The Latest on Your Favourite Stars

By Eric.

You want to know what the stars are up to, so sit back this week-end, catch up on the latest news about the movers and shakers in the athletics world, and check back for the New Year's special on Monday night.

The latest on many of your favourite athletes in the sport of track and field:

• Abebe Dinkesa ran what was described as "a mind-boggling" 41.45 11,5km race on 29-November to win the $50,000 first prize money and also set a new course record in the 4th Obudu International Mountain Race - a steep and hilly course which has never yielded a defending male champion in the meet's history.



• Alan Webb, the American-record holder in the mile who failed to advance past the US Olympic Trials in the 1.500m, was signing red t-shirts and providing his support on 27-December at the Friends of Indoor Track Invitational at Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex in Landover, MD, where nearly 1,300 supporters signed a petition to be forwarded to members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to save indoor track from the chopping blocks for local high school students. At issue is whether or not indoor track is necessary as Fairfax County Public Schools faces a $170 million shortfall in its 2010 budget, though track costs only $50/student according to Dan Woolley, FIT president.



• Allyson Felix has been quiet this off-season, with planned time-off giving her much-needed rest from the Olympic preparations she and Bob Kersee put in last year. Felix, who travelled to Jamaica on holiday during the off-season, hosted her family for Christmas last week. Felix, the defending 200m world champion, is in a long-repetition training phase she gears up for the 2009 World Championships.



• Andréas Thorkildsen, the two-time Olympic javelin champion, was awarded the gold medal for the ‘Performance of the Year' by Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten at a ceremony organised by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture in November. The sports Journalist Association of Norway also presented a statuette to Thorkildsen for becoming the Performer of the Year in Norwegian sport.



• Andrew Hinds, heir apparent to Obadele Thompson: "My plan for next year is to make an impact at the World Championships and I am looking forward to the European circuit, but my goal next year is to break the sub-ten barrier. I think I have got in me to run 9.9.
  
  "I am doing some serious hard training right now. My work-outs are now more intense as the aim is to get stronger. I am doing more weight-training and will be better prepared .
  
  "I would like to clock under ten seconds before the World Championships and hopefully repeat it in Germany," said Hinds, who is back home on vacation.



• Anna Chicherova was spotted with other high-profile athletes and dignitaries at a Real Madrid match on 18-December, but not the famed Spanish team of the football variety. Russian basketball team CSKA were playing the Spanish basketball team in Moscow in an epic showdown which Real Madrid won in front of the Russian hosts in stunning play. Chicherova is confirmed for competitions to be held in two Czech cities, Trinec (21 Jan) and Hustopece on (24 Jan) in what is known as the Moravia High Jump Tour.



• Asafa Powell, the greatest Grand Prix sprinter to never win an individual global title, has not yet responded to Michael Johnson's public statements and assertions that Powell does not know how to handle his nerves and focus - two keys to Powell's inability to win the big ones (World Championships and Olympics). Johnson, who believes he can help Powell, has stated that the biggest mistake an athlete can make is deluding him/herself into thinking that there is no pressure. Dwain Chambers backs Powell to win a medal before the end of his career.
  
  Glen Mills, the coach of Jamaica’s triple Olympic champion and sprint double world record holder Usain Bolt, is also hopeful that Asafa Powell can shake off his major championships disappointments and win some accolades before his career is over, but warned that with Bolt around, Powell's time is running short.



• Augustine Choge will kick-start his cross country campaign on 10-January at the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country meeting in Scotland. Choge, who finished 12th at last year's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, has not raced since finishing 10th in the 1.500m final in Beijing.



• Berhane Adere, who faltered in the Beijing Olympic marathon, is scheduled to defend her Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon title next month, one year after setting a course record (2.22.42) and collecting $250,000 in the process. Adere, who is in a class by herself, should only face challenges from Bezenushe Bekele and Askale Tafa Magarsa.



• Bernard Lagat will attempt to tie the Wanamaker Mile win-record of seven owned by legendary Irish great Eamonn Coghlan when he competes 30-January at the 102nd Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lagat will then turn his focus to Europe, where he will be targeting his fourth win at the Aviva Grand Prix in Birmingham on 21-February, where he will run the 1.500m.



• Bershawn Jackson has spent part of his off-season visiting children and providing advice to work hard, stay in school and never lose sight of their dreams - words of wisdom he provided kids at Hillcrest Elementary School in Somerset. "You have to face adversity and overcome it," he told the students. "Champions don't give up, and I consider myself a champion. I made history because I worked hard and I trained hard."



• Blanka Vlasic is rested and ready for the 2009 season following a disappointing Olympic silver medal and her second-consecutive Golden League season jackpot miss. Vlasic will have another shot at the $1M jackpot as the IAAF announced the women's high jump will be part of the 2009 campaign. Vlasic was recognised last week in Zagreb with a Croatian Olympic Committee award, a distinction she was not expecting, but one upon which she promised to deliver in the future. Vlasic will have an opportunity to jump against Ariane Friedrich at the BW Bank Meeting in Karlsruhe on 16-February and avenge for the one loss the German had against Vlasic in 2008, causing her to lose her share ($500.000) of the Golden League Jackpot.



• Carolina Klüft travelled to Addidas Ababa Ethiopia late last month to be part of the Great Ethiopian Run - a race which UNICEF is a partner to help raise awareness and funds to fight HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. Klüft, a UNICEF ambassador, lended her support to the fundraising project, one which helps orphans and vulnerable children through the "Dream Campaign" by raising about $11.000 for four charity homes. Klüft was there on a similar visit in the winter of 2006. Trackside, Klüft, who followed her one-week visit to Ethiopia with a training camp in Potchestrom, has again opted to skip the heptathlon, which means that the 2009 IAAF World Championships - as were the Beijing Olympics - will be contested without the second-best ever in the event. Klüft will tackle the long jump event, one which she sees as a challenge.
  
  Svenska Dagbladet stated on 27-December that Klüft was the smartest and bravest athlete in Sweden in 2008. Moreover, Klüft was picked by the Swedish public as being the number one favourite athlete in 2008 ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
  
  Said Klüft:
  
  I think I would have answered both "Sanna" and "Zlatan". Peter Forsborg seems to also be very sympathetic. But it isn't easy, and one is influenced, naturally, if one has a personal relationship with other athletes. Anja Pärson is also an athlete whom I like, and I met the handball girls during the Olympics in Beijing. There are so many great athletes with different conditions, that it is difficult to compare.



• Chris Brown, after finishing in the unbearable fourth place position at the last three major championships, is hoping for some good fortunes at next year’s IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany. He is taking things a day at a time in search for an elusive medal and a podium spot.
  
  "My main goal is to make the podium in Berlin at the World Championships," Brown said. "Already on three occasions I have had the bronze taken from me.
  
  "I guess the Lord has something bigger in store for me so I am taking it one day at a time," he added.



• Christian Malcolm was denied a true opportunity to earn a medal in the 200m according to Linford Christie, Malcolm's coach who is banned from any Olympic team contact for a positive drugs test late in his career. Christie claimed last week that UK Athletics and the BOA didn’t give Malcolm the chance to prepare as best as he possibly could. Nevertheless, UK Athletics paid Christie to coach the world and Olympic finalist in the run-up to Beijing despite the fact that Christie was prevented from accompanying the Olympic squad to either the athletes' holding camp in Macau or the Games themselves.



• Christine Ohuruogu's stock continues to rise, with Lord Sebastian Coe this week naming Ohuruogu, the Olympic 400m champion and defending IAAF world champion, his sporting hero of 2008. On a side note, Ohuruogu recently donated a pair of her trainers to an art work which will be a representation of the shoes which people who perished at Nazi concentration camps were made to remove before they died.



