BUDAPEST (06-Mar-2004) -- Kutre Dulecha of Ethiopia lived up to her nation's expectations, Carmen Douma-Hussar exceeded those of her's, and Kelly Holmes perhaps failed to meet her own in the final of the women's 1500 meters.

Dulecha, the bronze medallist in 1999 and African indoor record holder, took control of the race with 300 metres to go and never looked back en route to a 4:06.40 victory.

"The race suited me very well," she said, "It was slow and tactical."

Alesya Turova of Belarus took care of the initial pacing, reaching 400 meters in 1:05.46 and 800m in just under 2:13. But when the 25-year-old Ethiopian took command, the race turned into a contest for second.

Producing perhaps the biggest surprise thus far in these world indoor championships, Carmen Douma-Hussar of Canada emerged from the crowded homestretch field to claim the silver, her 4:08.18 a national record. Her smile after the race seemed to reach across the wide expanse of Budapest's Sportarena.

"It is just unbelievable," said the 1998 NCAA champion in the event who ran for Villanova; her previous indoor best was 4:11.71. "Honestly, I did not hope to get a medal but my coach (Marcus O'Sullivan) talked to me about the possibilities.  But honestly, I didn't believe his words."

Russian Gulnara Samitova (4:08.26), who was near the front for much of the race, held off the late-race charge of Bulgarian Daniela Yordanova (4:08.52), to take the bronze.

Briton Kelly Holmes, for weeks considered among the favorites, fell to the track as she was making a move through the crowd with just over 600 meters to go. She recovered breifly and caught the back of the pack a lap later, but eventually faded to last in 4:12.30.

Clearly dejected, Holmes, who finished second behind Regina Jacobs in last year's indoor championships, immediately left the track and wouldn't speak to reporters. Afterwards she was sitting with coach Margo Jennings and training partner Maria Mutola, her hands hiding her tears, as a dumbfounded British press corps stood by watching.

Setting up their eagerly anticipated showdown, Mutola, the defending indoor champion, and indoor world record holder Jolanda Ceplak won their respective semi-finals.

In the first race, Ceplak jumped to an immediate lead, and was two steps ahead of Briton Jo Fenn and Moroccan Seltana Ait Hammou just 200 meters into the race. She extended her lead when she reached the half in 59.33, when behind her, the jockeying for the two remaining spots began. Russian Tatyana Andrianova blasted into second place with 300 meters to go, with Fenn dropping to fourth.  Spaniard Mayte Martínez, the defending bronze medallist, moved up to fourth at the bell, and seemed ready to make her move, but Fenn, a part-time country music singer, held off the Spaniard to secure the third qualifying spot. Ceplak won in 1:59.29, with Andrianova second in 1:59.96, then Fenn (2:00.79) and Martínez (2:01.06).

>From the outset the second semi was considerably slower, and decidedly more tactical. Olga Raspopova brought the field through the first 200 in 31.58, with U.S. champion Jen Toomey moving into second 100 meters later, and into the lead at the bell. Mutola moved up to second and made a brief move for the lead down the back straight, but Toomey fought her off, holding her ground. With the top three positions all but assured, Toomey eased up in the homestretch, as he did Mutola, who nonetheless passed her for the win in 2:03.19, with Toomey second in 2:03.40. Raspopova took the third spot in 2:03.71, nearly a second a half ahead of the rest.  The final is tomorrow evening, where Mutola has her sights set on becoming the first-ever six time indoor champion.

With just the top two finishers advancing to tomorrow's final, the men's 800 meter semi-finals were as tactical as they were downright physically brutal.

Osmar Barbosa Dos Santos of Brazil led through the half in a relatively quick 51.83, but the real action didn't begin until the bell sounded. The Brazilian held on to win in 1:46.91, but behind him, Kenyan William Yiampoy and Moroccan Mouhssin Chehibi exchanged several pushes with 150 meters remaining, but the Kenyan held firm to finish second in 1:47.02. Youssef Saad Kamel, a teenager from Bahrain moved up to third, setting an Asian record 1:47.16 in the process.  American Michael Stember, who was quoted widely in the press over the past week for negative remarks about Kenyan Bernard Lagat, was never a factor, and finished last in 1:48.68.

Kenyan Joseph Mutua was in firm control of the second race, and, putting enough distance on the chase pack, managed to stay out of trouble en route to a 1:47.07 win.  But behind him, Florent Lacasse of France and Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain, who competed as Rachid Kouia of Morocco until 2002, blocked, pushed and shoved for the final 150 meters, with both reaching --and diving across-- the finish line simultaneously.  With both timed at 1:47.28, the photo gave the advantage to Ramzi, who moves on to the final.

The third race began even more slowly, with Burundi's Jean-Patrick Nduwimana reaching the half in just under 56 seconds. At the bell a lap later, Moroccan Amine Laalou made a move to pass Dutchman Bram Som, who lost his footing and fell to the track, and immediately out of the race.  South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, the Paris bronze medallist, moved to front during the brief pile up to win in 1:49.96, with Laalou hanging on for second in 1:50.07.

Laban Rotich and Ivan Heshko won their respective semi-finals in the men's 1500 metres, setting up a battle of swift kickers for tomorrow evening's final.

Rotich, the Kenyan indoor record holder, led almost the entire race, and with no one seemingly interested in testing him, the battle for the qualifying positions took place behind him. Morocco's Abdelkader Hachlaf, the bronze medallist in Birmingham last year, will make another finals appearance after finishing second in 3:41.75, along with Commonwealth Games champion Michael East (3:41.86), who finished third.

With a powerful kick in the final 80 meters, Ukrainian record holder Heshko proved to be a solid gold medal favorite with his seemingly effortless 3:39.93 win.  James Thie finished second in 3:40.68, marking the first time a pair of British runners will appear in a world indoor championship 1500 meter final.  Spaniard Jose Antonio Redolat (3:40.70), Kenyan Paul Korir (3:40.75), Miroslaw Formela (3:41.22) of Poland and Moroccan Youssef Baba (3:41.25) fill out the field.

Elsewhere, Team Russia's women had the proverbial field day. Tatyana Lebedeva equalled, then twice broke the world record in the triple jump, reaching 15.36m for the win, adding a massive 20 cm to the previous best. In the pole vault, Yelena Isinbayeva regained the world record with a massive clearance at 4.86m.  She later made the first-ever in-competition attempts at the magical five-meter mark.  The 21-year-old Russian was pushed not by former world record Svetlana Feofanova, but by 32-year-old Stacy Dragila, who raised her own American record with a third-attempt clearance of 4.82m.

Competition in the distance events concludes tomorrow with finals in the men's and women's 800, the men's 1500 and the women's 3000.

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