Mestewet Tufa running in Valkenwaard, The Netherlands in 2007 (© Harry Nijhuis)
Nijmegen, The NetherlandsThe reigning double World Road Running champion Lornah Kiplagat has succeeded in obtaining the Dutch qualifying time (31:22.14) for the 10,000m for the Beijing Olympic Games in meeting in Nijmegen last night (25).
On a cool nearly windless evening on 30 May in Utrecht, the Netherlands, Kiplagat had pulled out after 6600m of an earlier attempt at the time, a race which saw her Kenyan born cousin Hilda Kibet, who now also runs for Holland, set a personal best of 30:58:48 to secure her place in the Dutch Olympic team.
However, last night on an exceptionally windy evening which kept the race start delayed until 22:00hrs, Kiplagat who is the World 20k and Half Marathon record holder on the road was successful in clocking 31:04.04 for the track 10,000m.
Not that Kiplagat was the winner of last night’s race. That distinction went to Ethiopia’s Mestewat Tufa whose clocking of 30:38:33 is so far the third fastest time of 2008, one ahead of Kibet’s Utrecht run.
The 5000m split in Nijmegen was 15:15.
Tufa is the 2008 World Cross Country silver medallist and has a 10,000m PB of 31:00.27 (2007), and her performance throws yet another hat into the ring of the complicated Ethiopian team selection battle for Beijing which is a story in itself.
Kiplagat’s 10,000m season’s best before last night had been a 31:53.72 run in Istanbul on 12 April, with her personal best for the 10,000m the 30:12.53 which she ran when coming fourth in the 2003 World Championships in Paris.
Wim van Hemert and Chris Turner for the IAAF
RESULTS
Women’s 10,000m
1. Mestewat Tufa (ETH) 30:38.33
2. Lornah Kiplagat (NED) 31:04.04
3. Jasmin Saleh Kareema (BRN) 32.45.52
dnf: Adriana Fernandez (MEX) and Hayley Jelling (GBR)
