Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha capped his 2016 season with a fast 500m victory to highlight the Great North CityGames in Newcastle on Saturday (10).
In his first race over the rarely-run distance, Rudisha clocked 57.69, the fastest ever recorded.
"This is my first time over the distance so it was difficult to judge," Rudisha said. "I used the other guys' experience and took it from there."
Rudisha spoke highly of the race setting which attracted some 25,000 spectators to the banks of the River Tyne.
"It has been fantastic to run here. There was less pressure on me today. It&rsquo;s fantastic, it&rsquo;s awesome to run in an event like this."
"To have athletics in the middle of a city is one of the greatest ideas."
Mark English, last year's winner, clocked 57.91 for second with Martyn Rooney, also of Great Britain, third in 59.02.
Lynsey Sharp of Great Britain, also an 800m specialist, won the women&rsquo;s 500m in 1:06.62, also the fastest time ever recorded, according to organisers. She held off Shelayna Oskan-Clarke and Anyika Onuora who clocked 1:06.89 and 1:07.04 respectively.
"I really wanted this," said Sharp, who was sixth in the Olympic 800m final last month.
<h3>Mile wins for Muir and Wightman</h3>
Laura Muir, the world leader in the 1500m, closed her season with a victory in the road mile in 4:33.99, a few steps clear of Alison Leonard, who clocked 4:34.42. In the men&rsquo;s race, Jake Wightman notched a surprise win, holding off Pole Marcin Lewandowski 4:05.70 to 4:05.98.
Exciting head-to-head battles featured in the four-lane sprint and hurdles events.
Danny Talbot defeated Richard Kilty over the rarely-run 150m distance by a scant 0.01 in 15.06. Desiree Henry clocked a European beat of 16.57 to win the women&rsquo;s race over Olympic 400m finalist Natasha Hastings, who clocked 16.67.
James Dasaolu edged CJ Ujah to take the 100m, 10.21 to 10.22. South Africa&rsquo;s Carina Horn of South Africa took the women&rsquo;s race in 11.20, well clear of world indoor 60m champion Barbara Pierre who clocked 11.31.
David Omoregie, last weekend&rsquo;s winner in Berlin, won the 110m hurdles in 13.75 with the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles win going to Jackie Coward in 12.85.
Two field events were also contested. Greg Rutherford, the 2012 Olympic champion, won the long jump with 7.66m. Regina Kramer topped 4.15m to win the women&rsquo;s pole vault.
Bob Ramsak and organisers for the IAAF

Rudisha sizzles fast 500m in Newcastle

Along with the previously announced attack on the women&rsquo;s mile world indoor record at the Globen Galan, there will be two other world indoor record attempts at the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting in Stockholm on 17 February.World indoor 1500m champion Ayanleh Souleiman will have his sights set on Wilson Kipketer&rsquo;s world indoor record of 2:14.96 in the 1000m. Souleiman won the 1000m in Stockholm back in 2013 in a Djiboutian record of 2:17.05, then went on to improve his outdoor bests to 1:42.97 over 800m and 3:29.58 over 1500m.Kenya&rsquo;s world 1500m silver medallist Elijah Manangoi will also be in the field. The 23-year-old was one of the big breakthrough performers of 2015, improving his 1500m best to 3:29.67 before taking the silver medal in Beijing.Qatar&rsquo;s Abdalelah Haroun will be targeting the 500m world indoor best of 1:00.09 set last year by Brycen Spratling. The teenager produced the biggest shock of last year&rsquo;s meeting in Stockholm when he sped to an Asian indoor 400m record of 45.39 in the B race, almost a second faster than the winning time in the A race by world indoor champion Pavel Maslak.Organisers for the IAAF2016 IAAF World Indoor Tour calendar 6 February &ndash; Karlsruhe Indoor Meeting (Karlsruhe, GER) 14 February &ndash; New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (Boston, USA) 17 February &ndash; Globen Galan (Stockholm, SWE) 20 February &ndash; Glasgow Indoor Grand Prix (Glasgow, GBR)

Along with the previously announced attack on the women’s mile world indoor record at the Globen Galan, there will be two other world indoor record attempts at the IAAF World Indoor Tour meeting in Stockholm on 17 February.

