Posted: July 17, 2005

Athletics: Feleke Could Be The New Bekele

MARRAKESH - Abrehem Cherkos Feleke's controlled 3000m victory in Marrakesh last night suggests that the tiny teenager might be the next Ethiopian distance star to explode onto the world stage. Feleke became the second runner from the East African country to win the title in a time of 8:00.90, well clear of Ibrahim Jellan Gashu and Saleh Marzooq Bakheet.

On the same night when the 1999 champion Yelena Isinbayeva was raising her world pole vault record to 4.95m in Madrid - three of the new generation were smashing the 4.10m championship record she set in Bydgoszcz. Ekaterina Stefanidi of Greece was happy to take home the gold medal after a tense competition, winning the title on countback after both herself and Venezuela's Keisa Monterola defied a swirling wind to clear 4.30m.

Tatyana Chernova with three brilliant second day Long Jump, Javelin Throw and 800m performances, became the Russian ever to win the Heptathlon title with a score of 5875 points, a new championship record. The winner's ultra-consistent display smashed the four-year-old 5470 points score of Germany's Annett Wichmann.

There was also a historic gold medal for Iran courtesy of Ali Shahrokhi, who clinched the men's Discus titlel with his very first attempt of the competition. The Iranian, with the best throw of his life, reached a distance of 61.07m.

Today is the last day of competition at the IAAF/Maroc Telecom World Youth Championships. To read more news from the biggest World Youth Athletics competition ever staged, please go to IAAF.org.

Full results, end of session reports, individual reports for all finals and photos can all be found in a special IAAF/Maroc Telecom World Youth Championships section of the IAAF Website.