VALENCIA, Spain (07-Mar) -- Resting immediately after her 800m heat,
Maria Mutola sat on the steps leading up from the floor of the Palau
Lluis Puig Velodrome to the interview area. She chatted casually with
the other athletes as they walked by, and stayed there to watch the
next heat. To think what those eyes have seen...
At 35, Mutola is the grande dame of these 12th IAAF World Indoor
Championships. Starting with Toronto in 1993, Mutola has competed in
every one of these championships, and is making her ninth appearance
here, the most of any athlete. More remarkably, she's won an
astounding seven titles, also the most of any athlete. Could there be
one more in what she says will be her final indoor meeting?
"It has been a good race, it felt really good," she said after
controlling and winning the second of four qualifying heats in 2:04.82
and advancing to tomorrow afternoon's semi-finals. "I'm going to fight
to get into the final, then only God knows what will happen."
Perhaps no longer at the peak of her form, Mutola could still squeeze
out another win, or perhaps her ninth medal in these championships.
The only time she did not make the top step of the podium was in
Maebashi in 1999 when she took silver to Czech Ludmila Formanová.
Based on the results of today's heats, there is no clear favorite for
Sunday's final. Spain's Mayte Martínez, who finished second to Mutola
in heat 2 and was the bronze medalist in Osaka last August, certainly
must be looked at as likely for the podium, especially with the Spanish
crowd behind her. Italian Elisa Cusma Piccione was strong in beating
Australian Tamsyn Lewis in heat 1, and the Morrocan, Seltana Aït
Hammou, showed her powerful finishing sprint in winning the third heat.
Also, the front-running Ukrainian who won the final heat, Tetiana
Petlyuk, can't be counted out.
But Mutola, whose soft voice always seems at odds with her powerful
physique, is the sentimental favorite, especially in what she says will
be her final year of competition. She hopes to make it to the final in
Beijing and win her second Olympic title, or third Olympic medal, to
close one of the greatest careers in athletics history.
"I've been competing for many years, and I'm very happy that at 35 I'm still amongst the elite," she said.
# # # # # #
In other qualifying action in today's afternoon/evening session,
Russia's Dmitriy Bogdanov led all 800m qualifiers with a 1:48.38 win in
heat 1. Other favorites to advance included Bahrain's Yusuf Saad Kamel
(the former Gregory Konchella of Kenya), Uganda's Abraham Chepkirwok,
South Africa's Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, Sudan's teenager Abubaker Kaki
Khamis, and America's Nick Symmonds and Khadevis Robinson.
Robinson came second to the big Dutchman, Robert Lathouwers, in a rough
and tumble heat 5 which saw the two athletes come in contact with each
other several times.
"I don't mind it, but I think it really took something out of me," said Robinson who led most of the heat.
As for Lathouwers, running the 800m is all new to him. He said that
today's race was only his fifth 800m (he usually runs the 400m), and
he's used to running in his own lane.
"We were just like boxing," he joked with a reporter as he showed that
he had been spiked on his left shin. "You don't make that in the 400
meters."
In the men's 1500m qualifying, most of the favorites advanced to
tomorrow's final, although Bahrain's Belal Mansoor Ali was eliminated
when he finished only fifth in the first heat. It was in that heat
where Ethiopia's Deresse Mekonnen and New Zealand's Nick Willis got
away with two laps to go to qualify 1-2 in 3:39.74 and 3:40.66,
respectively. Willis was thrilled.
"Yeah, I couldn't ask for anything better," said Willis. "Qualifying's the hard part; all the fun will be in the final."
Other medal favorites who advanced included Kenya's Daniel Kipchirchir
Komen, Spain's Juan Carlos Higuero, Ethiopia's Mekonnen Gebremedhin,
and Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi, the 2005 800/1500 world champion.
# # # # # #
The middle and long distance action continues at Palau Lluis Puig
Velodrome tomorrow with the women's 3000m final, the men's and women's
800m semi-finals and the men's 1500m final. (800 and 1500 Results Below, Full Result here)
800 Metres - W Heats Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 4 fastest times (q) qualified.
Heat 1
07 March 2008 - 17:55
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
3
Elisa Cusma Piccione
ITA
2:01.62 Q
.
2
5
Tamsyn Lewis
AUS
2:01.85 Q
(NR)
3
4
Marian Burnett
GUY
2:02.35 q
(NR)
4
2
Margarita Fuentes-Pila
ESP
2:03.89 q
(SB)
.
6
Natalya Ignatova
RUS
DQ
.
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
111
Elisa Cusma Piccione
ITA
30.06
400m
111
Elisa Cusma Piccione
ITA
1:01.56
600m
2
Tamsyn Lewis
AUS
1:32.00
Heat 2
07 March 2008 - 18:01
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
5
Maria de Lurdes Mutola
MOZ
2:04.82 Q
.
2
6
Mayte MartÃnez
ESP
2:04.92 Q
.
3
3
Agnes Samaria
NAM
2:05.23
(SB)
4
4
Nicole Cook
USA
2:06.67
.