Stockholm set for two more world indoor record attempts

The 108th edition of the NYRR Millrose Games, held at the New Balance Track &amp; Field Center at the Armory on Saturday (14), produced two world bests and five world-leading marks.The men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s Wanamaker miles are traditionally the most cherished events of the meeting. Besides the usual winners&rsquo; cups, this time the organisers secretly prepared additional prizes: one for 40-year old two-time world champion Bernard Lagat, who was targeting Eamonn Coghlan&rsquo;s M40 world indoor best of 3:58.15, and another one for a potential 100th sub-four-minute finisher at the Millrose Games.The men&rsquo;s race didn&rsquo;t disappoint. Matthew Centrowitz and Pat Casey, who just two weeks ago ran together on the world-best-setting distance medley relay team at the Armory, adamantly chased pacemaker Mark Wieczorek, with New Zealand&rsquo;s Nick Willis a few meters behind and Lagat in the chase group.&ldquo;I didn't look behind me at all, but it definitely felt fast right from the start,&rdquo; said Centrowitz, the two-time world medallist.After Wieczorek dropped out with three laps to go, having passed 1000m in 2:25.63, Willis started catching up with the leaders and at the bell he had replaced Casey in second place. Both Centrowitz and Willis demonstrated impressive finishing kicks, but the former was stronger, setting a world-leading time of 3:51.35, just 0.01 shy of the indoor PB he set at this meeting in 2013.The Kiwi improved on the national indoor record he set last week, running 3:51.46 for second, while Casey took third in 3:54.36.&ldquo;When Willis came up on me on the backstretch, I knew that if I&rsquo;d let him by me at that point, it was game over,&rdquo; said Centrowitz. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d have the inside lane, and I&rsquo;d have to go around. I pretty much went all out to hold him off around that corner, and it was the race right there.&rdquo;Lagat smashed the M40 world best with his fourth-place finish in 3:54.91, and one of the first people to congratulate him after the finish was the former record-holder Coghlan himself. Britain&rsquo;s Chris O&rsquo;Hare, who placed sixth in 3:55.35, is now in the meeting&rsquo;s history books as the 100th sub-four-minute mile performer.In the women&rsquo;s mile race, all bets were on USA&rsquo;s Shannon Rowbury, who clocked 4:22.66 on a flat indoor track just two weeks ago, prompting suggestions that she could break the US indoor record of 4:20.5 set by Mary Decker-Slaney in 1982.The 2009 world 1500m bronze medallist, who is part of Alberto Salazar&rsquo;s training group along with Centrowitz, didn&rsquo;t disappoint, pushing the pace in front all the way and gaining a 30-meter lead by the last lap. But the impressive speed caught up with Rowbury on the homestretch as she stumbled a few times and had to give up any hopes of a record-breaking run. She held on to win in 4:24.32.&ldquo;I am disappointed; I knew I had an American record in me today,&rdquo; said Rowbury. &ldquo;I'd love to have another opportunity to go after it because I know I'm capable. We started out fast on the first 400m, and I felt it in the end. On the last 30 meters my legs felt like they&rsquo;ve just disappeared.&rdquo;<h3>World indoor best &ndash; and a world record-holder &ndash; tumble</h3> The unexpected world best came in the men&rsquo;s 500m. USA&rsquo;s 22-year-old Brycen Spratling overcame some serious rivals, such as former world 400m hurdles champion Bershawn Jackson and Belgium&rsquo;s Jonathan Borlee, and clocked 1:00.06, beating Ken Lowery&rsquo;s time of 1:00.17 set in 1987.&ldquo;I didn't know I was on a record pace!&rdquo; said Spratling. &ldquo;I honestly felt like I relaxed a little bit too much early on in the race. So when I saw the time, I was disappointed, I really wanted to run 59 seconds. But if that's the best time ever run in the world, then I'm ok with it.&rdquo;Decathlon world record-holder Ashton Eaton produced the social media highlight of the meeting. He ran an impressive 7.51 in the 60m hurdles for third place in the race and the second position on the 2015 world indoor list.But Eaton, to the astonishment of the audience, couldn&rsquo;t handle his speed after crossing the line and jumped over the crash mat at the finish, falling down a four-metre drop on the outer side of the track. Fortunately, the world and Olympic champion landed on his feet and was back on the track in one piece within a matter of seconds, heading over to the long jump runway for his second event of the evening.The victory in the men&rsquo;s 60m hurdles was taken by Aleec Harris. In his third race as a professional, he set a world lead and a personal best of 7.50. World champion David Oliver was second with the same time as Eaton, 7.51.<h3>Williams back in shape</h3> Jesse Williams, the 2011 world high jump champion, had injury-ridden seasons in 2013 and 2014, but is determined to put them behind. He proved it in New York, clearing 2.31m on his first attempt to beat Canada&rsquo;s Mike Mason on count-back.Elsewhere in the field events, Greece&rsquo;s European silver medallist Ekaterini Stefanidi took the victory in the pole vault with 4.60m, and Jamaica&rsquo;s Damar Forbes leaped 8.03m on his last attempt in the long jump for a narrow win over the world and Olympic medallist Will Claye (8.02m).<h3>World leads for Ahoure and Kipyego</h3> Double world silver medallist Murielle Ahoure posted a world lead of 7.05 to win the women&rsquo;s 60m. Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s Michelle-Lee Ahye came in second with a time of 7.11, 0.06 ahead of two-time world indoor bronze medallist Tianna Bartoletta. All three women set season&rsquo;s bests.In the 3000m showdown between Kenyans Sally Kipyego and Betsy Saina, world and Olympic 10,000m medallist Kipyego won in a world-leading 8:41.72. Saina came in second with a time of 8:43.19.&ldquo;I knew that Betsy is a tough competition, that she is fit, so this win is a great booster of confidence coming into the outdoor season,&rdquo; said Kipyego. &ldquo;The focus is, of course, on the National Trials in July, because I want to make it to the World Championships in Beijing. It was my second and last race indoors: in about a month I will be running the New York City Half Marathon.&rdquo;Members of the Bowerman Track Club dominated the men&rsquo;s 5000m and it all came down to a battle between Lopez Lomong and Ryan Hill. Lomong clocked 13:27.60 for the win, while Hill set a personal best of 13:27.80. Japan&rsquo;s Suguru Osako, who now trains under the guidance of Salazar, set a national indoor record of 13:28.00 for third.In the women&rsquo;s 400m, Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross tightened up on the home stretch and was passed by US indoor record-holder Phyllis Francis in the closing stages. Francis clocked 53.14 to Richards-Ross&rsquo;s 53.71.USA&rsquo;s Sharika Nelvis won the 60m hurdles in 7.91 with Jasmin Stowers as a close runner-up in 7.92. Marvin Bracy won his second straight Millrose Games sprint title, clocking 6.53 in the 60m ahead of Antoine Adams and Su Bingtian, who both ran 6.61 for second and third respectively.Ajee Wilson rarely lets anyone get in the way of her races at the Armory, and once again she came away victorious with a 2:01.57 in the 800m. The men&rsquo;s 1000m victory was decided in a close fight between Erik Sowinski and Robby Andrews. Sowinski was centimeters ahead of his rival: 2:21.18 to 2:21.23.Elena Dyachkova for the IAAF

The 108th edition of the NYRR Millrose Games, held at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory on Saturday (14), produced two world bests and five world-leading marks.

Two world bests – one expected and one surprise – fall at Millrose Games

Big-time indoor athletics returned to the Czech capital Prague for the first time in five years and high jumpers stole the show at the 02 Arena, with Ivan Ukhov jumping an absolute Russian record and 2014 world-leading height of 2.42m on Tuesday (25).It was a soaring clearance, achieved on his first attempt, with daylight between Ukhov’s torso and the bar.Only one man in history has gone higher than Ukhov, under any conditions, that man being the Cuban legend Javier Sotomayor. After his winning jump in the Czech capital, the London 2012 Olympic Games champion tried to improve Javier Sotomayor’s world indoor record of 2.43m which has been on the books since 1989.In truth, none of Ukhov’s three attempts at 2.44m at the venue which will stage the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships were particularly close but he has been unbeatable this winter and Prague was his seventh straight win indoors, all of them at 2.36m or higher. <o:p></o:p>Having tied the European record, he is now, even more than before, the overwhelming favourite for the gold medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in the Polish city of Sopot next month.<o:p></o:p>“Actually, Ivan was a little annoyed because he wanted to extend his run up (at 2.44m) but he was not allowed. We really believed he was in shape to achieve 2.44m. On the other hand, it means that we can save some energy for (the World Indoor Championships in) Sopot,” said Ukhov’s coach and former Olympic champion Sergey Klyugin.<o:p></o:p>Ukhov’s compatriot Aleksey Dmitrik was second with 2.33m, and attempted 2.42m as the Russian pair decided between themselves to go straight up to the spectacular height in the special four-man competition.<o:p>Victory and tears for Vlasic</o:p>The past seven months since she succumbed to her latest injury have been testing times for Blanka Vlasic but the former two-time world champion, both indoors and outdoors, showed that she is still a force to be reckoned with, and now believes she can be a medal contender again in Sopot, after her good clearance at 2.00m.<o:p></o:p>“I’m so happy. I know I’ve not jumped enough and my jumping isn’t stable. I’m still not in good shape. From being possible an also-ran in Sopot to now being able to be considered a medal contender is quite something,” said the emotional Vlasic, who sat sobbing on the high jump mat after her outstanding jump.<o:p></o:p>“My first two jumps at two metres were not so good so I just looked at my coach and he told me to calm down, not run so fast at the start of the run up, and I was a good student… this time,” she joked.<o:p></o:p>Triple jumper Pedro Pablo Pichardo did his best to steal the spotlight from the high jumpers as he bounded out to a world-leading 17.32m in the Cuban’s first ever indoor competition.<o:p></o:p>Pichardo, the 2012 World Junior Championships winner and still only 20, has already jumped a huge 17.76m outdoors on home soil in Havana this year and his silver medal last summer at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow proved, without a doubt, that he is the latest model off the production line for top-class Cuban triple jumpers.<o:p></o:p>It was a Cuban one-two in Prague, which is also a possibility in Sopot, as Ernesto Reve jumped 17.05m in what was his first indoor competition also.<o:p>Collins continues to turn back the clock</o:p>At the other end of the age scale to the youthful Pichardo, the seemingly ageless Kim Collins provided arguably the best performance on the track when he blasted his way to a 60m victory in a personal best and world masters best of 6.49, just 0.02 away from the 2014 world lead.<o:p></o:p>Collins, now 37, remarkably had the slowest reaction time of the eight finalists, but edged in front of Dwain Chambers in the final 10 metres, with the fast-starting Briton second in a season's best of 6.52.<o:p></o:p>“And I still think I have the possibility of improving more, even though I’m almost 38. It’s not about age, it’s about training hard, and I still have the energy and motivation to do that,” said the erudite and popular Collins.<o:p></o:p>The women’s 60m went to Gabon’s Ruddy Zang Milama in 7.17. <o:p></o:p>German Lauro made an impressive start to his 2014 campaign, the Argentinian shot putter improving his own Area indoor record by more than half a metre when he sent his implement out to 21.04m with his second effort.<o:p>"Training has been going very well this winter, no more problems with my back like I had before the World Championships last summer. However, this result was rather a shock, I was expecting something around 20.50, or like that," said the surprised Lauro, who finished sixth in Istanbul two years ago for his country's best ever result at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.</o:p>Great Britain’s Tiffany Porter won the women’s 60m hurdles in 7.91 to move up to equal second on the 2014 world list while Dayron Robles showed signs of his old self when he sped over the barriers in 7.51 to become the third-fastest man in the world this year.<o:p>Maslak extends his range</o:p>The 500m is rarely contested but Czech Republic’s 2012 European 400m champion Pawel Maslak and ran a continental best of 1:00.36, the third fastest performance ever.<o:p></o:p>Great Britain’s 2011 European indoor 800m champion Jenny Meadows looked sharp when winning over four laps of the track, taking over the lead just before the bell before crossing the line in a season’s best of 2:01.67.<o:p></o:p>Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum, last year’s World Youth Championships 1500m silver medallist and still just 17, made a winning indoor debut over 1500m in 4:09.08, just 0.08 outside her outdoor best last summer, set when winning the African junior title.<o:p></o:p>Jamaica’s Edino Steele ran a sparkling personal best of 46.11 to win the 400m, leaving Costa Rica’s reigning world indoor champion Nery Brenes a distant second in 46.53<o:p></o:p>Local star and 2012 European outdoor champion Jirina Svobodova performed in front of only a handful of spectators as the women’s pole vault was held before the main competition got underway but cleared 4.62m on her second attempt before three failures at a Czech record of 4.72m. <o:p></o:p>Phil Minshull for the IAAF<o:p></o:p>

