2011 Ethiopian 10,000m champion Azmeraw Bekele (© Bizuayehu Wagaw)
Addis Ababa, EthiopiaAn outstanding final sprint in the last 50 metres gave young hopeful Azmeraw Bekele victory in the men’s 10,000m on the opening day of the 40th Ethiopian Athletics Championships on Wednesday (4).
All-African Games 3000m Steeplechase silver medalist Netsanet Achamo won the day’s other final taking victory in her specialist event on a day dominated by heats.
Bekele beats Sefer in tight finish?
But the day belonged to Bekele, who continued his second breakout season with yet another landmark victory in front of an expectant crowd at the Addis Ababa stadium.
The 21-year-old has now won the 2010 Ethiopian Airlines Great Ethiopian Run 10km and the 2010 national Cross Country title in addition to taking clocking for the Marathon and for the Half Marathon.
However, the race here was no walk in the park for Bekele who had to pull out all stops to beat fellow up comers Dino Sefer, defending champion Yetwale Kinde, and two-time national 5000m champion Ali Abdosh in a pulsating contest.
The crowd warmed up to the challenge as early as the seventh lap when Abdosh, Kinde, and Bekele took to the front, but their move was quickly covered by the chasing pack. The trio continued to shadow leaders for the next five laps before Sefer made a bold move just past the halfway point of the race to blow the competition wide open.
A group of 11 runners including the favorite trio continued to follow Sefer who would occasionally allow Abdosh, Kinde, and Bekele to share the lead, but would always maintain his control of the contest. The quartet dropped the chasing pack with nine laps of the race left and continued to exchange leads until the 20th lap, where Abdosh’s challenge started to ebb away.
Sefer led Bekele and Kinde at the bell and looked in poll position to snatch the first national track title of his career. He had looked good for victory at 200 metres before the finish when Bekele found a sudden turn of speed to first draw level with Sefer in the last 50 metres and then power away for victory in 28:39.52. A disappointed Sefer followed him home of Kinde who had to settle for bronze.
"The competition was good,” remarked Bekele. “I liked the cloudy weather and was comfortable, but I entered this race without training. I didn't do any training for the past one week because I had injury problem. Even today, I run on painkillers. I run wisely and won. I am so happy."
Achamo leads Defence sweep in women’s 3000m Steeplechase
In the day’s other final, long-term injury casualty Netsanet Achamo won the women's 3000m Steeplechase as she led her club Defence to a clean sweep of the top three places. The 25-year-old clocked 9:54.75 to take victory ahead of Almaz Ayana and Tsehai Ali.
In qualifying action for the women’s 800m, world indoor 1500m bronze medalist Gelete Burka won both the first round and the semi-finals to progress to Thursday’s final in the women’s 800m. Sheferaw Walle, fourth in the African Championships 800m, was the leading qualifier to the men’s 800m.
And the two women’s 5000m semifinal heats produced easy victories for Sule Utura and Goytatom Gebrselassie who lead 11 others to Saturday’s final.
Elshadai Negash (with the assistance of Bizuayehu Wagaw) for the IAAF
Leading Results (4 May):
Men’s 10,000m:?1. Azmeraw Bekele (Federal Prisons) 28:39.52?2. Dino Sefr (Federal Police) 28:40.38?3. Yetwale Knde (Defence) 28:42.29
?Women’s 3000m SC?: 1. Netsanet Achamo (Defence) 9:54.75?2. Almaz Ayana (Defence) 10:15.65?3. Tsehai Ali (Defence) 10:21.98??
