Garcia beats 27-year-old European Indoor 5000m record - updated

GentAlberto Garcia, the holder of current European indoor and outdoor distance titles, took aim on Emiel Putteman's 27-year-old European record in the 5000 Metres and smashed it by more than nine seconds to highlight the Flanders Meeting on Sunday (9 February).

The meeting was the first stop in the four-meet Energizer series, which continues in Stockholm (February 18), Birmingham (February 21) and Liévin, France (February 23).
 
Garcia, who turns 32 in two weeks' time, ran 13:11.39 in his season debut, removing the 13:20.8 record held by the Belgian icon, which came in Paris in January 1976.

Only Haile Gebrselassie and Kenya's Daniel Komen have run the distance faster indoors. 

In running the World's best indoor 5K since Gebrselassie's World Record four years ago (12:50.38), Garcia not only broke the fossilized European standard but also made a strong statement about what the rest of the season might hold in store for him. 

The Spaniard left pacemaker Martin Keino of Kenya one lap before the 3K, at which point he was one second ahead of Putteman's pace with 7:56.63. 

He then continued to build speed, running the final two kilometres in 2:38.20 and 2:36.56, respectively. 

Garcia's time also bettered the 13:13.3 which GDR distance star Hansjörg Kunze accomplished on an oversized track in February 1983. 

Puttemans was on hand to congratulate Garcia after his feat, just as he was there to offer words of praise to Mark Bett last year after the Kenyan's "world best" in the indoor 10K. "My records should not have been allowed to last this long," said the modest Puttemans afterwards. 

Four other performances equalling or bettering the year's bests were scattered throughout the afternoon. Maria Mutola, also competing for the first time in 2003, looked relaxed during her winning 1:58.83, but she did not go easily to the winner's circle.

The Olympic champion had a sizeable lead at the bell, but her new training partner, Kelly Holmes, began to move closer down the final backstretch. Obviously, the Mozambique athlete hasn't yet told the British runner all of her secrets, as Holmes had to be satisfied with second place, albeit in an excellent 1:59.21.

"This was a big indoor PB for me," said Holmes, "so I'm really happy with this race. Still, I'm planning on running the 1500 at the Worlds. The time today tells me that I'm 'on schedule'." 

Early in the afternoon, the sprint apron showed signs of yielding fast times. Coby Miller of the US converted an excellent start into a world-leading 6.49 in his heat, and minutes later Ukraine's Zhanna Block sped 7.10 in her qualifying race. 

Later, Block improved to 7.09 in the final, equalling the world best she already shares with Veronica Campbell of Jamaica. Miller also won his final, but in a slightly slower 6.50, still a telling one-day double performance for the 26-year-old American. His margin over Nigerian Deji Aliu (6.53) actually appeared to be much smaller than the time difference would indicate.

A familiar face accompanied Block to the victory dais in the person of former world indoor champion Merlene Ottey, now of Slovenia. Nearly 43 years of age, she ran 7.18 to take second from France's Muriel Hurtis (7.20).

Ottey has won World Indoor gold three times in her career– twice at 200m and once at 60m – the last title being eight years ago, when she took the 60m title in Jamaican colours, and she is obviously hopeful of having a say in the Birmingham outcome next month too. 

A very light plate of field events was offered to streamline the programme for television. Winning the Triple Jump in this year's best leap of 17.24 was European Indoor and Outdoor Champion Christian Olsson of Sweden.  It took the lanky blond a few jumps to get going, and he did not grab the lead until his big jump in the fourth round.

"It wasn't an easy win today," said Olson, with his typical non-chalance.  "I was struggling with my technique because this Mondo surface is, at the moment, a little bit too fast for me." 

The other technical events were won by Romain Mesnil of France (5.70 in the men's Pole Vault) and Russia's Anna Chicherova (1.99 in the women's High Jump). 

Daniel Caines put on an impressive show in the men's 400 with his victorious 45.90, just short of his own world-leading time of 45.81. James Davis of the US was second in 46.46. Running in front of a home crowd next month in Birmingham, Caines should certainly be in good position to successfully defend the title he won in Lisbon two years ago. 

The other section of the 400 also fell into British hands, but not quite so easily, as Jamie Baulch barely held off the late challenge of Belgian Cédric Van Branteghem, 46.31 to 46.32. 
 
Zhara Ouaziz of Morocco showed impressive strength and speed in winning the women's 3000 Metres in 8:42.01, more than three seconds ahead of countrywomen Zhor El Kamch (8:45.22). 

The men's 3K race afforded much more excitement, as Gert-Jan Liefers of Holland took the lead from Hailu Mekonnen at the bell, only to have the Ethiopian outsprint him off the final curve for a 7:44.86 victory. Liefers was still happy with his second-place 7:45.54, a new Dutch record, which knocked almost six seconds off Rob de Brouwer's 7:51.34 set in the Seville World Indoor Championships twelve years ago. 

