PARIS PREVIEW: BEKELE VS. LAGAT IN 3000m; MEKHISSI-BENABBAD GUNNING FOR SUB-8:00
By Bob Ramsak
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
PARIS (16-Jul) First-year Meeting Areva meet director Laurent
Boquillet may have scored a major coup by managing to bring Usain Bolt
to the French capital for tomorrow nights fourth stop of the ÅF Golden
League, but a race hes equally looking forward to the first-ever 3000m
contest between double world champion Bernard Lagat and triple Olympic
champion Kenenisa Bekele.
Bekele arrives in Paris as one of four remaining contenders for a slice
of the $1 million ÅF Golden League Jackpot, and after fending off all
challengers in three successive 5000m races, Lagat is seen as a
possible spoiler when the event moves down in distance by five laps.
The 34-year-old arrives in good spirits after a solid 3:32.56 1500m
victory in Tangiers four days ago, but Bekele insisted today that
Lagats entry wont change his game plan one bit.
Im concentrating on my race and my time, Bekele said, adding that
hes shooting for a fast performance as well. If not an assault on
Daniel Komens legendary 7:20.67 world record set nearly 13 years ago,
then perhaps an improvement on his own career best of 7:25.79 set two
years ago.
Maybe Ill try for a world record, Bekele said. If not, then maybe for my personal record. Its 7:25, so its not easy.
Bekele laughed off a suggestion by a reporter who asked if he requested a fast pace in order to knock the kick out of Lagat.
The fast pace is for me, he said after a hearty laugh. But if someone else wants to follow, that would be good, too.
Olympic steeplechase champion Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad is also
asking for a brisk pace, one that will help propel him into the events
still-exclusive sub-eight minute club.
My dream is to run under eight minutes, said the shy, somewhat
enigmatic but extremely confident 24-year-old Frenchman, who has
produced career bests over four distances already this season. And I
believe in my dream. Most important Friday will be the time. Even if I
finish second and run under eight minutes, that will be okay.
His target also means an assault on compatriot Bob Tahris 8:02.19
European record set just 13 days ago in Metz. Mekhissi-Benabbad has
already improved his career best this season, clocking 8:06.09 in
Hengelo on June 1, where he was edged, just as in Beijing, by Kenyan
Brimin Kipruto. His chief rival this weekend will be 2004 Olympic
champion Ezekiel Kemboi who improved his PB to 7:58.85 this year, the
fastest in the field.
The requested pace will bring the leaders through the first kilometer
in 2:40 and the second in 5:20. If they do a good job, I should get
under eight minutes, Mekhissi-Benabbad said.
The headline act this weekend is, of course, the meet poster boy Bolt,
whose appearance at a press conference here on Wednesday attracted
nearly 150 journalists, a number virtually unprecedented for a one-day
meet. His star power is expected to draw some 50,000 fans to the Stade
de France --the top tier of three will not be open-- the massive
stadium just to the northeast of Paris which hosted the World
championships in 2003.
There is a Bolt Factor downside, though. Bringing the 100 and 200m
world record holder takes a large chunk of the meet budget resulting in
thinner fields across the board. That fiscal reality hasnt escaped
Paris.
The program also includes a pair of 800s, with Olympic silver medalist
Ismail Ahmed Ismail starting as favorite in the mens contest. The
23-year-old from Sudan dipped under 1:44 for the first time in his
career with his runner-up finish to Asbel Kiprop in Athens on Monday,
where he clocked 1:43.82. Also arriving in the French capital in good
shape is Berlin-bound American Khadevis Robinson, who ran a solo
1:44.47 in Santa Monica last weekend.
In a wide open womens race, three of the entrants have dipped under
two minutes this season --Mediterranean Games champion Elisa Cusma of
Italy, Frenchwoman Elodie Guegan, and American steeplechase specialist
Anna Willard. USA 1500m champion Shannon Rowbury, who ran her PB over
the distance here last year, is also in the field to test her speed.