Distance Preview of 2007 Ostrava Meet By Bob Ramsak (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved June 26, 2007
OSTRAVA,
CZECH REPUBLIC On the track where Kenenisa Bekele succeeded Haile
Gebrselassie as the 10,000m world record holder, the fabled Ethiopian
and his younger
compatriot Meseret Defar are poised to take center
stage when the European international season resumes on Wednesday at
the 46th Golden Spike Grand Prix in this sprawling eastern Czech city.
Just
12 days after her staggering 14:16.63 world record in Oslo, Defar
returns to action again in the 5000. Although the 23-year-old Olympic
champion hasn't promised to take her record down even further, she
hasn't fully dismissed the possibility either.
"I'm in good
condition right now," Defar said. "I ran a very good race in Oslo and
I'm hoping to perform well in Ostrava too." At the Golden League
kick-off in the Norwegian capital, Defar sliced nearly eight seconds
from her own year-old standard and admits that a similar scenario is
unlikely.
"In Oslo I broke the world record by a large margin. So it will be difficult here. I'll try, but don't know if it will happen."
Finding
athletes in the same league as Defar is an impossible chore for
virtually any meet, but Defar hardly dismisses the credentials of
compatriots Gelete Burka and Meselech Melkamu. Burka ran a personal
best 14:38.18 to win at Hengelo last month and Melkamu, who chased
Defar to a photo finish in her world indoor 3000m record in February,
has a 14:37.44 career best.
"There are some good athletes in the race," Defar said, "and I will decide during the race what I should do."
Hoping
for an Oslo rerun, organizers have brought in Russian Olga Komyagina to
help with the pacing, just as she did in Oslo's world record run.
GEBRSELASSIE TO CHASE HOUR RUN WR
After
his 26:52.81 in the Hengelo 10,000m late last month, Gebrselassie
showed that he's still very much at home on the track, despite his
career transition onto the roads. After that run, he said, he decided
to take another stab at the 16-year-old world record for the one-hour
run.
"I'm
thinking there is a possibility (for the world record) because my
condition is good," he said. "My test in Hengelo was good preparation
for this."
This will be the Ethiopian's second attempt on the
record of 21,101 meters --just under 53 laps of the track-- set by
Mexican Arturo Barrios in La Fléche, France, on 30 March 1991. In
Hengelo in the spring of 2002, Gebrselassie was well ahead of record
pace before he stepped off the track in the 39th minute, overcome by
cramps. Gebrselassie said he's much more confident and comfortable this
time around than prior to his attempt five years ago.
"It was my
first competition after surgery," he recalled, adding that his body
simply wasn't ready. Along the way, Gebrselassie can also eclipse the
56:55.6 mark Barrios also set that day for 20,000m, and after 22 world
records in his career, he likes the two-for-one this race offers.
"It's two records, the one hour and 20,000m," he said, smiling broadly, "so it will be fantastic if this can happen."
Czech
legend Emil Zatopek was the first runner to cover 20 kilometers in
under an hour, giving the event added significance here. Gebrselassie
will have three pacesetters, but with four others in the field, the
race will most certainly rewrite the all-time list in this
rarely-contested event.
DEEP MEN's 5000m FIELD
Ostrava's
Mitrovice stadium will also play host to the finest field yet assembled
this season in the men's 5000. In all, nine of the 20 starters have
career bests of under 13 minutes; leading the pack is this year's world
leader Tariku Bekele (13:04.05) contesting his first race since
finishing runner-up finish to Craig Mottram at the Prefontaine Classic
two miler 16 days ago. Mottram is also in the field, making his first
northern summer outing of the season in his best and favorite event.
Also in the field are Zersenay Tadesse, Eritrea's reigning world cross
country and road running champion; Kenyan Isaac Songok, who joined the
sub-12:50 club in Zurich last summer; and Kenyan Micah Kogo, last
season's fastest in the 10,000.
Olympic
bronze medallist and this year's world leader Paul Kipsiele Koech
(8:01.05) leads the field in the steeplechase, hoping to avoid a rerun
of last year's race. In the 2006 edition, Koech dashed to the finish a
lap early after the lap counter miscounted. This year, he, and
particularly the judges, will be a little more alert.
In the
men's 800, Olympic champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy will be looking to
bounce back from his defeat in his 2007 opener 16 days ago at the
Prefontaine Classic at the hands of rising American star Nick Symmonds.
In Ostrava the 26-year-old Russian is clearly the class of the field
after Wilfred Bungei's withdrawal due to a training injury last week.
Hoping for another upset will be rapidly improving Ugandan teenager
Abraham Chepkirwok, who dipped under 1:45 for the first time in Oslo
nine days ago, Kenyan Ismael Kombich, and another teenager, Kenyan-born
Mansour Ali Bilal of Bahrain.
The women's two-lapper features
Russia's reigning European champions, indoor winner Oksana Zbrozhek
and outdoor winner Olga Kotlyarova. Olympic bronze medallist Jolanda
Ceplak of Slovenia will be looking to bounce back from her loss at the
European Cup First League race in Milan on Sunday. Six of the 12
starters in the crowded field have already run under 2:01 this season.