• Doping: ProCon.org, a nonpartisan 501c3 nonprofit research organization, created a new website, http://sports.procon.org, to explore the question "Should performance enhancing drugs (such as steroids) be accepted in sports?"
  
  The online project contains nearly 30 questions about drugs in sports with over 250 sourced responses from more than 200 sports experts. Those experts include professional athletes (from Lance Armstrong to Gene Upshaw), doping authorities (from Dr. Don Catlin to Dr. Gary Wadler), sports writers, academics, physicians, league commissioners, politicians, and many other knowledgeable sports fans.
  
  Some subjects of discussion include whether or not:
  
  * Tiger Woods' alleged LASIK surgery to improve his vision to 20/15 is ethically different than an athlete taking a banned substance
  
  * there is a correlation between the 5% (approximate) of middle schoolers who take anabolic steroids and the use of such substances by their athlete role models
  
  * the testing labs, such as the one that found cyclist Floyd Landis guilty of using banned drugs, are credible and reliable
  
  * the teammates of sprinter Marion Jones should return their Olympic gold medals. None of them tested positive for banned drugs although Jones confessed to having used them.



• Dorcus Inzikuru, the former world steeplechase champion, refused to testify last week in a personal assault case where she was a principle witness and plaintiff against her husband and brother-in-law. Both defendants were attributed to have stated two days before their arrests that they would kill Inzikuru, with Inzikuru's husband charged with physically assaulting and harming her. The case was dismissed.



• Jenn Stuczynski, the Olympic silver medalist in the pole vault, has become a Christmas ornament - a silver bulb in her local area with a picture of Stuczynski participating in the pole vault. The decorative pieces sold out before Christmas, and more were on the way.
  
  On the track, Stuczynski was yesterday confirmed for participation in the upcoming Millrose Games.



• Jeremy Wariner is training and looking ahead to London 2012 according to today's Star-Telegram. "It’s a good way for me to relieve a lot of stress," he says about running. "When I’m on the track, I forget about everything else that’s going on. So it’s a good place for me to get away from things and just be me and enjoy myself."



• Johan Wissman is currently training 11 times a week in order to gain more strength needed to reach the goals he has for the 400m. Wissman is scheduled to contest the GE Galan here in Stockholm 18-February - the second-best indoor meet in the world (Stuttgart). Wissman returned to Helsingborg yesterday following three weeks of winter training at his "home away from home" in Stellenbosch, South Africa.



• Kara Goucher will visit the City of Duluth (MN) Wellness Committee program on Tuesday, 30-December, to honour city exercisers. Goucher, home in Minnesota for the holiday season, is preparing for the Boston Marathon following a successful debut in New York.



• Kelly Sotherton is currently training to take part in all three of the major UK Athletics indoor events in 2009, starting with the Aviva International Match at Glasgow on 31-January. Sotherton will then compete at the Aviva European Trials on 14-15 February in Sheffield, before taking on Olympic Champion Natalia Dobrynska in Birmingham in the 60m hurdles, long jump and 400m.



• Kim Collins is preparing for the upcoming Aviva Internternational Match in Scotland, where the ex-world 100m champion will contest the 60m and 200m events at Glasgow's Kelvin Hall on 31-January.



• Kim Gevaert, though now retired from athletics, was recently named along with Justine Henin as goodwill ambassadors for the Belgium and Netherlands bid to co-host the 2018 World Cup.



• Lisa Dobriskey trained twice on Christmas Day - a Thursday - as she always does, and is more than determined to make up for the bitter disappointment she felt when she placed out of medal contention in Beijing. Despite heading into the Olympics full of optimism, Dobriskey finished fourth in the Beijing 1.500m final.



• Liu Xiang's recovery from achiles surgery is going well, as he has now been able to walk without crutches - though he is still required to wear a special shoe. He'll be able to walk in the pool in two weeks according to his coach, Sun Haiping, accompanying Liu during his U.S. rehabilitation. Yao Ming has requested Liu receive space and time to heal.



• Lolo Jones was named Visa Humanitarian Athlete of the Year earlier this month for her help in assisting flood victims in her home state of Iowa.



• Nick Willis will compete in a Wellington (NZ) street race on 10-March before competing in a mile race at an international track and field competition three days later in Christchurch.



• Richard Thompson, the Beijing silver medallist (9,89) in the 100m behind Usain Bolt's world-record (9,69), earned $750,000 cash and $250,000 in units from Unit Trust Corporation in Trinidad last week as a reward for his accomplishments in the 100m and 4x100m relay, which set a national record (38,06). Thompson, the NCAA indoor 60m champion and outdoor 100m winner, resumed training 3-November, and stated to Trinidad's Newsday that the 4x100m relay team will race together several times next season.



• Stefan Holm has ended his career in grand fashion - at least nationally. Holm, the fourth-place finisher at the Beijing Olympics, was last week selected Sweden's best track and field athlete for the first time in his career.



• Steph Twell, the three-time European Junior Cross Country champion, will be racing in the Antrim International Cross Country - the third meeting in this winter’s UK Cross Challenge series - on 3-January.



• Susanna Kallur, who finished second in balloting to Stefan Holm for Sweden's best track and field athlete, has split with coach Karin Torneklint. Torneklint, who coached Sanna and her sister, Jenny from 14-15 years old and joined forces again with them in 2004, left the training solely to Torbjörn Eriksson, who had different training philosophies than did Torneklint.



• Usain Bolt is in almost every news story of note at the moment as the doors prepare to close on 2008 and the year which produced a record season which likely will never be repeated. Bolt took delivery of a BMW M3 (reported here earlier this week) just before Christmas, and was recently selected Track & Field News Athlete of the Year.



• Victor Conte is in the news this week because he stated he supplied "the cream" and "the clear" to somebody, somewhere... one has lost count to the claims Conte has made.

Carolina Klüft Gives Stamp of Disapproval

Story written by Eric.

Carolina Klüft has electrified souls with her positive energy and incredibly deep well of enthusiasm, and she has penetrated interest in a two-day event which few people around the globe really ever paid attention to prior to her reign at the top in all honesty.

She has taken laps of honour with a sorority of women who've crawled across the finish line one final time following the seven events which make up the heptathlon, and she has felt a oneness with them both in spirit and in exhaustion.

That electricity and buzz which the world has come to expect of "Carro" as we call her here in Sweden began to die down to infrequent pulses of energy following her third-consecutive IAAF World Outdoor last season, and Klüft, who is a staunch supporter of one taking the opportunity to follow their dreams, began to dream of how far she could leap through the air and land in a sand pit rather than how far she could fling a javelin or how fast she could run 800m.

She'd considered throwing in the towel after setting her personal best and establishing a new European record (7032 points) in Osaka, but to say that a woman who hasn't lost a heptathlon competition since 2001 is "throwing in the towel" is to speak falsely.

Carolina Klüft has simply lost motivation for contesting the heptathlon after winning everything there is to gain in this sport.

Olympic medal? She has one. Two would be great, and she'd be a near certainty to keep her unbeaten streak alive in Beijing had she decided to keep at it for one final hurrah.

But, she's opting for other events, and will watch from the side-lines and read results on the internet as her competitors stake claim to medal opportunities they may have once wished to get, but now smell as the months draw closer.

World outdoor titles? Carro won her first one in 2003, and followed up her senior barrage of honours collected with titles in 2005 and 2007.

