Ethiopian Bekele unbeatable in 10k

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia celebrates after winning the men's 10,000 metres finals at the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championship in Osaka yesterday. Reuters

The diminutive Ethiopian, one of the greatest distance runners the world has seen, unleashed his trademark kick with 200m to go to pass teammate Sileshi Sihine and cross the line in 27 minutes 05.90 seconds.

Sihine, the silver medallist at the Athens Olympics and 2005 world championships, again came second in 27:09.03 with Martin Irungu Mathathi of Kenya third in 27:12.17.

Bekele is now within reach of the four-consecutive 10,000m golds the legendary Haile Gebrselassie won from 1993-1996.

"Winning the world championship is fantastic for me," said the 25-year-old.

"With three laps left I was tired, but after some minutes my body started to recover. I used everything I had to come back."

Despite the gruelling effects of the race, he said he may have a crack at his own world record in Brussels in two weeks time.

"It's possible I will attempt the world record in Brussels after this, but it will be tough to run twice in less than two weeks. But I will probably try."

With Tyson Gay claiming the men's sprint title on Sunday, attention switched to the women and Campbell grabbed the honours in a photo finish.

She leant into the line at 11.01 seconds, a fraction ahead of America's Lauryn Williams. Fellow American Carmelita Jeter took bronze in 11.02 with pre-race favourite Torri Edwards fourth.

Campbell, the Olympic 200m champion, has been in scintillating form this season with three sub-11 second runs including the world's fastest time - 10.89 in Kingston.

It was a tense wait at the finish to see who had won, with the Jamaican ecstatic when confirmation flashed on the electronic scoreboard.

"It was one of my longest waits," she said of the agonising time it took.

"It was a bit confusing because the name was going back and forth but I want to thank God it was me. My start wasn't the greatest but I knew that I finished well. It was a very close race."

Russia's Yekaterina Volkova claimed the women's 3,000m steeplechase title in a championship record time of 9 minutes 6.57 seconds, also the fastest time this year.

AFP

(China Daily 08/28/2007 page24)