Big-time indoor athletics returned to the Czech capital Prague for the first time in five years and high jumpers stole the show at the 02 Arena, with Ivan Ukhov jumping an absolute Russian record and 2014 world-leading height of 2.42m on Tuesday (25).

Ukhov's stock continues to rise as the Russian jumps 2.42m in Prague

The traditional Moscow Christmas Cup meeting on Sunday (12) saw two world-leading performances from a pair of Svetlanas: middle distance runner Svetlana Karamasheva and long jumper Svetlana Biryukova.Both women may not be immediately recognisable to athletics fans outside of Russia but that is probably only because they recently got married and have changed their family names. Both also put down early season markers that they could be among the challengers for medals at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in the Polish city of Sopot in just under two months’ time.Biryukova (nee Denyaeva), now 22, improved her best by 22cm, leaping out to 6.98m to win at the Christmas Cup for the second year in a row, once again beating the 2011 and 2013 European indoor champion Darya Klishina.A year ago, the two women’s best marks were 6.75m and 6.66m and although this time Klishina improved by two centimetres and cut the sand at 6.68m, Biryukova improved by much more.Karamasheva (nee Podosyonova) produced a world-leading performance over 1000m in 2:39.16, the second world-lead in five days for the 25-year-old who won over 2000m in Yekaterinburg in 5:55.64 on 7 January.The 2013 IAAF World Championships 1500m semifinalist, who has an outdoor best of 3:59.61, faced no real opposition in her race with Alena Balakshina being distant second in 2:42.06. Another 1500m specialist, Kristina Khaleyeva, preferred to focus on 2000m this time, where she ran just fast enough to win in 6:04.42. In the men’s high jump, in the absence of Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov who the day before in Novocheboksarsk had cleared a world-leading 2.38m, Ivan Ilyichev took the victory with a personal best of 2.30m. For Ilyichev, the 2009 World University Games bronze medallist but a man who has often found his best performances under cover, it was a two-centimetre improvement on his personal best which he had previously achieved on no less than four separate occasions between 2007 and 2010, when he was considered one of Russia’s most promising prospects before his career hit a plateau.Lev Missirov, 23, went over the same height of 2.30m for a four-centimetre improvement to his best but had to settle for second place on count back. &nbsp;Representing the bright new generation of Russian male long jumpers, Aleksandr Petrov took the victory in this event with 7.87m. In the shot put, Alexander Lesnoy won the men’s event with 19.90m and Irina Tarasova took the women’s title with a relatively modest 17.82m.In the women’s 300m, the fastest was the 2013 World Championships 400m finalist Kseniya Ryzhova in 37.23. Worthy of a mention is the comeback after child birth of the 2008 Olympic Games 4x100m champion Alexandra Fedoriva-Shpaer. In her first run since 2012, she clocked 41.61. European 400m hurdles champion Irina Davydova won over 500m in 1:10.12. Natalia Maryanchik for the IAAF

The traditional Moscow Christmas Cup meeting on Sunday (12) saw two world-leading performances from middle distance runner Svetlana Karamasheva and long jumper Svetlana Biryukova.

