Second gold for Manninen, Vasilevskis takes Javelin win in Bangkok - World University Games days 3
Sunday 12 August 2007
Bangkok, Thailand - Finland’s Johanna Manninen became the fastest woman and added the 100m win to the 4x400m gold on Saturday on the third day (11) of athletics competition at the 24th World University Games in the Thai capital.
Latvia’s 2004 Olympic silver medallist Vadims Vasilevskis only needed one throw (83.92) to claim the Javelin title, while Brazil’s Fabiano Peçanha sent a clear message about his title defence ambitions as he ran a personal best of 1:44.60 in the first round of the 800m at the Main Stadium of Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus.
Vadims Vasilevskis of Latvia reaching 88.12 in Dessaug
(Chai von der Laage)
Manninen, Williamson take 100m titles
Manninen started as a top favorite for the 100m gold, having posted the fastest time among all finalists (11.36 in the second round). The 27-year-old stopped the clock in 11.46 seconds and held the challenge of Ukraine’s Okena Chebanu (11.56) and Latvia’s Audra Dagelyte (11.65).
Manninen, who anchored her team to the 4x100m crown on Thursday, became the second Finn to win the 100m in the Games history, 34 years after Mona-Lisa Pursiainen emerged victorious in Moscow’73. Pursiainen went on to take the 100m-200m, but the new WUG champion is not registered to run the half lap.
In the men’s race, 2007 European Under 23 champion Simeon Williamson sped to the victory in 10.28. The 21-year-old, who has run 10.10 this season, became the second Briton to clinch the WUG 100m title, as Chris Lambert also did in Asia, in the Korean city of Daegu, in 2003. China’s Peimeng Zhang (10.33) and Canada’s Neville Wright (10.34) were second and third, respectively.
In the highest quality final of the day, Vadims Vasilevskis just needed one throw to win the javelin gold and dethrone his countryman and 2005 defending champion Ainars Kovals, who had to settle for third. Vasilevskis, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, made the 800g implement fly to 83.92m in the opening round and called it a day after a foul on his second attempt.
The silver and bronze medallists achieved season’s best. Kovals opened with 82.23, but Poland’s 2003 champion Igor Janik overtook him with an 82.28m third round effort and finished the competition. It was the fourth Javelin Throw gold for Latvia in the last five editions of the Games as 2005 World champion Eriks Rags won in 1999 and 2001.
Fast opener for Peçanha
Two weeks after losing the Pan American Games final on home soil, defending champion Fabiano Peçanha set another fast pace and went on to set a personal best of 1:44.60 in the first round of the 800m. Peçanha is aiming at a double in the Thai capital as he also qualified for Sunday’s 1500m final, a distance in which he was third in Daegu 2003.
The 25-year-old moved to the no. 5 spot on the all-time South American lists and propelled Iran’s Ehsan Mohajershojaei to a personal best of 1:45.90. Britain’s Richard Hill clocked a season’s best of 1:46.90 for third. Russia’s Ekaterina Kostetskaya led the first round in the women’s 800m with 2:05.38.
Shustov over 2.31
Back to the field, 23-year old Russian Alexander Shustov cleared a season’s best of 2.31 on his third attempt for the High Jump gold, ahead of Cyprus’ 2003 bronze medallist Kyriakos Ioannou and Ukraine’s junior Oleksandr Nartov, both with 2.26.
After leading the qualifying with 61.11, Omar Elghaizaly was aiming to give Egypt its first athletics gold at the Universiade. The 2005 silver medallist led from the opening round, but could not better his second round effort of 60.89. Austria’s Gerhard Mayer moved to second in the fourth round and overtook the Egyptian with a 61.55m release in the final round. Estonia’s Mart Israel was third with 60.32.
In the one-lap race, 22-year old Sean Wroe gave Australia its first men’s Universiade athletics gold since 1991 as he posted a solid win with 45.49, well clear of Poland’s Piotr Klimczak (46.06) and Russia’s Dmitry Buryak (46.22). In the women’s event, Kazaksthan’s Olga Tereshkova prevailed over Croatia’s 18-year-old 2006 World junior champion Danijela Grgic. Tereshkova clocked 51.62 to Grgic’s 51.88, just one hundredth of a second faster than Russian Ksenia Zadorina.
Earlier on Saturday, Morroco made a 1-2 in the men’s Half Marathon, the first gold for Africa in the Games, thanks to Mohamed Fadil and Najim El Gady. Third in 2005, Fadil covered the 21.095km in 1:05:49, 15 seconds faster than his compatriot, while Japan’s Takashi Toyoda (1:06:30) completed the medallists.
