Is It Already Track Season? 2008 in Review

By Eric.

I don’t know about you, but I’m quite pleased the Olympics only occur once every fourth year. Any other years like the one which is winding down and has long since ended in terms of competition, and I’m not sure how much emotion, turmoil, ups and downs I’d have left in the tank to offer the sport as a fan. The summer season seemed to just conclude, and already, we’re looking at Bernard Lagat attempting to win a seventh Wannamaker Mile competition in New York in about a month.

Has it already been four years since Hicham El Guerrouj flashed two fingers up at the camera in complete disbelief that he’d won not only his first, but snuck by Kenenisa Bekele to win his second-ever Olympic gold medals in the same championships?

Was that the same Bekele who smashed the socks off his competitors in the 10.000m, and, following an additional 12,5 laps of qualifying, smashed his sly Kenyan rivals to smithereens with shifty pacing and a furious kick? Were those the same Kenyans who had to endure an indescribable hell to even reach the Olympics?

Watching Bekele come through in the 5.000m was breath-taking, but nothing took hold of my attention and belief than did the performances Usain Bolt put up individually in the short sprints and collectively with Asafa Powell and compatriots in the short relay. Four months later and quickly approaching a new year, I’ve finally let off the gas and have attempted to make sense­ – any – of times, marks and efforts which defied belief.

There are only so many times in a two-week time frame one has been able to listen the Russian national anthem or watch a gob-smacking number of Jamaican fans wave their hands in the air and shed tears for a boy who turned into a man by breaking two individual world records and helping his hapless team mate turn the tables on his own bitter-sweet championship record.

The Jamaican women didn’t fare too shabbily, either, one can say.

I don’t have a desire to re-hash all the happenings from this past year, but a few stand out to my liking and recollection, though others will be higher on your own personal priority lists and lodged deeper in your memory banks.

The anticipation surrounding the medal chase is so exhausting from a distance that I can only imagine what athletes must face from the indoor kick-offs to the final dash to the finish lines at a track stadium near you as they put their years of training to the test to determine if it would net them a medal in front of the world’s biggest audience. When the roof caves in and the rain falls on your parade in front of your own home fans, as it did for former 110m hurdle world-record holder Liu Xiang, the personal tragedy can be greater than one can ever imagine – even with the wildest of thoughts.

Closer up, however, that anticipation of winning was also so great, that it has caused many an athlete to turn to the darker side of sport, namely, doping, and attempt to squeeze on by through the corridors between right and wrong straight for the medal stand, lofty pay-outs and extreme adornment despite the methods by which they were to have been achieved – mark that, stolen.

Seven Russian women went down that path of destruction this season, caught in one of the largest doping conspiracies to hit the sport in the past 20 years – a time which also happened to be an Olympic year, and a location which also happened to be held in an Asian city. Ben Johnson has long since been removed from this sport, with his steroid-enabled times replaced by legal ones which raised the hair on the arms and laid the foundation for any number of clichés, questions and superlatives to be used.

Whilst on the topic of doping, let it be known that Marion Jones, who won honour and privilege by method of fraud eight years ago in Sydney, was confined to a prison unit many worlds away from the glittering flashes capturing images of greatness by athletes competing at the Bird’s Nest. She was released about two weeks following the extinguishing of the flame – a fitting image as her career can finally be extinguished and put to rest following years of denials about her involvement in performance-enhancing drugs. Six months of thinking time didn’t make Marion Jones smarter, however, it made her deny on national television in the United States in front of Oprah Winfrey that Marion Jones can and will take full and complete responsibility for her illegal actions rather than blaming someone else.

Lyudmyla Blonska, the outcast Ukrainian heptathlon competitor who was banned following a positive test in Beijing, has made it a case to blame someone else – in this case, that someone being her husband. She’s facing a lifetime ban from the sport if she is unable to clear this case with CAS. Carolina Klüft, our Swedish star who won every major heptathlon title available and decided to concentrate on the long and triple jumps this season, has been vocal about Blonska’s inclusion back in the sport following her first ban.

I didn’t get stung by the whole Marion Jones saga, but I got hit in the head and knocked over by Yelena Soboleva, instead. I picked Soboleva as my Indoor Athlete-of-the-Year on my blog following her incredulous runs at the World Indoor Championships in March, and believed with all honesty that she was competing clean. She tested clean, but with someone else’s urine. Yep, one star athlete’s chances went right down the toilet...literally.

I was anticipating a Soboleva match-up with Pamela Jelimo, the Kenyan teenager whom I can not truly describe with any adjective which correctly sums up her ability, year and mark left on this sport. Those match-ups never occurred, with Soboleva, who ran a world-leading 1.54,85 in Kazan in June, getting temporarily banned prior to the Olympics and unable to compete in the IAAF Golden League series.

That didn’t stop Jelimo, who broke on to the scene with death-defying times and eventually went on to win the Olympics, set a World Junior Record, a Kenyan National record and record one of the top-five times ever recorded for a female over two laps. Jelimo wasn’t simply precocious. She wasn’t fast in terms of having great wheels, either. She was more than dynamic, and she was more than dominant. She went from rags to riches – one million dollars richer – in one simple season which saw her line up for 15 races (including heats, rounds and finals), and win every single competition in which she entered over the 800m distance, running under 1.57,00 on nine of those occasions.

On the topic of Russian match-ups, I had two other ones to which I was greatly looking forward this season, namely those of Yuriy Borzakovskiy and Abubaker Kaki and Yelena Isinbayeva and Jenn Stuczynski in the pole vault.

Kaki, who concluded 2007 by running a solo 1.43, gained my uttermost attention this past winter season, running a world junior record in the 1.000m 10 minutes down the street at the GE Galan at Globen and then going on to win the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Spain in March. He kicked off outdoors on a high note, running a 1.42,69 at the Oslo Golden League meeting, setting up what was to be a very high expectation for great things to come on the men’s two-lap circuit.

Borzakovskiy, who anchored Russia to a national indoor record in the 4x800m this past winter, also notched a blistering time over the two-lap distance outdoors, running 1.42,79 three weeks ahead of the Beijing Olympics, and one week after setting a national record over 1.000m here in Stockholm at the DN Galan (2.15,50).

Sadly, neither athlete was anywhere near the medal stand following Wilfred Bungei’s surprise victory. I haven’t heard from Kaki since our two meetings this summer, and Borzakovskiy has vowed to return for more at the London 2012 Olympics, though by then there will be other Kaki-type athletes who will have cropped up by then, and Kaki, if he’s healthy and not burned out by then, will be the Wilson Kipketer of this generation.

