in boys (perfect team score) and girls competitions. Titles went to unheralded girl Linet Barasa and boy Asbel Kiprop (17 years). In tough 33-35 degrees condition with high humidity many runners did not finished the race, in total more than 80. The race was watched by some 30 000 people.
Medal table:
1.KEN 5 – 4 – 3, 2. ETH 1 – 1 – 3, 3. ERI 1-2-0, 4. NED 1-0-0, 5. MOR 0-1-1, 6. UGA 0-0-1
Historical:
1. KEN 111-76-58, 2. ETH 76-80-47, 3. USA 21-18-20
WALKING
SHENZHEN (CHN, Mar 24): Current European Champion Francisco Fernandez from Spain confirmed great shape with world leading win at second leg of IAAF Race Walking Challenge in China. His time 1:18:51 and he beat the best local walker only 17 years old Li Gaobo by 12 seconds. Third place went to Mexican Eder Sánchez. Italian Olympic Champion Ivano Brugnetti tried in first parts of the race but then faded and finished at 26th position. World champion Jefferson Perez from Ecuador finished 6th. Australia´s Jared Tallent achieved as seventh new best 1:21:25, the same also for 10th Korean. Competitors from 11 countries entered the race early morning with 20 degrees already and 90% humidity as per EAA website. "I am very happy with this win.The conditions were a little difficult but it has been a good experience to come out here and win, one year from my main goal in Beijing" he said. Women race ended with total chinese success, they claimed all positions in top ten. Top results – 20 km men: 1. Francisco Fernandez,ESP 1:18:51, 2. Li Gaobo 1:19:03, 3. Eder Sánchez,MEX 1:20:08, 4. Lu Ronghua CHN 1:20:16, 5. Luke Adams,AUS 1:20:30, 6. Jefferson Perez, ECU 1:21:14, 7. Jared Tallent, AUS 1:21:25 PB, 8. Wei Yang 1:21:26, 9. Zheng Guoqiang 1:21:36, 10. Kim Hyun-Sub,KOR 1:21:37 PB, 11. Robert Heffernan, IRL 1:21:52, 12. Ilya Markov,RUS 1:21:55, 26. Ivano Brugnetti, ITA 1:24:26, 20 km women: 1. Liu Hong 1:29:41, 2. Bai Yanmin 1:30:12, 3. Jiang Jing 1:30:22
DUDINCE (SVK, Mar 24): Ireland´s Colin Griffin won his first 50 km ever in Slovakian Spa City Dudince on Saturday at EAA Permit Walking Meeting, the „26th Dudinska patdesiatka“. His final time was 3:51:32, far below the Osaka 4 hour standard. It is also new irish record, the one before was held by Jamie Costin who went 3:53:58 in 2003. He witnessed the race as he finished 4th at 20 km later during the day. "I m very happy it went so well. My main aim was to achieve a time under four hours, so I m surprised with the final result. I knew I had a good shape, but in such a weather you never know,“ Griffin was quoted. Second placed Milos Batovsky from Slovakia earned the national title and also selection for World Championships and missed his best with 3:54:10 only by 4 seconds. Best slovak 20 km walker Matej Toth helped him until 41st km. Third Donatas Skarnulis from Lithuania also finished under 4 hours with new best of 3:54:23. Hungarian Champion was Zoltan Czukor as 6th and Czech Champion Milos Holusa as 10th. In total 45 walkers from 15 countries went for the race in tough cold and windy conditions with occasional rain.
Slovakian record holder Zuzana Malikova won the women 20 km clearly with 1:32:19 and got her 4th national title. She missed her NR from Goteborg 2006 only by 5 seconds. She had a 45 seconds lead already after first 2 km. „I had a small hamstring problem during the week so I was even considering not to race, but I was finally able to participate. Pity with the weather, otherwise I would be able to come closer to 1:30,“ said Malikova. Rafal Augustyn of Poland won men 20 km race with a time 1:23:07.
