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The women-only half marathon world record * was improved to 1:06:11 at the IAAF/Trinidad Alfonso World Half Marathon Championships Valencia 2018but it wasn’t acquired by race favourite Joyciline Jepkosgei, who owns the mixed-race standard of 1:04:51, but by slightly surprising Ethiopia’s Netsanet Gudeta.Gudeta – with the name Kebede on her bib in reference to her extended family name but who appears in vast majority of race results and is better known by solely her father’s name – made a decisive bid for glory in the 14th kilometre to shake off both Jepkosgei and her little-known Kenyan compatriot Pauline Kamulu and was never headed over the final third of the race.
She reduced Lornah Kiplagat’s world and championship record, which had stood since the 2007 edition, by 14 seconds – as well as slicing 1:15 off her own personal best set in Delhi last November – and fittingly, after being slumped for a time beside the barriers beyond the finish line while she regained her composure, was helped to her feet and congratulated by the Dutch woman whose records she had just superseded.
Records looked likely from the moment the gun went.
A 13-strong group consisting of the three Kenyan runners on the final entry list and all five of the Ethiopia and Bahrain women’s squads flew through the first 3km in 9:20.
Admittedly, the opening kilometres saw the runners have gusting winds on their back, but the predicted finishing time was well inside 66 minutes and stayed that way for the next two kilometres despite a slight easing off of the pace before 5km was passed in 15:39.
The Kenyan trio of Ruth Chepngetich, Jepkosgei and Kamulu were forcing the pace with the other 10 women wisely using them as wind breaks.
Working together, but now running into the wind, between seven and eight kilometres Jepkosgei, and Kamulu started to surge in familiar fashion to the way that Kenyan runners have so often done at major championship races in the past and only Gudeta, fellow Ethiopian Meseret Belete and Bahrain’s Asian record holder Eunice Chumba could stay with them.
Passing 10km in 31:38, with Belete clearly starting to struggle and an 11-second gap back to a third Ethiopian Zeineba Yimer, the definite impression that the medallists were going to come from the leading quartet was getting stronger with every stride, and so it proved.
Even though the leaders had drifted outside the pace to beat Kiplagat’s marks, who had passed 10km in 31:10 in the Italian city of Udine 11 years ago, they were still operating at a high tempo.
Over the next couple of kilometres, Gudeta showed more regularly at the front to demonstrate to everyone that she was still fresh and then she made her move. Having passed 13 kilometres and crossing to the south side of the famed Turia Gardens, she went through the gears to test the mettle of her remaining rivals.
Initially, it was the unheralded Kamulu who gave chase but she could not stay with Gudeta for long.
Passing 15km in 47:30, with Kamulu four seconds in arrears and Jepkosgei a further four seconds down the road, Gudeta looked supremely relaxed as some gentle rain started to fall and she consistently and constantly turned the screw.
Gudeta passed 18km in an unofficial 56:45 to bring the world and championship record back into focus, and then speeded up to go through 20km in 1:02:53, now a full 40 seconds clear of Kamulu.
As she turned the corner into the long finishing straight alongside the august Valencia landmark of the Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, the clock had not yet reached 66 minutes and so Gudeta dug deep and started to sprint over the final 150 metres before going into new territory and taking the US$50,000 world record bonus.
“The race went according to plan, I was only thinking about the gold medal,” reflected Gudeta, sixth and fourth at the last two IAAF World half Marathon Championships, speaking through a translator.
Gudeta later confirmed that it was part of her pre-race plans to let the Kenyans take the pace through the first half of the race and that her training had been geared towards sustaining a fast pace all the way to the finish.
Behind the winner, there was drama as Jepkosgei found her second wind over the last three kilometres.
At almost exactly the 20km checkpoint, she got up on the shoulder of Kamulu before edging past her compatriot to take second place in 1:06:54 with Kamulu two seconds back in a personal best of 1:06:56.
Jepkosgei revealed that after her mixed-race world record in Valencia last October she had suffered from malaria that had affected her training, although she had come back to finish sixth in the RAK half Marathon last month. “I have been recovering slowly but I still came here for a medal,” she commented.
Chumba just missed out on being Bahrain’s first ever medallist at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships when she finished fourth in 1:07:17 but did get to climb the podium and see the Bahrain flag fly for the first time at a medal ceremony when the Asian country took the team bronze medals behind Ethiopia and Kenya.
