Posted: September 4, 2004

Athletics: 7:53.63 Steeple WR For Shaheen at Van Damme Memorial

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

by Bob Ramsak

BRUSSELS -- Saif Saaeed Shaheen shattered the world record in the 3000 meter steeplechase to highlight the distance action at the 28th Memorial Van Damme Golden League meeting tonight in the Belgian capital.

Knowing the record was his, Shaheen, the former Kenyan Stephen Cherono, waved to the crowd some fifty meters before he reached the line in 7:53.63, breaking the previous record of 7:55.28 set by Brahim Boulami on the same track just over three years ago.

“Just after the 2000 meter mark, when I saw 5:18, I said that this is what I’ve been training for,” said Shaheen, the reigning world champion. “Then with two laps to go, I saw it was like 5:47, and I said I was inside the world record. And I just kept pushing harder and harder. When I saw the last lap, 6:49, I was very happy. Normally my last lap is 59, 60 or 61. I thought, ‘Man, I’m inside by six or seven seconds.’”

It was a fitting season finale for the event’s premiere star of the past two years, whose effort this evening sliced nearly four seconds from his previous best. Unable to compete at the Olympic Games because of his change of allegiance to Qatar last year, Shaheen said the Memorial Van Damme was his Olympic Games.

Following pacemakers Vincent Le Dauphin and Kipkirui Misoi through 2000 meters, Shaheen said the 47,000 capacity crowd at the Stade Roi Baudouin helped guide him through the remaining two-and-half laps.

“What made me run fast was the crowd, and the drums, especially down by the water jump,” he said. “It really made me run fast,” he added, mimicking the quick sustained rhythm of the stadium’s percussionists.

Watching the Olympic Games from his home in Nairobi was disappointing, but the 21-year-old Shaheen said he found an appropriate way to comfort himself.

“Yes, I was a little bit frustrated,” Shaheen said. “When I watched the Games I just consoled myself that I had an injury. So I sat down next to the TV and watched the Olympics like any other person.”

“It could have been a very interesting race for me,” he continued. “They were very, very happy. The way I saw it was that they were celebrating because I was not here. If I was there, they would have maybe been second or third. Because I would have scared them. Because they fear me so much.”

Ironically, Boulami was also in the race, making his first appearance since serving his two-year ban for EPO. The Moroccan was third in 8:02.66, just behind Olympic bronze medallist Paul Kipsiele Koech (8:02.07).

“I [heard] last night that we would be in the race and there was a lot of tension again in the morning because they said that Boulami wanted to run 7:58,” Shaheen said. “So the first two laps I stayed behind him. I wanted to gauge if he was going to run fast, so I stayed behind him for two laps then I saw that he was stumbling a bit, that his strides were not uniform. It was not like the Boulami of 2001 or 2002. So I just started to push and run fast.”

Berhane Adere’s pre-meet promise for a fast time in the 5000 meters apparently didn’t fall on deaf ears. On Thursday, the reigning 10,000m world champion was widely quoted as saying she wanted to prove to the Ethiopian Olympic selectors that she was indeed prepared for the Olympic team; just prior to the race, her appearance was abruptly cancelled, reportedly by the federation, for disciplinary reasons.

In her absence, the race, won by Edith Masai, was still fast. Bouncing back from a DNF in the Olympic final, the 37-year-old won with a personal best 14:42.64, breaking Gabriela Szabo’s seven year-old meet record of 14:44.21.

Citing physical and emotional fatigue, double Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj never made it to the starting line of the 3000 meters. “I’m just very, very tired. The Olympic Games were like air being let out of a big balloon,” El Guerrouj said of his decision to bring his season to an end.

But like the women’s 5000, the 3000 for the men was quick as well. Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, third behind El Guerrouj in the Olympic 5000, scorched to a 7:27.72 win, making him the ninth fastest ever over the distance. Compatrio James Kwalia was runner-up in 7:28.28, with six others dipping under 7:40.

After pacer Yulia Chijenko completed her duties two-thirds into the race, Margaret Maury of France, Masai and Briton Jo Pavey forged ahead, with Masai moving to the front for good precisely at the 3000 meter mark (8:49.42). The Kenyan-born Maury, who had a 14:56.79 best coming in, held on to finish second in 14:43.90, a national record for France. Pavey, fifth in Athens, was third in 14:49.11, a season’s best.

Both 1500s featured dramatic finishes, with Olympic silver medallist Tatyana Tomashova winning the women’s in 4:02.27, leading a Russian parade across the finish. Natalia Yevdokimova (4:02.37) was second, with Olga Yegorova (4:02.94) third. Timothy Kiptanui upset a solid field in the men’s race with his come-from-behind 3:30.24 win, ahead of Ivan Heshko’s 3:30.33 Ukrainian national record. Alex Kipchirchir (PB-3:30.46) held off Olympic silver medallist Bernard Lagat (3:30.73) to finish third.

Qatari Abdullah Ahmad Hassan, the former Kenyan Albert Chepkirui, won a hotly contested 10,000 over Kenyan Olympic finalist Charles Kamathi (26:59.93), upping the total of sub-27-minute clockings here to an even 20. Mark Bett was third in 27:02.00, with Boniface Kiprop, the World junior champion who was fourth at the Olympic Games, fifth here in 27:04.00, a Ugandan national record.

Wilfred Bungei defended his Van Damme title with a narrow 1:43.48 to 1:43.50 win over William Yiampoy, with Joseph Mutua (1:44.09) completing a Kenyan sweep.

Elsewhere, Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva added a centimeter to her own world record with a 4.92 leap, the ninth world record for the 22-year-old Russian.

Two athletes remain in the hunt for the million dollar Golden League jackpot: Olympic 400 meter champion Tonique Williams-Darling and triple jumper Christian Olsson. High jumper Hestrie Cloete was outclassed by Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko while 400 meter hurdles Olympic Champion Felix Sanchez’s bid ended 200 meters into his race with a hamstring injury. It also ended the 27-year-old’s win streak at 43 (including heats), the fourth significant streak to come to an end this summer.

The sixth and final leg of the Golden League takes place next Sunday when Berlin’s ISTAF meeting returns to the German capital’s newly-refurbished Olympic Stadium.

Look for complete results from Brussels in Tuesday’s RRW.