First up for either athlete, will be the opportunity afforded Jelimo in 2008, namely a stab at a portion of (or all the proceeds outright of) the $1,000,0000 prize money for winning each of the Golden League competitions.

Isinbayeva, on the other hand, was one of two Russian athletes who came through for poor, selfish me this season. I’m a fan, dammit, and wanted a world record from the queen of the vault. Wow, did I get the best of two worlds this season: Isinbayeva got great competition from a gutsy challenger in Stuczynski, and Isinbayeva was able to set one world indoor record and establish three outdoor ones, culminating with an in-your-face 5.05m clearance in Beijing – some 25cm up on the American.

Olympic steeplechase champion Gulnara Galkina, was the other Russian who shone brightly in Beijing, capturing the event with history's first sub-nine clocking - a world record.

And these Olympic Games, ladies and gentlemen, were following the Olympic-size performances prep star German Fernandez put up in June in at the California State Meet and the Nike Outdoor Nationals, where, on successive occasions, he not only outclassed the best in the Class of 2008, he obliterated national federation (8.41,10) and national records (8.36,3) in the 3.200m and 2-mile, respectively. The 3.200m time was achieved following a 1.600m race which saw the lanky kid, who now attends Oklahoma State University and has already established a line of credibility on the NCAA scene, average just over 60 seconds per segment without stopping.

Prep athletes Jordan Hasay (USA Junior Record 4.14,50 in the 1.500m) and Jeffery Demps shone outstanding at the USA Olympic Trials, with Demps setting a new world junior record (the third in the group of five juniors listed here!) in the 100m at 10,01 seconds. Hasay won the girl’s 3.200m run (9.52,13) at the state meet minutes before Fernandez set chase to Dathan Ritzenhein’s Federation record, running the second-fastest time ever by a high school girl. After enduring a long season, which brought Hasay from the West Coast of the United States to the World Junior Championships in Poland, Hasay won every cross country race she entered this autumn, capping off a season of excellence by winning her second Footlocker Cross Country championship two weeks ago – three years after earning her first victory.

Usain Bolt stole (earned) the show(boating) in Beijing, becoming an instantaneous favourite the world round. The Olympics have a way of measuring your ability to succeed on exactly the right queue, and Bolt delivered. So did André Silnov, the Russian high jumper who was not initially selected for his team, delivered a world-leading 2.38m in London a month before the Games, was then selected to compete in Beijing and brought Russia joy in winning the event.

Stefan Holm, the 2004 Olympic high jump champion, won’t have any more opportunities to push his small frame through the air and take down the giants in his path – athletes like Jaroslav Rybakov, a perennial rival. Rybakov, who won a silver in Beijing to Holm’s fourth-place finish, is still very much on the scene, alive and well, and will be for some time coming. Holm, on the other hand, announced that this would be his final season, and he gave it everything he had.

Maria Mutola, the evergreen of the 800m crop, did, as well.

Christian Olsson, our triple jump specialist and 2004 gold medal winner, is also at a cross-road in his career, one which has been terrorised by injury since his winning jump in Athens four years ago. Olsson, like Holm, may have taken his final jumps on the field.

There were also a lot of disappointing moments in 2008, with Blanka Vlasic holding top spot in that category. Vlasic, who had a 20-plus win-streak going heading into Beijing, lost her bid to add an Olympic crown to her world title, as Tia Hellebaut, who is now retired and expecting a baby, earned the coveted crown in a magnificent fashion – and at a personal best height (2.05m). Vlasic eventually lost out on the Golden League jackpot as well, one which Jelimo was able to keep completely to herself as she headed back to Kenya following the season finale in Germany.

Susanna Kallur and LoLo Jones, two of the year’s best 100m hurdlers – with Kallur the world indoor record-holder and Jones, the fastest outdoors, both running into troubles over the hurdles in Beijing and being knocked from their four-year goals of making it to the medal stand. The semi-final was a bitter moment for Kallur, as she had to again endure a defeat at the hands of circumstance rather than the competition; Kallur also had an injury during the world indoor championships in March and missed the final, which Jones won.

There were a thousand small wonders in the world of athletics which made the 2008 season special, unique and a memorable one, for sure.

Did it honestly take me this long to mention LaShawn Merritt’s accomplishments in the 400m? Undisputed heavyweight champion at 400m over the previous Olympic champion, Jeremy Wariner. Or Dayron Robles in the men’s 110m hurdles? Rachid Ramzi’s perfection when it counted in Beijing, despite his show-boat semi-final?

Turning the attention back to the women, has it taken this long to speak of Veronica Campbell over Allyson Felix, with the former running a 21,74 in the Olympic 200m final? Christine Ohuruogu in the women’s 400m after falters at the shorter sprints appeared to have derailed her plans? Last, and not least, the efforts two other Ethiopians, Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar, put up in the 5.000m and/or 10.000m this summer? When will they feed off one another instead of ducking? Will the 14-minute barrier be breached if they worked collaboratively?

What will 2009 hold which can surpass this past season in overall greatness and provide an even greater degree of amazement? Is it fair to put this expectation on the sport, the athletes and the meeting arrangers?

Will more athletes like Craig Mottram, who broke off a working relationship with his coach, follow suit as Jeremy Wariner did earlier in the year? Will Alan Webb, the world's fastest miler in 2007 who did not advance to the Olympic Games, finally split with a coach who has mentored him since high school? As American distance runners continue migrating west to Eugene, will any superstars here in Europe join forces? Then again, we don't have many superstars left, so we're waiting on the Africans to trek here for spring cleaning.

I got my world record(s) from Isinbayeva, and Bolt single-handedly brought back life, spunk and a punkishness to the sport which it desperately needed in terms of a face-lift from the past. Can he run faster than 9,69 and/or 19,30 this season, and, if he does, how much faster? Would it be a failure if he doesn’t achieve those marks, but still wins the IAAF World Championships?

Time will tell in more ways than one.

