Where Your Dreams Become Reality
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Where Your Dreams Become Reality |
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Mottram Upsets Bekele, Shaheen Completes Double as 2006 World Cup Concludes By Bob Ramsak (c) 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved September 17, 2006 ATHENS -- In a stunning upset, Craig Mottram defeated Kenenisa Bekele in the 3000 meters, Saif Saeed Shaheen completed his distance double and Meseret Defar produced a fine solo effort in the 5000 as the 10th IAAF World Cup in Athletics concluded at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Mottram, the defending World Cup champion, concocted a recipe to render the admittedly tired Bekele's closing kick useless, to win in 7:32.19, breaking his own two month old Area record in process. "I'm a happy man," said the 26-year-old Australian, whose 2002 victory in the competition set the stage for his emergence as one of the world's finest all-around distance runners. The pair broke from the field early on with Bekele, the world record holder in the event, setting the tempo while Mottram shadowed him closely. With just over two laps remaining, Mottram took the lead, only to be shadowed in turn by Bekele. Injecting a series of small surges, Mottram tried to create some gaps, but Bekele responded in kind until the Australian created an insurmountable one at the top of the final backstretch. "The plan was just to hang on and unleash hell with 950 to go," said Mottram, who nearly decided to pull out of the meet three weeks ago after several self-professed poor training sessions. "And then try to get away and hope that Kenenisa was tired, which he obviously was. We would have been pleased with second," he continued, "but we really wanted to try and win. But you know, Bekele's the best athlete in the world by far." Soon after making his decisive break, Mottram said he knew the race was over. "With 220 to go I could see the big screen and I saw that I had five meters on him, and I thought, ‘Shit, this is unbelievable!' Then I went again over the final bend and I knew it was over. I could enjoy the final 50 meters. It was great." After racing hard and often over the course of the summer, Bekele admitted he was tired –"I ran every week this year," he said, "it's too many races and my power was finished"—but more telling about the Ethiopian's defeat were the first few words he uttered as he made his way through the dozen or so reporters waiting to speak with him. "It was a hard race," he said, "without pacemakers it's difficult to run." He finished well back behind Mottram, reaching the line in 7:36.25. Further back, Driss Maazouzi of France was third (7:47.80), just a step ahead of Canadian Kevin Sullivan (7:47.99) and American Adam Goucher (7:48.15). After a string of sizzling summer races with swift finishing laps, Meseret Defar was apparently looking to end her season as quickly as possible. Jumping to the lead from the gun, the world record holder quickly built a 20 meter lead after the first lap before switching on the cruise control over the remaining 11-and-a-half laps en route to her solo 14:39.11 win. After the race, Defar, who lapped a pair of runners in the nine woman field, confirmed that she had set to do the unthinkable: chase her own world record of 14:24.53 without a pacemaker. "My aim today was to try to break the world record," she said, speaking through a translator. "But it was difficult because I ran alone. If I had a pacemaker, I think I'd have been able to do it." Leading the chase pack was Russian Liliya Shobukhova, who finished second in 15:05.33, just ahead of Japan's Kayoko Fukushi (15:06.69). As predicted, the men's 3000m steeplechase was a battle between world record holder Saif Saaeed Shaheen and Kenyan rival Paul Kipsiele Koech. And as predicted, if was Shaheen who ran to victory after kicking away from the Kenyan with about 300 meters to go. "It was pretty easy," said Shaheen after his 8:19.09 World Cup record, thus successfully completing his double weekend win to collect $60,000. After leading virtually the entire race, Koech hung on for second (8:19.09) with Frenchman Bob Tahri third and European champion Jukka Keskisalo of Finland fourth. The women's 1500 was largely a repeat of last weekend's World Athletics Final with Bahraini Maryam Yusuf Jamal continuing her fine late season form with a commanding victory, the first ever at a World Cup for Asia. Forging to the lead at the bell, Jamal allowed Russia's twice World Champion Tatyana Tomashova to give chase before pulling away midway through the back straight en route to a 4:00.84 World Cup record. "I was feeling good and could position myself as I wanted," said Jamal, who on Saturday celebrated her 22nd birthday. "In those conditions, I don't fear anybody." As she did in Stuttgart, Tomashova again finished runner-up in 4:02.45, equalling her position from Madrid four years ago. Australian Sarah Jamieson, eighth in Madrid, improved significantly this time around, finish third for Oceania in 4:02.82. With a strong close of her own, Bulgarian Daniela Yordanova was fourth for Europe, reaching the finish in 4:02.97 to complete the fastest en masse finish ever in the World Cup. European Champion and World Athletics Final winner Alesia Turava broke from Kenyan Jeruto Kiptum and Poland's Wioletta Janowska at the bell to become the first women's World Cup steeplechase champion. Creating a 15 meter gap with 300 meters to go, the Belarussian relaxed down the home stretch before reaching the finish in 9:29.10. Kiptum held on for second (9:31.44) with Janowska (9:35.08) third. Sneaking by on the inside, Youssef Saad Kamel produced the solid finish many thought he was capable of to win the 800 over a solid field in 1:44.98. Fast finisher Bram Som of The Netherlands, the European champion, squeezed by South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi to narrowly take the runner-up spot, 1:45.13 to 1:45.14. Canadian national record holder came through strong off the final bend to finish fourth (1:45.54) while American Khadevis Robinson, who lead for almost the first 600 meters, faded to sixth. Europe won the men's team title for the first time since 1981, tallying 140 points, four ahead of the U.S. squad for its highest finish since winning the World Cup in 1989. Four-time defending champions Africa were third with 116 points. The strong Russian women's squad defended their title with 137 points, nine ahead of Team Europe. The Americas were third with 117 points and the U.S. fourth (101.5). With fewer Greek stars competing, Day two's attendance was less than the estimated 30-35,000 that attended on the first day, but still numbered about 20,000. The 2010 World Cup will take place in the Dalmatian coast resort town of Split, Croatia.
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