Ethiopians Meseret Defar, Gelete Burka, and Deressa Mekkonen along with Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge clocked the world fastest times in their respective events at the Sparkassen Indoor meet in Stuttgart Germany.
Defar was on course to improve her world 3000m indoor record she set three years ago at this meet. However towards the end of the race she faded a little had ahd to settled for a world leading time this year of 8: 24.46.
World Indoor 1500m champions Gelete Burka (4:03.44) and Deresse Mekkonen (3:34.17) signalled their intention to retain their world titles come the world Indoor Championships in Doha Qatar next month. Not only did they win their events they also posted the fastest times in their specialty this year.
Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge spoilt the Ethiopian party when he finished ahead of Tariku Bekele to claim victory in the men’s 3000m. Kipchoge’s time of 7:32.99 is the fastest in the world this year. Bekele (7:33.81) and another Kenyan Alex Sammy Mutahi (7:37.01) took the minor positions.
Sudan’s World Indoor 800m door champion Abubakar Kaki had a modest start towards the world indoor championships His winning time of 1:46.47 suggest he will be among the medal contenders in Doha next month.
Nigeria sprinter Egwero Ogho-Oghene (6.62) improved on his best in 60m, as Ghana’s Ignisious Gaisah (7.73) continues on his long jump comeback after a layoff due to injury.
SELECTED RESULTS
WL denotes World leading time this year
MR denotes Meet record
PB denote personal best
MEN
60m
1 Lerone Clarke (Jamaica) 6.57; 2 Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles) 6.58; 3 Egwero Ogho-Oghene (Nigeria) 6.62; 4 Craig Pickering (Britain) 6.64; 5 Tobias Unger (Germany) 6.71; 6 Pascal Mancini (Switzerland) 6.76
800m
1 Abubakar Kaki (Sudan) 1:46.47; 2 Jakub Holusa (Czech Republic) 1:46.82; 3 Jackson Mumbwa Kivuva (Kenya) 1:47.03; 4 Antonio Reina (Spain) 1:47.88; 5 Kevin Hautcoeur (France) 1:48.24; 6 Georg Eberhardt (Germany) 1:49.21; 7 Yuriy Koldin (Russia) 1:52.15
1500m
1 Deresse Mekkonen (Ethiopia) 3:34.17; 2 William Tanui Biwott (Kenya) 3:36.93; 3 Bouabdellah Tahri (France) 3:37.31; 4 Bethwell Birge (Kenya) 3:39.14; 5 Juan Carlos Higuero (Spain) 3:40.76; 6 Stefan Eberhardt (Germany) 3:41.12; 7 Yoann Kowal (France) 3:47.18; 8 Mohamad Al-Boarding (Qatar) 3:59.53
3000m
1 Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) 7:32.99; 2 Tariku Bekele (Ethiopia) 7:33.81; 3 Alex Sammy Mutahi (Kenya) 7:37.01; 4 Edwin Soi (Kenya) 7:38.60; 5 Abreham Felek Cherkos (Ethiopia) 7:40.04; 6 Diego Ruiz (Spain) 7:52.86; 7 Christophe Lohse (Germany) 7:53.11; 8 Arne Gabius (Germany) 7:54.11; 9 Alvaro Fernandez (Spain) 7:57.89; 10 Joseph Kitur Kiplimo (Kenya) 8:04.42
Long Jump
1 Jinzhe Li (China) 7.92; 2 Salim Sdiri (France) 7.87; 3 Ignisious Gaisah (Ghana) 7.73; 4 Dwight Phillips (USA) 7.72; 5 Ndiss Kaba Badji (Senegal) 7.66; 6 Remigius Roskosch (Germany) 7.57; 7 Christopher Stolz (Germany) 7.56; 8 Zhen Wei Yu (China) 7.53; 9 Nils Winter (Germany) 7.42
WOMEN
1500m
1 Gelete Burka (Ethiopia) 4:03.44 MR/WL; 2 Anna Alminova (Russia) 4:03.88; 3 Irene Jelagat (Kenya) 4:07.45; 4 Helen Clitheroe (Britain) 4:10.08; 5 Felix fanjanteino (France) 4:11.95 Hilary Stellingwerff (Canada) 4:17.79
3000m
1 Meseret Defar (Ethiopia) 8:24.46 WL; 2 Ejigu Sentayehu (Ethiopia) 8:25:27; 3 Sylvia Kibet (Kenya) 8:42.15; 4 Ines Monteiro (Portugal) 8:59.05; 5 Rene Kalmer (South Africa) 9:02.92; 6 Sabrina Mochkenhaupt (Germany) 9:13.72
Filed under: Indoor
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.