Two world leads at Moscow Christmas Cup, Biryukova jumps 6.98m

&quot;I would love to be the man who brings the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon title to Ethiopia,&quot; says Siraj Gena upon learning that no Ethiopian man has ever won this IAAF Silver Label race. &quot;I want to win in a fast time. Yes, the bonuses are very nice for a fast time but the money is not what really motivates me. I really want to run much faster than my personal best as I am capable of doing and I want to really show my talent this year.&quot; The 27-year-old sports a personal best time of 2:08:31 set in Frankfurt a year ago. Gena famously won the 2010 Rome Marathon in 2:08:39 after stopping with 500 metres remaining to remove his shoes. Race organizers had offered the winners 5000 Euros to cross the finish line barefoot to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Abebe Bikila’s barefoot victory in the 1960 Olympics. It is unlikely that he will be able to afford such luxury in Toronto as the field includes such accomplished Kenyan runners as Gideon Yegon (2:06:18), John Kiprotich (2:07:08) and Charles Munyeki (2:07:06) as well as Stephen Chelimo, who was a pacemaker last year but who is returning, this time, to mark his debut at the marathon distance. The competition is expected to be fierce. Three years ago Gena was scheduled to make his marathon debut in Toronto. But, due to a clerical error his passport went missing. Toronto’s loss was Frankfurt’s gain as the passport found its way back to him just in time to compete in the German race four weeks later. He ran a solid 2:10:41 that day. Gena is part of the large group numbering eighty or so athletes who train under the watchful eye of coach Haji Adilo. He has run as much as 130 miles (210km) in a week during the buildup to the Toronto race. &quot;Haji Adilo recruited me to come to his group to train,&quot; Gena says. &quot;I had run a few marathons before joining Haji. But he saw me and knew I could run faster under his coaching. So I joined his group and since have dropped my personal best down to 2:08:31.&quot; Among the middle distance runners who are part of the training group is his wife Bertukan Feyisa, a 1500m runner with a best time of 4:04.85. A sociable sort, Gena says he also enjoys watching European soccer on the television when he is recovering from the twice daily training sessions or having tea and coffee with his friends. He points to two-time Olympic 10,000m champion and former World record holder, Haile Gebrselassie as his main inspiration though, he says, representing Ethiopia in overseas marathons makes him proud. &quot;The marathon is the true test of the runner and, being very good at it, evokes a great sense of pride,&quot; he insists. &quot;I love being able to represent my country in such wonderful events as the Toronto marathon. So I guess I would say the great sense of pride is what makes me love the marathon.&quot; Like his compatriots he has his eye on the time bonuses that have been put on the table for the elite marathoners in Toronto. The course record, set in 2010 by Kenya’s Kenneth Mungara (2:07:58), is the target for a handful of runners in this year’s race. The winner will receive a bonus of $25,000 if he beats Mungara’s time. Gena knows what he would do with the money. &quot;I hope to own some property and real estate to sell in Ethiopia in the near future,&quot; he reveals. Most importantly he would like to score a Toronto victory for his country. Paul Gains for the IAAF

“I would love to be the man who brings the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon title to Ethiopia,” says Siraj Gena upon learning that no Ethiopian man has ever won this IAAF Silver Label race.

Gena wants first Ethiopian victory in Toronto 

Newcastle, UKBritain’s athletes produced some of the best performances of the Great North City Games with Dwain Chambers taking the 100m in 10.04, Chris Tomlinson winning the Long Jump with an event record of 8.18m and Anyika Onuora clocking 16.70 for the 150m. But it was team USA that won the match versus Great Britain with a convincing score of 6-3. Each winner of the nine disciplines collected one point. The Americans, who repeated their win from last year, had their best results from Wallace Spearmon (150m in 15.13), Jason Richardson (110m Hurdles in 13.41) and Jeneba Tarmoh (100m in 11.17). In warm and dry weather conditions with plenty of sunshine around 20,000 spectators watched the events staged on both sides of the river Tyne in Newcastle and Gateshead. Men’s events: Brewer chases Lagat to the line It was Chambers, who collected the first point for Great Britain. “The score was 0:4 so I had to do something,” Chambers said. “I got the first point and we were crawling behind.” It was Darvis Patton who had the best start in the 100m but the Briton caught up in the middle of the race and then moved ahead, holding on to a lead of around one metre. Chambers ran 10.04 seconds (+ 1.0 wind), followed by James Dasaolu (Great Britain/10.15) and Patton (10.16). There was bad luck in the 150 metres for Ryan Bailey. The American burst out of the blocks and looked to go for a very fast time when he pulled up and dropped out injured. It was then Briton Marlon Devonish who was in the lead and almost looked like the winner. But with a tremendous finish Spearmon burst past him, taking victory with 15.13 from Devonish (15.20) and Christian Malcolm (Great Britain/15.50). The Americans scored another good victory on the track with Richardson’s 110m Hurdles win in 13.41 (+1.2 wind) from Ryan Wilson (USA/13.48) and Lawrence Clarke (Great Britain/13.57), who was leading for the first couple of hurdles. In the mile race Britain’s James Brewer surprisingly gave Bernard Lagat a much tougher race than expected. The 24-year-old chased the former World Champion right to the line, clocking 4:01.81 a step behind Lagat (4:01.62). In the Long Jump, which took place on the Newcastle side of the river, it was Tomlinson who showed a great jump in the third of the four rounds. Improving Greg Rutherford’s event record by one centimetre he achieved 8.18m. It was the only jump beyond the eight-metre mark in the competition, in which Britain’s Olympic champion Rutherford took second with 7.89m. The Olympic Tripe Jump champion Christian Taylor (USA) was third with 7.74m while Will Claye (USA) took fourth (7.60). Women’s events: Onuora with British 150m record It was all Jeneba Tarmoh in the 100m. The 22-year-old American burst out of the blocks and there was never any doubt who would be the winner. Clocking 11.17 (+ 0.6 wind) she was well ahead of Miki Barber (USA/11.37) and Britain’s Anyika Onuora (11.31). Tarmoh, who had run in the first round of the women’s 4x100m in London and got a gold medal for the team’s later win in the final, was not far away from her PB of 11.07. “This is a great meeting,” said Tarmoh. “And it was nice to come here as an Olympic champion with the relay. It was a perfect race for me. Now it is time to rest until next year.” For Onuora there was another event to come: In the final third of the 150m race she surged ahead, overtaking Shayla Mahan for a British record of 16.70. She improved her own mark of 16.90 set here at Tyneside a year ago. Mahan finished second in 16.99 while Miki Barber (USA/17.02) was third. Partly due to the course, which led over two bridges and had some ups and downs, times in the mile races were not that fast. But the women’s one mile race was a great one to watch. It was Jenny Simpson (USA) who had a lead of around 20 metres in the middle part. But then she started to fade and the field caught her in the final third. Great Britain’s Julia Bleasdale and Hannah England set the pace at the front of the group. It was then England who surged ahead and looked like the winner, but surprisingly Brenda Martinez (USA) came through and caught her on the final 50 metres. Martinez clocked 4:34.99 while England followed with 4:35.56 and Anna Pierce (USA/4:36.44) was third. The Pole Vault went to the Americans as well: Mary Saxer won with 4.25m. Farah ends season on a high Mo Farah ended his sensational season on a high, winning the 2 Mile race in 8:40.0. The event was an invitational race, which did not count for the Great Britain versus USA match. “I really had to work for this. The first mile was pretty fast,” said Farah, who had to cover an attack from Australia’s Collis Birmingham at around half way. He stuck behind Birmingham with the field 20 metres behind. About 500 metres from the finish Farah attacked and opened a small gap on the Australian, who kept the pressure on the British double Olympic gold medal winner. It was only on the final 150 metres run on the track when there was no more danger for Farah. Behind him Bobby Curtis (USA) snatched second with 8:42.8 from Birmingham (8:43.0). “The Olympics are done, this one was to enjoy. I will now have a two week break,” Farah said. J&#246;rg Wenig for the IAAF

Britain’s athletes produced some of the best performances of the Great North City Games with Dwain Chambers taking the 100m in 10.04, Chris Tomlinson winning the Long Jump with an event record of 8.18m and Anyika Onuora clocking 16.70 for the 150m. But it was team USA that won the match versus Great Britain with a convincing score of 6-3. Each winner of the nine disciplines collected one point.

