|
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sarah Jamieson has broken the decade old Australian 1500m record with a stunning run at the IAAF World Tour meeting in Stockholm overnight.
In sweltering conditions, Jamieson, 31, finished third behind Bahrain’s Maryam Yusuf Jamal, clocking 4.00.93 to shave 0.41 seconds off Margaret Crowley’s previous mark. Jamieson’s time is the seventh fastest in the world this year.
Crowley’s time recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary, with the Victorian clocking 4.01.34 in Oslo, Norway on the way to a fifth placing in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Since her unlucky silver at the Commonwealth Games were she was blocked for a run for the last 200m, Jamieson has been in stellar form. Two win on the US circuit, along with a personal best of 4.03.13 in Eugene preceded another victory in Madrid, Spain.
"I knew I was in pretty good shape after the win in Madrid where I beat some of the Russians who had broken 4 minutes this season," an elated Jamieson said from Stockholm.
"The pace tonight was on and we went through 800m in 2.06 which is only a couple of seconds outside my best. The pace eased on the third lap and I worked hard to get back on to Jamal and the French girl."
"I knew I was close to the record and the last lap was about 63 seconds – I was just trying to hold it together to the line."
"It’s awesome to be the fastest ever Australian, I always looked up to Marg as she was just finishing her career as I was starting out," Jamieson said.
The Bruce Scriven trained Victorian now takes a three week break due to the upcoming European Athletics Championships, but will return for races in Monaco, Rieti, the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart and the IAAF World Cup in Athens, confident that a history making sub four minute 1500m is just around the corner.
"To be the first Australian to break four minutes would be special, so that’s now the goal."
In other Australian results from Stockholm, Commonwealth champion Bronwyn Thompson’s battle with the Russian’s continued, collecting the bronze medal in the long jump (6.71m) in a tight tussle behind Oksana Udmurtova (6.73m), however she did defeat three-time world championships silver medallist Tatyana Kotova who finished fourth with 6.64m.
Tatiana Grigorieva finished 6th in the pole vault with 4.42m, where the shock result was the defeat of world record holder Yelena Isinbeyeva (4.62m) on a countback to Poland’s Monica Pyrek. Clinton Hill finished seventh in the 400m (45.70), with Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner underlining his dominance of the event with another comfortable victory in 44.02. Steeplechaser Victoria Mitchell continued to gather experience in the major European meets, finishing 13th over the flat 3000m (9:04.30).
Of the international stars, Commonwealth Champion and IAAF World Tour - Melbourne champion Asafa Powell dipped under 9.9 seconds for the fourth time this season, ambling to the line in a slick 9.86 ahead of Americans Tyson Gay (9.97) and Marcus Brunson (10.09). Powell's performance was still good enough to break Maurice Greene's seven-year-old stadium record of 9.87sec, earning the Jamaican star a $US10,000 ($13,279) diamond offered by the meeting's promoters.
The IAAF World Tour action turns to Helsinki tonight with six Australian’s entered. Paul Burgess and Steve Hooker line up in the pole vault fresh from a 1-2 finish in the Rome Golden league, Scott Martin competes in the shot put, Benita Johnson in the 10000m and Commonwealth Games long jump bronze medalist Fabrice Lapierre, who recently leapt 8.19 in Italy, competes in the long jump.
On Friday night in London, Craig Mottram, fresh from an Australian and Oceania record over 3000m, takes on world and Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) in a re-run of their epic duel in London last year. Bekele sharpened up for the clash by wining the 1500m in Stockholm in a slick 3.33.08. However the win was not without controversy as Bekele’s legs were so full of lactic acid in the final 30m that he veered across a couple of lanes of the track in the final 50 metres, right in front of a duelling World silver medallist Adil Kaouch, who found himself forced wider and wider to the outside. Virtually unnoticed Kenyan Isaac Songok’s run on the inside of this pair almost took the victory, finishing second in 3:33.25.
source Athletics Australia - www.athletics.org.au
|