Oromo athlete Genzebe Dibaba wins 3,000m world title for the 3rd consecutive years. Oromo athlete Sifan Hassan for Netherlands takes silver and Laura Muir of UK earns bronze in IAAF World Indoor Championships 2018.
Genzebe Dibaba wins her 3rd straight 3000m World Indoor title with a time of 8:45.07.
Laura Muir wins bronze in the world indoor 3,000m behind Genzebe Dibaba (gold) and Sifan Hassan. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP. Source, The Guardian.
‘The IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018 may have only just started, but the women’s 3000m could be remembered as one of the best events of the championships. Genzebe Dibaba was defending her title against 13 other women in a field that included world 5000m champion Hellen Obiri, 2016 world indoor 1500m champion Sifan Hassan and double European indoor champion Laura Muir to name but a few. The Ethiopian holds numerous world records indoors and out, but tonight was about winning medals, not breaking records. She duly went right to the back of the field, just behind Hassan, as the race got underway’…. more at IAAF Report: The IAAF World Indoor Championships Birmingham 2018
ICYMI: #Ethiopia's @GenzebeD Dibaba won her third World indoor 3000m title in 8.45.05 on Thursday night. #Kenya's 2017 World 5000m champion @hellen_obiri faded to 4th in 8:49.66, and sadly missed out on the medals. #wicbham2018
Living up to her meeting poster girl billing, Genzebe Dibaba powered to the second fastest indoor 1500m of all time to highlight the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Saturday (3), the opening leg of the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Tour.
The Ethiopian’s sensational 3:57.45 run was one of five world leading performances to play out before a vociferous sell-out crowd of 4,500 at the Messe Halle Karlsruhe, but the only one likely to remain atop the world lists, unless Dibaba herself decides to attack it later this season.
Clearly, Dibaba likes to race in Karlsruhe. The Ethiopian set the 3:55.17 world indoor record at this meeting four years ago on the nearby Europahalle track. She clocked 4:00.13 two years prior to that, which is, after this evening, the 10th fastest run of all-time.
On this return engagement, she looked like the Dibaba of 2014, attacking her world standard from the gun. She looked eager early on, testing her patience behind the pacesetter Nelly Jepkosgei, who opened with a 1:01.16 opening 400m. That was well inside the 62.5 in Dibaba’s world record run, but too quick for Jepkosgei, who struggled in the waning stages of her 800-metre assignment. The tempo not to her liking, Dibaba forged ahead to go it alone, passing the 800m mark in 2:07.52, a second-and-a-half faster than four years ago.
Unrelenting, her record assault intentions, mere whispers prior to the race, were clear by 1100m. Here the clock read 3:10.57, almost identical to the 3:10.5 en route to her record. Forging on, she finally ran out of steam midway through the final bend, but still managed to finish well under the formidable indoor four-minute barrier for the third time. No other woman can claim that achievement.
While Dibaba went for broke from the outset, the race for second was a contest of patience. Kenyans Beatrice Chepkoech and Winny Chebet tried to maintain for the first 800 metres, but quick paid for those ambitions, both falling back over the next two laps. That played well into the hands of Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who often prefers to run alone. Passing the Kenyan duo, the German, who will celebrate her 21st birthday on 18 February, pushed on to eventually reach the line in 4:04.00, a personal best.
Chepkoech was third in 4:08.33 and Chebet fourth clocking 4:09.45.
NELVIS IMPROVES TO 7.80
While Dibaba was the meeting’s main global attraction, that role’s national counterpart was played by Pamela Dutkiewicz, whose star has risen considerably since she took world 100m hurdles bronze last summer in London. But Sharika Nelvis of the US rained on that parade after she emerged victorious in a blanket finish in the 60m hurdles, clocking 7.80, another world lead and nabbing ten World Indoor Tour points.
(Reuters, London) The Olympic champion began pulling away from the field after 10 laps, sweeping past back markers who were made to look sluggish in comparison.
She finished in 30:16.32 seconds, well outside the world record she set when she won in Rio last year but still enough to win by an astonishing 46.37 seconds, by far the biggest margin in championship history.
Ayana’s compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba, the former world and Olympic champion, added to her impressive collection of medals when he took the silver with Kenya’s Agnes Tirop in third.
(IAAF, 5 August 2017, London) While the Olympic final last year went out at close to world record pace from the get-go, the first three kilometres were covered in a cumbersome nick but with the clock showing a fraction inside ten minutes after the first three kilometres, Ayana cut loose and put on a display second only to her world record performance at the Olympics last year.
