Jones-Ferrette dashes 7.09, seven world leads in Karlsruhe
|
Laverne Jones-Ferrette produced the fastest 60m
clocking in two years to highlight the BW-Bank
Meeting in Karlsruhe on Sunday (31).
A capacity crowd of 4500 packed the Europahalle
for the 26th BW-Bank Meeting, the second of
nine IAAF Indoor Permit Meetings in 2010, for the
year’s first major international invitational in Europe,
and across the board, they were treated to a solid
slate of impressive early season performances.
[Note: Updated 1 February 00:45 CET.]
In a dominating performance, Jones-Ferrette lowered
her own US Virgin Islands record in the short dash,
clocking a world-leading 7.09 in the heats, the
fastest in the world since the 2008 World Indoor
Championships in Valencia.
|
Double dash success for Laverne Jones in Hengelo
(organisers) |
She wasn’t quite as fast in the final, but still clocked 7.11, also under her previous best of 7.14 set 16 days ago,
and more than two-tenths ahead of the rest of the field. Miryam Soumare of France was a distant second, well
back in 7.27.
"I am getting faster and faster," Jones-Ferrette said. "Let’s see what happens in Düsseldorf. At the World Indoors
my first goal will be to reach the final, and then I want to be in contention for a medal."
Jones bounces back, NR for Svoboda in 60m Hurdles
In the women’s 60m Hurdles, Lolo Jones shook off the sluggishness that led to a runner-up finish in Glasgow on
Saturday with a clear victory in 7.90, another of the seven early season world leads* on the afternoon.
The reigning World indoor champion dusted off the cobwebs with a 7.97 in the heats, before cruising to victory in
the final over fellow American Yvette Lewis, who clocked a 7.99 personal best.
"It wasn't a bad for me today," Jones said. "In my heat I took the first three hurdles superb but did not do well on
the final ones. Strangely in the final it was just the other way round. My aim during this indoor season is to attack
the US record and winning gold at the World Indoor Championships."
There was another strong showing in the men’s race as well, courtesy of Czech Petr Svoboda. The bronze
medallist a year ago at the European indoor championships first equalled his career best of 7.55 in the heats
before taking the final convincingly in 7.50, a Czech national record. American Allen Johnson, at 38, ran well,
finishing runner-up in 7.58 ahead of compatriot Eric Mitchum (7.73).
"This is unbelievable!" a thrilled Svoboda said. "I have good technique and my coach tells me that I get better
from race to race and that I could run 7.46 in Doha. I would like to win a silver medal there. It is great to beat
Allen Johnson – he is my idol and I watch him on video almost daily to improve my technique."
Two metres for Friedrich
For the locals, the biggest draw was high jumper Ariane Friedrich, and the reigning European indoor champion
fulfilled any and all realistic expectations with her first two-metre clearance of the season.
Opening her competition with an easy clearance at 1.89m, Friedrich needed three tries at both 1.95m and 2.00m
before sailing clear. With the victory clearly sealed - runner-up Viktoriya Klyugina topped out at 1.92m – and with
some slight back pain, Friedrich called it a night.
The longest events of the evening, the men’s and women’s 3000m, also produced early season world leads. In
his first indoor appearance since the 2006 World Indoor Championships in Moscow, 3000m Steeplechase World
record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen took a comfortable victory in 7:43.44 *, more than five seconds clear of former
compatriots Joseph Kiplimo (7:49.08) and Shadrack Korir (7:49.13).
In the women’s race, Kenyan Sylvia Kibet ran away from Russia’s Anna Alminova in the final kilometre to win
unpressed in 8:41.24, also a meet record. Alminova, the European indoor champion at 1500m, held on for second
clocking 8:47.57.
"I like running in Karlsruhe," Kibet said. "Whenever I run here I achieve a personal best. It worked again today and
I now hope that I can may be run a bit faster next week in Stuttgart. After that race I will go back to Kenya to
prepare for the World Indoors, where I will want to win a medal."
Strong, dominating opener for Burka
There was an even more dominating display in the women’s 1500m, with Gelete Burka prepping for her World
indoor title defence with a solid 4:03.92. Burka, one of just five women who have ever dipped under four minutes
indoors, was in a class of her own, romping over the field by more than 10 seconds. Frenchwoman Félix
Fanjanteino was a distant second, but was likely nonetheless pleased by her 4:14.64 personal best.
Kenyan Gideon Gathimba, second in the Karlsruhe 1500m a year ago, moved up a notch this time around,
beating Ethiopian Gebremehdin Mekkonnen 3:37:01 to 3:37.46, also another world lead.
Former Olympic and reigning European indoor champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy opened his season with a strong
1:45.94 victory in the 800m, but he had unexpected company. Twenty-one year-old Jakub Holusa produced his
second personal best of the month, finishing a close second in 1:46.09, a second national record on the day for
the Czech Republic.
The men’s 60m was considerably closer that the women’s, with just 0.01 seconds separating the top-three. The
photo reading gave Lerone Clarke of Jamaica the victory over Nigeria’s Egwero Ogho-Oghene, both credited with
6.64. For the latter, it was a personal best. Germany’s Christian Blum was just a tick back in 6.65 in third, but
ahead of reigning World indoor champion Olu Fasuba who clocked 6.67.
Elsewhere...
In the men’s Long Jump, the eight-metres mark – currently the world lead - wasn’t quite breached, but the top
three finishers came as close as they possibly could in a closely fought competition. Frenchman Salim Sdiri took
top honours with his first round 7.99m leap, just ahead of China’s Li Jingzhe and Andriy Makarchev of Ukraine,
who reached 7.98m and 7.97m, respectively. For the second and third place finishers, both jumps were personal
bests.
Another French infield victory came in the men’s Pole Vault, with Romain Mesnil beating Germans Malte Mohr,
Alexander Straub and Raphael Holzdeppe on countback. The quartet topped out at 5.61m.
Bob Ramsak with assistance from Jorg Wenig for the IAAF
Click here for full results
[* updated 11:30 CET, 1-Feb - Shaheen's was not a world leading performance. Sergio Sanchez (ESP) clocked
7:42.71 in Valencia on Saturday (30).]
Sunday, 31 January 2010
