800m Women
Last year's report : Maria de Lourdes Mutola of Mozambique, placed herself firmly into the history books by winning her 5th Indoor Champioship title, and in the process joining a small elite bunch who have also achieved this feat.

Well ... the powerhouse from Mozambique rewrote the books completely by winning her 6th title, and in the process became the only athlete to have achieved this feat. Not without some controversy though.

Slovenia's Jolanda Ceplak decided to make the race a real contest from the start and opened with a 28 second first lap. Mutola stuck to her like glue [see image], and this is where she would remain for the entire race bar the last straight. Ceplak had attempted to do what others have not been committed enough to attempt.

When Mutola made her move it was not decisive and in the process she tangled with Ceplak, causing the Slovenian to lose momentum and her only chance of victory.

Ceplak complained bitterly after the race and promises to be back for more [ we can't wait ] Mutola was more philosophical in her reply [ herself being the victim of a fall in Norwich a few weeks ago ], and attributed matters to 'That's running' . Neither is way off .. however for your own judgement click : Mutola Finish .. to view where she finshed the race and realise that she was running on the outside of Ceplak's shoulder at the start of the final straight.

Moving on
Britain's Jo Fenn can be pleased .. a year ago it read - was content to 'attempt' to run the rest of the field off their feet, and in so doing she made the event a true to form run race, with the first 5 all below 2 minutes. On this occasion Fenn tried a different approach and towards the rear of the field till the final bend. A medal of sorts was her ambition and was duly rewarded with a 3rd place finish in 1.59.50, with America's Jen Toomey being run out of the medals in 4th.

Results:
1 Maria de Lurdes Mutola (Moz) 1min 58.50secs
2 Jolanda Ceplak (Slo) 1:58.72
3 Joanne Fenn (Gbr) 1:59.50
4 Jennifer Toomey (USA) 1:59.64
5 Tatyana Andrianova (Rus) 1:59.71
6 Olga Raspopova (Rus) 2:00.56

3000m Women
A year ago, at Birmingham, Berhane Adere of Ethiopia was very dominant in her destruction of all her peers at those Championships, where she went on to run 8:40. On this occasion the pace did not match anything that would result in an 8:40 finish .. and on this occasion she had the rising star of her compatriot Meseret Defar [3rd last year] to deal with. The winning time was 9:11.22 with Adere taking silver in 9:11.43

Third place was to produce joy for the American nation in the shape of Shayne Culpepper who blasted past last year's 2nd place finisher, Marta Dominguez of Spain.

Unfortunate was tiny Yelena Zadorozhnaya of Russia who interfered with as she was about to unleash her finish, throwing her out of her stride and into the also ran category.

Results:
3000m Final:
1 Meseret Defar (Eth) 9min 11.22secs
2 Berhane Adere (Eth) 9:11.43
3 Shayne Culpepper (USA) 9:12.15
4 Marta Domnguez (Spa) 9:12.85
5 Joanne Pavey (Gbr) 9:13.09
6 Yelena Zadorozhnaya (Rus) 9:13.70
7 Sabrina Mockenhaupt (Ger) 9:13.70
8 Maryna Dubrova (Ukr) 9:14.34
9 Maria McCambridge (Irl) 9:14.72
10 Veerle Dejaeghere (Bel) 9:15.21
11 Galina Bogomolova (Rus) 9:17.15
Hayley Tullett (Gbr) DNS

1500m Men
Kenya's Paul Korir did enough to win, holding off the highly fancied Ukranian athlete, Ivan Heshko. The race was run at such a desparately slow pace that a hedgehog could have had breakfast at Tiffanys without any concern of rushing.

With a pace not fit for junior event, a frantic last 400m [ 2 laps indoors ], was always going to be on the cards.

Heshko, could not get past Korir on the line and had to settle for silver, however the battle for Bronze was a touch more vicious. Michael East of Britain was lying in 3rd coming into the final straight and when he peered over his shoulder he saw the looming figure of Laban Rotich clad in red. Rotich was going to perform the simple task of passing east with relative ease on his way to claiming 3rd.

Well ... so he thought .. Rotich, soom became Eastbound, as the Brit began to switch lanes in an attempt to block the Kenyan's way to the finish line. This was reminiscent of Paul Tergat trying to block Haile Gebrselassie with a similar tactic in the Olympic 10 000m. On that occasion tergat edged the Ethiopian towards the 3rd lane. East, however thought a view from the stands would be more suitable and he all but ended up running in the 5th lane.

He held onto his 3rd place and was 'quite chuffed' with his medal; that was until the Kenyan objection, which led to Rotich being placed 3rd and east being disqualified. Rotich deserved 3rd, however East certainly didn't deserve disqualification, as 'it' did not interfere with the 'running of the other stallions'.

We will rather move on ..

Results :

1 Paul Korir (Ken) 3min 52.31secs
2 Ivan Heshko (Ukr) 3:52.34
3 Michael East (Gbr) 3:52.88
4 Laban Rotich (Ken) 3:52.93
5 Abdelkader Hachlaf (Mar) 3:53.22
6 James Thie (Gbr) 3:53.36
7 Miroslaw Formela (Pol) 3:53.70
8 Jos Antonio Redolat (Spa) 3:56.55
9 Youssef Baba (Mar) 3:57.79

reports and results

800m Men
Often the Men's 800 can turn into a pedestrian affair best suited to the kickers who favour the sharp and tight bends. This Championship race was to be entirely different, thanks to the Brazilian Blitz.

Osmar Barbosa dos Santos [Brazil], certainly likes to pour it on, and after catapulting through the first 2 laps in in 50.74, a kickers race was no longer on the cards. 50.74 for 400m indoors is simply put, phenomenal. Some could easily equate this to a sub 50 second opening 400m outdoors.

The others in the race were content to let the powerful Brazilian gallop 2 to 3 meters clear, however it was always the intention of South Africa's Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, to be in contention with just over a lap and a half to go.

The ever improving 800m runner from South Africa, added to that country's previous Gold [Johan Botha 1999] at this event by cruising past Barbosa and looked in control and at ease in the final straight, coasting to victory in a time of 1:45.71. Comfortably clear of 2nd placed Rashid Ramzi [ Brunei ] who also passed the fading Brazilian who was fortunate enogh to hold onto the bronze position by .26 of second. Ramzi's 1:46.15 was an Area Record (AR).

The Kenyan challenge folded, to finish 5th and 6th respectively in the 6 man field.

Results :

1 Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (Rsa) 1min 45.71secs
2 Rashid Ramzi (Brn) 1:46.15 (AR)
3 Osmar Barbosa dos Santos (Bra) 1:46.26
4 Amine Laalou (Mar) 1:46.57 (PB)
5 William Yiampoy (Ken) 1:46.88
6 Joseph Mutua (Ken) 1:47.86

Time-to-Run Track section