Posted: August 10, 2005

Athletics: Shaheen Repeats, Calatayud Surprises

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Bob Ramsak

HELSINKI – Adding more fuel to his desire to become the greatest steepler ever, Saif Saaeed Shaheen successfully defended his 3000 meter steeplechase title while Cuban Zulia Calatayud made her return from injury complete with a surprise win in the women's 800 to highlight an extremely wet fourth day of the IAAF World Athletics Championships.

"I feel great having defended my title," Shaheen, the former Kenyan Stephen Cherono, said after his 21st straight victory in the event. "You know it's always very hard to defend a title. It's easier to get a title."

Yet his 8:13.31 effort in the Finnish capital appeared remarkably straightforward in comparison to his all-out brawl with Kenyan Ezekiel Kemboi in Paris two years ago. Here too Kemboi finished runner-up, but more than a second behind in 8:14.95. Shaheen said he was a little surprised that his rival didn't come prepared with more of a challenge on offer.

"I was expecting somebody to follow me the last 100 meters, but I was really surprised there was nobody," Shaheen said.

Following a conservative pace in the opening laps, Shaheen, along with Kemboi and Brimin Kipruto, the Olympic silver medallist, comfortably tucked in behind Spaniard Jose Luis Blanco and former world record holder Brahim Boulami. Luis Blanco eventually fell back, with Shaheen and Boulami running side-by-side with two laps to go. Looking as if they were poised for an attack, the Kenyan pair remained just a step behind. Shaheen made his first move with just over a lap and a half to go, but stumbling slightly as he came off the water jump, he didn't shake Kemboi. He surged again at the bell but didn't shake Kemboi until the pair stepped out of the water pit for the last time. Further back, Kipruto came home with a furious kick, making up a 20 meter gap to nip Boulami at the line to finish third in 8:15.30, just two one-hundredths ahead of the Moroccan.

"I had a lot of pressure today," Shaheen said, explaining that his initial plan involved a tactical effort with training partner Jamal Bilal. With Bilal out injured, he quickly had to formulate ‘Plan B.'

"'Plan A' didn't work, so ‘Plan B' was to just stay behind but still take complete control of the race from the very beginning and try to sprint the last 800 meters, which is exactly what I did. But you know," he admitted, "I didn't really believe in myself. Sometimes in these sprint finishes you can get it or you may not get it. It's 50-50."

Kemboi, who cruised to the Olympic title with Shaheen absent, said he wasn't disappointed with his runner-up finish. "I came here with the goal of winning a medal and that is what I did."

Next up for Shaheen is the Ivo Van Damme Memorial in Brussels, where he'll begin winding down his full-time steeplechase career. "I'm going to try and run 7:48 or 7:49, something like that." Next year, he said, he'll be focusing on the 1500, 3000 and 5000. "If I run the steeple next year, it'll be just one or two races."

The battle to dethrone two-time defending 800 meter champion Maria Mutola was expected to involve a three-pronged attack by a formidable Russian trio. In the end though, it was Cuban Zulia Calatayud, for much of the decade on the edge of world's elite, who reigned supreme. And it wasn't even particularly close.

"I can't even find words to express how I feel right now," the 25-year-old from western Havana said, after her 1:58.82 victory.

Matching every move made by Mutola and world leader Tatyana Andrianova, Calatayud waited patiently before switching gears into a kick phase that was simply unstoppable. Unleashing the kick that propelled her to the Olympic silver medal last year, Hasna Benhassi came closest, but was more than a half second back in 1:59.42.

Andrianova, who finished third in 1:59.60, said her biggest mistake was getting trapped on the rail, but wasn't making any excuses.

"I don't really have any reasons why I didn't do well today," the 25-year-old, fifth in Athens last summer, said.

Sixth in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when just 20 years-old, the young Cuban's victory here completes a journey that carried her from the among the world's fastest in 2002, when she clocked 1:56.02, to the disappointment of missing the 2003 season with injury, and back to the Olympic final in Athens last summer where she finished eighth.

"It was a pleasure for me to compete with all these girls," she said. "I though we were all the same level coming into the final. And I was the one who was able to fight for the win tonight."

Mutola, who lost substantial training this spring and early summer with a nagging hamstring injury, didn't go down without a fight. Pushing the pace for nearly the first 500 meters, and leading on several occasions, held on for fourth, reaching the line in 1:59.71. Helsinki marked the seventh time the 32-year-old reached the final of the outdoor championships and was only the second time she left without a medal.

Wednesday's middle and long distance program includes the final of men's 1500 and the opening round of the women's 5000.