Maria Mutola (MOZ) strides round the bend to win in Glasgow (© Getty Images)
Maria Mutola has started her 2004 season in the same vein that she finished last season – in devastating and dominating form.
The Mozambiquan, competing for a World Select team at the Norwich Union International in Glasgow on Saturday, sent a powerful message to her rivals around the world as she destroyed the opposition with a typical display of front running, that brought her the world’s first sub-two minute clocking of the year.
Mutola led from the start and cruised through 400m in 57.61. At the line she was nearly four seconds faster than her nearest rival, Irina Vashentseva of Russia, her time of 1:58.46 smashing the stadium record of 2:00.51 set here last year by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak, the World Indoor record holder.
“Wow, that was a great race for me,” said the Olympic champion afterwards. “I just wanted to break two minutes, but to run 1:58 at this time of year is fantastic. I can’t remember starting a season this quickly.”
On the road to a sixth World Indoor title
Mutola will now look to the World Indoor Championships in Budapest (5 - 7 March) with increased confidence that she will take her sixth title. She’ll certainly be the hot favourite. Before then she plans an attack on the World 1000m record at the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham on 20 February.
There she will face her training partner Kelly Holmes, who also showed strong early season form this afternoon in the 1500m. The Briton was a comfortable winner in 4:09.15, easily holding off the challenge of Russia’s Yuliya Kosenkova. Her victory was even more impressive given that she has suffered her customary heavy dose of close season injuries – Holmes afterwards said that Achilles, calf and ankle troubles had interrupted her training for a month at the end of last year.
“That race was easier than I expected,” she said. “I felt very comfortable considering I haven’t had a great build up.”
Holmes and Mutola now head off to Valencia in Spain for some warm weather training before returning to the UK for their Grand Prix clash.
Isinbayeva defeats Feofanova in close World record attempt tussle
Elsewhere, the day was dominated by impressive jumping from Russians and Swedes (the meeting was a five-way match between those two countries, Italy, Great Britain and a World Select team).
Both Yelena Isinbayeva (competing for the World Select) and her Russian rival Svetlana Feofanova came within a whisker of breaking the World Indoor Pole Vault record, but neither quite did enough to claim the US$30,000 award. It was Isinbayeva who won their tight tussle by equalling her compatriot’s record breaking 4.76m vault at this event last year.
Feofanova finished with 4.66m to her name but passed her final two attempts at 4.76m after Isinbayeva cleared it first time, to attack the World mark of 4.81m.
On her first effort Isinbayeva had the height but came down heavily on the bar, while her second was desperately close. Again she appeared to make the height easily but just brushed the bar with her chest. Isinbayeva’s best attempt was her third, when she too seemed to have cleared easily only for the faintest of touches to end her hopes.
“I am quite disappointed because I expected to jump that high today,” said Isinbayeva. “I think I was a little unlucky.”
Chicherova and Holm clearly in good form
Anna Chicherova, another Russian in soaring form, equalled Heike Henkel’s 1990 stadium record when she won the women’s High Jump with a leap of 2.00m, some 13cm higher than anyone else cleared. The 21 year-old had taken three attempts to clear 1.96m before leaping the two metre barrier on her second try.
Sweden’s Stefan Holm was impressive in the men’s High Jump. He won the event easily with first attempt clearances at five heights up to and including 2.31m before attacking the UK all-comers’ record of 2.40m. It was close but wasn’t to be, although the two-times World Indoor champion looks in-form to clear 2.35m with ease, should he have to.
Gardener in easy-going form
Britain’s Jason Gardener was king of the sprinters. He took the men’s 60m with a in easy-looking 6.54. It was one of the World Indoor bronze medallist’s best ever opening performances, and a run that left USA’s Tim Harden, the 2001 World Indoor champion more than a tenth of a second adrift.
“I think I ran faster in my first race last year,” he said afterwards. “But it was the manner of the victory here that was important. I have started in the right direction, that what’s important.”
The match was won by a strong Russian team whose athletes finished in the top three of every event.
