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| July 4, 2002 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 22,1423 |
Mutola cuts more than a second off world best
LAUSANNE (Switzerland), July 3: World and Olympic champion Maria Mutola cut more than a second off this year’s world best time with a convincing win in the women’s 800 metres at the annual Lausanne Grand Prix athletics meeting Tuesday.
In front of an appreciative and enthusiastic crowd at the Olympic Stadium, the 29-year-old Mozambique runner, who has enjoyed more than a decade at the top of her sport, clocked a winning time of one minute and 56.25 seconds.
It was a new record for Lausanne.
This was well inside the previous best in the world this year, set by Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak, who recorded 1:57.63 in Lisbon in May, and the outstanding track performance on a night when new world best performances were set in eight events overall.
But if Mutola’s win delighted the noisy crowd, it was nothing more than several other winners achieved as multiple Olympic champion American Marion Jones delivered a popular triumph in the women’s 100 metres and Kenyan Benjamin Limo sprinted to a thrilling win and world best of 7:36.02 in the men’s 3,000 metres.
“I hit hands with the girl to my left and it felt a little cold, but it was a lot warmer than Oslo,” said Jones, who clocked 11.04 seconds. “We have to run in all conditions and I am now hoping to run faster in Paris.”
Lorraine Fenton of Jamaica also shone in the women’s 400 metres with a fast triumphant run in 50.39 and Gail Devers of the United States maintained her resurgence by winning the women’s 100 metres hurdles with a world best time of 12.40 seconds.
The evening’s serious competition began with Briton Christopher Rawlinson winning the men’s 400 metres hurdles and Maria Concan of Romania defeating Russian rival Yelena Zadorozhnaya in the women’s 1,500 metres before this year’s world best performances began arriving.
The first came from Devers in the women’s 100 metres hurdles, then Fenton won the women’s 400 metres with a new world best time this year.
Limo powered to victory in the men’s 3,000 metres, outpacing Mohammed Amyn of Morocco at the end, and Anier Garcia of Cuba clocked another world best in the men’s 110 metres hurdles with a time of 13.03 seconds.
More world best performances for 2002 followed in the men’s 1,500 metres in which Bernard Lagat of Kenya, who was runner-up in last year’s world championships, clocked 3.32.24, and in the women’s javelin and high jump in which Cuba’s Osleidys Menendez and Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist won respectively.
Bergqvist was thrilled, not only by her victory, but because she also set a world best this year and improved her personal best to 2.04 metres.
“I could not be happier than to do this here,” she said. “The best this year and my personal best — fantastic.”
Ezekiel Kemboi won the men’s 3,000 metres steeplechase in a new meeting-best time of 8:10.32, narrowly beating fellow-Kenyan Reuben Kosgei by four-hundredths of a second.
In the men’s 100 metres, which American Maurice Greene, the Olympic and world champion, decided to withdraw from after his two recent defeats in Oslo and Sheffield, it was left to Francis Obikwelu of Portugal to win with a time of 10.09 ahead of Americans Tim Montgomery and Bernard Williams, both on 10.15.
Japan’s Nobuharu Asahara was second in the combined result with a time of 10.12.
“A week ago Maurice and I were head to head and the meetings are very close to each other,” said Montgomery. “Rest time is very important. I’m disappointed with my performance so I am taking time off now until the Zurich meeting.”
Greene, who was in Lausanne as a spectator, said: “I preferred not to run because I didn’t want to deceive the spectators. I was very tired and cold in Oslo and I need to keep training to be ready for the next golden league meeting in Paris.”
RESULTS
Men’s
* 200 metres 1. Francis Obikwelu (Portugal) 20.26 seconds 2. Ramon Clay (U.S.) 20.45 3. Kim Collins (St.Kitts and Nevis) 20.49
* Pole vault 1. Jeff Hartwig (U.S.) 5.85 metres 2. Lars Boergeling (Germany) 5.80 3. Nick Hysong (U.S.) 5.75
* 800 metres 1. Djabir Said-Guerni (Algeria) 1:44.70 seconds 2. Yuriy Borzakovsky (Russia) 1:44.85 3. Joseph Mutua (Kenya) 1:45.04
3,000 metres steeplechase 1. Ezekiel Kemboi (Kenya) 8:10.32 2. Reuban Kosgei (Kenya) 8:10.36 3. Wilson Kipketer (Kenya) 8:11.27
100 metres 1. Francis Obikwelu (Portugal) 10.09 2. Nobuharu Asahara (Japan) 10.12 3. Tim Montgomery (U.S.) 10.15
Triple jump 1. Walter Davis (U.S.) 17.39 metres 2. Timothy Rusan (U.S.) 17.34 3. Jadel Gregorio (Brazil) 17.11
110 metres hurdles 1. Anier Garcia (Cuba) 13.03 2. Larry Wade (U.S.) 13.15 3. Allen Johnson (U.S.) 13.16
1,500 metres 1. Bernard Lagat (Kenya) 3:32.24 2. William Chirchir (Kenya) 3:32.54 3. Driss Maazouzi (France) 3:34.47
400 metres hurdles 1. Christopher Rawlinson (Britain) 48.21 2. Stephane Diagana (France) 48.40 3. Fabrizio Mori (Italy) 48.55
3,000 metres 1. Benjamin Limo (Kenya) 7:36.02 2. Mohammed Amyn (Morocco) 7:36.30 3. Sammy Kipketer (Kenya) 7:36.38
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Women’s
* High jump 1. Kajsa Bergqvist (Sweden) 2.04 metres 2. Viktoriya Seryogina (Russia) 1.97 3. Olga Kaliturina (Russia) 1.94
800 metres 1. Maria Mutola (Mozambique) 1:56.25 2. Nicole Teter (U.S.) 1:57.97 3. Zulia Calatayud (Cuba) 1:58.51
100 metres 1. Marion Jones (U.S.) 11.04 2. Torri Edwards (U.S.) 11.11 3. Tanya Lawrence (Jamaica) 11.13
1,500 metres 1. Maria Cioncan (Romania) 4:03.11 2. Yelena Zadorozhnaya (Russia) 4:03.20 3. Olga Yegorova (Russia) 4:04.11
100 metres hurdles 1. Gail Devers (U.S.) 12.40 2. Bridgette Foster (Jamaica) 12.52 3. Miesha McKelvey (U.S.) 12.63
Javelin 1. Osleidys Menendez (Cuba) 67.40 metres 2. Tatyana Shikolenko (Russia) 64.32 3. Steffi Nerius (Germany) 62.14
400 metres 1. Lorraine Fenton (Jamaica) 50.39 2. Olesya Zykina (Russia) 50.59 3. Jearl Miles-Clark (U.S.) 51.09—Reuters
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