Glory days beckon for the Beijing Women's Olympic Champion over 800m.
Pamela Jelimo cemented her reputation as the most exciting 800m athlete to grace the oval arena in the last decade with an awe inspiring performance on her way to setting yet another World Junior Record this year.
On this occasion she had Kenyan team mate, Janeth Jepkosgei, to thank for the early pace-setting duties when they blitzed through the first 400m in a staggering 55.41. A mean and lean looking Maria de Lurdes Mutola dared to attempt to follow the mercurial pace only to falter over the last 100m however she was not too upset about her 5th place in her 6th Olympics and placed numerous compliments on the running of the new champion.
Whereas the legend of Women's 800m, Mutola, is at the end of her career, the amazing career of Jelimo is on its meteoric rise with an incredible winning time of 1:54.87 followed by Osaka 2007 Champion, Jepkosgei's Personal Best time of 1:56.07 for Silver.
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Yet again, Morocco's Hasna Benhassi medalled at a major Championship, by slicing through the field over the last 400m to take bronze and set a time of 1:56.73.
The one athlete to suffer the most from the early fast pace was Jamaica's Kenia Sinclair, who dared to go with the pair over the first lap, she finished in 1:58.24 and it shows that with a little more sensible early running she is capable of a 1:56
On this particular performance I believe Jelimo is capable of breaking the World Record however a little work needs to be done to hold it all together over the last 200m and with time at 600m 1:24.03 on this occasion, a 29 second last 200m would have brought a new World Senior Record.
Glory days and exciting times ahead for the distance
Men's 3000m SteepleChase
Kenya Kenya Kenya .. the event is under the ownership of Kenyan born athletes and yet again we had a Kenya victory via Brimin Kiprop Kipruto.
However we can safely say that it was up for grabs for any athlete who believed sufficiently in themselves to grab the initiative and France's Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad came closest in upsetting the East African domination by taking Silver. It must be noted, imo, that he focused on the athlete on his left and had his belief been greater Gold could have been his.
Taking nothing away from the victor as he seemed to time his finish to perfection only taking the lead over the final 50 meters to take Olympic Gold and thus ensuring his country had a successful day by taking 2 Golds on the day plus a Bronze and Silver, a nice swag.
For the USA's Anthony Famiglietti, it was one race too many after his semi-final PB.
For Sweden and South Africa's hopes, Mustafa Mohamed and Ruben Ramolefi respectively, their encouters of the front kind yielded no return on the day but with such an attitude results should surely come in the future.
One interesting aspect of the race was the 4th place finish of Ethiopia's Yacob Jarso in a new National Record time of 8:13.47 which may lead to other athletes in his country attempting the distance.
Australia's representative Youcef Abdi came staggeringly close to the National Record with his 6th place finish in 8:16.36, his 2nd Personal Best in as many races.
Further comment - Isinbayeva Gold Vault, Mokoena Silver, Taylor truimphs
