09/12/2008
by Bob Ramsak
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
STUTTGART
-– Although the year’s two biggest distance running stars --double
Olympic championship Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba-- have decided
to hang up their spikes for the season, the lure of a $3 million prize
purse nonetheless promises a star-studded field when the 6th edition of
the IAAF/VTB Bank World Athletics Final kicks off on Saturday at
Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Arena.
In Dibaba’s absence, the
spotlight in the 5000m will focus on the woman she succeeded as Olympic
champion and world record holder, Meseret Defar. Defar suffered her
second successive loss in Brussels last weekend where she was outkicked
by Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot in a fast 5000m. Both will be doubling back
on Sunday in the 3000. Also doubling this weekend is Kenyan Linet
Masai, who set a world junior record in the Olympic 10,000m, clocking
30:26.50 for fourth.
In the men’s 3000, defending champion and
world leader (7:31.83) Edwin Soi returns as Olympic bronze medallist.
On the heels of his solid victory in the Rieti 1500 last Sunday, 2007
double world champion Bernard Lagat was given a wild card spot, and
will look to end his season on a high note after leaving Beijing
empty-handed.
Seven of the top eight finishers from the women’s
3000m steeplechase final will reunite this weekend, but the focus will
large be on the top three, lead by gold medallist Gulnara Galkina. The
Russian made the inaugural Olympic final a memorable one with her
8:58.31 run, the event’s first sub-nine minute performance. She’ll be
joined by Silver medallist Eunice Jepkorir of Kenya and Russian
Yekaterina Volkova, the bronze medallist.
In the 1500m, Maryam
Yusuf Jamal will be looking for further redemption after her
disappointing fifth place finish in Beijing. The solid field includes
Olympic silver medallist Iryna Lishchynska of Ukraine, Briton Lisa
Dobriskey and American Shannon Rowbury, fourth and seventh respectively
at the Olympic Games.
In the men’s 800, Yusuf Saad Kamel, the
former Kenyan Gregory Konchellah, will set off on his weekend double
ambitions. Fifth in the Olympic 800m final, the 27-year-old arrives in
Stuttgart after a string of three successive victories, two at 1500m in
Lausanne and Zagreb, and a solid 800m win in Brussels. He’ll face world
champion Alfred Kirwa Yego, the Olympic bronze medallist, and South
African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, who has run 1:43.26 this year.
This
edition marks the third and final time that the season-capping two-day
event will be hosted by Stuttgart, following the local government’s
decision to remove the track soon after the conclusion of the meet.
According to organizers, 32,000 tickets for the two days have been sold
as of Friday morning.
Relatively cool temperatures are in the
forecast for the weekend, with a strong chance of rain on Saturday and
more clear conditions on Sunday.
ENDS
