BERGEN, Norway, June 11 (AFP) - Turkey’s ElvanAbeylegesse sliced more than three seconds off the worldrecord for the women’s 5,000 metres at the first GoldenLeague meeting of the season here on Friday.
The Ethiopian-born 21-year-old recorded 14min24.68sec, smashing the previous mark of 14:28.09 set bythe controversial Chinese athlete Jiang Bo in Shanghaiin 1997.
Jiang was part of the training group of coach MaJunren, whose secretive methods have led to widespreadsuspicion about the records set by his athletes.
I am very happy,'' said Abeylegesse. I can still improve my time and I also want to bringback Olympic gold from Athens.’’
Abeylegesse, who has lived in Istanbul since 1999,finished fifth over the distance at last year’s worldchampionships in Paris but has made a dramaticimprovement this year.
The slight athlete, who weighs just 41 kilograms forher 1.59 metres, pushed world title-holder TiruneshDibaba of Ethiopia into second in 14:30.88 in a racethat upheld the tradition of middle and long distanceworld records set at the Bislett Games, which weretaking place here while the stadium in Oslo is rebuilt.
Russia’s Yuriy Borzakovsky showed his credentials forthe Olympic gold medal in Athens in August by dominatingthe men’s 800m.
He was at the back of the field after the first lapbefore sprinting past Wilfred Bungei of Kenya in thefinal 100 metres to record an emphatic win in 1:44.41 that was tactically well-judged by the23-year-old Russian’s eccentric standards.
Bernard Lagat, the Kenyan who cleared his name lastyear after being banned for a doping offence, grittedhis teeth and held off Ukrainian Ivan Heshko by justthree hundredths of a second in the 1,500m.
In the men’s 200m, former world indoor champion ShawnCrawford surprised the favourites as world outdoor goldmedallist John Capel had a terrible race.
Crawford led by several metres going into the homestraight and his fellow American Justin Gatlin chasedhim home in second with Crawford timed in 20.31 andGatlin in 20.39 as Capel crossed the line just seventh.
Tonique Williams of the Bahamas produced the sprintperformance of the meeting in the 400m when she smashedthe 50-second barrier for the first time with a runawayvictory in 49.79sec, the fastest time in the world thisyear.
In the 400m hurdles, two-time world champion FelixSanchez was pushed all the way by Chris Rawlinson untilthe Briton clattered the final hurdle and Sanchez won ina modest 48.54.
South African high jumper Hestrie Cloete, last year’swomen’s athlete of the year and a hot favourite forOlympic gold, won her event with a clearance of 1.98metres.
Gail Devers proved she cannot be discounted at the ageof 37 when the American ended 100m hurdles worldchampion Perdita Felicien’s hopes of winning all sixGolden League races and thus qualifying for theone-million-dollar bonus.
Devers zipped over the line in 12.56sec with CanadianFelicien one tenth of a second behind.