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Report22 Feb 2002


Pole vault stars in 7th Erdgas Hallen Meeting

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Wedged uncomfortably between the more prestigious Athens and Lievin meetings, the 7th Erdgas Meeting nonetheless provided a full evening of excitement for the capacity audience of 2400 in the Chemnitz Sportforum. 

With the bulk of the world's female pole vaulters already resting in Lievin for their upcoming competition on Sunday, it was up to a quintet of German vaulters to make the best of their competition here. 

And they did so quite well. 

For three years, the German indoor record had languished at 4.56.  Tonight, it was nudged up to 4.57, not by one, but by three jumpers--Christine Adams, Annika Becker, and Yvonne Buschbaum.  But that wasn't the final line of this story.

Buschbaum and Becker (from left to right in photo) added another five centimetres to the record with successes at 4.62, before ending the evening with failures at a would-be record 4.74, as Becker won the competition on misses. 

It was the highest quality women's pole vault competition in indoor history.  Never before had three vaulters cleared such a high height indoors. 

Three weeks ago, Berhane Adere smashed the world record in the women's 3000 metres in her first-ever indoor race.  So, a very logical proposal for the Chemnitz meeting organization to make was an attack on the rarely-contested 2000-metre distance.

Despite the infrequent occurrence of this event, the best time ever recorded--5:30.53 by Gabriela Szabo four years ago in Birmingham--is perhaps of even higher quality than Adere's recent 3K record performance.  The Ethiopian would probably agree, after winning tonight in 5:39.47, well off the world best.

Another Ethiopian, Restituta Joseph, took Adere through the first two laps in just over the prescribed under-66 pace (66.7).  But on the third circuit, it was apparent that Adere was becoming anxious over Joseph's quickly sagging tempo.  Before the 800m (2:17.7), Adere gave up on her countrywoman as a pacemaker and set out alone with more than half the race still remaining.

It was too much to ask, even of someone of Adere's stature.  She appeared somewhat fatigued in the final stages and most likely was content with a win.  Her collection of 33- and 34-second laps tonight was similar to those she had produced for the 3K record in Stuttgart.  Unfortunately, the 2000-metre record need a moderately faster clip.

A pair of Germans running behind Adere found the conditions optimal for dipping under their own national records.  Kathleen Friedrich now carries that title after her second-place 5:42.55, as Kristina da Fonseca-Wohlheim finished third in 5:44.31. 

Another non-standard record try was on the program.  Edmonton 400-metre silver medallist Ingo Schultz concluded his abbreviated indoor season with a 33.03 win in the rarely-run 300 metres.  His goal had been to dip under Erwin Skamrahl's 16-year-old time of 32.72. 

Melissa Morrison converted a good start into a world-leading 7.85 win in the 60-metres hurdles.  The American defeated a fast-improving Kirsten Bolm of Germany (7.92) and Olympic champion Olga  Shishigina of Kazakhstan (7.93). 

Bolm, who last weekend won the German championships in a personal-best 7.97, equalled that time in her heat, and might well have posted a better time than she did in the final had she not leaned too early.

Ed Gordon for the IAAF

RESULTS (all GER except as noted):

MEN:

60 METRES:  1.  Lewis (USA) 6.54;  2. Dovgal (UKR) 6.59;  3. Saddler (USA) 6.61;  4. M Blume 6.64;  5. Pilarczyk (POL) 6.68;  6. Tulin (POL) 6.76.

Heat 1:  1. Lewis (USA) 6.55;  2. Pilarczyk (POL) 6.71;  3. Vojnovic (CRO) 6.73;  4. Kosenkow 6.74;  5. Ungerer (NED) 6.77;  6. Brinarsky (SVK) 6.80.  Heat 2:  1. Dovgal (UKR) 6.56;  2. Saddler (USA) 6.60;  3. M Blume 6.65;  4. Tulin (POL) 6.72;  5. Weissbach 6.81;  6. Sebrle (CZE) 7.01. 

200 METRES:  Race 1:  1. Jedrusinski (POL) 21.13;  2. Kaidash (UKR) 21.19;  3. Gilpin (JAM) 21.89.  Race 2:  1. Mackowiak (POL) 20.95;  2. Otto 20.97;  3. Gatzka 21.51.  Race 3:  1. Urbas (POL) 20.77;  2. Kosenkow 21.25;  3. Zubek (CZE) 22.18;  Race 4:  1. Zachoval (CZE) 21.06;  2. Brinarsky (SVK) 21.38;  3. Lachkovics (AUT) 21.42. 

300 METRES:  1. Schultz 33.02;  2. Figura 34.17;  3. Liebe 24.56. 

400 METRES:  1. Schlitzer 48.17;  2. Foerster 49.25;  3. Kress 50.84. 

800 METRES:  1. Mutua (KEN) 1:46.06;  2. S Kimutai (KEN) 1:46.16;  3. Bungei (KEN) 1:46.35;  4. Herms 1:46.68;  5. Haschke 1:48.97;  6. Krzosek (POL) 1:49.86;  7. Oravec (CZE) 1:50.54;  8. Kern 1:51.55;  9. Hoenig 1:51.85.  Pace:  Stejfa (CZE). 

