Day 5 of the Osaka 2007 World Track Championships. The big final of the day for Time-to-Run was the Men's 1500m.
Also on display were the Women's 1500m and 5000m heats. In the 5000 the major impact was the non show of Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, who had already won the 10000m and who had captured the 5/10 double in Helsinki in 2005.
The 1500m saw a much deserved winner taking Gold. An athlete who had been close before and had lived in the shadow of Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj. This athlete was the former Kenyan, Bernard Lagat, who was now representing the USA. Report follows
Men's 1500m Final :
The main event of the day for us, the Men's 1500m. 14 athletes lined up after the Baala Affair.
Allan Webb again looked pysched in anticipation and this time he got away in the exact determined manner he wanted. Galloping away to take up pole position immediately.
Kenya's Shedrack Kibet Korir moved alongside Webb after 100m and took up the 'display' of being the frontrunner because the tempo dropped slightly. One can never quite no whether it is a Kenyan team tactic in display or a real attempt to keep the tempo true. 400m passed in 58.53, a steady pace to build from. If he could win from this position it would be an achievement.
However with the following 400m in just under 60 seconds for 1:58.08 at 800m, Webb was doing himself no favours. At that point the Kenyan youngster, Asbel Kiprop, had moved to the front and behind the front two athletes the rest of the field jostled for positions, awaiting the charge for the line.
With 700m to go, Kiprop took over the lead in full earnest with Webb moving to the right of his shoulder. The up in tempo was not drastic (57 for the next 400) however it did have the field spread out slightly, with Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi well placed in 5th place on the inside. Lagat had moved to the shoulder of Webb and was perfectly positioned with 400m to go and still the youngster Kiprop held the lead. 2:41.51 at the bell, the previous 300m was not earth shattering (43.43)
1200m came in 2:55.21, no surge of pace from the bell as yet. Down the backstretch and it was still anyone's race. Into the home straight and it was visibly evident that Webb was a spent force as the frontrunners accelerated away from the American, however there was still another one in the form of Lagat. (This was the American the Kenyans feared the most and they were right) The Silver medalist from Athens 2004 produced a simply beautifully timed finish to blast untroubled towards victory. During this time Ramzi was trapped on the inside and had to switch to get a late run to grab Silver ahead of Shedrack Kibet Korir with Kiprop 4th.
We had witnessed the coming to the top of the podium at a time when most thought his best 1500m races were behind him. Bernard Lagat was a worthy winner and for the USA they had a champion of the 1500m for the first time since 1908.
Lagat expressed a pride and honour in being American and he was a credit to a country that has nurtured his career throughout college till the point of being a citizen and now thanking them with Gold.
(From our perspective, it was an unexpected Gold and we still fancy him to take the 5000m, even more now that he has the 1500m title. Our pick, Belal Mansoor Ali, simply was just not good enough) | results |
Reports for the Women's 5000 and 1500m heats to follow