____________________

2008 Season-Leaders (Final):

Men

100m. 9,69 WR Usain Bolt JAM
200m. 19,30 WR Usain Bolt JAM
400m. 43,75 LaShawn Merritt USA
800m. 1.42,69 Abubaker Kaki SUD
1500m. 3.31,49 Daniel Kipchirchir Komen KEN
Mile. 3.49,38 Andy Baddeley GBR
3.000m. 7.31,83 Edwin Soi KEN
5.000m. 12.50,18 Kenenisa Bekele ETH
10.000m. 26.25,97 Kenenisa Bekele ETH
Mar. 2.03.59 WR Haile Gebrselassie ETH
3.000SC. 8.00,57 Paul Kipsiele Koech KEN
110mH. 12,87 WR Dayron Robles CUB
400mH. 47,25 Angelo Taylor USA
HJ. 2,38 Andrey Silnov RUS
PV. 6,04 Brad Walker USA
LJ. 8,73 Irving Saladino PAN
TJ. 17,67 Nelson Évora POR
SP. 22,12 Adam Nelson USA
DT. 71,88 Gerd Kanter EST
HT. 84,51 Ivan Tikhon BLR
JT. 90,57 Andreas Thorkildsen NOR
Dec. 8832 Bryan Clay USA
20KM W. 1.16.43 Sergey Morozov RUS
50KM W. 3.34.14 WR Denis Nizhegorodov RUS
4x100m. 37,10 WR JAM
4x400m. 2.55,39 USA

Women

100m. 10,78 Shelly-Ann Fraser JAM, Torri Edwards USA
200m. 21,74 Veronica Campbell-Brown JAM
400m. 49,62 Christine Ohuruogu GBR
800m. 1.54,01 Pamela Jelimo KEN
1.500m. 3.56,59 Yelena Soboleva RUS
Mile. 4.18,23 Gelete Burka ETH
3.000m. 8.33,66 Vivian Cheruiyot KEN
5.000m. 14.11,15 WR Tirunesh Dibaba ETH
10.000m. 29.54,66 Tirunesh Dibaba ETH
Mar. 2.19.19 Irina Mikitenko GER
3.000mSC. 8.58,81 WR Gulnara Galkina RUS
100mH. 12,43 Lolo Jones USA
400mH. 52,64 Melaine Walker JAM
HJ. 2,06 Blanka Vlašic CRO
PV. 5,05 WR Yelena Isinbayeva RUS
LJ. 7,12 Naide Gomes POR
TJ. 15,39 Françoise Mbango CMR
SP. 20,98 Nadzeya Ostapchuk BLR
DT. 67,89 Iryna Yatchenko BLR
HT. 77,32 Aksana Menkova BLR
JT. 72,28 WR Barbora Špotáková CZE
Hep. 6733 Nataliya Dobrynska UKR
10KM W. 42.29 Tatyana Kalmykova RUS
20KM W. 1.25.11 Olga Kaniskina RUS
4x100m. 42,24 JAM
4x400m. 3.18,54 USA

Soboleva Earns My 2008 Female Indoor AOY Vote

Story written by Eric.

Last week-end's NCAA Championships officially closed the lid on the 2008 indoor season, and there were no shortage of great performances and record-setting marks accomplished around the globe by athletes on the elite level down to United States prep athletes who have yet to get much press or experience on the international stage.

Three women produced world records this season, and scores of other ones sprinted, jumped and leaned their ways to superlative marks which would have made headlines and captured votes on their own merits had the super elite failed to strike gold when it counted.

Yelena Soboleva, Susanna Kallur and Yelena Isinbayeva - names which reverberated from stadium to stadium this winter as they competed at their absolute bests this indoor campaign - each etched their names in the record annuals, and were each picked for gold in Valencia two week-ends ago when the entrants were declared.

Soboleva and Isinbayeva found favour and fortune on their side during the two-day event by coming up with victories.

Kallur, who led the world at 60m hurdles, had the untimely displeasure of becoming injured following her first-round heat and was never able to make it to the semi-finals, unfortunately, knocking her from the top of my personal AOY list despite her previously undefeated season and capturing three of the top-5 times ever recorded indoors in the event.

So that left the two Valencia teammates who share the same name, Yelena, up to take the honours.

Soboleva and Kallur started off the 2008 world-record chase by breaking all-time standards on 10-February, with Kallur, competing in Karlsruhe, knocking off a dubious hurdles record set 18 years and six days earlier by Ludmila Engquist - from whose dubious shadow she was attempting to run under.

Soboleva, on the other hand, knocked a few ticks off her own 1.500m world indoor record the same evening in Moscow.

The last of the record trio, Isinbayeva, competed six days later in Donetsk, Ukraine - a meeting site where she has earlier found vaulting nirvana, and set her third-consecutive world-record at the meet which vaulting legend Sergey Bubka had arranged.

The two athletes - tied at one world-record apiece - were even on paper, but one understands clearly that Isinbayeva, the superstar, having set her fourth world indoor record in as many years, was clearly ahead of her rival.

That was until Isinbayeva's next competition brought her back down to earth and behind Russian Svetlana Feofanova at Pedro's Cup in Bydgoszcz, Poland four days later, leaving Soboleva and Kallur undefeated prior to the world championships.

Soboleva, who finished the winter campaign with three personal bests, three national records and a world record to her credit, finished undefeated in five finals and contested one more meet than had Isinbayeva.

Soboleva earns my vote for Female Indoor Athlete of the Year for 2008 for twice bettering the previous 1.500m world indoor record (3.58,05 and 3.57,71); for netting the fourth-fastest mile ever recorded (4.20,21); and for demonstrating an incredible amount of resolve in taking two seconds from her previous 800m best at her national championships, running the fifth-fastest indoor time in history (1.56,49) - all without having run a step indoors last season.

Soboleva, a 25-year-old who competes for the Trade Unions club in Moscow, opened her 2008 compaign with a low-level 2.01,61 victory at the Moscow Challenge on 20-January.

Soboleva defeated Yekaterina Martynova, a 2.00,85 800m runner, by nearly two seconds in her first race since finishing four seconds down to Bahrain's Maryam Jamal in last September's World Athletics 1.500m final in Stuttgart.

The 800m time indicated Soboleva had decent fitness following an excellent outdoor campaign, and that she was on her way to perhaps a successful indoor campaign following a one-year hiatus from the winter season.

How much Soboleva would improve could never have been wildly guessed of one's life depended on it.

Soboleva, competing in her second indoor race in two years, contested the mile at the Russian Winter Games seven days later and demonstrated for both herself and her competitors that the world indoor 1.500m record-holder was at the top of the queue and may have genuinely had something incredible in store once the season picked up, clocking a national record time of 4.20,21.

Soboleva's achievement was history's fourth-fastest ever run, and the fastest since Romania's Doine Melinte set the current world indoor standard of 4.17,14 in February 1990.

Soboleva's outdoor best, 4.15,63, was set in Moscow in 2007.

Soboleva rested after her tiring mile and prepared to contest her national championships to again be held in Moscow 11 days later. She'd been entered in both the 800m and the 1.500m, and faced considerable competion in each event as single competitions, let alone coming in a double.

The 800m race was first.

Soboleva qualified first in her heat, running 1.59,56 - a time which wasn't completely taxing, but one which would take its toll on her by the time her 1.500m final was contested the following day. Waiting in the wings for an opportunity to strike at Soboleva's strength was Natalya Ignatova, who would run only 11/100 slower than Soboleva in the heats and qualify for the final.

