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Abeylegesse Headlines European Cup 10k This Weekend by Bob Ramsak (c) 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved April 12, 2006
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Abeylegesse of Turkey, the world record holder in the 5000 meters, tops
the entries for this weekend's 10th edition of the European Cup 10,000m
in Antalya, Turkey.
Saturday's competition will be the first for
the 23-year-old Turk since her double victory at European Cup Second
League match in Istanbul, Turkey, last June. For the past ten months,
The Ethiopian-born Abeylegesse has been sidelined while receiving
treatment for kidney stones.
“I am fit and healthy now and I am
eager to be back in the arena after 10 months out," Abeylegese said in
a press release. “This will be only the second 10,000m race in my
career and I ran the previous one five years ago. So I am set to
discover myself and am curious to see how good I can be at the
distance."
Her only outing over the distance came at the 2001
Mediterranean Games where she finished third in 32:29.20, a national
and national junior record. At the Bislett Games in Bergen, Norway, in
2004, Abeylegesse produced a stunning 14:24.68 performance in the 5000,
eclipsing Bo Jiang’s 1997 record by more than three seconds.
“My
first aim is of course winning this competition, but a world record
holder cannot set low profile targets. If it is not too windy during
the race and if the race is not too crowded, I would love to run a fast
time, a real fast one.” Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain set the Cup
record of 30:40.70 in 1999.
Other entries include Analia Rosa of
Portugal, who was eighth in the 3000 meters at last month's World
Indoor Championships; European Under-23 champion Krisztina Papp of
Hungary; and Yamna Oubohou of France and Slovenia's Helena Javornik,
the 2001 and 2002 European cross country champions. Javornik, who
recently celebrated her 40th birthday, was runner-up at last weekend's
Rotterdam Marathon in 2:29:37.
Athletes from France, Spain and
Portugal are the top entries in the men's race. Ismael Sgyhr of France,
is the quickest in the field, with a 27:12.39 personal best. The
Spanish squad is led by Ricardo Serrano, who was third in the
competition last year in 28:19.20. Portuguese
women have won the team title in seven of the nine competitions, while
Spanish men have claimed five team and six individual titles.
This
10,000m competition was created by the European Athletics Federation to
provide a quality early-season race in an event where few competitive
possibilities exist. Most athletes will be gunning for qualifying
performances for August's European Championships: 28:50.00 for men and
33:20.00 for women. As in recent years, pace setters will be provided.