U.S. defeats the hosts in Newcastle street match

Eight London Olympic gold medallists will take part in the Rieti IAAF World Challenge meeting at the Raul Guidobaldi Stadium on Sunday 9 September. Jumping events will be in the spotlight in the Rieti with Russia’s reigning Olympic and World champion Anna Chicherova in the women’s High Jump, and Italy’s European champion and Olympic bronze medallist Fabrizio Donato in the men’s Triple Jump. Chance to reverse Brussels defeat Last night at the Samsung Diamond League final in Brussels Chicherova (2.00m) lost to her compatriot Svetlana Shkolina (2.03), the Olympic bronze medallist, and Rieti will give the Olympic champion an immediate opportunity for revenge as the two Russians will meet again. Chicherova jumped 2.05 to take the Olympic gold medal in London in a competition where four women jumped 2 metres or more. The Olympic title was the latest addition to her trophy cabinet which features the World title in Daegu, two World outdoor silvers in Osaka 2007 and Berlin 2009, two World Indoor silvers (Budapest 2004 and Istanbul 2012) and one bronze (Birmingham 2003), and one European Indoor gold medal (Madrid 2005) and the World Youth title (Bydszgosz 1999). The Russian, who set the national record of 2.07 at the 2011 National Championships in Cheboksary just one month before winning the World title in Daegu, will compete in Rieti for the third time in her career. In 2005 Chicherova made her debut at the Raul Guidobaldi Stadium, winning with 1.95. The following year she finished second with 1.91. Donato - "Dad, you are my champion" Italian fans will celebrate the season of 36-year-old Fabrizio Donato, who won the European title in a rainy Helsinki with a wind-assisted 17.63 (but with a legal 17.53), and the Olympic bronze medal in London with 17.48. Donato also took victory in the first of the two Samsung Diamond League finals in Zürich with 17.29 in rainy conditions. This Sunday’s meeting will be special for Donato who hails from Frosinone, which is not far from Rieti. Donato’s wife comes from Passo Corese, a small town near Rieti and he will receive strong support from his family and friends. It will be the fourth appearance at the Rieti meeting for Donato who competed here in 1995, 2008 and 2010. During the post-competition interviews in London Donato explained the secret for his success after a long career saying: "For me athletics has always been a passion and not a sacrifice. I still enjoy athletics and I love what I do every day. I take my six-year-old daughter Greta to school and then I begin my training. . If my competition in London had not gone well, I would have returned to training to pursue new dreams with the same passion and love for athletics as before. I owe much to my wife Patrizia and Greta. In London I wore a special T-shirt on which the following sentence was written: 'Dad, you are my champion’." Adams takes on Kolodko Valerie Adams from New Zealand will end her successful season in Rieti after winning her second consecutive Olympic gold medal and her second consecutive Samsung Diamond League Trophy in Zürich. Swiss-based Adams, who has won all titles an athlete can dream (three World outdoor titles, two World indoor gold medals, one World Junior gold, one World Youth title and won the Commonwealth Games twice) produced another ultra-consistent season in which she twice put over the 21 metres barrier in Rome (21.03) and Lucerne (21.11) and ten more throws over 20 metres. Olympic silver medallist Evgeniya Kolodko and Trinidad and Tobago’s Cleopatra Borel will be in the field. Hammer Throw Olympic champions on show Rieti will play host to the final leg of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge which will feature both London Olympic champions Tatyana Lysenko and Krisztian Pars. The Hammer throw competitions will be staged over two days with a qualifying round on Saturday (8) and the final with the top-four qualifiers on Sunday (9) during the main programme of the meeting. Pars, who also won the European title in Helsinki and currently leads the Challenge, will look for his second consecutive win in Rieti. Last year the Hungarian thrower won with 78.77 but he will try to throw much further and attack Koji Murofushi’s meeting record of 82.62 set in 2007. He will face Pawel Fajdek from Poland (PB 81.39), who finished second behind Pars in Zagreb, Kiril Ikonnikov from Russia (fifth in London), 2000 Olympic champion and 2001 World champion Szymon Ziolkowski (seventh in London), former Olympic and European silver medallist Nicola Vizzoni, who qualified for the Olympic final for the third time in his career in London, and Marco Lingua from Italy. Lysenko, the winner in London with an Olympic record of 78.18 in the greatest Hammer Throw competition in history where the eighth ranked athlete threw 74.06, will also defend the Rieti title from last year where she set the meeting record of 75.58 just a few days after winning the World title in Daegu. Lysenko will take on Olympic silver medallist and former World record holder Anita Wlodarczyk from Poland. Other London Olympic finalists in the field are Kathrin Klaas from Germany (fifth), 2008 Olympic champion Oksana Menkova from Belarus (seventh) and Zalina Marghieva from Moldova (eighth). Cheruiyot, Savinova, Kemboi and Makhloufi to highlight middle distances The middle-distance races which traditionally produce a great depth of results on the women’s side of the programme will feature reigning Olympic and World champion Mariya Savinova from Russia in the women’s 800 metres, and 2011 double 5000 and 10,000 metres World champion Vivian Cheruiyot in the 3000 metres. The Kenyan, who won the bronze in the 10,000 metres and the silver in the 5000 metres at the London Olympic Games, will renew her battle against Mercy Cherono, World Junior champion in the 3000 metres and in the cross country. Cherono narrowly edged Cheruiyot by just 0.01 (8:41.21 to 8:41.22) in the Birmingham Samsung Diamond League meeting but Cheruiyot avenged this defeat by winning over Cherono in Brussels and lifted the Diamond Trophy. Cherono did not qualify for the Olympic Games but in the post-Olympic-season she also won the 3000 metres in Lausanne and finished second in the 1500 metres in Zurich. The field also features twice World silver medallist Sylvia Kibet. Savinova, already European champion in Barcelona 2010 and World gold medallist in Daegu 2011, completed her title collection in London by winning the 800m in 1:56.23. The Russian will take on young rising-star Francine Nyonsaba from Burundi, who finished seventh in her first Olympic Games but surprisingly won in Brussels on Friday in a new national record of 1:56.59. This season Nyonsaba ran 1:58.67 in the London semi-final and 1:58.68 in the Monaco Diamond League meeting. In the women’s 1500 metres, World silver medallist Hannah England from Great Britain, who is returning to good shape after a season plagued by injury problems, will run against Kenyan Mary Kuria, winner in Rovereto in 4:03.18, Ukraine’s European bronze medallist Anna Mischchenko, USA’s Anna Pierce and Kenyan Eunice Sum. Kenya’s Ezekiel Kemboi, double 3000m Steeplechase Olympic champion (2004 and 2012), is the latest addition to the men’s 3000 metres flat race which also features his compatriot London 2012 Olympic 5000m bronze medallist Thomas Longosiwa Fast times are expected in the men’s 800 and 1500 metres. London 1500 metres Olympic champion Taoufik Makhloufi will be looking to continue the Algerian tradition in Rieti which began in the early Nineties with Noureddine Morceli who broke the 1500 metres and the Mile records running in 3:28.56 in 1992 and 3:44.39 in 1993. The other man to watch in the two-lap race is 17-year-old Edwin Melly Kiplagat who won the World Junior bronze medal in Barcelona and then went on to run two fast times in Stockolm (1:44.32) and Berlin (1:44.36) and won at the Palio della Quercia in 1:45.01. World silver medallist Silas Kiplagat will be looking to continue his solid post-Olympic campaign following his seventh place in the London Olympic Games. The Kenyan middle-distance runner, who clocked 3:29.63 in the opening leg of the Diamond League in May, won in Lausanne and Brussels and lifted the Diamond Trophy. In Rieti he will face very strong opposition from London Olympic bronze medallist Abdelati Iguider from Morocco and two Kenyans who ran very fast this year: Collins Cheboi (3:32.08 in Monaco) and 2010 World Junior champion Caleb Ndiku (3:32.39 in Lausanne). Fast times are expected in the sprints Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter, Olympic Relay champion, will return to his favourite Rieti track where he clocked 9.78 two years ago setting the fifth fastest time in history. Carter, World Indoor silver medallist in Istanbul in the 60 metres, has run fast in the post-Olympic weeks clocking 9.95 twice in Lausanne and Zurich and 9.96 in Brussels. Carter will square off against twice European champion Christophe Lemaitre, who improved the French record in Rieti in 2010 clocking 9.97, 2003 World champion and 2011 World bronze medallist Kim Collins, second last week in Berlin in 10.07, last year’s European Junior champion Jimmy Vicaut from France, who set his lifetime best of 10.02 in Lausanne, and 9.99 Jamaican sprinter Lerone Clarke, winner in Rovereto on Tuesday. European champion Ivet Lalova from Bulgaria, who trains in Rieti and knows the Guidobaldi track very well, and European 200 metres champion Mariya Ryemyen from Ukraine, start as the favourites in the women’s 100 metres. Jamaicans are set to dominate the women’s flat 400 metres, where 400m Hurdles Olympic fourth placer and Diamond League winner Kaliese Spencer will make an attempt over the flat distance against Olympic 4x400 Olympic bronze medallist Christine Day and Patricia Hall, who clocked 50.71 in Oslo this year. The women’s 400m Hurdles race features Olympic champion Natalya Antyukh from Russia, and Olympic finalist and European Indoor 400 metres champion Denisa Rosolova from Czech Republic. Yarisley Silva, Olympic silver medallist with 4.75, and European champion Jirina Ptacnikova from Czech Republic are the top names in the women’s Pole Vault but the local interest will be focused on this year’s World Junior bronze medallist Roberta Bruni who comes from Rieti. Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

