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Lausanne Recap
SWITCHING ROLES, KIPROP & KAMEL PREVAIL IN LAUSANNE
By Bob Ramsak
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
LAUSANNE
(02-Sep) -– Trying their hands at alternate distances, Olympic 1500m
silver medalist Asbel Kiprop and 800m finalist Yusuf Saad Kamel traded
places to take impressive victories at the Athletissima Super Grand
Prix here tonight.
For Kiprop, the tall Kenyan who chased Rashid
Ramzi to the line in Beijing, it wasn't so much a case of moving down
in distance, but more of a move back to where the 19-year-old began his
breakout season. Battling with Olympic champion Wilfred Bungei heading
off the final turn, he passed his compatriot with about 50 meters to go
to take a convincing victory in 1:44.71, a personal best.
Just
behind Kiprop, Alfred Kirwa Yego (1:44.77) and then Ugandan Abraham
Chepkirwok (1:45.00) overtook Bungei, who faded badly down the
homestretch to finish fourth (1:45.31).
"I wanted to win this
800 at any cost," said Kiprop, who finished third at the African
Championships in May. "I saw the 1500 earlier and I was very inspired."
That
inspiration came in the frame of 800m ace Yusuf Saad Kamel, the former
Kenyan Billy Konchellah who now represents Bahrain, who took another
stab at the metric mile following an impressive outing in Zürich last
Friday where he ran a 3:33.11 career best. Near the front at the bell,
Kamel waited until the final 15 meters to effortlessly pass world
leader Daniel Kipchirchir Komen to win in 3:32.83, another personal
best. Down the homestretch, he looked very much at home over the
longer distance.
"It felt very good," said Kamel, who confirmed
that the 1500m will occupy more of his focus in 2009. "I felt very
comfortable and strong through the final straight."
Komen, who
found no answer to Kamel’s kick, held on for second in 3:33.03 to hold
off Zürich winner Haron Keitany, who was third across the line in
3:33.62.
In some ways a reprise of the Golden League race in
Paris six weeks ago, Maryam Yusuf Jamal stormed to an impressive
victory in the 1500m, improving her season’s best to 3:59.84.
"It's important for me to win in Lausanne, at home," said Jamal, who is based in Lausanne.
U.S.
champion Shannon Rowbury was tight on the Bahraini’s heels through the
bell before Jamal managed to pull away for good as the pair headed into
the final turn. Rowbury clocked 4:01.97, the third fastest performance
of her career.
Further back, Briton Lisa Dobriskey was fourth (4:05.18), just ahead of Spaniard Nuria Fernandez.
With
Pamela Jelimo resting for Friday's Golden League finale in Brussels
where here share of the $1,000,000 jackpot is on the line, world
champion Janeth Jepkosgei was able to take the spotlight and she
handled it adequately, taking a comfortable victory in 1:58.15.
Surprisingly, it was her first victory of the year.
"It's great
to run without pressure," Jepkosgei said, whose next outings include
another 800 in Brussels on Friday and the 1500m in Rieti on Sunday.
Russian Yekaterina Kostetskaya overhauled Jamaican Kenia Sinclair to take second, 1:58.90 to 1:59.02.
The
sprints, however, stole the show here tonight with Asafa Powell winning
the 100m in 9.72 and Usain Bolt clocking 19.63 for 200m. It's simply
been a storybook year for Jamaican sprinting.
ENDS
Lausanne Preview
OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS BUNGEI, LAGAT TOP THE FIELDS IN LAUSANNE
By Bob Ramsak
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
LAUSANNE,
SWITZERLAND – Two of Kenya’s five Olympic gold medalists top the bill
for tomorrow’s Athletissima Super Grand Prix in Lausanne.
Perennial
speedster Wilfred Bungei used his vast experience to take the 800m
title in Beijing, first by surviving the brutal heats and semi-finals
with aggressive front-running, and repeating that strategy in the final
to capture his first major title. He led a Kenyan 1-3 finish, with
world champion Alfred Kirwa Yego taking the bronze. Both top the fields
here in Lausanne.
It will be Bungei’s first race since his
Olympic triumph, while Yego arrives after a career best 3:33.69 from
the Zurich 1500m on Friday. Olympic 1500m silver medallist Asbel Kiprop
will also drop down in distance in a field that also includes Beijing
finalist Nadjim Manseur of Algeria.
With her commanding 1500m
victory, Nancy Jebet Lagat produced one of the biggest surprises of the
Games, and here she will make her first appearance over the distance
since that upset. The 27-year-old was sluggish in Zurich on Friday,
where she finished last in the 800m, leaving this a wide open affair.
In another reunion of Olympic finalist, Briton Lisa Dobriskey (fourth
in Beijing), reigining world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal (fifth),
American Shannon Rowbury (seventh), Russian Anna Alminova (11th) and
Btissam Lakhouad (12th) are also on the slate.
The men’s 1500
features Kenyan Haron Keitany, who has made a splash in his first year
on the international circuit. The winner at May’s African
championships, the 24-year-old finished a strong runner-up in Oslo’s
Dream Mile, took fourth at the Kenyan trials to barely miss a berth to
the Olympics, and took a commanding victory in Zurich on Friday.
Olympic
finalist Belal Mansoor Ali, third in Zurich, and Yusuf Saad Kamel, the
800m specialist who produced a 3:33.11 personal best in Zurich, are
also in the race, as are 2008 speedsters Daniel Kipchirchir Komen and
Shadrack Korir, both sub 3:32.00 this season.
World 800m
champion Janeth Jepkosgei will receive a reprieve for an evening, not
having to face her superstar compatriot Pamela Jelimo for the first
time in awhile. She’ll take on Russian Svetlana Klyuka, fourth in
Beijing, as well as three other Olympic finalists: Jamaican Kenia
Sinclair, Ukraine’s Yuliya Krevsun, and Russian tatiana Andrianova.
Jepkosgei won here in 2006, while Sinclair returns as defending
champion.
ENDS