World indoor championships? She has a global pentathlon title earned in 2003. As a matter of fact, Klüft has won two European indoor championships, two European outdoor ones and has taken home a European Cup title as well.

Carolina Klüft has flown around the world to contest events in front of crowds which grew exponentially as her fame and stature did, and she'd always had a sense of positive learning experiences to go with the utter exhaustion it takes to command victory against the best in the world time and time again.

She felt happy to be on the field and to line up on the track; she was having the time of her life, it looked like, and the 25-year-old seemed destined to spend several more years at the top if she simply wanted to.

Desire and motivation are two key words which had been associated with Klüft through the years following her 2001 European Junior title and her two World Junior records set in 2002 - one indoors, one outdoors.

Where there was an event to contest and a good time to have, Carro would show up and strike gold - not simply with the type of medal she would take home, but with her competitors whom she inspired, the fans whom she entertained and the journalists like me whom she always seemed to provide the most simple and basic words to sum up her characteristics for success, namely that she was out to "have fun".

Fun and games were great for a girl from Växjö who had the world at her fingertips, Reebok on her feet and a competitive schedule which only called for two to three major events per year.

Carolina Klüft is a married woman now and has moved home to a location outside of Karlskrona on the southern tip of Sweden with a beautiful archipelago. Part of her idea of fun has, naturally, become shopping for items which fit the decor in her home, and to be a good wife to a husband whose pole vaulting career was cut far short due to a persistant injury.

Klüft still supports kids in Africa through UNICEF, and she still finds time to be an ambassador to fighting hunger and poverty through a number of personal initiatives which she feels are very important in life.

In short, the reigning Olympic heptathlon champion has grown up in the four years since she travelled to Athens to tackle on fiercely competitive rivals in a four-year cycle where victory spells out large bonuses and lucrative contracts. She took on the world then, and can take them on now - though in a different set of events which she really enjoys "having fun": the long jump and the triple jump.

However sad this state of events could appear to fans who'd hoped Carro would give it one more go in the heptathlon, Klüft may find herself waiting at home this summer instead of mixing it up with rivals in different events.

The Swedish Olympic Committee stated today that Klüft must qualify for the Olympic Games and show top form within the next three months - a tall order for Klüft, but not an impossible one for a woman who has jumped 6,97m in the long jump and stated she's breached the 15.00m barrier in the triple jump in practice.

Klüft's official best at the hop-skip-and jump event is 14.02m, but it's best not to be fooled into thinking that a woman on a mission to show the world that changing events has not changed her desire to have fun and compete well will not succeed where she puts her mind, her focus and her willpower.

First things first, however.

"We're not taking back her pre-selection, but we need to see if we get the opportunity to confirm that in the end of June," says Peter Reinebo, Swedish Olympic Committee's sports boss.

"Just like everyone else, she must show that she is following her plan. In her case, it means that she needs to show results in a new event. That is our position, but we are counting on and hoping that she will make it."

Klüft stated during a press conference held in Växjö today that she is planning on getting a berth to Beijing, and would never have made a decision to give up the heptathlon had she not believed in her ability to fight among the leaders in the long jump pint.

"I would never have made this decision if I did't hope and believe that I would take myself to the Olympics," she stated.

"That is what I am pointing toward very hard."

"Now I am looking forward to something else and have rediscovered my motivation. It's risky, I know, but it just seems so right," she told Svenska Dagbladet.

Kelly Sotherton looks to be the beneficiary to this risky Klüft decision, as the oft bridesmade can finally step up and let the Olympics be hers and teammate Jessica Ennis' to shine. Tanya Lebedeva will inherit Klüft as a serious competitor of hers in the long jump - though not as a fierce rival, as Carro has never never been a top-3 placer on the world list in her career.

Carolina Klüft set a new personal, Swedish and European record in the heptathlon last summer, scoring higher (7032 points) in history than everyone except the legendary Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who has the standing world record of 7291 and has five marks better than Klüft's best.

Klüft hadn't set a personal record in the overall combined events for three-consecutive seasons dating back to her break-through performance in Paris St. Denis, when, in 2003, she scored 7001 points and won her first world championship title five months shy of her 20th birthday.

Some folks wondered during the three seasons leading up to Osaka if Klüft was tiring of winning an event devoid of any real contenders to dethrown her from any of her global crowns.

Klüft was still out there having fun, holding her competitors' hands and pulling them along for a collective victory lap after thrashing both mind and body against the same people - her friends, but she appeared to have hit a stalemate along her path to supremacy.

Her scores began to demonstrate that even untimely, freak injuries may prevent her from ever reaching the pinnacle of her career as a new world record-holder. She could still defeat all comers, even at less than her best, and questions arose about her motivation even before she revealed that she was left in want in that department.

Klüft put all of that to bed last summer when she took Japan by storm, setting a new personal best in the high jump during the heptathlon -- 1.95m -- and reversing a trend in which her season's best worsened each year from 2004-2006. She put her best foot forward and put up a number on the scoreboard which was better than anyone in the world not named Jackie Joyner-Kersee had ever been able to achieve.

Then came the bombshell, and finally the explosion.

Klüft, coming down from the high which surrounded this particular effort, never fully gained an appreciation for this victory. She felt like chasing and catching the record was "finally over", but didn't feel the inner gladness she usually did when hoisting her hands high, standing on the highest podium spot and listening to Du Gamla, Du Fria play across a stadium reverent in silence as the golden girl listened to words about wanting to live and die in the North.

Carolina Klüft's dreams have lived on in a fairy-tale world where no borders could keep her from reaching the potential she demonstrated as a junior. Her continued efforts in the sport may be spared a shot of athletics death as she puts her mind to her tasks and climbs up another ladder.

She was bullied as a child and called a geek. She won't be bullied by a selection process in place to separate Olympic hopefuls from their Olympic dreams.

Carolina Evelyn Klüft has stamped her approval on a new venture this season, and will reach as far as her willpower, drive and determination take her. Her enthusiasm and energy will continue to compliment her, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see her on the medal stand next to Irina Simagina and Naide Gomez in the long jump.

The Swedish Olympic Committe is counting on it, because last year at this time, they were counting on Carro to win an almost guaranteed one in Beijing. Carro's fans are expecting it. Swedish track and field is dependent on it, as the loss of Kajsa Bergqvist to retirement in December and Stefan Holm likely following in her footsteps at season's end being two very big holes to fill despite Emma Green and Linus Thörnblad taking their own turns at future stardom.

Most importantly, however, Carro is counting on making a positive impact in the summer months, and inspiring herself and her rivals to achieve great marks as they play in the sandbox.

Foto: Magnus Wennman

Planes, Trains and Too Much Time On the Hands

Story written by Eric.

I’m cruising high above the ocean – Amsterdam is supposed to be somewhere to my right, and there is nothing but a dark cloud of sky on the left of the plane. The sky seems to go on and on, as does this journey, and I’m only headed home from England.

Somewhere down below before the pilot jetted us into an atmosphere where the outside temperature is -45C outside my plastic window, I saw a few ants circling a track. Then I saw a few more.

It’s going to be nice to enter back into my normal time zone and back into a regular groove.

I’ve been gone exactly 36 hours, and it’s not like I’ve not done this before. In fact, I’ve now gone up and down 42 times over the past 16 months everywhere across Europe for work, for play, and even to catch a meet or three.

In fact, I’ve been doing this every year for the past five and counting, and haven’t found it to my liking yet to live out of my suitcase, pack down my gear and dine out or take-away.

This particular day reminds me of a conversation I had with a very good American 800m runner on a European flight quite a few years back, and got me thinking about how athletes spend days, nights, weeks and even months away from home slaving away at their sport from one venue to the next – travelling from one airport to another and, as it turns out, usually alone.