Soboleva returned the following day to win the four-lap final with a very hard third 200m split, breaking apart from the field and powering home to a new personal best. Ignatova (1.58,84), Mariya Savinova (1.59,46) and Mariya Shapayeva (1.59,71) all set personal bests behind Soboleva, with the top-three each ending the season with the top marks in the world this year.

Being a world record-holder does not afford one an automatic gold medal - especially if one is contesting in the fiercely competitive Russian National Championships.

Soboleva would learn that lesson a few hours following her 800m victory, as 2006 World Indoor Champion and teammate Yuliya Fomenko attempted to run the legs off of Soboleva during the middle of the race.

Soboleva, who had considered dropping out of the 1.500m due to exhaustion, hung on in the race and drew from the well one final time to rush home and stop the clock in 3.58,05 - 0,23 faster than the world record she had set two years earlier.

Five of the nine women in the field set personal bests.

Soboleva travelled to Valencia rested and barely trained following a short, yet very intense, period of racing in February which had tired her.

The 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships 1.500m final generated the top-level excitement and energy fans had come to expect and anticipate, with Fomenko and Soboleva taking care of business up front and pushing each other up the 1.400m mark where Soboleva ultimately pulled away and ran away from her nearest three rivals in fast pursuit.

Soboleva's world record-setting performance (3.57,71) dragged Fomenko (3.59,41), Ethiopia's Gelete Burika (3.59,75) and Jamal (3.59,79) under the four-minute barrier, with all four women setting personal bests, and three of them new national bests in the process.

No woman in 2008 had the impact on the sport, the record books, their nation and their fellow competitors like Yelena Soboleva did. She inspired her comeptitors to run at their fullest capabilities, and she came out on the victorious end in the three races which counted most to her: her national championships and the world championships.

Yelena Soboleva just may take off 2009 as she did 2007 following a long season, but 2008 will leave memories far and deep to last several seasons over.

Croatia's Blanka Vlasic would have gotten a strong nudge at Soboleva's level had she been able to tie or break Kajsa Bergqvist's 2.08m world-record. She will receive an honourable mention, instead.

Yelena Soboleva's Personal Records:

• 800m indoors: 1.56,49 NR
  
• 800m outdoors: 1.57,28
• 1.500m indoors: 3.57,71 WR
  
• 1.500m outdoors: 3.56,43
• Mile indoors: 4.20,21 NR
  
• Mile outdoors: 4.15,63

Yelena Soboleva's 2008 Season:

• 2.01,61 Moscow Open Championships
• 4.20,21 Russian Winter
• 1.59,56 (Q) Russian National Championships
• 1.56,49 Russian National Championships
• 3.58,05 Russian National Championships
• 4.07,85 (Q) IAAF World Championships
• 3.57,71 IAAF World Championships
  

2008 World Indoor Champs: 800m Notes & Numbers Review

Story by Eric.

Three days of hurried pace, ups and downs and spectacular athletics performances have now left an emptiness in Valencia which the Qatari capital city of Doha hopes to fill when it plays host to the 13th edition in 2010.

Now that athletes have taken their final dives at the tape, picked their feet out of the sand boxes, spun one final time on a circular concrete slab and both jumped up to and over bars with their feet and with the use of fiberglass poles, one is left to ponder exactly what took place during a packed week-end of activities which provided one world record and drew the curtain on several athletes' careers.

Yelena Soboleva earned headlines on the final day of competition with her spectacular world record run on Sunday, reaching the tape in the 1.500m in 3.57,71 to eclipse her own world indoor record set at the Russian national indoor championships in February.

Moreover, Abubaker Kaki, the surprise 800m find, dispensed of a quality field which set personal bests in all finish spots, running 1.44,81.

There was more than enough drama to fill the tabloids, but were there enough good performances to fill interest in a sport where not all the top atheltes compete - especially in an Olympic year?

The IAAF put together a handy historical blueprint of the previous world indoor championships, one which will be heavily utilised in the analysis below.

The information is not to be taken as a prediction of what is in store for certain athletes, simply as an interesting side-note to understanding how certain athletes have performed against their peers both prior to - and at - the World Championships.

So, let's continue on in the world indoor analysis and compare apples to apples (and oranges), and see what the Men's 800m had to offer at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships compared to previous seasons.


800M RUN

The Men's 800m was one of the most-anticipated events of the three-day, three-round week-end, and the final did not disappoint with Eighteen-year-old Abubaker Kaki, a former Sudanese goalie in a local league, blasting South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi - 2004 World indoor titlist and 2006 World Indoor Championships silver medalist - 1.44,81 to 1.44,91 in a tantalizing display of youth mixed with the splendid poise of a veteran.

• Kaki tripled his lifetime total of indoor races in Valencia, and did not leave fans or his competitors in want, leading each of the six athletes in the final to personal bests.
• Kaki lowered the Sudanese record from 1.48,69 to 1.46,09 in the first indoor race of his life in Leipzig last month, then demolished his new national record by another 1,28 seconds in only his second 800m final ever contested indoors.
• Not only had Kaki made a smashing success, he left his opponents helpless by skipping completely through the 1.46 barrier in his victory in Valencia.
• Kaki tied a precedent with his victory, as no other world indoor champion had ever run fewer lifetime indoor races before earning their first championship.
• Of the 13 champions, five have won in their first-ever season of indoor running: José Luiz Barbosa (1987), Paul Ereng (1989), Clive Terrelonge (1995), Mulaudzi (2004) and Kaki (2008).
• Terrelonge is the only World Indoor Champion whose outdoor seasonal best (1.47,30) the year prior to his victory was closest to his winning indoor mark (1.47,35), but he is also the only victor who has never broken 1.45,00 in his career.
• Terrelonge and Colomán Trabado (1985) are the only two winning athletes who didn't break 1.45,00 in the outdoor season leading up to their global indoor victories, meaning that good pace and excellent judgment also play a key ingredient in successful running.

Indoor running is as much about positioning as it is with pace (see the 400m review blog for more information), although the first to the pole in the four-lap race hasn’t always been the victor.

There are many maneuvers which unfold during the 800m – a race of both speed and endurance, that it becomes nearly impossible to pick a winner simply on best qualifying time or best position when the gun sounds.

That didn’t hold true for Kaki, however, as he did what many of his predecessors were either unwilling – or unable – to do in early March: take a pace out hard, hold it and stave off any challengers. In Kaki’s case, his challengers were all but gone at the 400m mark, with Mulaudzi the only athlete hanging on.