Only Turkey’s Yasemin Can tried to follow Ayana’s break but the reigning European champion – finding this field a step up in calibre to the continent fields she has dominated in recent seasons – soon paid for trying to cling onto the leader’s coat-tails, eventually fading back to 11th in 31:35.48 and getting lapped in the process.
Ayana covered the tenth and eleventh laps in 67.41 and 67.89 respectively before reaching halfway in 15:51.38 with a seven second advantage on Can, who was dropping back into the chasing pack which included the Kenyan triumvirate headed by Alice Aprot and Tirunesh Dibaba.
Arguably the greatest track runner in history with eight major titles to her name across a decade-long timespan from 2003, Dibaba admitted she wasn’t in shape on this occasion to match Ayana after an abbreviated build-up following a spring road racing season culminating with an Ethiopian record of 2:17:56 in the London Marathon.
“If I had followed her [Ayana], I wouldn’t have won a medal. I know my capacity these days because my training for this race was very short,” said Dibaba, who only began her build-up to this race as recently as two months’ ago.
But even Dibaba at her most imperious might have struggled to stick with Ayana, who was consistently lapping at under 70-second pace per lap. Her fifth kilometre – covered in 2:49.18 – even represented world record pace for the 5000m, let alone for the 10,000m.
Aside from Dibaba and Aprot, the second group included the last two world cross country champions – Irene Cheptai and Agnes Tirop – but for all of their titles and credentials, they were losing nearly 10 seconds with each kilometre. Ayana was within sight at halfway but by the eight kilometre mark (24:30.03), the long-time leader – who covered that section in 8:38.65 – led by 36.70, representing more than half-a-lap in terms of distance on the track.
Having made a herculean mid-race effort, Ayana’s lap times were beginning to drift outside 70-second pace over the last five laps – putting Berhane Adere’s championship record of 30:04.18 just out of view – but Ayana still crossed the finish-line in 30:16.32, the second fastest winning time in championship history.
A whole gamut of stats and numbers emerged once Ayana’s scintillating performance was dissected but the most noteworthy one was her second half split of 14:24.95 – a time which would have ranked ninth in its own right on the world all-time lists.
In the race for the minor medals, Cheptai was the first of the contingent to crack – followed by Aprot – and while Dibaba might lack the pace which has taken her to so many titles over the years, Dibaba moved past Tirop at the bell and held her off on the last lap, 31:02.69 to Tirop’s 31:03.50.
After finishing fourth at the Olympics last year, Aprot just missed out on the medals again in 31:11.86 with Cheptai fading to seventh in 31:21.11, passed by the Netherlands’ Susan Krumins (31:20.24) and 2015 bronze medallist Emily Infeld (31:20.45) in the run-in to the finish.
Ayana answered any questions about her form in the most decisive manner possible but despite her barnstorming display in tonight’s 10,000m, it might be presumptuous to say that she is a shoo-in for the 5000m title.
One year ago, Ayana was a dead-cert to follow up her Olympic 10,000m title with a second gold medal but a stomach ailment left her weakened for her third race of the championships and she had to settle for bronze behind Kenyans Vivian Cheruiyot and Hellen Obiri, the latter hungry to claim her first global outdoor title.
Oromo athlete Tamirat Tola (silver medalist) finish 2nd to Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya.
Tola, the Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist and fastest in the field thanks to the 2:04:11 he recorded in winning this year’s Dubai Marathon, required medical treatment after struggling home in 2:09:49, just two seconds ahead of Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu, who clocked 2:09:41.
Congratulations to All!!! The final of #iaafworldchampionships2017 in women’s 5000M: Helen Obiri of Kenya (Gold) Oromo athletes Alamaz Ayana (Silver), Sifan Hassan for Netherlands (Bronze) & Senbere Teferi Sora is 4th.
Muktar Idris wins Gold in men’s 5000m and Yomifkejelcha is 4th.
The medals tally Oromo athletes (athletes of Oromia origin) win at IAAF World Championships London 2017 makes Oromia the top 6th country in the world, on the par with the host country, UK and next to China. Wthout Oromia Ethiopia just does not exist. in the spirit of Ayyaanaa and Ethics of Gadaa Oromia can stand and go alone.
