Posted: August 20, 2005

Athletics: Bekele, Shaheen, Jamal Shine In Wet Zurich

From David Monti

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

By Bob Ramsak

ZURICH -- Commanding wins by Kenenisa Bekele, Saif Saaeed Shaheen and Maryam Jamal were the distance highlights at a very rainy 76th edition of the Weltklasse Golden League meeting.

Prepping for an assault next Friday on his own world record in the 10,000, Bekele sped to a convincing win in the 3000 here, clocking 7:32.59, well ahead of the chase pack led by Ali Saidi-Sief (7:37.56).

"It was a very hard race because the pace was slow," said Bekele, who ran with a cap for the first four minutes and five seconds of the race. It was the first time the Ethiopian ran with a hat. "In the 3000 meters, everybody can sprint the last lap. So it's not an easy race."

Bekele said that the game plan for Brussels next weekend is a 63 second per lap pace.

"For 25 laps," he said, "this is not easy. But I will try."

Despite slipping off the final water jump and falling flat onto the track, Shaheen once again demoralized the field in the 3000 meter steeplechase en route to an 8:02.69 win, his third straight here. The tumble, he said, one that left three very painfully visible bruises, cost him at least five seconds. "Plus I lost all my concentration."

Behind him, Brimin Kipruto was closest, exactly eight seconds back in 8:10.69.

Was he bored? "Yeah," he said, expecting more fierce opposition, "a little."

Like Bekele, Shaheen too is planning an attack on the world record he set last year in the same Brussels stadium. "I've been doing a lot of speed work, 150 meter and 200 meter speed work. So if the pacing is good, I think I can do it."

After her world-leading win exactly four weeks ago in Oslo, Maryam Jamal said her favorite distance was the 3000 meters. With her commanding 8:29.45 win here, the 20-year-old again displayed why. Breaking from a three-woman pack entering the back straight, only Berhane Adere tagged along until the Ethiopian-born Bahraini left her far behind half way through the final bend. Considering the stiff winds, her run was a notable one, the second fastest of the year, behind only her own 8:28.87 win in Oslo.

"It was very difficult with these conditions today," said the personable Jamal. "It wasn't possible to be any faster."

Jamal said that the disappointment from her fifth place finish in the 1500 at the world championships --she was obstructed on the final lap-- is motivating her to finish the season strong. She'll either race the 5000 next weekend in Brussels, or perhaps a shorter distance in Rieti, Italy, the following Sunday, but confirmed that she will contest the World Athletics Final in Monaco.

Adere, the silver medallist in the 10,000 in Helsinki, was a distant second in 8:31.89, with Kenyan Isabella Ochichi third (8:34.51). Running with badly blistered feet -- [she proudly showed them to me after the race --BR]-- Edith Masai was never in the hunt and finished last.

It was Maria Mutola who supplanted Ana Quirot as the Queen of the 800 meters; here, it was another Cuban who ended Mutola's Zurich win streak at 12. Zuliya Calatayud, who took a surprise gold medal in Helsinki, followed up here with a convincing performance in the final 200 meters to win in 1:59.16, barely holding off the strong finishing charge of Hasna Benhassi (1:59.18) to duplicate their finish from the world championships. Mutola, who doesn't plan to race again until late next spring, was second heading into the final turn, but eventually faded to fourth.

Daniel Kipchirchir Komen cruised past Bernard Lagat down the final back straight to win his second Golden League race of the summer, clocking 3:30.49, well ahead of the defending champion Lagat's 3:31.04. Alan Webb was third (3:30.40), his highest-ever Golden League finish.

With quick performances in the men's 800 synonymous with the Weltklasse, tonight's two races were a disappointment; neither approached the anticipated sub-1:44 barrier. Remarkably, no one has dipped under 1:44 this season.

In the "A" race, defending champion Wilfred Bungei emerged the least scathed from a four-man blanket finish to win in 1:44.87, just 1/100 of a second ahead of fast finishing Canadian Gary Reed. William Yiampoy and Youssef Saad Kamel, third and fourth respectively, were each credited with a 1:44.90 effort.

The "B" race, won by Spaniard Antonio Reina in 1:44.32, was significantly faster. Algerian Moussin Chehibi was second with a PB 1:44.46

After her come-from-behind win in the triple jump, Tatyana Lebedeva remains the sole survivor in the $1 million Golden League Jackpot chase. Sprinter Christine Arron, another contender when the evening began, finished a well-beaten fourth in the 100 meters. The six-meet series continues next Friday in Brussels with the Memorial Ivo Van Damme.