• Kaki's time is the third-fastest winning time ever run at the World Indoor Championships - trailing on Wilson Kipketer's world-record run in 1997 (1.42,67) and Yuriy Borzakovskiy's world junior-record time of 1.44,49 set in 2001 in Lisbon. Kipketer did run a world record in the 1997 preliminaries, however, stopping the clock at 1.43,96 during the fifth heat - more than four seconds faster than any other first-round heat. Kipketer is the only athlete to ever run under 1.44 and 1.43 - a feat he accomplished on the same week-end!
• Kaki missed the four-year-old African indoor record set by Kenya's Joseph Mutua in Stuttgart by only 0,10 seconds.
• Kaki, however, became the youngest gold medalist in the event, topping Borzakovskiy's previous distinction (19 years, 333 days) by well over 14 months. Kaki doesn't have the raw 400m speed that Borzakovskiy does, but it is of note to point out that Borzakovskiy went on to run a lifetime best of 1.42,47 the outdoor season following his World Indoor title.
• Outdoors, David Krummenacker (1.43,92) was the closest match of all previous champions to Kaki's season best (1.43,90) leading up to the World Indoor Championships.
• Kaki has excellent company in front of him, and his dream of catching and surpassing Sammy Kosgei's 1.42,28 world junior record would entail passing Borzakovskiy as well.
• Kaki's winning time most resembles Paul Ereng's 1.44,84, with the precocious yearling 0,03 seconds faster than was Ereng when he won the 1989 championships at age 21. It would not be out of the question to suggest that Kaki may follow a similar pattern to Ereng outdoors as well, as Ereng went on to record a 1.43,16.
• Ereng was more than a half-second faster than was Kaki in the season prior to their world indoor titles, but Kaki's race was contested as a near solo time-trial, whereas Ereng had the benefit of being towed in a Grand Prix event; it is with near certainty that Kaki would have run faster than 1.43,90 had he been challenged or had the aid of other athletes to follow.
• Wilson Kipketer sandwiched his world indoor record between a particular exploit no other athlete has ever been able to accomplish in the history of the sport: run 1.41 over 800m in consecutive seasons (1996, 1997).
• Of the 12 previous races contested before last week-end's final, Paul Ereng is the only athlete who has successfully defended his title.
• Prior to Kaki's front-running performance, Tom McKean (1993), Kipketer (1997) and Wilfred Bungei (2006) were the only winners who were leading the race at the 400m mark, with Kipketer having the distinction of running the swiftest half-way split (50,22) and fastest final time ever recorded.
• The only athletes who have managed to break 1.45,00 at the World Indoor Championships have managed to have the pace hit 51,26 or faster at the half-way point.
• McKean's claim to fame - besides his gold medal - is being the oldest of the 13 800m champions crowned. Bungei was knocked from the all-time top-10 list with Kaki's winning time, and thrust to 12th when Mulaudzi finished a tenth of a second behind.

Below are the previous champions, with the race's official 400m split listed.

The times indicated behind their marks are the previous season's 800m best and their subsequent 800m season's best outdoors following their indoor victories. Their absolute bests are not included, simply the best time they were able to record the year leading up to the world indoor championships.

• 1985: ..... 53,05/1.47,42 (1.45,15/0.00,00 - Trabado)
• 1987: ..... 52,71/1.47,49 (1.44,10/1.43,76 - Barbosa)
• 1989: ..... 50,83/1.44,84 WR (1.43,45/1.43,16 - Ereng)
• 1991: ..... 54,00/1.47,08 (1.43,70/1.44,06 - Ereng)
• 1993: ..... 51,59/1.47,29 (1.44,39/1.46,17 - McKean)
• 1995: ..... 53,40/1.47,30 (1.47,35/1.46,58 - Terrelonge)
• 1997: ..... 50,22/1.42,67 WR (1.41,83/1.41,11 - Kipketer)
• 1999: ..... 53,70/1.45,47 (1.44,57/1.43,91 - Botha)
• 2001: ..... 51,48/1.44,49 (1.44,33/1.42,47 - Borzakovskiy)
• 2003: ..... 52,93/1.45,69 (1.43,92/1.44,30 - Krummenacker)
• 2004: ..... 50,74/1.45,71 (1.42,89/1.44,56 - Mulaudzi)
• 2006: ..... 55,65/1.47,15 (1.43,70/1.43,31 - Bungei)
• 2008: ..... 51,26/1.44,81 (1.43,90/0.00,00 - Kaki)

Sudan now has a collection of gold, silver and bronze earned at the World Indoor Championships, with Kaki taking the top spot, and Yamilé Aldama earning the bronze in the triple jump in Moscow following her silver in Budapest in 2004.

Sudan has had only one other male competitor in the World Indoor Championships, Ali Abubakr Nagmeldin, a 400m athlete who did not make it out of the first round in Budapest.

Top-10 All-time Performer list (Indoors):

1.42,67 Wilson Kipketer, DEN, 9 Mar 97
1.44,15 Yuriy Borzakovskiy, RUS, 27 Jan 01
1.44,71 Joseph Mutua, KEN, 31 Jan 04
1.44,78 Pawel Czapiewski, POL 3 Mar 02
1.44,81 Abubaker Kaki, SUD 9 Mar 08
1.44,82 Mehdi Baala, FRA, 18 Feb 03
1.44,84 Paul Ereng, KEN, 4 Mar 89
1.44,88 Nico Motchebon, GER, 5 Feb 95
1.44,91 Sebastian Coe, GB, 12 Mar 83
1.44,91 Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, SA, 9 Mar 08


Next review: Men's 3.000m


Foto credits: IAAF.org

IAAF World Championships: Soboleva Crushes WR

Story written by Eric.

Russia's Yelena Soboleva established her second world record at 1.500m this indoor season, running 3 minutes 57,71 seconds to win her first World Indoor title at the IAAF Championships in Valencia.

Soboleva, who finished second two years ago to teammate Yuliya Fomenko, out-sprinted her rival with a powerful kick the final 100m over the 200m track, and won going-away, taking off 0,34 seconds from the record she set at the Russian Indoor National Championships two weeks ago.

Soboleva, 25, ran to the front of the race during the first 100m, and was followed by Bahrain's Maryam Jamal and Fomenko early in the race. Soboleva ran a controlled 30,95 split at the 200m mark and continued running what appeared to be content and effortless through at first-lap split of 63,26.

There was no change in the top-3 order until the 600m mark, reached in 1.35,66, with Fomenko taking over pacing duties.

Fomenko and and Soboleva towed the field through a very respectable 2.07,89 to drag Jamal and Ethiopian Geleta Burka with them in a front pack of four.

Fomenko reached the 1.000m mark just under 2.40, splitting 2.39,90 off of a 32,01 segment from the 800m mark. Soboleva continued to look content to bide her time in second as they passed the clock with 400m remaining in an incredible 2.55 on the clock.