The most demanding part of travelling – to me – is standing in an airport queue waiting to be checked in, crawling through the security (despite a priority pass) and waiting the two hours between check-in and departure with nothing but time on my hands.

Imagine what it must be like for an athlete travelling thousands of kilometres from home to chase a qualifying mark or collect a bonus payment for putting their name and their spikes down on a track a meet organiser promises fans will bring plenty of action and an excellent performance.

The American runner said it wasn’t that bad.

“Not that bad” to me indicates that it is somewhat bad, but the female, who had broken 2.00 in the 800m run, didn’t want to sound like she was complaining. She had, for that matter, only met me – a stranger in an airplane who had recognised her from a magazine cover – a few minutes earlier at the front of the queue. And that was after I had bugged her whilst she was attempting to pass time by reading a book.

Stefan Holm reads a lot of books. He has a daily blog on his homepage where he tells his faithful readers along with anyone who happens to stumble across the site – scholm.com – what the flavour of the week is in exciting reading. Naturally he, like the lightening-quick 800m standout, has time – and much of it – to kill each and every day during the season.

So where were we again… yes, the top of the line waiting patiently for someone wearing a uniform to stop taking a break, log in to their computer, and give us the okay sign that all was good to go.

The 800m is a great race to watch, no? There are so many different tactics which can be employed during a two-lap race that it makes it very difficult at times to predict a winner before the first athlete crosses the finish line. This particular person had excellent 400m speed before she joined the middle distance fraternity and earned a partial cover spot with a woman who once thanked her dog for being an inspiration to her winning performance in a national championship. If you’re fast, you’re fast, I suppose, and certain things are easily overlooked.

An itinerary isn’t one of those things, however, which one can skip over and play things by ear. Three months away from home demands the most impressive attention to detail that one can imagine, as it’s not as easy as one may imagine phoning a sponsor and requesting training gear simply because you forgot them at home.

Moreover, making flight times after running an event, warming down, speaking in front of the press, peeing in a cup, getting a massage, taking a shower and grabbing a snack on the way to the airport can be challenging in its own right. Add to that the stress of having to have your bags randomly checked and your shoes run through an x-ray machine – two processes which demand even more time when you’re on your way somewhere and you’ve got the making of a small, stressful situation.

Jenny Adams would have been a good person to have interviewed had I taken the opportunity afforded me in June 2001 when she, after having won the U.S. Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, was about to make a mad dash straight to Europe.

I attended the 2001 meet whilst on holiday, and, had really gone there to see who this Alan Webb kid was (along with support one of my hurdler friends who eventually gave me a free press pass into the restricted, “athlete only” zones). Webb had run a 3.53 mile a month earlier, and had been all over the news.

Anyway, I’d put up a small fortune to make it there during a small tour and had missed my return flight to Chicago (and, eventually back to Paris) by 12 minutes, so I found myself hanging around the Eugene Airport watching stars come, and watching them go. Everyone had a destination, and some seemed less enthusiastic than did others as they made their way through the queues and to the check-in desk on the second level. That perhaps had something to do with who qualified to the IAAF World Championships and who didn’t – who knows.

I spent five hours in that small airport, and had all of my reporting done and all of my results neatly packed away during the first 45 minutes. What I didn’t have was any remaining patience to drag my feet another second, and it got old watching the same types of people – athletes – funnel through in single-file to places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver and Minneapolis.

I told my story to a middle-aged couple sitting on a bench downstairs, because they asked me whom I was visiting, and if I was there for the meet. We talked, I asked them the same obligatory questions, and, 20 minutes later, I was happy to have spent a good moment in time with the parents of Tim Montgomery.

Jenny Adams sat next to me on one of those raggedy, two engine planes which seated only 20 passengers or so as we headed to Portland... an up-and-down shot and just enough time to introduce myself. Adams was exhausted from all the week-end’s competition along with the stardom which came from placing well (winning the long jump and placing second in the 100m hurdles). I had no idea who she was – just that she was headed straight back to Texas, and, two days later, was headed to Europe to contest four races in seven days.

She’d have been interesting to speak with as she had to lace up and put in a whole lot of travel on short notice to get from Eugene to Houston and then on to Lausanne, Saint-Denis, Nice and Stockholm as well as eat, sleep, run and attempt to keep herself from losing her way as she travelled all alone in places both foreign and domestic.

I did get a chance to talk travels and athletics with the 800m runner, however, and she had grown tired of adjusting herself to different time zones twice a year (indoors and outdoors) and living out of a suitcase.

Back then, there wasn’t any internet and I haven’t the slightest recollection, truthfully, how she said she passed time; she mentioned writing a lot of letters and taking short walks through local parks to feel part of the communities she visited, but nothing more than so between her morning run and her afternoon workout.

I’m beginning to see the edge of my country approaching, which means that this short jaunt in the memory banks shall soon be over, and my inquisitive nature has to turn back to a more practical one like what I will eat when I finally do get back to Centrum – which is some 75 minutes by train from the airport.

I know where I’m going, how I’ll get there, and how long it will take me. I finally get to go home to the comfort of my own home, and I’ve only been gone for a day-and-a-half. Can’t imagine having to put in those four-day weeks on the roads hopping aboard and departing one plane after another in the pursuit of happiness – or business, as it is called.

I believe it a great test of resolve for young athletes to stay focussed as they journey away from their home countries and attempt to jump-start their careers in Europe. Some have the simple luxury of showing up where the trainer tells them, and simply following the lead.

At some point, however, that still takes a lot of faith to get through the tough days where ESPN doesn’t play on the hotel’s cable, and the internet service is only available for 30-minute windows in a hotel lobby for €2/hour… or if one runs out of magazines after having read virtually all of them on the long-haul flight from the United States to a destination near me somewhere here in the EU.

2008 World Indoor Championships: Holm Tops Rybakov (Again)

Story by Eric.

Yaroslav Rybakov and Stefan Holm had squared off 13 times in international championship settings since 2001, with their most memorable and hard-fought meeting taking place three years ago indoors in Madrid, Spain.

Rybakov had made every final with the exception of one, and had earned one European Indoor and one World Indoor gold; three World Outdoor, two World Indoor and one European indoor silver medals; and had also collected a bronze along the way nearer to the beginning of their rivalry at the 2002 European Indoors for a total of nine medals.

Holm had made every single World indoor/outdoor, European indoor/outdoor and Olympic final contested during the same time frame, and had taken home one more medal than had Rybakov, with six golds (three World Indoor Championships, two European Indoor Championships, and an Olympic title); three silvers and a bronze etched in history's books for his efforts .

Entering Saturday's final - and the duo's 65th career matchup against one another, Rybakov held an advantage over Holm in having the distinction of being the reigning World Indoor Champion (Moscow 2006) and possessing the heighest clearance in the world this year (2.38m).

Holm, on the other hand, had his own running tab going against the Russian - one which had the dimunitive Swede 20 wins up on his rival, including a better placing in Arnstad based on countback at 2.35m. Holm, 31, who has not had a season's best lower than 2.30m since 1997, entered Saturday evening's final with a season's best 2.37m set in Malmö.

Winning Saturday's competitition would be of financial consequence to both competitors, as $40.000 was on the line for the victor, but Holm had one more pressing reason to look forward to winning, and that was to surpass legendary jumper and fellow Swede Patrik Sjöberg's lifetime total of six international championship medals.