Although not accorded the highly-desirable lane six in the men's 200 metres, Holland's Patrick van Balkom ran tenaciously around the curve in lane four, and then held the lead all the way into the finish for a 20.95 performance, equalling the European season best of Stefano DaCastello of Italy, who finished second in 21.05. 

Never recovering from a sluggish curve run in lane six was European indoor champion Marcin Urbas, who was third with 21.09. 

Ramon Clay of the US won the other section with 21.06. 

Six of the eight runners were bunched tightly as the bell sounded in the men's 800 Metres. Kenyans William Yiampoy and Joseph Mutua then quickly extracted themselves from the pack, as Holland's Bram Som gave chase down the back stretch. Coming off the final curve, Mutua moved to the outside in an attempt to overtake the leading Yiampoy. This allowed Som all of the space he needed to sprint up the rail to pass Mutua and come very close to his second upset in the past two weekends.

Yiampoy's 1:47.36 just survived the Dutch attack, as Som clocked 1:47.47, which in turn prevailed over Mutua's 1:47.64. 

Ed Gordon for the IAAF

RESULTS (all BEL except as noted)

MEN:

60 METRES:  1. Miller (USA) 6.50;  2. Aliu (NGR) 6.53;  3. Harden (USA) 6.57;  4. Saddler (USA) 6.59;  5. Pöyhönen (FIN) 6.64;  6. Lewis-Francis (GBR) 6.66;  7. Lewis (USA) 6.72;  8. Powell (JAM) 6.72.  
   
Heat 1:  1. Aliu 6.59;  2. Harden 6.59;  3. Lewis 6.65;  4. Dubois (SUI) 6.76;  5. DeBaerdemaeker 6.81;  6. DaCastello (ITA) 6.83;  7. Nowak (POL) 6.86.  Heat 2:  1. Pöyhönen 6.63;  2. Saddler 6.65;  3. Clay (USA) 6.67;  4. Nagel (RSA) 6.73;  5. Bongelo 6.74;  6. Urbas (POL) 6.85;  7. Nuyts 6.88.  Heat 3:  1. Miller 6.49 (world leader);  2. Powell  6.65;  3. Lewis-Francis 6.66;  4. Douglas (NED) 6.81;  5. Sekanyambo 6.86;  6. Scuderi (ITA) 6.89. 

200 METRES:  Race 1:  1. van Balkom (NED) 20.95;  2. DaCastello (ITA) 21.05;  3. Urbas (POL) 21.09;  4. C Williams (JAM) 21.52.  Race 2:  1. Clay (USA) 21.06;  2. Wissman (SWE) 21.26;  3. Goussis (GRE) 21.40;  4. Stevens 21.78;  5. Nowak (POL) 22.09. 

400 METRES:  Race 1:  1. Baulch (GBR) 46.31;  2. Van Branteghem 46.32;  3. Muzík (CZE) 46.99;  4. Clarke (JAM) 47.19;  5. Van de Velde 48.51.  Race 2:  1. Caines (GBR) 45.90;  2. Ja Davis (USA) 46.46;  3. Canal (ESP) 46.68;  4. Laursen (SWE) 47.34;  5. Keus (NED) 49.12. 

800 METRES:  Race 1:  1. Yiampoy (KEN) 1:47.36;  2. Som (NED) 1:47.47;  3. Mutua (KEN) 1:47.64;  4. Dube (BOT) 1:47.75;  5. Jansen 1:48.90;  6. Okken (NED) 1:49.16;  7. Kahan 1:50.73;  8. Haida (MAR) 1:57.28.  Pacemaker:  R Chirchir (KEN).  Race 2:  1. Aissat (FRA) 1:48.62;  2. Lomba (FRA) 1:48.90;  3. Oravec (CZE) 1:49.20;  4. Resch (AUT) 1:52.49;  5. Yossef (ISR) 1:52.80.  Pacemaker:  Karonei (KEN). 

1500 METRES:  1. Heshko (UKR) 3:42.75;  2. Müller (GER) 3:44.83;  3. Vandewiele 3:44.96;  4. J Esteso (ESP) 3:45.15;  5. R Kosgei (KEN) 3:45.45;  6. Matschiner (AUT) 3:45.97;  7. Pröll (AUT) 3:47.43;  8. S Kiplangat (KEN) 3:47.80;  9. Whiteman (GBR) 3:49.22;  10. Van Diest 3:56.32.  Pacemaker:  Kiptoo (KEN). 

3000 METRES:  1. Mekonnen (ETH) 7:44.86;  2. Liefers (NED) 7:45.54 NR;  3. Mayock (GBR) 7:47.65;  4. El Nasri (ESP) 7:49.40;  5. Mucheru (KEN) 7:50.77;  6. R Rono (KEN) 8:02.51;  7. Petrovic (CRO) 8:04.08;  8. Es-Saadi 8:09.19;  9. Lakhal (FRA) 8:17.94;  10. Compernolle 8:18.84.  Pacemakers:  Grammens, Sha Langat (KEN). 