Top results
Men 50 km: 1. Colin Griffin,IRL 3:51:32 NR, 2. Milos Batovsky,SVK (NC) 3:54:10, 3. Donatas Skarnulis,LTU 3:54:23 PB, 4. Chris Erickson,AUS 4:04:10, 5. Dusan Majdan,SVK 4:07:43, 6. Zoltan Czukor,HUN (NC) 4:09:31,…10. Milos Holusa,CZE (NC) 4:15:40
Men 20 km: 1. Rafal Augustyn,POL 1:23:07, 2. Maik Berger,GER 1:24:01, 3. Predrag Filipovic,SER 1:24:18, 4. Jamie Costin,IRL 1:24:53, 5. Carsten Schmidt, GER 1:25:09, 6. Tadas Suskevicius,LTU 1:25:26, 7. Peter Korcok,SVK 1:25:46, 8. Hannes Tonat,GER 1:26:02
Wom 20 km: 1. Zuzana Malikova,SVK 1:32:19, 2. Katarzyna Kwoka,POL 1:35:49, 3. Agnieszka Dygacz,POL 1:36:54, 4. Paulina Buziak,POL 1:37:17, 5. Lucie Pelantova,CZE 1:38:06, 6. Zuzana Schindlerova,CZE 1:39:06
Jun-m 10 km: 1. Tavtyvdas Zekas,LTU 44:42, 2. Pawel Krawczyk,POL 44:53, 3. Balazs Darabos,HUN 45:58
Jun-w 10 km: 1. Federico Ferraro, ITA 50:20, 2. Anita Meszaros,HUN 50:55, 3. Barbora Strnadova,SVK 51:24
PRAGUE HM
PRAGUE (CZ, Mar 24): 9th Hervis Prague Halfmarathon witnessed in windy conditions new course record by former world cross country silver medallist Patrick Ivuti from Kenya who achieved 1:01:00. He bettered so the previous mark of Silas Kirui,KEN from 2005 by 7 seconds. „I wanted to run sub one hour, but in this conditions it was impossible. I must be satisfied with new course record,“ said Ivuti who got 3500 E for first place, 3000 E for new record and 2500 E as time bonus. Ivuti has a best of 59:31 and is in preparation for Rotterdam Marathon. It was 8th kenyan male win at this event in a row. Other Kenyans Jacob Yator and Stephen Kibiwott finished on the podium. Russian track 3000 and 5000 m specialist Liliya Shobukhova made an impressive debut at the distance and won achieving 1:11:14 only very close before title defender and event record holder Caroline Kwambai (1:10:08 in 2006). Both were credited with the same time. „I wanted to try a longer distance. I even raced at 5 km on the road back home before this and trained specially for the event. But this does not mean I am switching, in summer you will see me on the track,“ said the winner who last year bettered world indoor record at 3000 m. Shobukhova got 2000 E for win. Some 5500 runners competed in very windy and cold conditions (under 10 degrees C).
Top results:
Men: 1. Patrick Ivuti,KEN 1:01:00 CR, 2. Jacob Yator,KEN 1:01:20, 3. Stephen Kibiwott,KEN 1:01:54, 4. Tadesse Feyissa, ETH 1:02:22, 5. John Cheruiyot Korir,KEN 1:02:22, 6. Martin Sulle, TAN 1:03:11,…best European 9. Andrey Naumov,UKR 1:05:22, best czech 12. Pavel Faschingbauer 1:06:31,…14. Ismael Kirui,KEN (former track 5000 m world champion) 1:07:55
Wom: 1. Liliya Shobukhova,RUS 1:11:14, 2. Caroline Kwambai,KEN 1:11:14, 3. Leila Aman, ETH 1:11:24, 4. Aselech Maresha,ETH 1:11:59, 5. Joan Ayabei,KEN 1:12:36, 6. Beata Rakonczai,HUN 1:14:50,…best czech 8. Petra Kaminkova 1:16:43
OTHER RESULTS
WINSTON SALEM (USA): World champion 2005 at 400mHurdles Bershawn Jackson showed great early shape as he clocked new personal best at flat distance at Wake Forest Open with 45.37. His best so far was 45.45 in 2005 (Rhetymno, Greece). It was also new stadium record. Jamaican Patricia Hall was also fast in womens race achieving 51.64.
BATON ROUGE (USA): During first day of LSU Tiger Relays Kelly-Ann Baptiste from Trinidad was the fastest in 100 m heats with solid 11.39 (-0.2).
TEMPE (USA): One of the best US hammer throwers A.G. Kruger achieved a new meet record 75.43 m at Arizona State University Invitational at Sun Angel Stadium.
BRIEFS
LAGOS (NGR): As reported by Nigerian media former national record holder at 100 m Seun Ogunkoya is back in training. His coach is now Tobias Igwe in Umuahia, Abia State. He is 29 years old and his best 9.92 comes from World Cup 1998 in Johannesburg.
GABORONE (BOT): African High Jump champion from last year Kabelo Kgosiemang has nice plans for the summer. He wants to jump over 235 cm. He credits his coach Dr Wolfgang Ritzdorf of Germany for his development. The high jumper's training programme at German Sport University in Koln ends next year but both Kgosiemang and Ritzdorf agree that their relationship must continue beyond this. "I like working with him, he is a good athlete. People at home (Cologne) like him. He is a great player. I am deeply convinced he will grow even more. He has a great future in case he does not get injuries," said the coach. "The coach believes that I can do 2.35m and more easily. Right now, I clear 2.25m easily. I will be competing in a Grand Prix event in Dakar, Senegal later in April,“ said Kgosiemang.
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Alfons Juck
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