Sjöberg, who won the world outdoor title at the inaugural world championships in Rome in 1987, also collected four European Indoor Championships golds (1985, 1987, 1988, 1992) to add to his still-standing national indoor (2.41m) and outdoor (2.42m) records which Holm has been chasing the greater part of four years.

Holm, who has jumped more times over 2.30m than had Sjöberg -- 120-118 -- was a small man in a big event, and was simply looking for respect leading into Saturday's final.

Following an evening of spectacular jumping and gamesmanship, Holm may just have earned one more notch on Sjöberg's belt, though the lanky 43-year-old didn't pay attention to the meet, chosing instead to watch a nationally-televised hockey match.

Holm defeated Rybakov on Saturday to earn his fourth indoor title, and stated he was not congratulated by Sjöberg, though Sjöberg may have gone through Holm's agent, Daniel Wessfeldt, to say a word or two.

"He doesn't have any of my numbers," Holm stated.

One number Holm has is Rybakov's, however, and he dialled it again on Saturday to earn a very important victory in an Olympic year.

Below is a break-down of how the 45th Holm-Rybakov clash took place.

2.19m:

Holm opened at this height and flew over with tremendous clearance. Cuba's Victor Moya, Andra Manson from the USA, Cyprus' Kyriakos Ioannou and Jarolav Baba of the Czech Republic also cleared this height in their first attempts. Rybakov passed at this height, which left all nine jumpers still in the competition.

2.23m:

All nine competitors remained in the competition after making this height - one which saw Holm really inspire, with an estimated 10cm clearance over the bar. Rybakov, Manson, Moya och Baba also cleared this height on their first attempts.

2.27m:

Baba fouled out at this height, but Holm felt the energy in the Spanish-based crowd, and pumped his fist in the air following another excellent jump. Was he sending a message to Rybakov and company? Perhaps, but Rybakov and Moya also cleared the bar on their first attempts, with five other jumpers also clearing this height.

2.30m:

Holm, who had eased over this height in his eight competitions this season, found himself in desperate trouble to both stay in the game and keep his hands around the possibility of taking home the gold - and the cash after fouling on his first two attempts. Rybakov, on the other hand, took control of the competition by easily clearing the bar on his first attempt, and making one doubt if Holm had given too much too soon at both 2.23m and 2.27m. Holm regained the composure which a determined man possesses to raise the stakes, and cleared on his third and final attempt. American Manson och Cyrpriot Ioannou also joined Rybakov and Holm at this height.

2.32m:

Holm didn't play with fire at this height, making a good clearance on his first attempt to join Rybakov, who had continued his perfect evening by clearing this on his first attempt. After six jumps by Manson and Ioannou produced fouls and red flags, as did three unsuccessful attempts by Dragutin Topic, who passed at 2.30m, the fight for the gold took centre stage, with Rybakov holding the advantage and momentum over Holm heading up the the next height.

2.34m:

Rybakov fouled his first attempt, which gave Holm, who sat watching in his warm-up clothes, a very key opportunity to take the lead in the competition and drive the heights according to his plan, not Rybakov's. Holm took off his practice t-shirt, put back on his yellow uniform, and made a very valiant attempt to knock Rybakov off the leaderboard on his first attempt over this height. Holm failed...barely and fell to the mat in disgust and disappointment at himself for having lost out on that chance by a very narrow margin.

Rybakov, nearly five years Holm's junior, cleared 2.34m on his second attempt - the 19th time in his career he had successfully negotiated this standard, and left Holm making a move in this chess match to save his two remaining chances at the next height.

2.36m:

Rybakov fouled on his first attempt, and gave Holm another key opportunity to push himself through to forcing the Russian to either take more attempts here or save his two remaining chances for 2.38m in the event Holm cleared 2.36m. Holm had only cleared 2.36m once this season - at the national championships on 24-February, and had only cleared this height three times in the past three indoor seasons dating back to his super jump of 2.40m in Madrid.

Holm launched himself up to the bar, appeared to have the height to clear it, but he hit it on his way over. The question was only how much punishment the bar had taken by Holm's legs and if it would remain on the uprights. Holm's first-attempt effort, though not technically his best, was rewarded with a clearance, and now forced Rybakov to jump at least 2.38m in order to win.

2.38m:

Rybakov saved his two jumps from the previous height to make good efforts at tying his personal best, a mark which he has jumped on three previous occasions, inlcuding once this season (Moscow). Rybakov and Holm both failed on their first attempts, which left Rybakov, a man who stands at 196cm tall, one single, solitary jump to nail Holm's destiny in the championship annuals as a runner-up. Rybakov looked nervous prior to making his last attempt at tying his lifetime best mark, and was unsuccessful in clearing 2.38m a fourth time. Holm, for the fourth time in his incredible history, earned the right to be named World Indoor Champion.

Holm let out a loud roar in front of the supportive crowd - and in full view of 9 million Swedes glued to the television - and immediately asked the bar to be raised up to 2.41m - a height which is greater than his personal best and sits at exactly Sjöberg's national indoor record.

2.41m:

Holm moved his tape back a few centimetres in order to gain the maximum speed he would need to topple his personal best and tie both the Swedish indoor record and the European Indoor record, which Sjöberg also holds. His first run-up to the bar was excellent -- he was able to transfer his speed into an explosive jump up to the bar, but he was not able to twist his body over it on his first attempt. His second - and final after one miss at 2.38m - would also not produce the desired result of being equal with Sjöberg on paper.

So for the 14th time in the dynamic duo's history, Holm and Rybakov faced off in an international championship setting.

And, for the 43rd time against 22 losses, Holm was able to one-up his Russian counterpart and nail his spot in the history by tying Cuban Javier Sotomayor's World Indoor Championship tally of four gold medals (1989, 1993, 1995, 1999).

Now it's simply for Holm to stop believing a notion that he is, "just Stefan Holm", as he put it to Swedish newspaper Expressen. Holm states that Sjöberg is still best among the two - a fact which Sjöberg readily accepts until Holm can jump as high as Sjöberg did either indoors or outdoors.

Holm appreciates the duals with Rybakov, stating to Expressen:

"I can't say that I enjoy being in that situation - being under stress with two misses, but I am comfortable competing man-to-man like against Rybakov. He knows that if it is just he and I left in a competition, I won't give up, and that must make it very heavy for him."

Holm's indoor season concluded on Saturday, and now all that remains for him is to defend his Olympic title against Rybakov and any other takers in bragging rights for the best jumper during a four-year period. Not even Sjöberg, who had a 12-year streak at 2.30m or above, has the distinction of being called Olympic champion.

IAAF World Indoor Championships
Valencia, 2008-March-8
Men's High Jump

Final Results

1 315 Stefan Holm SWE 2.36m (fourth world indoor title)
2 292 Yaroslav Rybakov RUS 2.34m
3 72 Kyriakos Ioannou CYP 2.30m
3 349 Andra Manson USA 2.30m
5 68 Víctor Moya CUB 2.27m
6 370 Jesse Williams USA 2.27m
6 308 Dragutin Topic SRB 2.27m
8 51 Michael Mason CAN 2.27m
9 74 Jaroslav Bába CZE 2.23m

Foto credits: Aftonbladet

Holm Jumps 2,37m at Swedish Indoors

Story written by Eric

Sweden's Stefan Holm, the reigning Olympic high jump champion, won his 11th national indoor title on Sunday in Malmö by jumping 2.37m. The mark ties him with Russian André Silnov for this year’s second best in the world. This is the 21st national high jump title of Holm’s illustrious career.

Linus Thörnblad played second-fiddle to Holm but appeared to find his form, heading into the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia in two weeks. He finished second with a best of 2.35m.