Fomenko continued her excellent running and attempted to take the kick out of her teammate, hitting the 1.200m split in 3.11,53 (31,63), and then surged very hard to attempt to deflate Soboleva's 1.56 800m speed.

Soboleva didn't relent, however, and took the lead at 1.300m (3.27). Soboleva's move was a decisive one, and she took the field through a 3.42,27 for 1.400m (30,74 split).

Needing to run just under 16,00 to break the world record, Soboleva ran 15,44 over the final turn and straight to finish in world-record time.

Fomenko finished second in a new personal best time of 3.59,41, with Burka third in an African record time of 3.59,75. Jamal, the 2007 IAAF World Outdoor champion, finished without a medal, but could be content with setting a new personal best of 3.59,79.

Four women in all finished with new national records. Soboleva earned a bonus of $50.000 for setting a world record, and pocketed $40.000 for the victory.

Soboleva's was the only world record set at the championships, which concluded this evening.

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IAAF World Indoor Championships

Women's 1.500m Final

1, Yelena Soboleva, RUS, 3.57,71 (WR); 2, Yuliya Fomenka, RUS, 3.59,41 (PB); 3, Gelete Burka, ETH, 3.59,75 (AR); 4, Maryam Yusuf Jamal, BRN, 3.59,79 (AR); 5, Daniela Yordanova , BUL, 4.04,19 (NR); 6, Liliana Popescu, ROM, 4.07,61; 7, Bouchra Ghézielle, FRA, 4.08,66; 8, Siham Hilali MAR 4.15,54; Sonja Roman, SLO, DNF

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KAKI CAPS SENSATIONAL DEBUT WITH VICTORY

Abubaker Kaki entered the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships with exactly three races under his belt: an 800m in Leipzig which netted him the second-fastest time of the year (1.46,06), and two 1.000m races - the first which nabbed the 18-year-old the world junior record in Stockholm (2.15,77).

Kaki tripled his lifetime total of indoor races in Valencia, and did not disappoint in his attack on a truly stellar field, winning a stunning race against South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, 1.44,81 to 1.44,91.

Mulaudzi was the 2004 world indoor champion and Olympic silver medallist behind Yuriy Borzakovskiy in Athens, and had possessed the most experience and the highest credentials of the contestants in the final.

Though Mulaudzi was only able to equal his standing set two years ago in Moscow, he did set a new national record tonight in the process.

Bronze medallist Yusuf Saad Kamal of Burundi (1.45,26) and fourth-placer Dmitrijs Milkevics (1.45,72), who had the third-fastest time in the world entering the final (1.46,09), also set national records in a race won with the third-fastest time ever run in the World Indoor Championships.

The field was so deep that fifth-placer, Russian Dmitry Bogdanov (1.45,76) and American Nick Symmonds (1.46,48), who had looked very strong in his heat and semi-final races, set personal records in what was truly one of the highlights of the evening behind Soboleva's world record run mentioned above.

Symmonds' time was only 0,01 of a second from equalling the best mark for sixth place in the championships.

Kaki stated prior to the opening race that he wouldn't underestimate his competitors, but the strong Sudanese took the lead from the gun and split 24,92 - 51,26 the first two laps before Mulaudzi gave chase.

Entering the final lap, Kaki split 1.18,28 at the 600m mark, and all eyes in the stadium were on the fast-kicking Mulaudzi as he prepared to overtake his junior runner. Mulaudzi pushed Kaki hard down the backstretch, and it appeared that Kaki would not find the strength to hold off Mulaudzi, who has a 1.42,89 outdoor best.

Kaki came off the final turn with his arms pumping hard, his neck strained and his eyes on the finish line as Mulaudzi, running to his right in lane two, came up even with him, and attempted to overtake him with the remaining metres to the finish line in sight.

Malaudzi was unable to negotiate a better finishing spurt than Kaki, however, and the 18-year-old claimed his sixth victory in as many races this indoor season, running the second-fastest world junior time in history behind Borzakovskiy's 1.44,35 -- and the fastest time in the world since 2004.

Kaki's superlative mixture of strength and speed will make it very challenging for anyone to match strides with him as he takes a break, rests and prepares to translate his new-found talents to the outdoor oval.

Kaki shouldn't have too difficult a time with that, however, as he ran a solo 1.43 800m in November to fly under the radar nearly two months following the conclusion to the normal Grand Prix season.

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IAAF World Indoor Championships

Men's 800m Final

1, Abubaker Kaki, SUD, 1.44,81 (WL); 2, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, RSA, 1.44,91 (NR); 3, Yusuf Saad Kamel, BRN, 1.45,26 (AR); 4 Dmitrijs Milkevics, LAT, 1.45,72 (NR); 5 Dmitriy Bogdanov, RUS, 1.45,76 (PB); 6 Nick Symmonds, USA, 1.46,48 (PB)

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TARIKU BEKELE (7.48,23) STEPS OUT OF SHADOWS

The men's 3.000m featured a stunning field which included Australian Craig Mottram, Kenya's Paul Koech and Ethiopians Tariku Bekele -- the 2008 world indoor leader at this distance, and teammate Abreham Cherkos, who holds the world youth best for the outdoor 3.000m (7.32,37), and the 5.000m (12.54,19), and who also set the World Junior record at this distance (7.38,03) in Stuttgart on 2-February.

Mottram, who holds a 3.48 mile best and set a national record in the 3.000m last month with a 7.34,50, and Koech, the 2007 World Outdoor Champion in the steeplechase, were expected to be Bekele's biggest challengers.

All seemed to play into the kickers' race the first kilometre, covered in 2.48,58 - a pace which Ethiopian women's winner, Meseret Defar, could have managed without difficulty.

Koech, who ran 8.06,48 over two miles in finishing second to Bekele's older brother, Kenenisa, in Birmingham on 16-February, took over the pacing charge to lead the field through a sub-par 5.25,71 (2.42,88 pace) - but one which surprisingly begun stringing out the field a bit as Bekele began to position himself for a long drive home to the finish.

Bekele made a terrific move with three laps remaining, and inflicted a great deal of hurt on the kickers in the race, covering his final 1.000m in 2.22,5 and finishing off his final 1.500m in 3.40 - a pace which would have kept him in contention in the open 1.500m race contested the prior evening!

Bekele's winning time of 7.48,23 wasn't the fastest winning time in history, but his closing 1.500m segment was six seconds faster than was Saïd Aouita's 3.46,4 in his 1989 victory (7.47,94) in Budapest.

Koech, who fought valiantly to hold off Cherkos, finished with the silver medal, running 7.49,05, with Cherkos nabbing the bronze (7.49,96).

