Story written by EPelle
Australian Craig Mottram, a 2007 IAAF World Championships 5.000m gold medal hope, won the Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix 2-mile yesterday evening - smashing nearly nine seconds off his previous personal best and Australian record, and in the process, clocking the sixth-fastest time ever in the distance, 8.03,50.
Mottram entered the meet after suffering a slight setback at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York last week (results link), finishing third in the mile (3.54,54 SB) to Americans Alan Webb (3.52,94) and Bernard Lagat (3.53,88), but bounced back in superb fashion in the 12-strong field Sunday, covering his mile splits in 4.04,0 and 3.59,5.
"It's a win and it is better than last week and better than three weeks ago and I will be a lot better in two months. I was strong today. I will take the fast time but it doesn't mean much come August; I will have to beat five or six more of them," he told the Register-Guard.
Mottram handed Ethiopia's Tariku Bekele (8.04,83) a spirited defeat in front of a standing-room only crowd at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, which let out a loud roar when third-place finisher, American Matt Tegenkamp, crossed the line in 8.07,07 - setting an American record by sheering more than four seconds off of the two-year-old record national standard set at the 2005 Pre Classic. Free video of the race can be found here courtesy of NBC.
Bekele, who is the younger brother of 5.000m and 10.000m world-record holder Kenenisa Bekele, holds 7.29,11 3.000m and 12.53,81 5.000m personal bests - both Ethiopian national junior records, is 0-5 lifetime against Mottram. They've clashed twice at 5.000m (13.03,37-13.12,49 in Bislett in 2004; 13.32,96 - 13.34,76 at the 2005 World Championships), and the young Ethiopian has also been unsuccessful at beating Mottram indoors at the 2-mile distance, with Mottram winning the 2005 BIG Boston indoor Games in 8.26,54 to Bekele's 4th-place 8.27,56. Mottram also defeated the younger Bekele in their only 3.000m clash as well, with Mottram finishing third in the 2005 Zürich Weltklasse in 7.38,03 to Bekele's ninth-place 7.43,47.
Webb set the previous American record in finishing 2nd in the 2005 Pre Classic 2-mile to Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, 8.07,68 to 8.11,48, but managed only a ninth-place finish (8.23,97) on Sunday.
Mottram lingered back in the middle of the pack for the first 1.320 yards of the eight-lap race right in front of Webb, but made a decisive move up behind Bekele and the two pace-makers in the race to hit a very good first mile split at a desirable pace (rabbits were asked to split 4.03).
Bekele and Mottram held tempo and command of the race, and made decisive moves at the beginning of the final lap, but Tegenkamp, who began making a long charge with three laps remaining - running just ahead of American Dathan Ritzenhein (8.11,74) - had launched into his own extended kick with 300m remaining.
Mottram passed Bekele on the backstraight with approximately 250m remaining and held a comfortable lead heading into the homestretch - where he began waiving to the crowd with 40m remaining. Neither Bekele nor Tegenkamp were able to gain on Mottram following his explosive kick.
Mottram, whose previous best was established in a victory over Kenya's Boniface Songok - 8.11,27 to 8.12,86 - at the 2005 Norwich Union Grand Prix in Sheffield, England (results link), holds seven track and road national Australian records, and appears to be in excellent form heading to the world championships to be contested in August in Osaka, Japan, where he is one of the favourites.
Mottram's 2-mile time equates to a 7.27,69 3.000m according to Track & Field News, with Bekele's new personal best equating to a 7.29,85, followed by Tegenkamp netting a 7.31,0 equivalent.
"It's too early to get too wound up about the world championships just yet," Mottram said to Australia's Herald Sun newspaper.
Indeed, the European season has not yet kicked off (the Oslo Golden League Meet is first on tap this Friday), yet Mottram is in excellent position heading into what promises to be an exciting year for the 2005 bronze medalist at 5.000m, and 2006 Commonwealth Games champion.
The world two-mile record - 7.58,61 - was set by Kenya's Daniel Komen in Hechtel, Belgium in 1998. Komen, the only man who has broken the eight-minute barrier, twice achieved the mark, with his second-best effort - 7.58,91 - set in a 1998 blow-out in Sydney, Australia. The only other person on the all-time in front of Mottram is Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, the outer-worldly two-time Olympic and nine-time World Champion (indoors, outdoors, road), who ran 8.01,08 in Hengelo in 1997, and followed that effort up with great performances at Hengelo (8.01,86) and London (8.01,72) two seasons later.
Mottram is traveling back to his London base camp in preparation for his first European Circuit race on 27-June in Ostrava Golden Spike meeting, where he will contest the Emil Zatopek Memorial 5.000m (meet site), a favourite stop for early-season fast times and excellent racing. Kenya's Stephen Cherono holds the meet record in the event, running 12.48,81 there in 2003.
