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LAUSANNE – Running in temperatures that dipped below 50 degrees F (9 C.), Tyson Gay made his 2007 European debut a notable one with a dominating 19.78 victory in the 200 at the Athletissima Super Grand Prix in Lausanne tonight.
Clearly in the lead just 40 meters into the race, the double U.S. sprint champion powered off the final turn before easing down over the final 20 meters to simply overpower one of the best fields assembled in the event this year.
“With it being so cold, I thought maybe it would be 19.9”, said Gay after returning to the track that one year ago signaled a strong resurgence in the men’s 200 meters. Last year Gay was a distant second to Xavier Carter’s 19.63 here, but this time around Gay had absolutely no company. Jamaican Usain Bolt, who last month lowered his personal best to 19.75, was a distant second in 20.11, with Wallace Spearmon even further back in third (20.42).
“I didn’t think it would be that fast, I was just happy with the victory. But, yes, I was a little surprised it wasn’t closer,” Gay said.
Gay races next in the 100m in Sheffield, England, on Sunday.
One race that Gay didn’t win was the one measured by the stadium’s applause barometer. That victory went to Liu Xiang who dominated the proceedings on the track where he broke the 110m hurdles world record last year. The clear leader by midway, the Chinese Olympic champion bolted to a 13.01 win, quite impressive in the rapidly dropping temperatures.
Oslo Golden League winner Anwar Moore powered over the second half to a 13.12 clocking, equalling his career best to finish second ahead of Aries Merritt (13.18).
Bahamian record holder Derrick Atkins continued to etch out a name for himself in the 100, winning his fourth straight race in 10.04. Cautious after a false start, the 23-year-old who joined the sub-10 club this season took command beyond the 70 meter point to beat back Churandy Martina (10.10) and 200m Olympic champion Shawn Crawford whose 10.13 was a season’s best.
Fresh off of her win at the Paris Golden League contest on Friday, U.S. Champion Torri Edwards got the better of Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell, winning in 11.00, a notable performance given the conditions. Campbell clocked 11.07 to edge Me’lisa Barber (11.11). Never in the hunt, world champion Lauryn Williams was last in 11.37.
Continuing his fine summer, Briton Marlon Devonish defied the chilly conditions to win the B final in 10.06, knocking another .02 from his career best, equalling Francis Obikwelu’s European lead, and finishing second overall.
After a dismal 13th place finish in Paris last Friday, Maryam Yusuf Jamal was clearly trying to illustrate a point 1500. Running before a supportive hometown crowd --the 22-year-old Ethiopian-born Bahraini has been based in Lausanne since fleeing Ethiopia in 2002-- Jamal cruised to a front-running victory in 4:03.61. Never seriously challenged --she had a near four second lead at the bell-- Jamal easily held off the late race charge of Ukraine’s Iryna Lishchynska (4:04.27) and Russians Olga Yegorova (4:04.64) and two-time world champion Tatyana Tomashova (4:05.48).
U.S. champion Treniere Clement briefly followed Jamal and pacesetter Olga Komyagina’s solid tempo, but paid for it dearly 800 meters into the race. Fading badly over the final lap and a half, she finished 22nd in the 23 woman field.
100m hurdles world champion and Golden League Jackpot contender Michelle Perry survived a scare by pulling off a near perfect lean to win in 12.60. European champion Susanna Kallur built a clear lead by the fourth hurdle and still lead heading over the ninth until Perry fought back to claim the win by just .02 seconds.
The cold Lausanne summer evening didn’t affect Brad Walker very much in the pole vault. With three clearances in as many jumps –5.60, 5.75 and 5.91—the reigning world indoor champion easily bested Australians Paul Burgess (5.75) and Steve Hooker (5.70) to eclipse the 5.90 meet record held jointly by Sergey Bubka (1992), Dean Starkey (1994), Jean Galfione (1998) and Jeff Hartwig (2001).
The women’s 800 featured Maria Mutola in her first outing since her world-leading 1:58.33 at the Prefontaine Classic in early June, and from the outset, she seemed intent on picking up where she left off. The multiple world champion, now 34, led Kenyan Janeth Jepkosgei and Jamaican Kenia Sinclair at the bell, but Sinclair made a strong move off the final bend to overtake Mutola to claim a convincing victory in 1:59.33. Hazel Clark, the U.S. Championships runner-up, strode by as well in the final 15 meters to take second in 1:59.43 with Mutola (1:59.66) third.
