Maria Mutola at Commonwealth Games (© Allsport)
28 August 2002 - Naimette-Xhovémont, Belgium - The hoped-for world-best times in the men’s and women’s 600 metres proved elusive at the first Liège International Meeting on Tuesday, but the two efforts were nonetheless solid ones which produced the second-fastest times ever in both events.
Maria Mutola had served as the poster girl for the competition, so even the VIP’s knew when “The Event” had arrived on the schedule.
The Olympic 800-metre champion came agonizingly close to the 1:22.63 clocking of Cuba’s Ana Fidelia Quirot in Guadalajara, Spain, five years ago with a 1:22.87 to move into the number-two position of all time.
As Belgian 400 hurdler Ann Mercken paced the opening 200 metres in 25.69, Mutola was staying exceptionally close, almost appearing to encourage an even faster pace. The pair eased off somewhat after that, however, and Mutola was on her own by the 400, which she passed in 53.92.
Coming off the final turn, her eyes were fixed on the sideline clock as she powered for home. While missing the intended goal, her final result was anything but a disappointment.
With a 1000-metre race awaiting her at the Van Damme Memorial meeting in Brussels in only three days, the 600-metre race served as a good training session, as well as a confidence builder, she said in a post-race interview.
The men’s event was won, as expected, by this year’s leader in the 800 metres, Joseph Mutua of Kenya, in 1:13.49, slightly more than a half second slower than Johnny Gray’s target time of 1:12.81 more than sixteen years ago.
Mutua and fellow Kenyan Japheth Kimutai, along with Belgium’s Joeri Jansen, pulled ahead quickly and followed pacesetter Rikkie van Rhee of Holland. The young Dutchman hit the 200 in 23.61, after which Mutua took over and completed the first 400 in 48.34.
That is when fatigue began to set in, and Mutua’s final 200 ballooned, comparatively speaking , to 25.15, and the record try fizzled. As with Mutola, the Kenyan still was able to claim a place just behind Gray in the all-time 600-metre list.
Several metres behind the winner, Jansen surged at the end and overtook Kimutai for second, 1:15.35 to 1:15.77.
In what was most likely his final outdoor race in Belgium, Colin Jackson added yet another 110 hurdle win to his long career resumé with a workaday 13.36 clocking to defeat Americans Duane Ross (13.44) and Greg Richardson (13.56).
Ross appeared to get almost as good a start as Jackson, and the American pushed the British hurdler all the way to the finish. Jackson took a slow victory lap of the stadium to the applause of the crowd. And he had the last laugh when the trackside announcer asked him if he was ready for a big race in Brussels on Friday.
“Unfortunately, there is no hurdle race at the Van Damme,” Jackson sheepishly reminded the man with the microphone.
Anjanette Kirkland’s late withdrawal due to illness robbed the women’s hurdle event of a big star, but Jenny Adams was there to pick up the slack left by the departure of her fellow American.
The Edmonton finalist moved away crisply from the start and never felt a real challenge on the way to her 12.92 win over the top two Commonwealth finishers, Jamaicans Lacena Golding-Clarke (12.98) and Vonette Dixon (13.07).
The event with the deepest talent was the men’s pole vault, and Viktor Chistiakov of Australia picked this typically clammy, moist late-summer Belgian evening to jump a season-best 5.80, his most outstanding performance since late March.
The ex-Russian found himself in a passing game with German Tim Lobinger, who, after both had cleared 5.75 with identical scorecards for the evening, decided to take a rest and watch the two-metre-tall Chistiakov try his luck alone at 5.80, at which he was successful on his third attempt.
Lobinger was not able to pull out the win at 5.85, and Chistiakov decided to preserve any remaining energy for use on Friday in Brussels.
Challenged by Russia’s Olga Komyagina in the final lap of the women’s mile, Geraldine Hendricken of Ireland held on for a superb 4:25.44 win, the second-fastest time of this season.
Hendricken took over the lead from American Collette Liss just after the halfway point, and her lead grew to as much as twenty metres. But after the bell had sounded, Komyagina began devouring the Irish runner’s lead, metre by metre.
Looking side to side as the finish approached, Hendricken was able to avoid an ambush and post an outstanding win. Komyagina’s time was 4:26.09, with Irina Lishchinska of Ukraine (4:28.31) and Liss (4:32.51) following.
An ambush did occur in the men’s mile, however, as Kenya’s Robert Rono sprinted past Ukrainian Ivan Heskho in the final metres for a 3:56.58 win against Heskho’s 3:56.74.
Eighteen-year-old Isaac Songok of Kenya (3:57.16) and American Bryan Berryhill (3:57.77) were the next two in the final scramble in a race which could have produced significantly faster times had it not been for exceedingly sluggish pacing over the first two quarter miles.
Another 18-year-old Kenyan, James Kwalia, distinguished himself by breaking open a three-man battle in the final two laps of the men’s 5000 metres for a 13:14.34 win. The next two places also went to Kenyans, Enoch Mitei (13:21.49) and Joseph Kosgei (13:23.38), as they were twenty-five seconds ahead of the remaining runners.
In another of the novelty distances, Enefiok Udo-Obong of Nigeria neutralized the early lead of Angelo Taylor in the men’s 300 metres, as he sprinted past the Olympic 400 hurdle champion at the end for a 32.64 win.
Taylor’s time of 32.67 was barely enough to hold off the final charge of Belgium’s Cédric Van Branteghem (32.68).
