Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad Make an Ass of Himself, Americans Bomb

World Champs Steeple Round 1: Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad Makes An Ass Of Himself, Americans Bomb
by: LetsRun.com
August 16, 2009
Berlin, Germany

The story of the Round 1 of the men's steeplechase was France's Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad - the Olympic silver medalist - dropping out with a lap to go in his heat and grabbing his leg.

Mekhissi-Benabbad is known for being super-emotional. He celebrated a full 100 meters DURING his Paris Golden League win this year. After today's heat, he was super-pissed. He came through the media area at least 10 minutes after his race and he was still angry. He threw a water bottle against the wall. He then stormed through the media maze and we captured it on the video below.

We don't understand French but apparently he says, "Don't talk to me. You are going to say I pretend to be injured."

The American men had a horrible day. Kyle Alcorn fell back three minutes into his race and soon dropped out. Josh McAdams fell back early in his race and didn't break nine minutes (Josh in the interview below indicated he suffered an injury recently). That left Dan Huling. Huling tried early leading and with Jamel Chatbi of Morocco opened up a 10-meter gap on the field. He then quickly faded out the back to finish last in 8:46. He had no explanation for the run except for possibly needing a new warmup strategy for Worlds.

All four Kenyans advanced, looking good. With Mekhissi-Benabbad out, a Kenyan sweep of the medals looks more probable.

Heat 1

16 August 2009 - 11:00

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	736	Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong	KEN	8:17.99 Q	.
2	236	Tareq Mubarak Taher	BRN	8:18.13 Q	.
3	733	Paul Kipsiele Koech	KEN	8:18.16 Q	.
4	406	Roba Gary	ETH	8:18.22 Q	.
5	955	Abubaker Ali Kamal	QAT	8:18.95 q	(SB)
6	804	Abdelatif Chemlal	MAR	8:25.68	.
7	924	Tomasz Szymkowiak	POL	8:27.93	.
8	891	Mario Bazán	PER	8:28.67	(NR)
9	182	Pieter Desmet	BEL	8:31.81	.
10	484	Vincent Zouaoui-Dandrieaux	FRA	8:41.85	.
11	1077	Per Jacobsen	SWE	8:44.80	.
12	375	Ángel Mullera	ESP	8:47.40	.
.	1164	Kyle Alcorn	USA	DNF	.

Intermediate	Bib	Athlete	Nation	Mark
1000m	182	Pieter Desmet	BEL	2:46.11
2000m	733	Paul Kipsiele Koech	KEN	5:37.45

Heat 2

16 August 2009 - 11:14

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	728	Brimin Kiprop Kipruto	KEN	8:18.07 Q	.
2	479	Bouabdellah Tahri	FRA	8:18.23 Q	.
3	973	Ruben Ramolefi	RSA	8:18.24 Q	.
4	1131	Benjamin Kiplagat	UGA	8:18.55 Q	.
5	425	Jukka Keskisalo	FIN	8:22.00 q	.
6	1081	Mustafa Mohamed	SWE	8:22.92 q	.
7	353	José Luis Blanco	ESP	8:24.07	.
8	186	Krijn van Koolwijk	BEL	8:24.22	(SB)
9	1003	Ildar Minshin	RUS	8:33.89	.
10	259	Rob Watson	CAN	8:44.73	.
11	119	Youcef Abdi	AUS	8:49.88	.
12	411	Legese Lamiso	ETH	8:51.63	.
13	1204	Joshua McAdams	USA	9:02.19	.

Intermediate	Bib	Athlete	Nation	Mark
1000m	973	Ruben Ramolefi	RSA	2:44.54
2000m	479	Bouabdellah Tahri	FRA	5:32.02

Heat 3

16 August 2009 - 11:28

Position	Bib	Athlete	Country	Mark	.
1	724	Ezekiel Kemboi	KEN	8:19.36 Q	.
2	803	Jamel Chatbi	MAR	8:20.26 Q	.
3	409	Yacob Jarso	ETH	8:20.91 Q	.
4	370	Eliseo Martín	ESP	8:24.29 Q	.
5	818	Ion Luchianov	MDA	8:27.41	.
6	873	Bjørnar Ustad Kristensen	NOR	8:28.49	(SB)
7	572	Steffen Uliczka	GER	8:37.83	.
8	1127	Simon Ayeko	UGA	8:37.86	.
9	691	Yoshitaka Iwamizu	JPN	8:39.03	.
10	1034	Botjan Buc	SLO	8:40.56	.
11	932	Alberto Paulo	POR	8:43.13	.
12	1190	Daniel Huling	USA	8:46.79	.
.	473	Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad	FRA	DNF	.

Intermediate	Bib	Athlete	Nation	Mark
1000m	803	Jamel Chatbi	MAR	2:44.90
2000m	803	Jamel Chatbi	MAR	5:32.16