Kirui Shatters World Championship Record in Men’s
Marathon
Cheruiyot captures women’s 5000m crown; Rhines
9th
By Parker Morse, Running USA wire
BERLIN – (August 22, 2009) – Abel Kirui and Vivian
Cheruiyot won World Championship distance titles for Kenya on the eighth day
of competition in the German capital on Saturday.
Kirui, 27, shattered the world championship record by more
than 90 seconds in winning the men’s marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 6 minutes,
54 seconds over the four-lap criterium course starting and ending at the
Brandenburg Gate. The course toured many of Berlin’s landmarks, including
the Tiergarten Park, the Victory Column, and completed each lap up the Unter Den
Linden, the shaded avenue which ends at the Brandenburger Tor.
The early pace appeared slow, but wasn’t, as a leading pack
of Ethiopians and Kenyans gradually ratcheted the speed of the 5K splits down
and thinned out any pretenders. The halfway split was a swift 1:03:03. By 25K,
there were only five athletes in the pack, three of them Kenyan: Kirui, Boston
multiple champion Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, Emmanuel Mutai, Ethiopian
Deriba Merga and Rwandan Dieudonne Disi. Disi, over his head,
failed to finish the third lap, and it fell to the Kenyans to decide, how would
they get rid of this Ethiopian?
The answer, unfortunately for Cheruiyot, was to continue
increasing the pace. Cheruiyot began slipping back, ultimately to fifth, while
Kirui and Mutai continued pressing to drop Merga.
When Merga fell away, he melted down, and it was his
countryman and Beijing bronze medalist Tsegay Kebede who came up for
third. Kirui dropped Mutai finally as the course passed around the East German
TV tower at the Alexanderplatz, and came in for his record (previous record
2:08:31 by Jaouad Gharib of Morocco at 2003 Paris). Mutai was second in
2:07:48, and Kebede took bronze with his 2:08:35 clocking.
Kirui and Mutai led Kenya to a dominant first place in the
team World Cup, with Cheruiyot accumulating a time of 6:25:28, almost
seven minutes ahead of the runner-up Ethiopians. Japan took third, just ahead of
Portugal.
The top American finisher was 2004 Olympian Dan
Browne, 24th in 2:16:49. Team USA was 13th out of the 15 teams who scored in
the World Cup.
Later that day, Vivian Cheruiyot, 25, became the first female
Kenyan 5000m champion at the World Championships since 1997 and their first
medalist since 1999 as she upset defending champion Meseret Defar at the
Olympiastadion.
Cheruiyot’s race was not unlike Kirui’s, with the race
getting progressively faster. Yurika Nakamura set the early pace (3:06.02
for the first kilometer), but it was Cheruiyot who pushed them to the 3000m
(9:15.05) and 4000m (12:15.79).
The last two kilometers were an all-African affair, like the
marathon, with the Ethiopians and Kenyans dueling for the medals. Normally Defar
would be expected to sail away from this race in the closing 200 meters, but the
Kenyans have learned this and developed their speed.
Cheruiyot and her teammate Sylvia Kibet matched Defar
stride-for-stride, and when Cheruiyot moved ahead on the homestretch, Defar
collapsed. Kibet also squeaked by, and as Cheruiyot celebrated her 14:57.97
victory she was joined by Kibet’s silver in 14:58.33 as Defar, 5th in the
10,000m last weekend, managed the bronze in 14:58.41.
Team USA’s Jen Rhines, a three-time Olympian, found
herself in the front of the rest when the African teams separated at 3000
meters, and eventually finished 9th in 15:11.63.
IAAF Track & Field World
Championships
Berlin, GER, Saturday, August 22, 2009
MEN’S MARATHON
1) Abel Kirui (KEN), 2:06:54*,
Gold
2) Emmanuel Mutai (KEN), 2:07:48, Silver
3) Tsegay Kebede (ETH),
2:08:35, Bronze
4) Yemane Tsegay (ETH), 2:08:42
5) Robert Kipkoech
Cheruiyot (KEN), 2:10:46
6) Atsushi Sato (JPN), 2:12:05
7) Adil Ennani
(MAR), 2:12:12
8) JosÌ© MartÌ_nez (ESP), 2:14:04
9) Jos̩ Moreira (POR),
2:14:05
10) LuÌ_s Feiteira (POR), 2:14:06
U.S.
24) Dan Browne (USA),
2:16:49
36) Matt Gabrielson (USA), 2:18:41
63) Nate Jenkins (USA),
2:32:16
Justin Young (USA), DNF
Edwardo Torres (USA), DNS
*World
Championship record (previous, 2:08:31, Jaouad Gharib (MAR), 2003 Paris)
World Cup Team Competition
1) Kenya, 6:25:28
2)
Ethiopia, 6:32:26
3) Japan, 6:41:05
13) USA, 7:07:46
15 scoring teams
(top 3 by total time)
WOMEN’S 5000 Meters
1) Vivian Cheruiyot (KEN),
14:57.97, Gold
2) Sylvia Kibet (KEN), 14:58.33, Silver
3) Meseret Defar
(ETH), 14:58.41, Bronze
4) Sentayehu Ejigu (ETH), 15:03.38
5) Meselech
Melkamu (ETH), 15:03.72
6) Iness Chenonge (KEN), 15:06.06
7) Silvia
Weissteiner (ITA), 15:09.74
8) Genzebe Dibaba (ETH), 15:11.12
9) Jen
Rhines (USA), 15:11.63
10) Sara Moreira (POR) 15:12.22
WC results, photos, schedule and more at: http://berlin.iaaf.org/index.html
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