Team tactics paid off for the People’s Republic of Korea as Kim Kum Ok gave her country the second Half Marathon and athletics title in the 48-year history of the Games. Kum Ok, still 18, held Kei Terada’s challenge and crossed the finish line in 1:12:31, only six seconds ahead of the Japanese. Jong Yong Ok won the last podium spot after a 1:13:56 effort, ahead of 2003 silver medallist Jo Bun Hui, also of North Korea, who clocked 1:14:37.
Elsewhere, Kazaksthan’s Konstantin Safronov led the Long Jump qualifying with 7.93 as Macedonia’s Ion Luchianov did in the men’s 3000m steeplechase (8:32.36). Kazaksthan’s Tatyana Azarosa (56.25) and Russia’s Vladimir Antmanis (50.36) led the women’s semifinals and men’s first round in the 400m hurdles, respectively.
Seven finals will be held on Sunday. Both men and women will run the 1500m, men will also contest the Pole Vault and Long Jump and women will battle in the 3000m steeplechase and Discus.
Over 1500 student athletes aged between 17 and 28 from 150 countries will be competing here in 15 sports until 18 August. Some of the athletes participating here take the Universiade as part of their final tune-up for the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, to be held in Osaka, Japan, 25 August 25 - 2 September.
Javier Clavelo Robinson for the IAAF
Click here for full results
Select results:
Women:
100m (-0.8)
- Johanna Manninen FIN 11.46
- Okena Chebanu UKR 11.56
- Audra Dagelyte LTU 11.65
- Yuna Mekhti-Zade RUS 11.68
- Yujia Tao CHN 11.70
- Iryna Shepetyuk UKR 11.71
400m
- Olga Tereshkova KAZ 51.62
- Danijela Grgic CRO 51.88
- Ksenia Zadorina RUS 51.89
- Antonina Yefremova UKR 52.09
- Olga Shulikova RUS 52.59
- Martina Naef SUI 52.94
Half Marathon
- Kim Kum Ok PRK 1:12:31
- Kei Terada JPN 1:12:37
- Jong Yong Ok PRK 1:13:56
- Jo Pun Hui PRK 1:14:37
- Helalia Johannes NAM 1:16:55
- Lucélia De Oliveira Peres BRA 1:17:53
Men:
Wind -0.9 Rank Bib Name Birth Date Lane Reaction Time Results
1 351 GBR - WILLIAMSON Simeon 8 0.143 10.22
2 224 CHN - ZHANG Peimeng 13/03/1987 7 0.170 10.30
3 196 CAN - WRIGHT Neville 21/12/1980 5 0.169 10.37
4 126 AUS - MILLER Adam 22/06/1984 3 0.171 10.39
5 822 UKR - GLUSHCHENKO Dmytro 17/02/1981 4 0.176 10.39
6 595 POR - ABRANTES Arnaldo 27/11/1986 1 0.162 10.53
7 271 EGY - SEOWD Amr 10/06/1986 6 0.182 10.53
8 221 CHN - YIN Hualong 22/08/1987 2 0.163 10.66
400m
- Sean Wroe AUS 45.49
- Piotr Klimczak POL 46.06
- Dmitry Buryak RUS 46.22
- Willem De Beer RSA 46.31
- Dylan Grant AUS 46.35
- Richard Buck GBR 46.53
Half Marathon
- Mohamed Fadil MAR 1:05:49
- Najim El Gady MAR 1:06:04
- Takashi Toyoda JPN 1:06:30
- Brahim Chettah ALG 1:06:47
- Sota Kato JPN 1:07:00
- David Marus UGA 1:07:31
High Jump
- Alexander Shustov RUS 2.31
- Kyriacos Ioannou CYP 2.26
- Oleksandr Nartov UKR 2.26
- Viktor Shapoval UKR 2.26
- Martyn Bernard GBR 2.23
- Peter Horak SVK 2.20
Discus
- Gerhard Mayer AUT 61.55
- Omar Elghaizaly EGY 60.89
- Mart Israel EST 60.32
- Dzmitry Sivakou BLR 59.36
- Mihai Grasu ROM 58.38
- Oskars Silcenoks LAT 57.40
Javelin
- Vadims Vasilevskis LAT 83.92
- Igor Janik POL 82.28
- Ainars Kovals LAT 82.23
- Qiang Qin CHN 77.92
- Joshua Robinson AUS 77.86
- Risto Matas EST 77.29