August 26, 2007	Sunday	Sha’aban 12, 1428

OSAKA (Japan), Aug 25: Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba battled through the pain barrier to come-from-behind and join American Reese Hoffa and Kenya's Luke Kibet in scooping world athletics gold here on Saturday.

Dibaba, 22, rallied from last after stumbling over a fallen runner to successfully defend her 10,000 metres title, outpacing Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse on the final lap to win in 31:55.41secs. American Kara Goucher was third.

She revealed she was also suffering bad stomach pains that almost forced her to withdraw, and rated the victory the best of her career.

World indoor champion Hoffa, a former wrestler, added the outdoor shot put title to his spoils, winning the gold medal with a throw of 22.04 metres.

He held off the challenge of team-mate and defending champion Adam Nelson who could only manage 21.61 for silver. Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus took the bronze with 21.27.

Kibet, a prison guard, locked up Kenya's first marathon world title in 20 years on a day when the stretcher bearers were kept busy as athletes crumbled in the oppressive heat and humidity.

Twenty-eight runners failed to finish the marathon as the mercury soared to 33 C and the humidity levels topped 78 percent.

Kibet, 24, crossed the line in 2:15.59 sec, more than 11 minutes off world-record pace, ahead of Qatar's Mubarak Hassan Shami (2:17.18) in second and Switzerland's Viktor Rothlin (2:17.25) in third.

It was the slowest winning time in world championship history but also the tournament's largest ever winning margin (1:19).

World record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica claimed early bragging rights over US sprint king Tyson Gay in the hotly anticipated quest to run the fastest 100m ever.

Gay has predicted Powell's 9.77 sec mark, which he set in 2005, will fall here and while both men failed to break the 10 second mark in the heats, they eased before the line.

Powell crossed in 10.01 while Gay eased to a 10.06 finish in his heat.

“It was as I expected, nothing else. All is going according to my plans,”he said the Jamaican.

But Gay said he was affected by Olympic silver medallist Francis Obikwelu's disqualification in the morning heats.

“Obikwelu getting out because of a false start this morning made me think too much at the start. So this is why I did not get out of the blocks well,” he said.

In other events, defending 1,500 metres champion Rashid Ramzi, a Moroccan who now runs for Bahrain, finished his heat second in 3:38.72 behind France's Mehdi Baala.

Ramzi is also the reigning 800-metre champion but has yet to decide whether he will double up here.

Sweden's Olympic and world heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft got what could be her last heptathlon quickly into gear with personal bests in the 100m hurdles and the high jump, and picked up more points in the 200m and shot put.

After the first four of seven disciplines she topped the standings with 4,162 points ahead of Ukraine's Lyudmila Blonska (4,014) and Britain's Kelly Sotherton (3,989).

Elsewhere, Romania's Cristina Iloc-casandra was the fastest qualifier (9:29.39) into the women's 3,000m steeplechase final while Kenya's Janeth Jepkosgei was quickest in the opening round of the women's 800m.

Results of finals:

Women’s 10,000 metres: 1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) 31 minutes 55.41 seconds; 2. Elvan Abeylegesse (Turkey) 31:59.40; 3. Kara Goucher (US) 32:02.05; 4. Joanne Pavey (Britain) 32:03.81; 5. Kimberley Smith (New Zealand) 32:06.89; 6. Deena Kastor (US) 32:24.58; 7. Ejagayehu Dibaba (Ethiopia) 32:30.44; 8. Philes Ongori (Kenya) 32:30.74; 9. Emily Chebet (Kenya) 32:31.21; 10. Kayoko Fukushi (Japan) 32:32.85.

Men’s shot put: 1. Reese Hoffa (US) 22.04 metres; 2. Adam Nelson (US) 21.61; 3. Andrey Mikhnevich (Belarus) 21.27; 4. Rutger Smith (Netherlands) 21.13; 5. Tomasz Majewski (Poland) 20.87; 6. Miran Vodovnik (Slovakia) 20.67; 7. Ralf Bartels (Germany) 20.45; 8. Yury Belov (Belarus) 20.34; 9. Dylan Armstrong (Canada) 20.23; 10. Pavel Sofin (Russia) 19.62.

Men’s marathon: 1. Luke Kibet (Kenya) 2:15:59; 2. Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar) 2:17:18; 3. Viktor Roethlin (Switzerland) 2:17:25; 4. Yared Asmeron (Eritrea) 2:17:41; 5. Tsuyoshi Ogata (Japan) 2:17:42; 6. Satoshi Osaki (Japan) 2:18:06; 7. Toshinari Suwa (Japan) 2:18:35; 8. William Kiplagat (Kenya) 2:19:21; 9. Janne Holmen (Finland) 2:19:36; 10. Jose Manuel Martinez (Spain) 2:20:25; 11. Dan Robinson (Britain) 2:20:30; 12. Alex Malinga (Uganda) 2:20:36; 13. Tomoyuki Sato (Japan) 2:20:53; 14. Gashaw Asfaw (Ethiopia) 2:20:58; 15. Park Ju-Young (South Korea) 2:21:49; 16. Mike Fokoroni (Zimbabwe) 2:21:52; 17. Jose Rios (Spain) 2:22:21; 18. Jose Araujo De Souza (Brazil) 2:22:24; 19. Haile Satayin (Israel) 2:22:27; 20. Ali El Zaidi (Libya) 2:22:50.—Agencies