Eight London Olympic gold medallists will take part in the Rieti IAAF World Challenge meeting at the Raul Guidobaldi Stadium on Sunday 9 September.

8 London Olympic champions on show; Jumps in the spotlight in Rieti

Omsk, RussiaHeat took a heavy toll on the runners at the Siberian International Marathon on Sunday (12). In sunny and hot conditions with 36 C. at the start, 23-year old Olga Mazurenok from Belarus was the absolute winner of the race’s 23rd edition, crossing the finish line in 2:44:47, far ahead of the rest. Siberian International Marathon is an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race. The race started in extremely hot conditions at 17:00, a time chosen to coincide with the start of the men’s Olympic Marathon in London, Omsk being 6 hours ahead. In previous years the race traditionally started at 9:00 in the morning on the first Saturday of August. Obviously, the choice of start time this year did not prove to be the best for 1172 runners who started the Marathon and ekiden. Women’s race – &quot;It was so hot at the start that I was 90% sure that I wouln’t finish the race,&quot; Mazurenok said. She set her PB 2:33:56 by winning Debno Marathon this year, and was runner up in Omsk last year in 2:37:45. From the gun, Mazurenok was running eighth in the women’s field and then slowly started pulling to the front. &quot;I didn’t worry about anything and was running with my own pace. If I had been worried I wouldn’t have finished at all.&quot; At the 8.6km point, the women’s pack stretched out with Mazurenok running third, more than 500 metres behind Russian Yulia Smirnova and Kenyan Rebecca Jerotich (PB 2:35:56 PB, Verona, 2011) who passed through 8.6km in 30:44. However, by half way Mazurenok pulled up to the front and became absolute leader passing through in 1:23:40 and leaving all men and women behind. &quot;After the 20 kilometre point the sun started setting down and it became a little bit cooler,&quot; Mazurenok said after the finish, when the temperature dropped to 32 C. Two Russian elite runners, Marina Kovaleva (PB 2:31:11, Paris 2011), and Elena Kozhevnikova (PB 2:37:41) and Kenyan Lucy Karimi, 25 (PB 2:38:06 Kassel Marathon 2012) didn’t finish. Men’s race - The same happened in the men’s race. Six invited elite national and international runners - Russians Andrey Bryzgalov (PB 2:14:20) and debutant Mikhail Petertsev, Ukranian Oleksandr Matviychuk (2:12:53), Aleh Hur (2:17:26) from Belarus, Kenyan Evans Kipkorir Taiget and South African Othaniel Sefako Phahlane - all failed to finish. In their absence, Russian and Kazakh amateur runners got a chance to contest for places on the podium. In his first race over the distance, Russian Nikolay Grigorov was the surprise winner in 2:49:06. Yelena Kurdyumova and Sergey Porada for the IAAF Leading Results - Women 1.Olha Mazurenok, BLR 2:44:47 2. Alena Vinnitskaya, BLR 3:00:32 3. Yulia Smirnova, RUS 3:11:43 4. Rebecca Jerotich, KEN 3:16:18 Men 1. Nikolay Grigorov, RUS 2:49:06 2. Alexander Kolonda, KZH 2:57:28 3. Alexander Zoryanov, RUS 2:57:59

Omsk, Russia – Heat took a heavy toll on the runners at the Siberian International Marathon on Sunday (12).

Heat takes a heavy toll in Omsk

Ashton Eaton may be the Decathlon World record holder and – now, Olympic champion – but he was happy to let his fellow American and silver medallist Trey Hardee, the 2009 and 2011 World champion, do the talking for him when it came to assessing his place in the overall scheme of the athletics world. Usain Bolt’s comment in the aftermath of retaining his 200m title that he was "the greatest athlete who ever lived" was effectively rebutted by Hardee as he announced: "Ashton is the best athlete that’s ever walked on the planet. Hands down. Because the title bestowed upon the Olympic Decathlon champion is the World’s Greatest Athlete. Usain Bolt can be the fastest man on the planet, because that’s the title bestowed on the Olympic 100 metres champion." Sitting alongside him at the post-event conference, Eaton looked quietly thrilled at such praise from a man who has effectively served as a model in the sport for him over the last few years. "Thanks Trey," he said, before adding: "There’s no fight. Usain is clearly awesome and he is an icon of the sport. But titles are for books and stuff. I just like doing what I do." Later in the evening that icon sat in the same gold medallist’s chair at his conference and happily conceded that he would give the title to Eaton, with the decathlon’s concluding 1500 metres being the deciding factor. In following up his World record performance of 9039 points at the US trials, the 24-year-old from Oregon duly became the 13th American to win this Olympic title – the first of which went to Jim Thorpe at the Stockholm Games of 1912 – with a total of 8869 which left him 198 points clear of his 29-year-old opponent and friend. "The one-two finish was what we really wanted," Eaton said. "Trey and I are doing our best to carry on the great US tradition of decathletes. I’m young and it’s super-hard to grasp, but when I’m older I’ll look back on this." "I want 10 perfect events. I know that’s pretty much impossible, but that’s the decathlon. I’d need that to be considered the world’s greatest all-round athlete." Hardee, who had recovered from elbow surgery requiring the transplant of a tendon in September last year, put Eaton’s achievement here into perspective: "There are 13 Decathlon gold medallists from the United States. Each of them drew inspiration from the one that came before them. You have to look down the line. If you look 20 years on from now you will have people who took inspiration from Ashton and me. They will be saying 'I was sitting on my couch, watching Hardee and Eaton win.’" Asked to assess how important Hardee had been in his development as a decathlete, Eaton responded: "I’ve been learning a lot from Trey since the 2009 World Championships, when I was a youngster in Berlin. I remember watching him win and thinking 'Man! That guy owns!" And then the last year in Daegu I was thinking 'OK, maybe I have a chance to win, do this thing’, and then just seeing him take it again, and thinking 'Man, this guy is so good.’ "But then I just started developing my own thing, seeing the work I had to put in on certain areas. I have fun doing this, so it is easy going to practice – actually that’s not true, it’s not always easy – but in general I think I’ve had a really good go and not a lot of upsets, so I’m happy." Asked whether he felt decathletes got less than their fair share of the riches that are bestowed upon the sport’s sprint champions, Eaton dismissed the subject. "I don’t really do it for that," he said. "I really don’t care about the money. I don’t do it for that stuff. I think this event is good sports promotion. And winning this medal has changed my life." Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF

Ashton Eaton may be the Decathlon World record holder and – now, Olympic champion – but he was happy to let his fellow American and silver medallist Trey Hardee, the 2009 and 2011 World champion, do the talking for him when it came to assessing his place in the overall scheme of the athletics world.

20 years on you will have people saying ‘I was sitting on my couch, watching Hardee and Eaton win.’

Ethiopia’s Tiki Gelana took the Olympic women’s Marathon title in London today following in the footsteps of 1996 winner Fatuma Roba, the only previous medallist from her east African country in this event. Her winning time of 2:23:07 was way off her national record of 2:18:58 set when winning the Rotterdam marathon this spring but in today’s wet conditions, which saw her slip over earlier on, it was a triumph and most importantly inside the Olympic record. The previous fastest was Naoko Takahashi in Sydney in 2:23:14. Just behind Gelana, who won with the smallest margin in Olympic history, Kenya took silver and Russia bronze, thanks to Priscah Jeptoo (2:23:12) and Tatyana Arkhipova (2:23:29). 30 minutes before the start, a heavy thunderstorm broke over The Mall where the start and finish of the women’s marathon was based but thankfully the heaviest of the rain had passed when the gun was fired at 11am. That’s British summer time, in case anyone in the cold and wet here in London wondered. With the first small loop of 3.57km (2.2 miles) around Westminster and The Mall completed with its iconic backdrops of the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, the field headed off onto the main loop of 12.875km (8 miles) which they were to run 3 times before finishing back in The Mall to complete the 42.195km (26.2 miles). This distance which composes the modern version of the Marathon race was born in 1908 when London hosted the first of its three Olympic Games, it becoming the established official length from the 1924 Paris Olympics onwards. Despite the torrential rain which fell on the streets of the British capital throughout much of today’s race, the city’s famous monuments – which also included Trafalgar Square, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Guildhall, Tower of London, and the Monument - shone out brightly giving the course a spectacular backdrop. 118 runners started and by 5km into the race, the USA duo of Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher made the first split in 17:20, accompanied by a group of over 30 other runners which composed all of the favourites. However, their compatriot Desiree Davila and the host nation&#39;s Mara Yamauchi were among the early drop outs. By 10km (34:46) the large lead group was no smaller, with Italy’s Valeria Straneo, Xiaolin Zhu of China and Germany’s Susanne Hahn also featuring on point with the two Americans. In the group the powerful east African squads of Kenya and Ethiopia were comfortable, as it seemed were the Japanese trio and the rest of the Chinese squad. Running along the Embankment of The Thames running in the direction of the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament, the leaders hit 15km in 52.10, and now it was the turn of the Japanese to show a little up front, Yoshimi Ozaki and Risa Shigetomo, respectively 2:23 and 2:26 performers at their best. Happy to keep their powder dry in their challenge to take their country’s first ever women’s Olympic marathon title were Kenya’s Mary Keitany, the World Half Marathon record holder and twice London Marathon victor, and her compatriots Edna Kiplagat, the 2011 World champion, and Priscah Jeptoo, who was third in a PB of 2:20:14 in London this spring. Between 15 and 20km things were not going well for Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova, who with a best of 2:18:20 when winning in Chicago in 2011 is the second fastest woman of all-time and was one of the race favourites. By half way she was 24 seconds adrift of the leading group and not long after she pulled out, holding her right hamstring. The pace was now hotting-up and as they turned in front of the Tower of London the lead group was thinning rapidly with about 15 to 20 women still in contention. As well as the Kenyans, the three Ethiopians were there too (Tiki Gelana, Aselefech Mergia and Mare Dibaba), and so was Valeria Straneo and also continuing to have a good run were Xiaolin Zhu, Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher. But then just before 25km, the race really began as Keitany led a Kenyan surge, and the only runners to keep with this up in tempo were the three Ethiopians. 25km was passed with Keitany in the lead (1:26:23) followed by her five fellow east Africans, with Xiaolin Zhu and Flanagan their nearest challengers and battling hard to regain contact. Surprisingly the Kenyan vs Ethiopian dual match was not to last the pace slowed a little and the 6 leaders became 8 as the Chinese and the American caught-up. However, Flanagan, the Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist in 2008, who has a PB of 2:25:38 with which she won the American Trails race in Houston was now running at full capacity, as was Xiaolin Zhu, who was fourth in the 2008 Olympic race and has a PB of 2:23:57. Yet when Keitany decided to up the pace again the surprise was that it was not just these two non-Africans who were dropped but also Aselefech Mergia, who had won the 2012 Dubai marathon this year in 2:19:31, and was the 2009 World bronze medallist in Berlin. At 30km (1:42:44) the five leaders – Kenya’s Keitany, Jeptoo and Kiplagat, and Ethiopia’s Gelana and Dibaba – had a 9 second lead on their nearest challengers who were now led by a fast improving Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova of Russia (2:25:01 PB), who herself had a few seconds advantage over Flanagan. In the next 2km the Russian closed very fast on the leaders, and as she approached the group Mare Dibaba started to struggle and quickly fell back (finished 23rd 2:28:48), and not long after she was passed by Arkhipova, whose greatest claim to fame before today was her silver medal at the 3000m Steeplechase at the 2007 World Championships. Then before you could hardly blink the lead group of four was again five, as Arkhipova’s surge allowed her to join the east African leaders. Suddenly the all-conquering Kenyans and Ethiopians looked unusually vulnerable and whatever their true thoughts as the Russian joined them, they would certainly have been shocked that at around 35km (1:59:29) Arkhipova decided to take the lead. And at the same time World champion Kiplagat was beginning to find the pace too hot, drifting off the back of the leading group by 5 seconds at this point and she was to get a lot slower (finished 20th 2:27:52). At 38km, Keitany, Jeptoo, and Gelana decided enough was enough, with the former injecting some pace in an attempt to drop Arkhipova but the Russian was having none of that and while briefly adrift by 5 metres, quickly caught back-up and nestled in behind the three Africans who were now running three abreast as they went through 40k (2:16:10). As they turned past The Houses of Parliament for the last time you could have thrown a blanket over the four leaders but for whose victory would that building’s famous clock tower’s bell Big Ben toll when the race ended a couple of kilometres later in The Mall? 500 metres later the final battle was joined when Gelana, the niece of the Sydney Olympic Marathon winner Gezhagne Abera, inflicted what was to be a decisive assault on her opponents’ hopes for gold. The burst by the 24-year-old Ethiopian was enough to immediately end the challenge of pre-race favourite Keitany who dropped back quickly. Also suddenly in trouble was the Russian though she did not fall totally out of contention, but in reality it was only Jeptoo who remained in the fight for the laurels with Gelana. Turning in front of Buckingham Palace into The Mall, the two protagonists were engaged in a fiery sprint though the Kenyan was never able to close much on Gelana, and with the colossal Queen Victoria Memorial providing an impressive canvas to the finish the Ethiopian took the victory in an Olympic record of 2:23:07. Jeptoo crossed five seconds later (2:23:12) and raised an arm to salute her silver but there is little doubt that Kenya will be saddened not to have at last taken the Olympic title in this event. Jeptoo’s silver now joins Catherine Ndereba’s two silvers (2004/2008) and Joyce Chepchumba’s bronze (2000) as her country’s collection only podium finishes to date. If there was disappointment in Kenya, there was only jubilation in the Russian camp as crossing in third was Arkhipova (2:23:29), a surprise bronze in a huge PB, and some consolation following the unexpected early DNF of Shobukhova. Keitany was very well beaten (2:23:56) in fourth but finishing elated in fifth was Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko of Ukraine in a national record of 2:24:32. One of the early pace setters Xiaolin Zhu was next across in 2:24:48, with Portugal’s Jessica Augusto (2:25:11) and another earlier leader Valeria Straneo of Italy (2:25:27) making up the top-8. In ninth came Russia’s Albina Mayorova (2:25:38). The two Americans Flanagan and Goucher who had been so visible early on came in 10th (2:25:51) and 11th (2:26:07), with Namibia’s Helalia Johannes bringing home a national record of 2:26:09 in 12th. Romania&#39;s defending Olympic champion Constantina Dita (86th, 2:41:34) and her compatriot 2001 World champion Lidia Simon (45th, 2:34:46) never featured in the race. &quot;It was a great race,&quot; said Gelana. &quot;I really loved it. The rain makes it very interesting. As soon as the rain started, I said to myself &#39;Thank God&#39;. I love running in the rain, I have been doing that since I was a small child. I slipped in the middle of the race and my elbow is still injured. But I didn&#39;t feel any pain during the race.&quot; Gelana sat in the post race press conference and showed her bandaged right elbow to the assembled media to prove how hard she had fallen. &quot;I was confident before the race that I could win it. I have been saving my energy for this. It really paid off. I don&#39;t know what to say. I am speechless.&quot; &quot;Fatuma (Roba) is my hero. I am extremely happy to share history with her. This gold medal is a gift for all Ethiopians.&quot; Chris Turner for the IAAF