The three-time world indoor champion overtook the pacemaker just before the half-way mark, which was reached in 2:42.65, and continued to extend her lead over her younger sister Anna and Morocco’s Siham Hilali.
She went on to stop the clock at 5:23.75, taking almost seven seconds off the world indoor best set by Gabriela Szabo in 1998. Although the 2000m isn’t an official world record event indoors, Dibaba’s performance – pending ratification – can be classed as an outright world record as it is faster than Sonia O’Sullivan’s outdoor mark of 5:25.36.
As well as the outdoor 1500m world record, Dibaba now owns the fastest ever recorded times indoors for the 1500m, mile, 2000m, 3000m, two miles and 5000m.
Elsewhere in Sabadell, European champion Adam Kszczot won the 800m in 1:46.31 with Spanish record-holder Kevin Lopez taking second place in 1:46.58.
European 5000m silver medallist Adel Mechaal was a convincing winner of the 3000m, clocking 7:48.39 to finish more than two seconds ahead of Italy’s Marouan Razine.
Tamirat Tola was the only survivor of a grueling early pace tonight in Dubai. Six competitors and two pacemakers went through halfway under 62 minutes, and Tola was the only one to finish under 2:06. He crossed the line in 2:04:10, making him the third fastest Ethiopian ever and the ninth fastest man ever on a record-legal course. (The 2011 Boston Marathon, forever a scourge on the record books, means that Tola is the No. 11 performer ever in all conditions.)Tola’s run also broke the 2:04:23 course record, which was run in 2012 in much more hospitable conditions. It was in the 50s that year; it’s 72 in Dubai right now, at least 20 degrees warmer than ideal.
The weather, pace, and maybe a bizarre injury at the start knocked out Tola’s countryman Kenenisa Bekele just over halfway through the race. After the race, Bekele’s manager Jos Hermens told the broadcast said that Bekele was pushed from behind, fell, and injured his arm and calf right at the start of the race. Hermens said that on the broadcast that the gun went off at the start with no notice, which caused the crash.
But it was a breakout performance for the 25-year-old Tola, if it’s possible to break out after winning an Olympic medal. Tola hadn’t run a marathon since finishing fourth in Dubai in 2:06 in 2014. His focus on the track worked in 2016, as he ran 26:57 at the Prefontaine Classic and finished third in the 10K at the Olympics. His win is worth $200,000, and he missed a $50,000 bonus for breaking 2:04 by just ten seconds. Runner-up Mule Wasihun ran 2:06:46, and no one else broke 2:08.
Tola hung in the lead pack for the first half of the race, and between 25K and 30K, he and the rabbit broke away from the field. Rabbit Amos Kipruto dropped out just after 30K, and Tola was left with a one-minute lead that only grew.
With the hot conditions and hotter early pace, only six men broke 2:10.
In the women’s race, Worknesh Degefa beat pre-race favorite Shure Demise, finishing in 2:22:35. Demise was 22 seconds behind in second place. It was Degefa’s marathon debut. Like Tola, the 26-year-old won $200,000 for her efforts. Degefa’s debut is the eleventh fastest marathon debut ever.
Oromia’s Almaz Ayana and Jamaica’s Usain Bolt have been crowned the female and male World Athletes of the Year at the IAAF Athletics Awards 2016, held at Sporting Monte Carlo on 2nd December 2016.
Ayana had a record-breaking year. After recording the fastest 10,000m debut in history in June, the Oromian went on to win the Olympic title at the distance in a world record of 29:17.45.
She added to her Olympic medal haul in Rio by taking bronze in the 5000m, her only loss of the year. Having recorded three of the eight fastest times at 5000m, she ended the year as the Diamond Race winner for that discipline.
She becomes the third Oromo (representing Ethiopia) woman to win this award, following Genzebe Dibaba in 2015 and Meseret Defar in 2007.
“I don’t have words to explain my feelings right now, I’m so excited,” said Ayana whose award was presented by International Athletics Foundation (IAF) Honorary President HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco. “Really, I’m so pleased.”
Bolt, who won the award five times between 2008 and 2013, added to his legacy by earning the trophy for a record sixth occasion. The sprinting superstar this year successfully defended his Olympic titles in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m, bringing his lifetime tally of Olympic gold medals to nine.
He clocked season’s bests of 9.81 and 19.78 to win the 100m and 200m in Rio and then anchored the Jamaican team to a world-leading 37.27 when winning the 4x100m.
