By Phil Minshull
MOSCOW, March 12 AFP - Mozambique’s Maria Mutola notched up a record seventh women’s 800 metres victory at the World Indoor Championships here on Sunday.
The 33-year-old went straight to the front from the gun and, showing all her tactical wisdom by hugging the curb to make any rivals go the long way round, she was never headed.
This is something special, But it was tough, definitely not the way I wanted it to be. It was too risky to come from behind so I went into the lead from the start. Now I am full of new motivation for my career,'' said an ecstatic Mutola. No other athlete in the history of the championships has won more than five titles. Mutola now flies straight to Melbourne on Monday to contest the Commonwealth Games and she may well find the seat on the plane next to her is occupied by a familiar face. Kenia Sinclair proved that Jamaica is not just a land of sprinters by securing the silver medal in a national record of 1:59.54 and will be aiming to turn the tables outdoors in the Australian sunshine. Africa does not have a single permanent athletics arena but it hasn't proved to be a barrier to African athletes making an impact under cover and Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele showed even more that he is a man for all seasons. The multiple world champion outdoors and at cross country added indoor honours to his list of accolades when he won the men's 3,000 metres in 7:39.32. After winning titles outdoors and at cross country, this is a bit of fun for me. I knew all my opponents and the way they run because we’ve competed before against each other,’’ said Bekele.
Bekele and Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge swapped places at the head of a seven-man group from the halfway point before the Ethiopian hit the front 300 metres from home.
Few in the world can match Bekele’s change of pace at the end of a race and so it proved on this occasion.
Qatar’s Kenyan-born Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the current 3,000 metres steeplechase world champion and world record holder, came past Kipchoge on the last lap to get second with 7:41.28, with Kipchoge hanging on for third in 7:46.43.
Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei added to Africa’s talent by winning the men’s 800 metres gold medal in 1:47.15, just holding off South Africa’s fast-finishing defending champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, who finished in 1:47.16.
Grenada’s Alleyne Francique defended his men’s 400 metres title with relative ease in 45.54 seconds.
The United States’ Walter Davis became the fifth best men’s indoor triple jump exponent of all-time when he produced a leap of 17.73 metres in the first round, a mark which sufficed for victory.
The Star Spangled Banner was also played after Brad Walker took the men’s pole vault gold after being the only man clear at 5.80 metres.
Russian athletes inevitably rose to the occasion on Sunday and took five of gold medals in front of their home fans at Moscow’s biggest athletics event since the 1980 Olympics.
Tatyana Kotova took her third women’s world indoor long jump title and became the first woman to break the seven metres mark this year with her first round winning leap of exactly 7.00 metres.
Yelena Slesarenko, the world indoors and Olympic women’ high jump champion in 2004, bounced back from a year of illness and injury to take her specialist event with a clearance at 2.02 metres.
Russia’s Olga Krasnomovets upset the form book in the women’s 400 metres by winning in a championship best of 50.04 seconds.
Krasnomovets’ compatriot Natalya Nazarova was the overwhelming favourite but the gold medallist on the last two occasions, and the fastest woman in the world this year, struggled to show her top form and finished fourth.
Another favourite to be defeated by a fellow Russian was the recent women’s 1,500 metres world record setter Yelena Soboleva.
Soboleva was second in the metric mile to Yuliya Chizhenko, the latter winning in 4:04.70 to Soboleva’s 4:05.21, nearly seven seconds adrift of the record of 3:58.28 she ran at the Russian championships last month.
Russia’s Andre Niklaus caused an upset in the men’s heptathlon when he beat the United States’ Bryan Clay, the world outdoor decathlon champion, to the line in the final of the seven events, the men’s 1000 metres.
The three seconds difference was enough for Niklaus to get the gold in a personal best of 6192 points, with Clay five points in arrears.
MOSCOW, March 12 - Russia scooped five gold medals on the final day of the world indoor championships on Sunday but Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele stole the show, becoming the first person to win global titles on three surfaces.
The hosts topped the final medals table with eight golds, matching their previous best showing, to the delight of the first near-capacity crowd of the three-day championships at the Olympiysky Stadium.
The US finished second with seven golds, well clear of Ethiopia and Ukraine who both won two.
World and Olympic 10,000 metres champion Bekele pulled away from 3,000 metres medal rivals Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar and Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge with one and a half laps to go to win in seven minutes 39.32 seconds. He now holds world titles indoors, outdoors and over cross-country.
After winning titles outdoors and in cross-country, indoors is like a fun-run for me,'' Bekele told reporters. His victory somewhat overshadowed Maria Mutola's unprecedented seventh world indoor title in the 800 metres. The 33-year-old from Mozambique gave a powerful display of front-running and threw her arms aloft as she crossed the line in one minute 58.90 seconds. A seventh title is something special,’’ Mutola told reporters. ``But it was tough, definitely not as I wanted, it was a lot harder than I expected,’’ added Mutola.
Yuliya Chizhenko made up for her disqualification from the world 1,500 outdoor final last year by winning the indoor title ahead of compatriot Yelena Soboleva.
Germany’s Andre Niklaus caused an upset in the heptathlon, snatching the title from world decathlon champion Bryan Clay by five points.
Grenada’s Alleyne Francique retained his 400 metres crown, taking the lead as the athletes broke from their lanes on the final lap to win in 45.54 seconds from Botswana’s California Molefe.
Olesya Krasnomovets held on to win the women’s 400 metres in a championship record of 50.04 – the fifth fastest indoor time in history.
She then helped Russia to another gold in the 400 metres relay – a title the country has held since 1995.
The US won the men’s relay in a race that did not contain 2004 champions Jamaica after they crashed out of the heats when Lanceford Spence collided with a French athlete on the final changeover.
Tatyana Kotova gained some revenge over American Tianna Madison, who surprisingly beat her to long jump gold at the world championships in Helsinki last year, by winning the indoor title.
High jumper Yelena Slesarenko was the hosts’ other Sunday medal-winner.
The only disappointment for the Russian fans came in the penultimate event when hot favourite Yuri Borzakovsky failed to win the men’s 800 metres.
Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei won the race by the skin of his teeth from 2004 champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi with Olympic gold medallist Borzakovsky in third.
Brad Walker won pole vault gold for the US and his team-mate Walter Davis added the world indoor triple jump gold to the outdoor one he won last year.
Belarussian Natalya Khoroneko inflicted the first defeat in almost two years on compatriot and world outdoor champion Nadezdha Ostapchuk with victory in the shot put with a personal best of 19.84 metres. Ostapchuk, who had been unbeaten since the Olympics, was over 1.7 metres down in sixth.