Posted: August 8, 2005

Athletics: Shaheen Set For Difficult Title Defense - World Championships Day 2

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

HELSINKI, Finland -- Predicting a rerun of his thrilling duel at the last world championships with Ezekiel Kemboi, reigning world steeplechase champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen admitted that he’s facing a daunting task. Racing in the first of three semi-finals today, Shaheen and Kemboi, the reigning Olympic champion, crossed the finish line virtually side-by-side, in 8:11.79 and 8:11.90 respectively, by far the fastest performances of the day.

‘It was not easy," he said after his heat. "It was hard, I was in the toughest heat. That’s why we had to run fast. The pressure was there."

While their stride-for-stride finish over the final 100 meters didn’t match the intensity of their thrilling battle in Paris two years ago, it did bring back memories from the race, Shaheen said.

"During the last lap here," Shaheen said with a smile, "the last 100 meters in Paris came into my mind."

In Tuesday’s final, Shaheen can expect an all-about assault from Kenyans Kemboi, Brimin Kipruto, and Paul Kipsiele Koech, the trio who swept the Olympic podium last year. After their semi-final races, the three didn’t speak to reporters at all about their tactics, except for Koech, who said, "The final will speak for itself."

For his part, Shaheen wouldn’t elaborate on the tactics that he plans to employ in the final, primarily because he has yet to devise them.

"The strategy that we had planned before won’t work because my training partner [Jamal Bilal] got injured at the last minute. So now I’m working on a different tactic again."

Of the three Americans in the competition, only two-time national champion Dan Lincoln moved on after his 8:21.39 fourth place finish in the third heat nabbed the second from last qualifying spot, and knocking teammate Anthony Famiglietti out in the process.

"I was a bit clumsy out there," Lincoln said, "but I kind of expected that because I just got off the plane yesterday. Anyway, I got the job done." Looking towards the final, Lincoln, who begins medical school later this month said, "It's definitely going to be tough. There's going to be lots of studs out there and I just have to stick my nose in and act like I'm one of them."

After leading for much of the second heat, Famiglietti eventually faded to sixth and narrowly missed the final after his 8:21.84 performance.

"I wanted to win this race," Famiglietti said. "You have to be agressive in a world championship race. But it was so windy out in front so I couldn't make a break. Either way," he said, before he knew that he was knocked from the final, "I gave it everything I had."

Steve Slattery was never in the hunt in the first heat, eventually finishing 10th in 8:36.01.

"It was just a bad day," said Slattery, who lowered his personal best to 8:17.87 last month in Heusden, Belgium. "I thought 8:17 wouldn't be a problem. I was just tired. It's very disappointing."

Elsewhere, Olimpiada Ivanova of Russia not only regained her world title in the 20 km race walk, but also clocked a pending world record of 1:25:41, bettering Yan Wang's 1:26:22 from 2001. In addition to her US$60,000 first place prize, Ivanova will also claim a $100,000 record bonus.

Monday's middle and long distance program includes the final of the men's 10,000 where Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia will be defending his title. The first-ever world champion will also be crowned in the women's steeplechase, while competition in the men's 1500 continues with the semi-finals.