5
2
Fanja Rakotomalala-Felix
MAD
2:08.42
(NR)
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
145
Agnes Samaria
NAM
32.27
400m
248
Nicole Cook
USA
1:06.38
600m
144
Maria de Lurdes Mutola
MOZ
1:36.43
Heat 3
07 March 2008 - 18:07
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
4
Seltana Aït Hammou
MAR
2:04.69 Q
.
2
6
Ewelina Setowska-Dryk
POL
2:04.71 Q
.
3
3
Marilyn Okoro
GBR
2:05.09
.
4
5
Mariya Savinova
RUS
2:06.72
.
5
2
Lysaira Del Valle
PUR
2:07.58
(SB)
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
167
Lysaira Del Valle
PUR
30.80
400m
167
Lysaira Del Valle
PUR
1:03.67
600m
204
Mariya Savinova
RUS
1:35.67
Heat 4
07 March 2008 - 18:13
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
6
Tetiana Petlyuk
UKR
2:00.40 Q
.
2
5
Jennifer Meadows
GBR
2:00.60 Q
.
3
4
Mihaela Neacsu
ROU
2:00.79 q
(SB)
4
3
Nicole Teter
USA
2:01.73 q
(SB)
5
2
Natalia Gallego
AND
2:15.97
.
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
239
Tetiana Petlyuk
UKR
28.14
400m
239
Tetiana Petlyuk
UKR
58.53
600m
239
Tetiana Petlyuk
UKR
1:29.34
800 Metres - M Heats Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 6 fastest times (q) qualified.
Heat 1
07 March 2008 - 18:20
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
6
Dmitriy Bogdanov
RUS
1:48.38 Q
.
2
2
Fabiano Peçanha
BRA
1:49.03 Q
(PB)
3
4
Abdoulaye Wagne
SEN
1:49.07 q
(PB)
4
5
Jozef Repcìk
SVK
1:49.15 q
.
5
3
Michael Blackwood
JAM
1:52.69
.
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
40
Fabiano Peçanha
BRA
26.03
400m
40
Fabiano Peçanha
BRA
54.23
600m
40
Fabiano Peçanha
BRA
1:21.81
Heat 2
07 March 2008 - 18:26
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
3
Yusuf Saad Kamel
BRN
1:48.71 Q
.
2
5
Abraham Chepkirwok
UGA
1:48.80 Q
.
3
6
Dmitrijs Milkevics
LAT
1:49.10 q
.
4
4
Mattias Claesson
SWE
1:49.12 q
.
5
2
Fadrique Iglesias
BOL
1:50.55
.
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
313
Mattias Claesson
SWE
26.16
400m
313
Mattias Claesson
SWE
54.89
600m
313
Mattias Claesson
SWE
1:23.03
Heat 3
07 March 2008 - 18:32
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
6
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi
RSA
1:50.86 Q
.
2
3
Manuel Olmedo
ESP
1:51.07 Q
.
3
4
Jakub Holuša
CZE
1:51.09
.
4
5
Damien Moss
GBR
1:51.39
.
5
2
Eduard Villanueva
VEN
1:51.83
.
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
274
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi
RSA
27.12
400m
94
Manuel Olmedo
ESP
56.70
600m
274
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi
RSA
1:24.65
Heat 4 - revised
07 March 2008 - 18:38
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
5
Nick Symmonds
USA
1:49.30 Q
.
2
4
Lukas Rifeser
ITA
1:49.51 Q
.
3
1
Moise Joseph
HAI
1:49.70
(SB)
4
3
Aldwyn Sappleton
JAM
1:51.24
.
.
6
Richard Kiplagat
KEN
DQ
.
.
2
Lamine Bangoura
GUI
DNF
.
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
203
Richard Kiplagat
KEN
25.75
400m
203
Richard Kiplagat
KEN
53.74
600m
203
Richard Kiplagat
KEN
1:21.39
Heat 5
07 March 2008 - 18:44
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
4
Robert Lathouwers
NED
1:49.32 Q
.
2
5
Khadevis Robinson
USA
1:49.33 Q
.
3
3
Amine Laalou
MAR
1:49.41
.
4
6
Yuriy Koldin
RUS
1:49.60
.
5
2
Deon Bascom
GUY
1:55.88
.
6
1
Florian Hilti
LIE
1:59.91
(SB)
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
359
Khadevis Robinson
USA
26.46
400m
359
Khadevis Robinson
USA
55.34
600m
359
Khadevis Robinson
USA
1:22.76
Heat 6
07 March 2008 - 18:50
Position
Lane
Bib
Athlete
Country
Mark
.
1
5
Abubaker Kaki Khamis
SUD
1:47.80 Q
.
2
6
Eugenio Barrios
ESP
1:48.70 Q
.
3
3
Richard Hill
GBR
1:49.06 q
.
4
4
Ehsan Mohajershojaei
IRI
1:49.14 q
.
5
2
Dávid Takács
HUN
1:49.79
(SB)
Intermediate
Bib
Athlete
nat
Mark
200m
88
Eugenio Barrios
ESP
25.98
400m
309
Abubaker Kaki Khamis
SUD
53.97
600m
309
Abubaker Kaki Khamis
SUD
1:21.79
1500 Metres - M Heats Qual. rule: first 2 of each heat (Q) plus the 3 fastest times (q) qualified.