Yuriy Borzakovskiy never digs too deeply into his race plan book. Predictably, the reigning Olympic champion was the ninth of the 10-man field to reach the bell, and with 200 to go, he was still led by all but one. Running wide to the outside of lane three heading off the final turn, Borzakovskiy began his mad dash for home, but this time he couldn’t match the closing power of 18-year-old Kenyan David Rudisha. Striding confidently down the homestretch, the world junior champion reached the line in 1:45.82, well ahead of Borzakovskiy (1:46.01) and Youssef Saad Kamel (1:46:05), the former Gregory Konchellah and son of former world champion Willy Konchellah.
“It’s very good for me,” said Rudisha, who now heads back to Kenya to prepare the the world championship trials.”I wanted to obtain my personal best, but it was not possible in this weather.” Rudisha ran his 1:45.10 personal best in Malmo, Sweden last week, where he beat Alan Webb.
After his 800 victory in Ostrava and 1500 win in Athens, Bilal Mansour Ali, still just 18, collected another big meet win with a commanding 3:35.41 performance in the 1500 here. Strong over the final lap, he easily fended off the challenge of Frenchman Bob Tahri (3:36.13) and Moroccans Yassine Bensghir (3:36.24) and Abdelaati Iguider (3:36.80).
The men’s 5000 was primarily a three-man contest, between Kenyans Edwin Soi, Micah Kogo and Menjo Kiprono. The trio took turns with the lead over the final four laps, until Menjo was the first to drop off the pace, leaving Soi and Kogo, last year’s fastest over 10,000m, to battle it out down the homestretch. It was a dramatic stride-for-stride scuffle until Soi pulled away to win in 13:10.21 to Kogo’s 13:10.68.
“I didn’t aim to win here,” said Soi, who has a 12:52.40 career best to his credit from Paris last year. “It was just preparation for the world championships trials.”
In his first European race of the season, American Dathan Ritzenhein finished fifth in 13:27.71, three seconds clear of Matt Tegenkamp whose 13:27.06 was a season’s best.
World champion Bershawn Jackson led going into hurdle nine in the 400m hurdles, but lost his rhythm --and nearly his balance—over the final barrier, and saw six men pass him. World leader James Carter won by a scant .01 seconds in 48.30 over Kerron Clement, with South African L.J. van Zyl third (48.50). The usually talkative Jackson, seventh in 49.12, immediately left the track without uttering a word.
Russian Natalya Ivanova won the women’s race in 54.90 over Jamaican Melaine Walker (54.90).
Siham Hilala broke from Irene Jelagat with 200 meters remaining to win the women’s B race of the 1500 in 4:08.64 to the Kenyan’s 4:10.27. Alice Schmidt, who’s on the American Osaka squad in the 800, moved up a couple spots over the final 100 meters to finish fourth (4:13.15).
Last week in Zagreb, Irving Saladino conquered the rain, and tonight he conquered the cold. The Panamanian won the long jump easily with a pair of 8.36 leaps. South African record holder Godfrey Mokoena was a distant second with a 7.95 best.
Novlene Williams started strong and held on to win the women’s 400 in 50.71. Amy Mbacke Thiam, who looked to be out of it midway through the race, closed strong to finish second (51.03) with American Dee Dee Trotter (51.48) edging Shericka Williams by .01 to finish third. Briton Nicola Sanders, the European indoor champion, struggled over the second half in her highly anticipated outdoor debut, and finished a distant sixth (51.87).
The meet concluded with the men’s 4x100 relay, a race won by a Jamaican quartet anchored by Asafa Powell. In his first outing since an injury setback at the Jamaican championships last month, the 100m world record holder appeared to run cautiously and barely chased down British team anchor Mark Lewis-Francis for the narrow 38.75 to 38.78 win. Powell will return to the track in the 100 on Friday night at Rome’s Golden Gala Golden League fixture.
Elsewhere, Swedish heptathlon star Carolina Kluft rode a maximum legal win of 2.0 m/s to win the long jump with a 6.84 season’s best. African record holder Gark Kikaya won the 400 in 45.24 from Australia’s Commonwealth champion John Steffensen (45.54), Tatyana Lebedeva won the triple jump with a modest 14.47 leap, European record holder Christina Obergfoll took the javelin contest with a 66.91 throw, and Stefan Holm won the high jump on the count back with a modest 2.28 clearance.
Next year’s edition of the Athletissima will be staged nearly two months later, on September 8, making it one of the first post-Olympic stops on the European circuit.
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