Thörnblad was coming off Thursday’s subpar performance at GE Galan, where he managed only a fifth place finish with a jump of 2.26m—12cm below his personal best.

After 13 years in the spotlight, Holm is bidding farewell to the sport at age 31. His career includes 10 consecutive outdoor and eight consecutive indoor seasons, in which he has jumped no less than 2.30m. Holm is now enjoying perhaps his best season ever, winning his fourth straight competition—the sixth in seven attempts.

Holm's lowest jump this season occurred in Dresden, Germany where he jumped 2.30m - a mark which netted him a victory.

He has now cleared 2.30m 120 times in his career— increasing by one the Swedish record he set on Thursday in Stockholm. Former world record holder Patrik Sjöberg, the current Swedish indoor and outdoor national record holder, had previously achieved this record (118).

The Holm-Thörnblad rivalry netted the duo a one-two finish at last year's European Indoor Championships and brought a much-anticipated clash to the sell-out crowd huddled in the Malmö Athleticum facility. This matchup followed the previous year's national championships in Göteborg in which both athletes cleared world-leading 2.38m, with Holm the victor on countback.

This year's event had all the markings of a championship meet. Both athletes brimmed with confidence, neither showing signs of acquiescing under pressure.

Holm had a fantastic series, with first-attempt clearances at all of his heights from 2.17m to 2.35m—or seven straight jumps. Holm's last competition of a similar nature—where he had been foul-free through 2.35m—was at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He won with 2.35m.

Holm's first failure of the evening came when he attempted to maneuver a height 2.37m above the ground—a height he had cleared just four other times in his career.

According to his website scholm.com, he hit the bar a little too hard with his hamstring, though the first attempt itself was not a bad one technically. Holm’s first miss of the competition, however, gave Thörnblad his first opportunity to take the lead.

Thörnblad had a very close first attempt at 2.37m, but was unable to snatch the lead from Holm. On his second attempt, Holm hit the bar but watched it remain on the uprights for a clearance.

Sensing that Holm was on his way to a superb day, Thörnblad fouled his second of three attempts. He settled for saving his last attempt for 2.39m. This mark, incidentally, would have bettered Russian Yaroslav Rybakov's world lead by one centimeter.

Holm stated that he wasn't particularly interested in making attempts at 2.39m. Still, he was forced to make an effort there as Thörnblad—who missed his one reserve try there—could have taken the lead. This would have forced Holm either to clear this height or take attempts at his personal best of 2.40m.

Holm, jumping first, had his poorest jump of the day with his first attempt. He became a lock for the gold medal, however, when Thörnblad missed his try.

The Kils AIK star out of Karlstad had the bar raised to 2.41m—a height he has never before cleared.

The three-time world indoor gold medalist (2001, 2003, 2004) was unable to manage a successful navigation at this level, though he had the height up to the bar on both attempts.

Holm called this one of his better competition days. He hopes the feeling he had in Malmö carries over to Weinheim on Wednesday, and against his Russian rivals in Valencia the following week.

Holm, speaking to tabloid newspaper Expressen, stated that the field in Valencia would be tough.

"Very many have the capacity to jump 2.35m," he said. "There are many who can either disappear in the qualification round, or just as well go to the final."

"Someone is going to jump 2.40m," he prognosticated.

Thörnblad has now cleared 2.30m in five of his seven competitions this season, and moved to sole possession of fifth in the world. He also had two victories and three runner-up indoor finishes this year.

=====================================================

Swedish National Indoor Championships
Malmö, Sunday 2008-February-24
Men's High Jump Results:

M Höjdhopp Final söndag

Plac	Namn	Född	Förening/Land	Resultat
1	Stefan Holm	76	Kils AIK	2,37
2	Linus Thörnblad	85	Malmö AI	2,35
3	Mehdi Alkhatib	87	SoIK Hellas	2,15
4	Christian Norstedt	83	Råby-Rekarne FI	2,11
5	Martin Eriksson	83	Örgryte IS	2,09
6	Richard Huldén	86	IF Göta	2,01
7	Daniel Lennartsson	88	IFK Växjö	1,97
7	Oskar Rybo	89	IF Kville	1,97
9	Markus Nilsson	89	Malmö AI	1,97
9	Christoffer Holmström	88	FI Kalmarsund	1,97
11	Mattias Green	88	IFK Trelleborg	1,97
12	Joel Thorén	87	Hässelby SK	1,97

Full results here

=====================================================

World's top-10 indoor high jumpers 2008:

2,38m Yaroslav Rybakov RUS

2,37m Andrey Silnov RUS

2,37m Stefan Holm SWE

2,36m Ivan Ukhov RUS

2,36m Andrey Tereshin RUS

2,35m Linus Thörnblad SWE

2,33m Aleksey Dmitrik RUS

2,32m Jesse Williams USA

2,32m Kyriakos Ioannou CYP

2,30m Eike Onnen GER

Fireworks and a World Jr. Record at GE Galan

Story written by Eric

A cool wintery evening in the Swedish capital of Stockholm could not stop Sudan's latest track phenom from burning up the track tonight in his second-ever indoor competition.

Abubaker Kaki, 18, ran away with the World Junior record in the 1.000m run, clocking two minutes 15,77 seconds in a solid run in front of a capacity crowd of 10.641 - the largest ever assembled for a competition in our Scandinavian nation.

Kaki, a former goalee who was discovered by an athletics coach in Sudan only three years ago, became the fifth-fastest athlete at the distance, and trails world record -holder Wilson Kipketer's leading standard by a mere 0,81 seconds. Noureddine Morceli, the previous world 1.500m record-holder, has the fastest African time ever recorded indoors at 2.15,26.

Kaki ran with such confidence that he was able to unleash a very powerful final lap kick away from pursuing Kenyan Richard Kiplagat, closing in 26 seconds following his 1.49 opening 800m segment. The precocious young adult has high ambitions for himself outdoors - including breaking Sammy Koskeis 1.42,28 African record, and winning the Olympic final - two goals no one in attendance tonight will doubt he his capable of achieving following his excellent run.

Kenyan Sylas Kimutai held the former world junior record of 2.17,96 -- a mark which he set in Athens six years ago.

Kenyan 2000 Olympic 1.500m champion Noah Ngeny holds the world outdoor record of 2.11,96 set in 1999 in Rieti, with Kenyan Benjamin Kipkirui the fastest junior outdoors with a 2.15,00 set one month earlier in Nice, France.

The two-hour event offered great entertainment for our national stars, with Sanna Kallur and Johan Wissman taking home victories. One down side to the evening was Carolina Klüft's withdrawal from both the 60m hurdles and the long jump from a thy condition she stated gave her great pain.

Klüft, the reigning IAAF World Indoor pentathlon champion, will miss this weekend's Swedish Indoor Championships in Malmö, and her world title defense in Valencia is also questionable at this point.

Klüft is scheduled to have an MRI on Friday.


Kallur Continues Dominance

Kallur, the newly-minted world record-holder at 60m hurdles and defending IAAF World Indoor champion at the distance - unbeaten in her five previous competitions this this indoor season, ran another blistering time, stopping the clock 7,74 seconds after the starter fired away and sent her toward another record chase.

Kallur got a first-hand look and feel for the new, quicker track surface which is being used at next month's world championships, and also at the Olympics later this summer in Beijing, but shrugged off any suggestion the track adds significance.

"Everyone is talking so much about the lanes," she would say to Dagens-Nyheter, "but I don't think they have such importance."

What was remarkable about Kallur's time was that she reacted quite late to the starter's pistol, getting left in the blocks and forced to make up a deficit already at the first hurdle.