Mottram holds a lifetime best of 12.55,76 in the 5.000m, and has broken the magical 13.00-minute barrier a total of three times (12.56,13, 12.58,19).
The top-10 2-mile times outdoors:
- Daniel Komen (KEN) 1997 7.58,61
- Daniel Komen (KEN) 1998 7.58,91
- Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 1997 8.01,08
- Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 1999 8.01,72
- Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 1999 8.01,86
- Craig Mottram (AUS) 2007 8.03,50
- Daniel Komen (ETH) 1996 8.03,54
- Tariku Bekele (ETH) 2007 8.04,53
- Matt Tegenkamp (USA) 2007 8.07,07
- Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 1995 8.07,46
Mottram's Personal Best Track Times:
- 1.500m: 3.33,97
- Mile: 3.48,98 (3.54,81 indoors)
- 2.000m: 4.50,76
- 3.000m: 7.32,19 (7.39,24 indoors)
- 2-Mile: 8.03,50 (8.26,54 indoors)
- 5.000m: 12.55,76
- 10.000m: 27.50,55
For a full-list of the all-time 2-milers, please go to www.alltime-athletics.com, or click this link here for immediate access to the list.
Story written by EPelle
Australian pole vaulter Tatiana Grigorieva, the 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medalist, has announced her retirement from athletics reports Eurosport (story).
Russian-born Grigorieva, 31, moved with her then-husband Viktor Chistiakov to Australia in 1997, and won a silver medal for her adopted country three years later in the 2000 Olympic Games - the same evening national hero Cathy Freeman won the 400m in stunning fashion.
Grigorieva's rise and stay at the top took a tumultuous tumble in 2004.
Grigorieva split from her husband in 2004 - a year which she also struggled to manage any decent jumps in the vault. So far reaching were her troubles that the Olympic silver medallist and 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist could not jump high enough in 2004 to make the Athens Olympic team.
She endured troubling hamstring injuries along with private life issues which plagued her lead-up to Athens, and she contemplated quitting pole vaulting three years ago. However, her Italian-based coach, Vitali Petrov, encouraged her to keep going.
"I found myself in a very difficult situation," she said to the Sydney Morning Herald prior to the Commonwealth Games last season.
"I had a choice to give up or do something about it. And I wasn't about to give up."
Grigorieva's woes didn't stop mounting in 2004, as she broke her finger in 2005.
However, showing great resolve to endure and turn out better on the other side, she gutted out a performance in the IAAF World Championships good enough for fifth place. Despite the injury, Grigorieva jumped 4.47m in London that season - her best vault in nearly four years.
Though Grigorieva mustered out fantastic efforts last season following her rebirth as a human and in the sport - "I died and I was reborn," she stated - last season was a difficult one for the news-making star, as after her Commonwealth Games runner-up finish, a crook broke into her home in Brisbane and stole her silver medal as well as her world championships and Olympic medals. It was later returned.
The incident "deeply touched" Grigorieva, as a group of students at a local university began making posters to track down the villian.
"Yes, I've got medals missing, but there are a lot of good things coming out of the situation - kids learning how to help and support."
Helping and supporting are endeavors which Grigorieva would like to take more time doing, states Eurosport, as she is apparently retiring to pursue her business and charity interests.
Grigorieva is the Founding Patron of the charity Gift 4 Dreams, a non-profit organisation which uses sport and healthy activity as a means to inspire disadvantaged young Australians to build healthier, happier and safer communities in Australia according to Grigorieva. She is also a charitable donator to Camp Quality, Variety Club and Kids Helpline.
A three-time Australian Championships gold medalist, Grigorieva was born on 1975-October-8 in Lenningrad, Russia and competed in the 400m hurdles in her youth, running 58,54 in St. Petersburg in 1996. She emigrated to Australia and began pole vaulting at age 21. One year later, in New York, she placed third at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
Grigorieva has five international medals to her credit, collecting a silver at the above-mentioned Goodwill Games; a bronze from the 1999 IAAF World Championships (4.45m); a silver at the 2000 Olympic Games (4.55m); gold from the 2002 Commonwealth Games (4.35m); and silver from last year's Commonwealth Games (4.35m).
Grigorieva's seasonal efforts:
- 2006 - 4.58m, Daegu, 28-September
- 2005 - 4.47m, London (CP), 22-July
- 2004 - 4.30m, Runaway Bay, 20-February
- 2003 - 4.23m, Malmö, 12-August
- 2002 - 4.46m, Salamanca, 10-July
- 2001 - 4.56m, Yokohama 15-September
- 2000 - 4.55m, Sydney 25-September
- 1999 - 4.50m, Salamanca 15-July
- 1998 - 4.35m, Brisbane 21-March
- 1997 - 3.90m, Adelaide 06-December
Grigorieva's homepage
Story written by EPelle
Australian pole vaulter Paul Burgess, who on Sunday soared to 5.91m to place second at Perth's major annual track and field meeting, claimed The West Australian ANZ Sports Star of the Year title for 2006 on Tuesday night to complete a dazzling 72-hour period of time (link).