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IAAF World Indoor Championships

Men's 3.000m Final

1, Tariku Bekele, ETH, 7.48,23; 2, Paul Koech, KEN, 7.49,05; 3, Abrehem Cherkos, ETH, 7.49,96; 4, Edwin Soi, KEN, 7.51,60; 5, Craig Mottram, AUS, 7.52,42; 6, Mohammed Farah, GB, 7.55,08; 7, Ali Maatoui, MAR, 7.58,93; 8, Sergio Sanchez, ESP, 7.59,74 (PB); 9, James C'Kurui, QAT, 8.00,44; 10, Kamal Boulahfane, ALG, 8.04,73; 11, Jonathan Riley, USA, 8.05,59; 12, Arne Gabius, GER, 8.11,21.

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In other developments, Russia's Evgeniy Lukyanenko raised his world-lead up to 5,90m in winning the pole vault, holding back American Brad Walker (5,85 PB), the reigning world indoor and outdoor champion.

Phillips Idowu finally lived up to his promise in the triple jump, setting the Spanish crowd ablaze with astonishment with a second-round leap of 17,75m - the 2008 world lead, and only eight centimetres behind Christian Olsson's world record.

Canadian sprinter Tyler Christopher ran an excellent final 50m to take the victory from Sweden's Johan Wissman, who led at the gun in 21,10 seconds. Christopher made a big move down the stretch to run the fastest time in the world this season, 45,67. Wissman finished with the silver in an indoor personal best of 46,04 .

Maria Mutola was denied an eighth world indoor title when Australia's Tamsyn Lewis sprinted past the field and surprised leader Tetiana Petlyuk to win in 2.02,57 - the slowest winning time in meet history. Mutola won her first indoor title in 1993, running 1.57,55 in Toronto, and defeating Russian Svetlana Masterkova and American Joetta Clark in the process.

Mutola is retiring at the end of the outdoor season.

(The women's high jump will be featured in a separate report on Monday).

Foto Credits: IAAF.org

2008 World Indoor Champs Preview: Women

The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships take place in Valencia, Spain at the week-end, and there are a number of excellent matchups track fans around the globe are eagerly awaiting.

There have been no shortage of excellent marks this winter season, with Russians Yelena Soboleva (1.500m) and Yelena Isinbayeva (Pole Vault) setting individual world-records in their disciplines.

Athletics in the News names a few of the events and athletes among the hundreds competing whom fans should keep their eyes on as the championships unfold.

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Pole Vault:

Yelena Isinbayeva seeks third career World Indoor Pole Vault title after bettering her own World indoor record with 4.95m in Donetsk.

Isinbayeva did surrender her 23-competition unbeaten streak to Svetlana Feofanova in Bydgoszcz, however, with her teammate primed to stake claim to the title she last won in 2003 to go along with the two bronze and one silver medal she has won indoors.

The best of the rest would appear to be US champion Jennifer Stuczynski who has cleared 4.71m while the 2003 World Indoor bronze medallist, Monika Pyrek of Poland, has a successful 4.67m clearance next to her name this indoor season and is another with medal ambitions.

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2006 World Indoor Champion: Yelena Isinbayeva, RUS, 4.80m
WR 4.95m * Yelena Isinbaeva (RUS) - Donetsk, 16/02/2008
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World Indoor Leaders in the Pole Vault 2008:

4.95m Yelena Isinbaeva RUS
4.75m Yuliya Golubchikova RUS
4.71m Jennifer Stuczynski USA
4.71m Svetlana Feofanova RUS
4.70m Jennifer Stuczynski USA
4.67m Monika Pyrek POL
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60m Dash:

American Angela Williams hopes to finally land her first elusive 60m title after winning silver medals at the 2001 and 2003 World Indoor Championships. The 28-year-old won her national title in Boston in 7,11, and appears to have the gold medal within her grasp.

Williams will face strong opposition from the joint-leaders on the World Lists, however, with Nigeria’s Ene Franca Idoko and Russia’s Yevgeniya Polyakova both having run 7,09 seconds.

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2006 World Indoor Champion: Me'Lisa Barber, USA, 7,01
WR 6,92 Irina Privalova (RUS) - Madrid, 11/02/1993
WR 6,92 Irina Privalova (RUS) - Madrid, 09/02/1995
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World Leaders at 60 Metres 2008:

7,09 Yevgeniya Polyakova RUS
7,09 Ene Franca Idoko NGR
7,11 Angela Williams USA
7,13 Kelly-Ann Baptiste TRI
7,15 Kim Gevaert BEL
7,15 Kelly-Ann Baptiste TRI
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1.500m Run:

Russian Yelena Soboleva, the 2006 World Indoor silver medallist, appears ready to supplant gold medallist Yuliya Fomenko after lowering her own World record with 3.58,05 to win her national championships.

Fomenko won't roll over and play dead against her teammate, however, as she did run a personal best 4.00,21 at the National Championships behind Soboleva, and has the experience to defend against Soboleva, whom she defeated by a half-second two years ago when the event was staged in Moscow.

Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain, the 2007 World Outdoor Champion, will be a contender as well, though she has only one race under her belt this indoor season.

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2006 World Indoor Champion: Yuliya Chizhenko, RUS, 4.04,70
WR 3.58,05 * Yelena Soboleva (RUS) - Moskva, 10/02/2008
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World Indoor Leaders at 1.500 Metres 2008:

3.58,05 Yelena Soboleva RUS
4.00,21 Yuliya Fomenko RUS
4.03,33 Liliana Popescu ROU
4.03,68 Yekaterina Martynova RUS
4.04,30 Maryam Yusuf Jamal BRN
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3.000m Run:

Meseret Defar aims to secure a hat-trick of World Indoor 3000m titles and join Romania's Gabby Szabo as the only female athletes to accomplish this feat.

The Ethiopian, courting a 15-meet win streak at this distance, has clocked 8.27,93 to lead the world this season, and has also smashed the two-mile world best with a super 9.10,50 run in Boston.

Defar set the current world indoor record last year at the Sparkassen invitational in Stuttgart, running 8.23,72, and also owns the world-record in the 5.000m outdoors, clocking 14.16,63 at the Bislett Golden League in Oslo, Norway last season.

Defar’s countrywoman, Meselech Melkamu, should be her main rival along with New Zealander Kim Smith, who, earlier this winter, set new national records in the mile and two-mile.

Melkamu was right up on Defar's shoulders in the world-record run last winter, running 8.23,74 - two one-hundredths of a second from winning and establishing her own world-record.