Kallur jumped a little too close to the first hurdle, which set her on a course against her natural rythym, and she didn't break free from the field until her first two steps over the second hurdle. Spain's Josephine Onyia staying closest to the 27-year-old, finishing second in a season's best 7,91 with Jamaican Lancena Golding-Clarke third in 7,93 - also her fastest of the year.

Unsurprisingly, Kallur is feeling some of the effects of having run eight of the 10 fastest times in the world this year, and is looking forward to two weeks of training ahead of the world championships once she competes at the national championshps this weekend.

"I've been a little bit tired in the last few days, but I felt good before tonight's race," Kallur said.

"I will see how I feel after dinner tonight [read Thursday]. If I can get up, then I will go [to the Swedish national championships]. If I am still seated, there won't be any nationals. I don't know right now - I have just run a victory lap and gone up a set of stairs."

Kallur's performance - her 48th under the eight-second barrier - concluded a good night of competition the GE Galan organisers put together, one which saw a powerful effort from Olympic and IAAF World Championship medalists in each of the 12 disciplines on tap for the evening.


Wissman Puts Exclamation Point on Evening

Another fantastic matchup was the men's 400m, where our own Johan Wissman took on Tyler Christopher, who set a new Canadian record in winning last weekend's Birmingham race in what appeared to be particularly easy fashion. Christopher and Wissman finished sixth and seventh at last year's world outdoor championships, separated by 0,01 seconds.

Tonight's final had Wissman in lane three, Christopher in four - with Dominican Arismendy Peguero and the Bahama's Chris Brown - who finished fourth in a national record 44,45 in Osaka - filling in the inner two lanes.

Brown got out quickest, and held the lead as the pack was approaching the bell. Wissman took over at the 200m mark and appeared to switch gears down the backstretch - a move which only Brown was able to cover. Wissman held on off the curve, but looked vulnerable to Brown's kick, with the Bahamian closing back in on the one-metre lead Wissman held. Brown was able to catch Wissman's back side, but did not have enough to pass him, as Wissman crossed the line in a season's best, 46,30.

Brown finished 0,01 behind, with Christopher third in 46,75 - nearly a second off his one-week-old personal record.

The victory was especially convincing for Wissman, who will double at the 200m/400m during this weekend's national indoor championships.

"It means I can beat anyone," he told Dagens-Nyheter.

"I have met all of the top athletes in the world - and beat them. That means a lot. The [winning] time doesn't matter. I would rather take a bad time and win the world championships."

The stakes are now at their highest for the trio, with the winner at the IAAF World Indoor Championships taking place 7-9 March in Valencia, Spain, earning bragging rights and a better lane draw against American Jeremy Wariner in the outdoor season's bigger, more illustrious meetings here in Europe.


Lagat Makes Good on 3.000m Promise

American Bernard Lagat, who won an unprecedented 1.500m/5.000m double at last season's world outdoor championships in Osaka, had promised a fast race, and had hoped running against steepler Paul Koech could spurn the field on to break Kenenisa Bekele's meet record of 7.30,51 set in last year's meeting.

"It will be a good race," Lagat said.

"Everyone knows how well Paul Koech ran in Birmingham on Saturday - a fantastic race! But I am prepared to meet them and I want to really run fast - down toward 7.30 - in my first race in Stockholm."

Lagat was unable to break the meet record, but he was able to hold off Koech's last lap charge and power home with exceptional speed during around the final curve and through to the finishing tape. Lagat's time of 7.34,65 was just two seconds shy of his personal best of 7.32,43 set last year when he also set the American record.

Koech ran a 7.36,24 for second - nearly the same time he ran on Saturday in Birmingham en-route to his national record in the 2-mile, with Kenyan compatriot Abraham Chebii setting a personal record of 7.38,63 in third.


Borzakovskiy Suffers First 800m Defeat in 2008

Another athlete who hadn't put on the brakes thus far this season was reigning 800m Olympic champion, Yuriy Borzakovskiy from Russia, who holds the GE Galan meet record with a 1.44,34 set in 2003.

Borzakovskiy, 26, had run the swiftest indoors this season, stopping the clock in 1.45,58 in Stuttgart 20 days ago, and anchored Russia to a new national 4x800m record (7.15,77) two weeks ago, splitting 1.44,5 on his anchor leg. He was undefeated this season at 800m - and had a four-meet win-streak in the event - in addition to having won each of his eight races ranging from 400m to 1.000m on the season.

Borzakovskiy slipped back into a last-to-first mode during the four lap race, but made a speedy challenge down the backstretch on the fourth lap to overcome a move made by teammate and training partner Dmitriy Bogdanov, who had the third-fastest time this season (1.46,24) entering the meet.

Kenya's Wilfred Bungei, who won the world indoor championships at this distance in Moscow two seasons ago, played it safe and ran in third the first 600m of the race before the lead pack split 1.20 at the 600m mark. Bungei was able to make a move which Borzakovskiy couldn't cover, and hold off his nemesis for the first time this season, winning in a relatively modest 1.47,16 to Borzakovskiy's 1.47,22.

Latvia's Dmitrijs Milkevics won the earlier "B" heat in 1.46,09 and missed the national record Einars Tupuritis set in Indianapolis in March 1996 by 0,29 seconds, and is the third-best time run this season.

Borzakovskiy is now 21-13 against Bungei in his career.


Mutola Finishes Perfect at 800m in Globen

African 800m queen Maria Mutola, who set her 800m indoor best - 1.56,36 - 10 years ago in Liévin, contested her final race under the lights at Globen, a venue which saw her set two 1.000m world records (2.31,23 in 1996 and 2.30,94 in 1999) in her previous five contests here.

Mutola is the reigning 800m world indoor champion, and was thought to have stiff competition from a formidable foe in Russian Olga Kotlyarova, the 600m world record-holder (1.23,44) who was also the 2006 European outdoor champion and fifth-place finisher at the 2006 World Indoor Championships, but was Great Britain's Jenny Meadows who braved the storming sprinters behind her and towed the field through the race when the rabbit stepped off to the infield.

Kotlyarova finished sixth in 2.02,74.


Holm's Unshakable Confidence

Field events also offer the partisan crowd an opportunity to cheer for two of its own, as Stefan Holm, the last high jumper to clear 2,40m (2005 European Championships in Madrid), led a field including teammate Linus Thörnblad and a Russian duo of Andrey Silnov and Ivan Ukhov, who are second and third on the yearly list with 2,37m and 2,36m clearances, respectively.

Holm, who has jumped 2,30m or higher in each of his five competitions this winter, won last year's contest with a 2,33m jump, with Thörnblad finishing second with a 2,30m clearance.

Holm made a daring move before the competition began, exchanging his original competition bib number for the number 119, the significance being the number of competitions in which he would have jumped 2,30m or higher had he cleared that height tonight.

The onus was on Holm to live up to expecations in not only clearing the height and surpassing Swedish record-holder Patrik Sjöberg's career total, but in ensuring that final height he cleared on the evening would be good enough for the victory.

Holm lived up to all expectations on the evening, first-attempt clearing four heights -- 2,22m, 2,26m, 2,30m and 2,33m -- before missing three tries at 2,37m. His closest competitors on the evening, Silnov, Tereshin and Cyrpus's Kyriakos Ioannou - the 2007 IAAF World bronze medalllist who had improved his indoor best to 2,32m earlier this month, were left 3cm behind at the competition's conclusion.

Thörnblad was left on the fifth spot after clearing only 2,26m -- 12cm under his personal best set last year.