Burgess won the award for the first time, and is only the eighth athletics recipient in the 51 year history of the annual honour voted upon by a committee of sports writers from The West Australian and members of the WA Sports Federation, an award for Western Australian sportspeople.
The annual award has been running since 1956 and is chaired by Ron Alexander, director-general of the Department of Sport and Recreation in Australia.
Fittingly, the last track and field recipient was pole vaulter Dmitri Markov (2001), whose coach, Alex Parnov, now coaches both Burgess and Steven Hooker, his training partner who also cleared 5.91m in winning the vault in Perth. 2003 IAAF world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco of Italy relocated to Perth in October to work with Parnov, and has moved into Burgess' house (link).
Parnov, who guided Markov to the IAAF 2001 World Championship (6.05m, NR), was praised by Burgess.
“Without him nothing in my career would be the same,” he said.
Shirley de la Hunty, who won three Olympic golds, a silver and three bronzes, was the first track and field athlete to pick up the honour, earning the title in 1957, the second time The West Australian ANZ Sports Star of the Year award was handed out. Herb Elliott (1958), Dixie Willis (1962), Joyce Bennett (1963), John Gilmour (1974), Dean Capobianco (1993) and Dmitri Markov (2001) are the other track and field athletes who've won the award.
Burgess' mark at the Drug Free Track and Field Classic on Sunday propelled him to the number one ranking in equalling his best of last year, when he held that distinction for much of the season until losing his position to Hooker in Stuttgart.
With a $30,000 (Australian) bonus having been offered to beat Markov's national record on Sunday, Hooker and Burgess had the bar raised to 6.06m, a height which neither was able to successfully manage. Hooker won the event on countback and fewer misses.
World record holder Sergey Bubka (6.14m) is the only athlete to have ever cleared that height, having done so an incredible nine times, and tied 6.05m on four other occasions.
Markov is not alone in the Australian 6-metre club, as Burgess became the second Aussie - and the 13th in the world - to enter the exclusive club his vault in Perth in 2005 — the only time the height has ever been been cleared in Australia.
Burgess’ victory in the world athletics final at Stuttgart last September earned him the biggest payday of his career after he nudged American Toby Stevenson and German Tim Lobinger on a countback at 5.82m for the $40,000 first prize. Burgess' victory was a redemption of sorts, as he had lost his position as number one Australian vaulter to Hooker at the World Cup — an event in which Burgess did not compete.
Burgess had three IAAF ranking-meet wins in 2006, taking home firsts in Osaka (5.75m), Rome (5.82m) and Stuttgart (5.82m). He twice finished second (Zürich, 5.85m and Berlin 5.91m), and had a third place finish in Athens (5.75m) to land him 1357 points, good enough for second in the yearly rankings.
Hooker had four wins in IAAF ranking meets, taking home the Commonwealth gold (5.80m), as well as wins in Helsinki (5.83m), Berlin (5.96m) and Athens (5.80m). His finished second in two other IAAF meetings, Rome (5.77m) and Zürich (5.85m) to collect 1359 points, two ahead of Burgess when the final was tallied following the close of the 2006 season.
The pair's one-two world rankings was the first for Australians had achieved the feat since 1968 when Maureen Caird and Pam Ryan (nee Kilborn) won gold and silver in the 80m hurdles at the Mexico Olympics, running 10,49(A) and 10,46(A), respectively.
Burgess cleared 5.80m in 10 athletics meetings last season. Hooker managed the feat eight times.
Burgess has had mixed international success, having won the gold medal at the 1996 IAAF World Junior Championships in Sydney (5.35m PB), and finishing third in Annecy (5.20m).
He has twice finished second at the Commonwealth Games (5.50m in 1998, and 5.70m in 2002), and has a silver medal from the 2001 East Asian Games (5.50m) to add to his championship collection. However, Burgess has yet to make it to the Olympic medal stand. The other finalists up for the West Australian ANZ Sports Star of the Year award were vaulter Kym Howe and 400m sprinter John Steffensen, Amber Bradley of rowing, Bevan George of hockey, Eagles premiership captain Chris Judd, Clayton Fredericks of equestrian eventing, Daria Joura of gymnastics, Australian middle-order batsman Michael Hussey and cyclists Peter Dawson, Ryan Bayley and Sam Hill.
For more on pole vaulting, check out Pole Vault Power.
