Meseret Defar salutes her 5000m PB win in Rome (© Getty Images)
Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj who last night in Rome ducked under 3:30 for 1500m for the 29th time in his remarkable career, leads much of the cast from Italy's premier meeting to England for Sunday’s Norwich Union Super League at Gateshead’s International Stadium (13 July).
The IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Gateshead will be the triple World 1500m champion’s second and final 1500m outing of the summer prior to his defence of his world crown in Paris in August. The Moroccan will run the Mile in Zurich, his only other competition between now and the Worlds.
It’s no disrespect to USA’s World Indoor 800m champion David Krummenacker who will be El Guerrouj’s major opposition in Gateshead that just as in Rome the race will surely be just another time trial given that the Moroccan remains so far ahead of the rest of the world’s 1500m elite.
Defar set to restore some Ethiopian pride
Ethiopia’s distance running pride took a bit of a battering on Friday as both Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie were upstaged by Kenya’s Abraham Chebii in the 5000m (who goes for 3000m tomorrow). However, Ethiopia salvaged something from the warm Rome night in the women’s race, as World Junior 3000m and 5000m champion Meserat Defar took a memorable runaway victory in a personal best of 14:40.34 from Romania’s Olympic champion Gabriela Szabo.
Not many runners have the leg speed to beat the Romanian’s fleet feet and formidable tenacity, and so the Addis Ababa born talent who is still only 19, surpassed all expectations in Rome, humbling a world class 5000m field which also included World Indoor 3000m champion Berhane Adere, and Werknesh Kidane, Ethiopia’s World Cross Country champion.
Defar had made her first impact on the senior scene this winter when she finished with an impressive bronze run at the World Indoor championships in the 3000m, behind compatriot Adere, the World Indoor record holder.
In Gateshead, Defar will be the main name in the women’s 3000m, with Ireland’s popular double European silver medallist Sonia O’Sullivan leading Europe’s challenge.
Chebii challenges at 3000m
Moving on to the men’s 3000m Chebii is of course the man of the moment. The 23 year-old has lowered his PB from 12:58.98 to 12:52.99. That best came when he placed fourth in Oslo behind Bekele but since then in the Paris and last night’s Rome Golden League meetings he has been unbeatable, and has brought a new meaning to a 5000m sprint finish.
No one in the Gateshead 3000m line-up would seem able to threaten the Kenyan, though for certain Ethiopia’s former World Junior cross country champion Gebre Gebremariam, and Kenya’s World Indoor bronze medallist Luke Kipkosgei will make a fight of it.
Next stop for 'Mutola versus Ceplak' road show
The class ‘head to head’ confrontation of the evening is likely to be in the women’s 800m, which will feature another encounter between Mozambique’s World and Olympic champion Maria Mutola and Jolanda Ceplak, the European champion and World Indoor record holder from Slovenia, who have had blazing sprint battles in both Paris and Rome.
The season’s tally is 2 – 0 to Mutola but one senses that the Slovenian is nearer to Mutola’s outdoor level this season than in any year before. After all in the winter of 2002 Ceplak proved on a number of occasions that Mutola was vulnerable to her attack.
A regular feature of the British season both indoors and out is the appearance of Russia’s diminutive multiple World Indoor record breaking pole vaulter Svetlana Feofanova, who returns to Britain after breaking her World indoor record in fine style (4.80m) when taking the World Indoor title in Birmingham last March.
The depth of quality in tomorrow’s field means that the Russian will face her team colleague Yelena Isinbayeva who leads the world outdoors this year (4.73m), Poland’s World bronze medallist Monika Pyrek, and China’s Gao Shu ying, among others.
In the men’s 110m Hurdles the domination of World indoor and outdoor champion Allen Johnson is set to continue. Below 13 seconds (12.97) in Paris and with a 13.08 clocking last night, the 1996 Olympic champion is in a class of his own at the moment, though European silver medallist Stanislavs Olijars, China’s World Junior record holder Xiang Liu, and fellow American Duane Ross will try to chase Johnson down.
There is plenty of ‘local’ potential too, with all of Britain’s best men’s sprinters led by European record holder Dwain Chambers taking on Commonwealth Champion Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis, and the new vanguard of American speedsters US national winner Bernard Williams, the World bronze medallist, at 100m.
British heroes Edwards and Backley to star
Given that it is his home venue, most cheers will be reserved for 37 year-old Jonathan Edwards’ season’s debut in the men’s Triple Jump. The World and Olympic champion who has already embarked on a television career, will have his chance tomorrow to prove whether he is now just an athletics tourist or really intent on continuing the greatest career the World of Triple jump has ever witnessed.
Britain’s World record holder will have his work cut out as Edwards will face Sweden’s Christian Olsson who beat him to both last season’s European outdoor title, and this winter’s World Indoor crown.
Another familiar face and British crowd pleaser is 34 year-old quadruple European Javelin champion Steve Backley, who makes his second outing of the summer after a knee operation. The British Olympic silver medallist threw 79.66m in Sweden recently. Neither the triple World and Olympic champion Jan Zelezny or current world season’s leader Sergey Makarov will be present but the Gateshead line up should still offer a weighty challenge for Backley including the World Junior record holder Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway, and Germany’s Boris Henry, the European bronze medallist.
The men’s High Jump is headed by the Sweden's double World Indoor champion Stefan Holm, Russian Yaroslav Rybakov the European Champion, and Jermaine Mason of Jamaica who established a national record in Rome last night when taking third (2.31m).
2003 World leader Savante Stringfellow (8.46m – equal with fellow American Miguel Pate on the world list), the World silver medallist, is the top name in the men’s Long Jump.
The women’s 400m should be notable if only for the fact that it will mark the return to major Grand Prix athletics of Britain’s Katharine Merry who has had a nightmare spell of injuries since taking the Olympic bronze medal in Sydney.
IAAF