Robles Continues to Near Record

Dayron Robles, contesting the 60m hurdles, was unstoppable by his foes, adding one more victory on the season in a relatively easy race for the Cuban. Robles stopped the clock in 7,44 seconds, and for the eighth time this season added his name to the top-10 60m hurdles world indoor list this season.

Robles leads the world heading to Valencia in two weeks, carrying a national record 7,33 seconds - the second-fastest ever, and a mere 0,03 seconds from Colin Jackson's indoor world record.


Nail-biter in Women's Long Jump

Russian Irina Simagina, who had the top-two jumps on the season at 6,94m and 6,92m, faced off against Portugal's Naide Gomes, the 2006 bronze medallist at the World Indoor Championships and third on the indoor list at 6,90m entering competition this evening.

The competition got off to a great start with Tatyana Kotova, the three-time world indoor champion and double world indoor silver-medallist, jumping 6,76m on her first attempt - a mark which was only 1cm off her season's best.

South African Karin Mey couldn't respond with an improvement on Kotova's mark, but had a safe jump at 6,64m ahead of an awaiting Gomes and Samagina, last in the jumping order. Gomes fouled on her first attempt, but appeared to had gotten off a very good jump - one which pressured Samagina to respond with a 6,69m - good enough for second after one round of jumping.

Kotova improved two centimetres on her next jump, with Mey making the jump of her life out to a personal best 6,85m and the lead in the competition; this is Mey's debut season indoors. Gomes, who had no mark at this point, planted safely and took over the lead with a 6,86m effort with Simagina again pressured to respond. Samagina answered with a foul as the athletes headed into the third round.

Kotova's third-round effort of 6,76 kept the fuel lit in the competition, with Mey stepping through her jump and Gomes fouling her attempt - which left Simagina under less pressure as she followed with a 6,79m effort and her first lead of the night.

Mey regathered her composure on the fourth round following a Kotova mis-step, and notched a 6,73m, with Gomes responding with a leading 6,88m on her second good jump of the four she had taken up to that point. Simagina didn't buckle under the pressure, recording a 6,83m to position herself into third with two jumps remaining.

Simagina made the only improvement in the fifth round, landing 6,89m into the pit - one centimetre ahead of Gomes' previously leading mark, and made for a great final round build-up as Mey, Gomes and Simagina had all cleared at least 6,85m with one jump remaining.

Kotova fouled her final attempt of the evening - ending the night with three-consecutive poor jumps, leaving Mey with a clear shot in the spotlight in the top of the order. Mey's final jump of 6,79 assured that neither Gomes nor Simagina would be threatened at the top, with the only question remaining of which one would win.

Gomes looked one final time down the runway and powered down to find the board with a good safety margin to spare. She jumped...then landed... 6,93m into the sandbox for the lead, a new personal best and a Portuguese national record. Simagina, jumping under pressure as she had from the outset, responded with the best jump of the evening, reaching out to 6,96m on her final jump - a mark which not only was a personal best for the 25-year-old Russian, but established a new meet record in the process.


Jamal's Debut a Success, Lukyaneko Wins Vault

Bahrain's Maryam Jamal, the 2007 IAAF World 1.500m champion, made her season's debut a victorious one, winning the event in Globen in 4.04,30 -- a time not too far shy of her national and African record best of 4.01,82.

Jamal's strongest competition during the race was from Ethiopia's Gelete Burka, the African Junior record-holder (3.59,60), who was also making her season's debut.
Burka, who was the third-fastest female 1.500m runner outdoors in 2007, finished second in 4.04,37 after a strong closing lap in which she was able to match kicks with the former Ethiopian national.

Russia's Yevgeniy Lukyanenko won the men's pole vault on countback against Tim Lobinger, with both athletes clearing 5,81m. Lukyanenko made a daring move to skip his final attempt at 5,71m and save it for 5,76m, which he cleared on his one and only attempt. Lobinger passed at 5,76m, and, like Lukyanenko, cleared 5,81m on his third and final attempt.

GE Galan has at present seen six world records and 22 Swedish records established at the venue. The GE Galan was shown on television in 35 countries.

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GE Galan Results from Stockholm's Globen Arena
Thursday, 2008-February-21:

400_1, Johan Wissman, Sweden, 46,30. 2, Chris Brown, Bahamas, 46,31. 3, Tyler Christopher, Canada, 46,75. 4, Arismendy Peguero, Dominican Republic, 47,83.

800_1, Wilfred Bungei, Kenya, 1.47,16. 2, Yuriy Borzakovskiy, Russia, 1.47,22. 3. Dmitri Bogdanov, Russia, 1.47,71. 4, Ismael Kombich, Kenya, 1.47,74.

1.000_1, Abubaker Kaki, Sudan, 2.15,77 (World Junior Record, old record 2.17,96, Sylas Kimutai, Kenya, 2002). 2, Richard Kiplagat, Kenya, 2.16,96. 3, Abdelsslam Kennouche, Algeria, 2.17,78. 4, Johan Cronje, South Africa, 2.18,48.

3.000_1, Bernard Lagat, United States, 7.34,65. 2, Paul Kipsiele Koech, Kenya, 7.36,24. 3, Abraham Chebii, Kenya, 7.38,63. 4, Brimin Kipruto, Kenya, 7.46,05.

60 hurdles_1, Dayron Robles, Cuba, 7,44. 2. Yoel Hernandez, Cuba, 7,68. 3, Robert Kronberg, Sweden, 7,70. 4, Igor Peremota, Russia, 7,71.

High Jump_1, Stefan Holm, Sweden, 2,33m (7-7 3/4) (119th competition over 2,30m). 2, Andrei Silnov, Russia, 2,30m (7-6 1/2). 3, Andrei Tereshin, Russia, 2,30m (7-6 1/2). 4. Kyriakos Ioannou, Cyprus, 2,30m (7-6 1/2).

Pole Vault_1 (tie), Yevgeniy Lukyanenko, Russia, and Tim Lobinger, Germany, 5,81m (19-0 3/4). 3. Leonid Kivalov, Russia, 5,71m (18-8 3/4). 4 (tie), Alhaji Jeng, Sweden, and Denys Yurchenko, Russia, 5,61m (18-5).

Women

800_1, Maria Mutola, Mozambique, 1.59,82. 2, Jenny Meadows, Great Britain, 2.00,42. 3, Mayte Martinez, Spain, 2.00,68. 4, Ewelina Setowska, Poland, 2.00,75.

1,500_1, Maryam Jamal, Bahrain, 4.04,30. 2, Gelete Burka, Ethiopia, 4.04,37. 3, Olesha Tsumakova, Russia, 4.07,42. 4, Lisa Dobriskey, Great Britain, 4.08,88.

60 hurdles_1, Susanna Kallur, Sweden, 7,74 (48th competition under 8,00). 2, Josephine Onyia, Spain, 7,91. 3, Lancena Golding-Clarke, Jamaica, 7,93. 4, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, Canada, 7,93.

Long Jump_1, Irina Simagina, Russia, 6,96m MR (22-10). 2, Naide Gomes, Portugal, 6,93m NR (22-9), 3, Karin Mey, South Africa, 6,85m (22-5 3/4). 4, Tatiana Kotova, Russia, 6,78m (22-3).

High Jump_1, Antonietta Di Martino, Italy, 1,97m (6-5 1/2). 2, Emma Green, Sweden, 1,94m (6-4 1/4). 3 (tie), Tatiana Kivimyagi, Russia, and Svetlana Shkolina, Russia, 1,94m (6-4 1/4).

(Foto credit: GE Galan homepage)