3000 METRES:  1. El-Mouaziz (MAR) 7:54.17;  2. Sullivan (CAN) 7:54.57;  3. Mantaoui (MAR) 7:56.96;  4. Abdallah (MAR) 7:57.10;  5. Knoblich 7:57.75;  6. Draczynski (POL) 8:08.18;  7. Kuehn 8:09.11;  8. Zblewski (POL) 8:19.24;  9. Bruder 8:20.19;  10. Bekkali (BEL) 8:28.38;  11. Chemlal (MAR) 8:32.02.  Did not finish:  Preuk.  Pace:  Jares (CZE), Matyas (CZE).

POLE VAULT:  1. Lobinger 5.70;  2. Janacek (CZE) 5.70;  3. Gorshkov (RUS) 5.70;  4. Boergeling 5.60;  5. Spiegelburg 5.60;  6. Ecker 5.40;  7. Duval (BEL) 5.40. 

WOMEN:

60 METRES:  1. Ajunwa (NGR) 7.13;  2. Mayr (AUT) 7.18;  3. Philipp 7.19;  4. White (USA) 7.21;  5. G Rockmeier 7.35;  6. Wagner 7.39. 

Heat 1:  White (USA) 7.31;  2. G Rockmeier 7.33;  3. Paschke 7.38;  4. Ojokolo (NGR) 7.41;  5. Fink 7.60;  6. Wolf 7.78.   Heat 2:  1. Ajunwa (NGR) 7.17;  2. Mayr (AUT) 7.22;  3. Philipp 7.25;  4. Wagner 7.31;  5. Sidibe (FRA) 7.44;  6. Wakan 7.60. 

200 METRES:  Race 1:  1. Pacholak (POL) 24.14;  2. Mishchenko (UKR) 24.65;  3. Urbansky 24.84.  Race 2:  Marx 24.02;  2. Ekpo-Umoh 24.25;  3. Wolf 25.34.  Race 3:  White (USA) 23.21;  2. Paschke 23.43;  3. Fink 24.39. 

400 METRES:  1. Marahrens 52.83;  2. Hoffmann 53.27;  3. Mueller 54.36;  4. Neubert 55.02. 

800 METRES:  1. Teichmann 2:04.40;  2. Jongmans (NED) 2:04.77;  3. Varga (HUN) 2:05.35;  4. Knippel 2:05.92;  5. Krakoviak (LIT) 2:06.23;  6. Lochmanova (CZE) 2:06.26;  7. Kirilova (BUL) 2:06.57;  8. Trauth 2:08.89.  Pace:  Diouf (FRA)

2000 METRES:  1. Adere (ETH) 5:39.47 (world leader);  2. Friedrich 5:42.55 NR (GER);  3. da Fonseca-Wollheim 5:44.31;  4. Javornik (SLO) 5:44.93;  5. Cioncan (ROM) 5:49.72;  6. Schulz 5:52.88;  7. Bouetta (MAR) 5:52.92;  8. Joseph (ETH) 6:03.16. 

60 HURDLES:  1. Morrison (USA) 7.85 (world leader);  2. Bolm 7.92;  3. Shishigina (KAZ) 7.93;  4. Hentschke 8.07;  5. Thimm 8.32;  6. Carson (USA) 8.36. 

Heat 1:  1. Shishigina (KAZ) 7.98;  2. Hentschke 8.12;  3. Carson (USA) 8.29;  4. Thimm 8.31;  Martincova (CZE) 8.34.  Heat 2:  1. Morrison (USA) 7.96;  2. Bolm 7.97;  3. Komoll 8.34;  4. Meyer 8.40;  5. Woelfling (AUT) 8.50;  6. Safarikova (CZE) 8.97. 

POLE VAULT:  1. Becker 4.62 [4.10 - 4.30 - 4.40 - 4.50 - 4.57/3 NR - 4.62 NR - 4.74/xxx];  2. Buschbaum 4.62 [4.30 - 4.40 - 4.50/2 - 4.57 NR - 4.62/2 NR - 4.74/xxx];  3. Adams 4.57 [4.10 - 4.30 - 4.40 - 4.50 - 4.57/3 NR - 4.62/xxx];  4. Strutz and Sa. Schulte 4.30. 

LONG JUMP:  1. Ter-Mesrobyan (RUS) 6.62;  2. So. Schulte 6.50;  3. Kappler 6.34;  4. Zagacka (POL) 6.25;  5. Tiedtke 6.24;  6. Stadnyuk (UKR) 6.07. 

ADDITIONAL EVENT: 

3000 METRES WOMEN (U23):  1. Moeller 9:52.08;  2. Moeldner 9:52.65;  3. Witte 9:53.22;  4. Ehrlich 10:03.50;  5. Hesse 10:13.07;  6. Schoenebeck 10:46.31;  7. Prause 11:25.29.  Did not finish:  Heinze

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