Results:
Men
100 METRES: Race 1 (called “B”)(-0.4): 1. Moke (CGO) 10.60; 2. Ungerer (NED) 10.66 . . . Race 2 (called “A”)(-0.2): 1. B Williams (USA) 10.17; 2. Crawford (USA) 10.20; 3. Miller (USA) 10.25; 4. Conwright (USA) 10.37; 5. Lewis (USA) 10.38; 6. Sekanyambo (BEL) 10.55; 7. Gilpin (JAM) 10.55; 8. Delhaye (BEL) 10.67.
300 METRES: 1. Udo-Obong (NGR) 32.64; 2. Taylor (USA) 32.67; 3. Van Branteghem (BEL) 32.68; 4. Settle (USA) 33.02; 5. Thomas (USA) 33.28; 6. Hammed (QAT) 33.90. Disqualified: Campbell (JAM) [32.84]. Did not finish: Al Safi (QAT).
600 METRES: 1. Mutua (KEN) 1:13.49 (second-best performance all-time); 2. Jansen (BEL) 1:15.35; 3. J Kimutai (KEN) 1:15.77; 4. Kahan (BEL) 1:17.51; 5. Omey (BEL) 1:17.71; 6. Kibet Mutai (KEN) 1:18.79; 7. Bakrim (BEL) 1:19.13. Pace: van Rhee (NED).
800 METRES: 1. VanDiest (BEL) 1:47.78; 2. VanChaze (BEL) 1:48.29; 3. Pals (NED) 1:51.32 .
Mile: 1. R Rono (KEN) 3:56.58; 2. Heskho (UKR) 3:56.74; 3. Songok (KEN) 3:57.16; 4. Berryhill (USA) 3:57.77; 5. Maataoui (MAR) 3:58.10; 6. A Chékhémani (FRA) 3:59.01; 7. Es-Saadi (BEL) 4:00.53; 8. H Rotich (KEN) 4:01.00; 9. K Misoi (KEN) 4:02.52; 10. Compernolle (BEL) 4:06.21; 11. Ndayikeza (BDI) 4:11.26; 12. Bekkali (BEL) 4:17.43. Pace: Beumer (NED). Did not finish: Rizki (BEL).
5000 METRES: 1. Kwalia (KEN) 13:14.34; 2. Mitei (KEN) 13:21.40; 3. Joseph Kosgei (KEN) 13:23.38; 4. A Limo (KEN) 13:48.18; 5. Hamid Abdul (QAT) 13:50.58; 6. Aman Majid (QAT) 13:51.38 . . . Pace: Geemi (KEN).
110 HURDLES (0.2): 1. Jackson (GBR) 13.36; 2. Ross (USA) 13.44; 3. Richardson (USA) 13.56; 4. Nsenga (BEL) 13.91; . . . 8. Lavanne (FRA) 14.53.
POLE VAULT: 1. Chistiakov (AUS) 5.80 [5.50/2 – 5.65/2 – 5.75/2 – 5.80/3 – 5.85/p - retired]; 2. Lobinger (GER) 5.75 [5.50/2 – 5.65/2 – 5.75/2 – 5.80/p – 5.85/xxx]; 3. Johnson (USA) 5.65; 4. Khanafin (RUS) 5.50; 5. Otto (GER) 5.50; 6. Duval (BEL) and Mack (USA) 5.50; 8. Rans (BEL) and Ptáček (CZE) 5.35; 10. Osei Tutu (GER) 5.20; 11. Ulrich (GER) 5.20; 12. Looye (NED) 5.20; 13. Petrov (RUS) 5.05; 14. Simonet (BEL) 5.05. No height: Janáček (CZE) at 5.35.
TRIPLE JUMP: 1. Davis (USA) 16.68 (-0.6); 2. D Mambo (BEL) 16.50 (-0.1); 3. Glavatskiy (BLR) 16.37 (-0.2); 4. Velter (BEL) 16.15 (0.0) . . .
Women
100 METRES (0.0): 1. Ojokolo (NGR) 11.25; 2. Onyali (NGR) 11.49; 3. Nku (NGR) 11.54; 4. Mayr (AUT) 11.58; 5. Callaerts (BEL) 11.63; 6. Hewitt (AUS) 11.71; 7. DeCaluwe (BEL) 11.94; 8. Ouedrago (BEL) 12.19.
200 METRES (-0.1): 1. Mayr (AUT) 23.20; 2. Nadjina (CHA) 23.25; 3. Onyali (NGR) 23.35; 4. Hewitt (AUS) 23.44; 5. Callaerts (BEL) 24.17 . . .
600 METRES: 1. Mutola (MOZ) 1:22.87 (second-best performance all-time); 2. Stals (BEL) 1:25.91; 3. Dziadkova (RUS) 1:26.86; 4. Vriesde (SUR) 1:27.03; 5. Geens (BEL) 1:30.10; 6. Fleschner (USA) 1:33.41. Pace: Mercken (BEL).
MILE: 1. Hendricken (IRL) 4:25.44; 2. Komyagina (RUS) 4:26.09; 3. Lishchinska (UKR) 4:28.31; 4. Liss (USA) 4:32.51; 5. DeJaeghere (BEL) 4:33.76; 6. S Ouaziz (MAR) 4:35.56; 7. Baouf (BEL) 4:36.52; 8. Crain (USA) 4:38.25; 9. Sluysmans (BEL) 4:45.19; 10. Svanhalová (CZE) 4:45.93; 11. Bossuyt (BEL) 4:54.68. Pace: Wisse (NED).
100 HURDLES (-0.1): 1. Adams (USA) 12.92; 2. Golding-Clarke (JAM) 12.98; 3. Dixon (JAM) 13.07; 4. Faustin (HAI) 13.28; 5. Vis (NED) 13.50 . . .