5000 METRES:  1. A Garcia (ESP) 13:11.39 (European record; world leader);  2. Abate (ETH) 13:26.44;  3. Bett (KEN) 13:33.34;  4. Tola (ETH) 13:52.31;  5. Bamouh (MAR) 14:18.40;  6. Alemayehu (ETH) 14:22.26;  7. Raffi (MAR) 14:38.95.  Pacemakers:  P Esteso (ESP), Keino (KEN). 

POLE VAULT:  1. Mesnil (FRA) 5.70;  2. Smiryagin (RUS) 5.60;  3. Giblisco (ITA) 5.50;  4. Kristiansson (SWE) 5.50;  5. Duval 5.50;  6. Gorshkov (RUS) 5.40;  7. Johnson (LCA) 5.40;  8. Buckfield (GBR) 5.30;  9. Mazuryk (UKR) 5.20.  No height:  Rans (BEL). 

TRIPLE JUMP:  1. Olsson (SWE) 17.24 (world leader) [16.53 - 16.74 - 16.83 - 17.24 - x - x];  2. Glavatskiy (RUS) 17.19;  3. Gregorio (BRA) 17.02;  4. Davis (USA) 16.91;  5. Taillepierre (FRA) 16.88;  6. Martínez (CUB) 16.87;  7. Oprea (ROM) 16.80;  8. Dimitrov (BUL) 16.53;  9. Bell (USA) 16.13;  10. Anderson (USA) 15.93;  11. D Mambo (BEL) 15.83. 

 
WOMEN:

60 METRES:  1. Block (UKR) 7.09;  2. Ottey (SLO) 7.18;  3. Hurtis (FRA) 7.20;  4. Manninen (FIN) 7.29;  5. Kravchenko (UKR) 7.30;  6. E Möller (GER) 7.31;  7. Ivanova (TUR) 7.32;  8. Levorato (ITA) 7.39. 

Heat 1:  1. Block 7.10;  2. Hurtis 7.20;  3. Manninen 7.24;  4. Kravchenko 7.26;  5. Bikar (SLO) 7.30;  6. De Caluwe (BEL) 7.44;  7. Sidibé (FRA) 7.52.  Heat 2:  1. Ottey 7.23;  2. E Möller 7.26;  3. Levorato 7.28;  4. Ivanova 7.28;  5. Gevaert (BEL) 7.28;  6. Nku (NGR) 7.35.  Disqualified (false start):  Mayr (AUT). 

200 METRES:  Race 1:  1. Ivanova (TUR) 23.05;  2. Manninen (FIN) 23.38;  3. Maduka (GBR) 23.73.  Race 2:  1. Mayr (AUT) 23.24;  2. Levorato (ITA) 23.55;  3. Bikar (SLO) 23.61. 

800 METRES:    1. Mutola (MOZ) 1:58.83 (world leader);  2. Holmes (GBR) 1:59.21;  3. Martínez (ESP) 2:00.53;  4. Samaria (NAM) 2:00.55;  5. Vriesde (SUR) 2:01.83;  6. Fouquet (FRA) 2:03.14;  7. Varga (HUN) 2:03.46;  8. Fuchsova (CZE) 2:09.58.  Pacemaker:  Urbansky (GER). 

3000 METRES:  1. Z Ouaziz (MAR) 8:42.01;  2. El Kamch (MAR) 8:45.22;  3. Tullett (GBR) 8:46.95;  4. Schwald (USA) 8:52.14;  5. Bekele (ETH) 8:56.22;  6. Tusai (HUN) 8:57.92;  7. Baouf 9:04.77;  8. Martins (FRA) 9:13.20;  9. Pruvost (FRA) 9:23.95;  10. Toth (HUN) 9:25.67.  Pacemakers:  Komyagina (RUS). 

HIGH JUMP:  1. Chicherova (RUS) 1.99;  2. Seryogina (RUS) 1.97;  3. DiMartino (ITA) 1.94;  4. Beitia (ESP) 1.91;  5. Vlasic (CRO) 1.91;  6. Yelesina (RUS) 1.88;  7. Arrendel (DOM), Jones (GBR), Pantelimon (ROM) and Hellebaut 1.84;  11. Hlavonová (CZE) 1.84;  12. DeLeeuw 1.75.  

PRELIMINARY EVENTS:

Men's 800 METRES:  1. Van Mechelen 1:53.03;  2. Keepers 1:53.64;  3. Lecoeuche 1:54.71 . . .

Women's 800 METRES:  1. De Grande 2:12.62;  2. Depoortere 2:12.71;  3. Lemmens 2:12.75 . . .