April 1, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 28, 1424

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AVENCHES (Switzerland), March 31: Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele claimed a historic repeat double in the World Cross Country Championships on Sunday, winning the men’s long course title for the second year running on top of the short course title (briefly reported in Monday’s edition).

Bekele is the first runner ever to repeat the title-winning feat on both the eight and 12 kilometre courses, upstaging even his idol, legendary Ethiopian long distance runner Haile Gebreselassie.

After fighting back from illness just over a month ago — and admitting he was tired after his short course title on Saturday — the 20-year-old almost single-handedly broke a strong Kenyan team with a series of surges in successive laps.

Although he was boxed in by five Kenyan runners for half of the race, Bekele shrugged off his east African rivals one by one after staying among the top six contenders from the start.

He left his last challenger, second-placed Kenyan Patrick Ivuti, behind with a powerful burst through a series of dips at the beginning of the last lap, finishing the race in 35 minutes 56 seconds.

Fellow Ethiopian, Gerbremariam Gebre-egziabher, 18, last year’s junior champion, who backed Bekele up after the break, eventually faded and finished third.

Ivuti admitted that even Kenya’s team tactics, which allowed them to take turns in controlling the pace at the front of the field, were not up to the lone figure of Bekele.

“With the tactics of the Kenya squad, I can’t say that they didn’t work, but I can say that Kenenisa is strong,” he said.

Until his stunning performance as a 19-year-old last year winning the first ever men’s double in the long and short course races, Bekele’s performance had only been matched by Sonia O’Sullivan of Ireland in 1998.

But no runner has ever won a cross country double twice, let alone in consecutive years.

Bekele claimed that he still had some way to go before he could match training partner Gebreselassie’s success, but he said he would also be setting his sights on the 5,000 metre and 10,000 metre track events.

“I don’t have as much experience on track, I also need to do more traning and improve track tactics, I hope to work on those thing,” he said.

“I will try both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and the results I get will determine where I go from here,” he added.

On Saturday, Bekele outsprinted Kenya’s John Kibowen about 150 metres from the line to finish in 11 minutes 01 seconds in the short race.

Yet the night before, Bekele was inadvertently caught up on a boat for an official dinner, and missed several hours sleep as a result.

Meanwhile, in the women’s short course race on Sunday, Kenya’s Edith Masai successfully defended her title ahead of the newly-crowned long course champion Werknesh Kidane of Ethiopia.

“It was a tough race because everybody was running fast, I had to push even harder,” Masai said afterwards.

Overall, Bekele’s win allowed Ethiopia to edge out Kenya in the gold medal tally for the championships as a whole, taking six titles against their east African rival’s five. But the Kenyans dominated the team standings.

Leading results:

MEN’S:

12,300 metres: 1. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) 35 minutes 56 seconds; 2. Patrick Ivuti (Kenya) 36:09; 3. Gebregziabher Gebremariam (Ethiopia) 36:17. Team winners: Kenya.

Junior 8,000 metres: 1. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) 22:47; 2. Boniface Kiprop (Uganda) 22:49; 3. Solomon Bushendich (Kenya) 22:51. Team winners: Kenya.

WOMEN’S:

4,000 metres short course: 1. Edith Masai (Kenya) 12:43; 2. Werknesh Kidane (Ethiopia) 12:44; 3. Jane Gakunyi (Kenya) 12:46.

Team winners: Kenya.—AFP/Reuters