He also went undefeated throughout the whole season at all distances, including heats.
“I live for the moments when I walk into a stadium and I hear a loud roar and Rio was outstanding,” said Bolt, whose award was presented by IAAF President Sebastian Coe. “One of the main reasons I’m continuing for another year is because of the fans; they don’t want me to retire. I have to give thanks to them.”
At the age of 21, the Canadian sprinter earned the Olympic 200m silver medal in Rio, having set a national record of 19.80 in the semifinal. He took bronze over 100m in a PB of 9.91 and anchored the Canadian team to bronze in the 4x100m, setting a national record of 37.64. FEMALE RISING STAR Nafissatou Thiam
The Belgian all-round talent won gold in the heptathlon at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with a world-leading national record of 6810. Just 21 at the time, only one athlete (Carolina Kluft) has ever produced a higher score than Thiam’s at that age. En route to her Olympic triumph, she set a world heptathlon best of 1.98m in the high jump; higher than the winning leap in the individual high jump final. COACHING ACHIEVEMENT Harry Marra
The US coach guided Ashton Eaton to his second successive decathlon gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where Eaton equalled the Olympic record, and his third consecutive world indoor heptathlon title. Marra also guided Brianne Theisen-Eaton to the pentathlon title at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016, where she broke the North American record. She later earned the bronze medal in the heptathlon at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. PRESIDENTS AWARD Tegla Loroupe
Loroupe was the Chef de Mission for the Refugee Olympic Team in Rio. The former marathon world record-holder helped select the Refugee Olympic Team after the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation held a competition at the Kakuma refugee camp in north-west Kenya.
This award recognises and honours great service to athletics. WOMEN IN ATHLETICS Polyxeni Argeitaki
Argeitaki is an assistant professor of athletics at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens. The former Greek champion at middle-distance events is the treasurer, council member and president of the scientific committee at the Hellenic Athletics Federation. She has also written more than 50 scientific publications.
This award recognises outstanding achievements and contributions made to develop, encourage and strengthen the participation of women and girls at all levels of the sport.
Oromo athletes Dino Sefir and Koren Jelela Yal beat the heat and they beat the fields to win Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon titles, Sunday, May 29, 2016. They drifted to the men’s and women’s titles and their respective first-place bonuses of US $30,000.
Under warm and humid conditions Dino Sefir ran away from what had been considered a very tightly competitive group to win in 2:08:14. The 2012 Olympian outlasted pacers who reached only 25km before dropping out, as well as his countryman, a 19-year-old Tola Shura Kitata, to earn himself the victor’s laurels. Kitata, who burst onto the scene a year ago after running 2:08:53 in his marathon debut in Shanghai, was second in 2:10:04 with Kenya’s Dominic Ondoro third in 2:11:39.
Following Jelela to the end of the official 42.195-kilometre course were 2015 champion Aberu Makeria (2:29:51) and two other Oromo athletes, Sechale Delasa (2:32:46) and Makida Abdela Hordofa (2:34:29).
Oromo athlete Sifan Hassan claimed her first global title in women’s 1500m IAAF indoor Championships Portland 2016. On 19 March 2016, Saturday night, the 23-year-old seizing control of the women’s 1500m final with less than three laps to run and refusing to be passed thereafter to win in 4:04.96.
Hassan was followed by other Oromo athletes Dawit Seyaum and Gudaf Tsegay, who ran 4:04.96 and 4:05.71 respectively to round out the podium.
OMN in Afaan Oromoo interview with Siifan Hasan: Gaaffii fi Deebii gabaabaa Atileet Siifan Hasan Waliin Taasifame.(Bit.21,2016)
Oromo athlete Genzebe Dibaba cruised to victory and her third world indoor title, unchallenged, in 8:47.43 ahead of teammate Meseret Defar (8:54.26) and Shannon Rowbury (8:55.55).
WOMEN’S 3000M FINAL – IAAF WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS PORTLAND 2016.
Genzebe Dibaba gets a warm congratulatory kiss from her fan
Oromo athlete Yomif Qajelchaa cruised to victory for the world indoor title in men’s 3000m, Portland 2016, 20 March 2016
The 18 year old, Oromo athlete Yomif Qajelchaa went to Eugene in 2014 and won the world junior 5000m title. Last year, he won over the same distance at the famed IAAF Diamond League meeting there and on 20 march 2016 he took the gold medal over 3000m at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.
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