Ethiopia’s Tiki Gelana took the Olympic women’s Marathon title in London today following in the footsteps of 1996 winner Fatuma Roba, the only previous medallist from her east African country in this event. Her winning time of 2:23:07 was way off her national record of 2:18:58 set when winning the Rotterdam marathon this spring but in today’s wet conditions, which saw her slip over earlier on, it was a triumph and most importantly inside the Olympic record. The previous fastest was Naoko Takahashi in Sydney in 2:23:14.

London 2012 - Event Report - Women's Marathon

Fulfilling the extraordinary expectations heaped on his slight shoulders, Mo Farah captured a thrilling victory in the men’s 10,000m tonight, the first ever in the event for Great Britain. Farah’s captivating victory in 27:30.42 capped a stunning evening for the host nation, coming after gold medal performances by heptathlete Jessica Ennis and Greg Rutherford, the surprise winner in the Long Jump. And the 29-year-old did it in fine style, prevailing in one of the most entertaining and competitive 10,000m races in recent history. No less than ten men were still in contention with less than a kilometre remaining, with the ultimate medallists not clearly decided until the final 100 metres. Farah’s training partner, Galen Rupp, finished just a few steps back to take silver, the first medal in the event for the U.S. since Billy Mills’ victory in Rome 52 years ago. In his second Olympic Games, Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia, Kenenisa’s younger brother, took the bronze with his brother next, one second adrift. &quot;It’s the best moment of my life,&quot; said Farah, whose triumph ended a streak of four successive Ethiopian victories and crushed Kenenisa Bekele’s bid for a third straight. &quot;My legs were getting tired but the crowd gave me a boost.&quot; Tired legs or not, Farah will try to replicate Bekele’s Beijing double victory when he returns to action in the opening round of the 5000m on Wednesday. His opponents there will want to study this evening’s final to get a better grip on precisely what Farah will be capable of over the shorter distance. He began conservatively, choosing to stay in the second pack for the opening nine minutes of the race and still mid-pack, running nearly side-by-side with Rupp, through the first half, which the leaders covered in just over 14:05. Eritrean Zersenay Tadese along with Kenyan Bedan Muchiri did much of the early leading, with the Bekele brothers shadowing closely. Farah joined the front group early in the second half, slipping into fifth position. Just beyond the 18-minute point, with Kenyans Moses Masai and Muchiri leading, Rupp joined his training partner, moving up and into fourth. With about seven laps to go, the Kenyan and Ethiopian pairs along with Farah and Rupp were at the lead, but the pack still consisted of a dozen men who remained very much in contention. With four laps to go, Farah moved to the front briefly to up the tempo; a lap later Ethiopians Gebregziabher Gebremariam and Tariku Bekele moved to the head of pack which at this late point only dropped a pair of runners off the back. With the collective roar of another capacity crowd of 80,000 to propel him, the Briton made his decisive move with 500 metres remaining, with the younger Bekele and Rupp in tow. The noise of the crowd now deafening, Farah extended his lead at the start of the final turn and was well clear of the Ethiopian as he entered the homestraight. Spurred on by his colleague, Rupp passed Bekele with 50 metres remaining to secure the silver and a 1-2 finish for coach Alberto Salazar. &quot;I’m thrilled for Mo,&quot; said Rupp, who will also contest the 5000m next week. &quot;Two training partners coming in first and second. I couldn’t be happier. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him. We work hard but I’m the lucky one: I get to train with the best middle distance runner in the world.&quot; Kenyan international newcomer Muchiri, just 21, was rewarded for his tenacity at the front with a fifth place finish in 27:32.94, more than half a second ahead of Tadese (27:33.51), the 2004 bronze medallist. His teammate Teklemariam Mehdin was next in 27:34.76, with Gebremariam (27:36.34) rounding out the top eight. Bob Ramsak for the IAAF

Fulfilling the extraordinary expectations heaped on his slight shoulders, Mo Farah captured a thrilling victory in the men’s 10,000m tonight, the first ever in the event for Great Britain.