Posted: September 18, 2004

Athletics: Wins By Holmes, Abeylegesse Highlight World Athletics Final Day One

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

MONTE CARLO, MON – Thrilling homestretch runs by Kelly Holmes and Elvan Abeylegesse highlighted the first day of the World Athletics Final at Monte Carlo’s Stade Louis II.

If last Sunday’s runner-up finish at Berlin’s ISTAF Golden League meeting created any doubts about Holmes’s supremacy in the 1500, the double Olympic middle distance champion expunged them immediately with a dominating sprint finish to win the metric mile.

Shouting to herself soon after she passed Olympic silver medallist Tatyana Tomashova in the race’s final 30 meters, the 34-year-old Briton reached the line in 4:04.55, well ahead of the Russian’s 4:05.18 to easily avenge last Sunday’s loss at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium.

“This race was important because I wanted to get to the top of the world rankings,” Holmes said. “I’m really pleased.” She added that she’s still undecided on whether she would contest Sunday’s 800. “My legs are real tired. I’m just going to see how I feel after I wake up tomorrow morning.”

Athens fourth place finisher Natalya Yevdokimova, a former European junior champion, took control of the initial pace, heading a tight pack lead by Canada’s Carmen Douma-Hussar, Yelena Zadorozhnaya and Tomashova, reaching the first 400 in a conservative 1:07.44. As has become her custom this season, Holmes was well back, running second to last through the first lap. The pace and the order changed little in the second lap, with Yevdokimova bringing the leaders through 800 meters in 2:14.52. In the back, Holmes moved up slightly, running ninth in the 12-woman field.

The first significant move of the race came as the leaders approached the final lap, with Zadorozhnaya and Tomashova moving to the front as the pair approached the bell. Behind them, Holmes moved into fifth to begin mounting her long, sustained challenge. Fourth with 250 meters to go, the Briton found her winning gear as she went wide entering the homestretch. When she intensified her charge, Tomashova could find nothing to repel the attack.

Tomashova, seventh here last year after winning the world title, said she came down with a severe cold and high temperature after Sunday’s Berlin race, causing her to miss four days of training. “My muscles were not prepared for this race,” she said. “I knew before the race that I was not in my best form.”

Zadorozhnaya, fading in the final 20 meters, held on for third (4:05.71) to edge fast-finishing Spaniard Natalia Rodriguez (4:05.72) by the narrowest of margins. Olympic bronze medallist Maria Cioncan of Romania was never in the hunt, finishing a distant tenth in 4:08.09.

Last year, Elvan Abeylegesse emerged from the shadows to the forefront of the distance running elite with her surprise 5000 win here. This year, she returned as the world record holder in the event to successfully defend her title.

The 22-year-old Turk burst from the lead pack of five with 220 meters remaining to win in 14:59.19, edging Olympic silver medallist Isabella Ochichi by nearly three-tenths of a second.

Following her disappointing 12th and eighth place showings in the Athens 5000 and 1500 finals, the petite Ethiopian-born Abeylegesse was almost forgotten in the season’s latter stages, despite the early-season heroics leading up to her 14:24.68 world record run in Bergen, Norway. Here, she gave her rivals something to remember her by as the season draws to a close.

“I’m in good shape,” Abeylegesse said, speaking through a translator. “I wanted to run here and end the season well and then take a break.”

Briton Kathy Butler jumped to an unusually big lead in the opening couple laps, opening up a seven second gap on the field just a minute into the race. But the chase pack, led by Ochichi and Ejegayehu Dibaba, caught her less than two laps later. As Butler faded, running single file behind the lead pair were Werknesh Kidane, Abeylegesse and Kenyan Edith Masai.

Little changed for the remainder of the race. The order remained the same as the five-woman pack reached the bell, until the Turk surged past Ochichi, with Dibaba, the 10,000 meter Olympic silver medallist, giving chase. Off the turn, it momentarily appeared that the Ethiopian would pass Abeylegesse, but the Turk held firm, not surrendering any of her two-meter lead. Ochichi, who led most of the race, regrouped to find enough in the tank to overtake Dibaba for second, reaching the line in 14:59.48

“No one wanted to lead, so I was pacing by myself,” said the 24-year-old Ochichi, who was fifth at last year’s world championships. “It’s not easy to lead all the laps and get a win.”

Dibaba reached the line third in 14:59.52, ahead of Masai’s 14:59.95 for fourth. Kidane, fourth in the Olympic 10,000, was fifth here in 15:01.27. Tirunesh Dibaba, the Olympic bronze medallist at the distance, did not start.

In the men’s 800, Youssef Saad Kamel ran to his second win in six days, easily outsprinting Kenyan Olympian Joseph Mutua.

Bouncing back from a disappointing showing at the Olympic Games where he failed to advance from the first round, the Kenyan-born Bahraini –son of two-time world champion Billy Konchellah—reached the line in 1:45.91, a World Athletics Final record, 22/100s ahead of Mutua.

Tucked comfortably on the inside and never out of striking distance, the 21-year-old followed Mutua, who led virtually the entire race, and world leader and defending champion Wilfred Bungei as the pack made its way down the back straight. As the chase pack sorted its way out in the final 50 meters, Dutchman Bram Som, in the least trouble, wound up third in 1:46.33, just ahead of world record holder Wilson Kipketer’s 1:46.37. Olympic silver medallist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi was sixth in 1:46.45, a hair ahead of Bungei who was credited with the same time.

Olympic 5000 meter bronze medallist Eliud Kipchoge emerged from a crowded field to win the 3000 in 7:38.67, comfortably ahead of James Kwalia’s 7:39.40. Leading for much of the second half, the 19-year-old Kipchoge, who beat Hicham El Guerrouj in the 5000 at last year’s world championships, relished his win here.

“This win is important for me because I was beaten only twice this year, once in London and at the Olympics.”

Kwalia, the 2001 World Youth bronze medallist at the distance, is the latest young Kenyan talent to switch allegiance to Qatar. He was issued a passport by the Gulf state on August 5, but the transfer has yet to be approved by the IAAF.

Ethiopian Mulugeta Wondimu continued his breakout season, finishing third in 7:39.60 in his first race over the distance. The 19-year-old has shown remarkable range this year, having run 3:31.13 for a national record in the 1500 to 12:57.05 in the 5000.

All entrants in the World Athletics Final are guaranteed a paycheck, ranging from $30,000 for first to $1,000 for twelfth. Competition concludes on Sunday just prior to the announcement of the IAAF’s Athletes of the Year.