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2006 World Indoor Champion: Meseret Defar, ETH, 8.38,80
WR 8.23,72 Meseret Defar (ETH) - Stuttgart, 03/02/2007
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World Indoor Leaders at 3000 Metres 2008:

8.27,93 Meseret Defar ETH
8.29,48 Meselech Melkamu ETH
8.31,94 Gelete Burika ETH16/02/2008
8.33,37 Tirunesh Dibaba ETH
8.35,86 Mariem Alaoui Selsouli MAR
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60m Hurdles:

Every 60m hurdles athlete competing against Susanna Kallur have seen nothing but her back as she has one nine 60m hurdles races this season, and now holds the five-fastest times in the world this year to go along with her 7,68 world record run in Karlsruhe last month.

Kallur's main rival is likely to be US champion LoLo Jones who ran a new personal best of 7,77 for second in Karlsruhe behind Kallur.

Kallur, who is a twin sister and daughter of legendary New York Ranger Anders Kallur - a four-time Stanley Cup winner, was meant to contest her national indoor championships two weeks ago, but pulled out to rest and recuperate following a slate of all-time performance races. Kallur placed third in the 2006 World Indoor Championships contested in Moscow.

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2006 World Indoor Champion: Derval O'Rourke, IRE, 7,84
WR 7,68 * Sanna Kallur (SWE) - Karlsruhe, 10/02/2008
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World Indoor Leaders at 60 Metres Hurdles 2008:

7,68 Susanna Kallur SWE
7,77 LoLo Jones USA
7,85 Damu Cherry USA
7,89 Yauhenia Valadzko BLR
7,90 Anay Tejeda CUB
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High Jump:

Blanka Vlasic, the 2007 World Championships gold medallist, is unbeaten in six competitions this winter - and has a 21-straight indoors/outdoors winning streak.

Vlasic set a new national record of 2.05m in Weinheim last Tuesday, and has her sites set on denying Russia's Yelena Slesarenko a third indoor title.

Slesarenko defeated Vlasic by 2cm in Moscow two years ago, and is also undefeated this season. Vlasic's last loss in a high jump competition was to Slesarenko at the 2007 Olso Golden League meeting in June.

Another threat in the competition will be Germany's Ariane Friedrich, who has jumped over 2.00m three times this winter - including a new lifetime best of 2.02m behind Vlasic in Weinheim.

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2006 World Indoor Champion: Yelena Slesarenko, RUS, 2.02m
WR 2.08m Kajsa Bergqvist (SWE) - Arnstadt, 04/02/2006
========================================================

World Indoor Leaders in the High Jump 2008:

2.05m Blanka Vlašic CRO
2.02m Yelena Slesarenko RUS
2.02m Ariane Friedrich GER
2.00m Yekaterina Savchenko RUS
1.99m Vita Palamar UKR

Soboleva Smashes Through in Moscow

Story written by Eric

Yelena Soboleva's string of smashing runs continued today with a stellar world indoor record in the 1.500m during the third and final day of the Russian Indoor Championships in Moscow.

Soboleva, who set the previous world indoor record of 3.58,28 at the Russian Indoor Championships two years ago, knocked 0,23 seconds from her personal best to run her ninth career sub-4 minute 1.500m and win her second event of the week-end -- her third career indoor national title.

Soboleva, who holds lifetime bests outdoors of 3.56,43 in the 1.500m and 4.15,63 in the mile, became only the second athlete in history to record two sub-4.00 clockings indoors. For comparison, the sub-4.00 clocking has been accomplished 226 times outdoors, with 59 of those by a combination of Russian athletes - including seven by Soboleva.

American Regina Jacobs, third on the all-time list, was the first female under four minutes indoors, running 3.59,98 in Boston, USA in 2003. Jacobs was subsequently banned in connection with the 2003 BALCO scandal.

Tatyana Kazankina holds the Russian outdoor national record in 3.52,47 set in 1980.

Soboleva won the women's 800m in a national indoor record time of 1.56,49 on Saturday.

Soboleva, who set a national indoor record in the mile run (4.20,21) on 27-January, is now the fastest Russian ever indoors at the 800m, 1.500m and mile events. Soboleva's 800m is fifth on the all-time world indoor list and is a mere 0,67 seconds from the world indoor record.

Slovenian Jolanda Ceplak, who is currently facing a drug suspension, set the world indoor record of 1.55,82 six years ago in Wien - a race she won by defeating Austria's Stephanie Graf by a scintillating 0,03 seconds.

Soboleva, 25, won the prestigious 800m on Saturday by more than two seconds up on Natalya Ignatova (1.58,84), who set a personal record of her own in running under the two-minute barrier for the first time.

Marya Savinova and Marya Shapaeva both ran 1.59,71 for third and fourth, respectively, with Shapaeva establishing a new Russian Under-23 national indoor record.

Soboleva ran a very controlled opening two laps of her race, splitting 29,7 for the first 200m, and 28,5 to reach the half-way point in 58,2 - a pace spot-on for a 1.56,4.

Soboleva then peeled off a 28,6 third lap split to reach the 600m mark in 1.26,85, and concluded her historic run with a 29,6 final lap.

Soboleva's 600m en-route time has only been bettered by 10 women in a full 600m race, including Ignatova, who ran a 1.26,53 in Moscow the same evening as Soboleva's national record in the mile.

Soboleva's 57,1 middle 400m split was a testament to her fitness being at top-level, and sent a clear message that her international rivals will be hard-pressed to sprint past her in the 1.500m, which is 700m further and averages five seconds slower per lap.

Yulia Fomenko, the 2006 IAAF World Indoor 1.500m champion, broke her previous personal best by 1,05 seconds, clocking 4.00,21 to finish second. Fomenko became the fourth-fastest indoor runner ever with her effort.

Bronze medalist Yekaterina Martynova, 21, was the second middle-distance runner in as many days to break a Russian Under-23 record, but took the feat one step further than Shapaeva was able to manage on Saturday.

Martynova's time of 4.03,56 was not only the fastest-ever in her age classification in Russia's rich athletics history, but is now the fastest-ever indoor time by a European Under-23 athlete.

Martynova broke onto the international scene two years ago, clocking 2.02,83 indoors for 800m as a 19-year-old. Her previous indoor personal best at 1.500m was a 4.06,37 set 19-January.

Russian Indoor Championships, Moscow
2008-02-08 -- 2008-02-10
Select results:

800m
1	Yelena Soboleva	RUS	1.56,49
2	Natalia Ignatova	RUS	1.58,84
3	Maria Savinova	RUS	1.59,46
4	Maria Shapaeva	RUS	1.59,71
5	Tatiana Andrianova	RUS	2.02,68
1500m
1	Yelena Soboleva	RUS	3.58,05
2	Yulia Fomenko	RUS	4.00,21
3	Yekaterina Martynova	RUS	4.03,68