Mo Farah wins the 3,000m in Turin. © www.photorun.net
Mo Farah lived up to his reputation as one of the world’s best distance runners when he won the 3,000-meter final at the European Indoor Championships in Turin on Saturday. Farah, 25 years old, and running for Britain, set the championship record with an impressive 7:40.17 minutes—a three second improvement over the old record which was 7:43.89 and belonged to the Spaniard, Alberto Garcia.
Farah defeated the Frenchman, Bob Tahri (7:42.14) and Jesus Espana of Spain (7:43.29). All three runners ran faster than Garcia’s old European Championship record.
At the start of the race, Farah had a real scare when he stumbled and almost fell. Fellow British runner, Mark Draper, had taken the lead. Farah trailed him and then took the lead before the 1000-meter mark. He held it for the rest of the race. Only his occasional training partner, Bob Tahri, was able to stay with him beyond 2,000m. But the Frenchman ceased to be a threat 400 meters from the finish.
“This title means a lot to me after I had a stream of injury problems. I was the clear favorite and felt that pressure because everyone had their eyes on me. The best tactic was to run fast,” said Farah after the race.
This has been a good year for Farah. He had already set a new British indoor 3,000m record (7:34.47) this season. The Somali-born runner won the 2006 European Cross Country Championships and, in the same year, finished second in the 5,000m at the European Championships outdoors to his rival in Turin, Jesus Espana.
In other events at the European Indoor Championships, an Ethiopian-born athlete won the women’s 3,000m. Almitu Bekele, who has been living in Turkey since 1998 and competes for that country, won in 8:46.50—setting a Turkish indoor record. Second and third place went to Sara Moreira (Portugal/8:48.18) and Mary Cullen (Ireland/8:48.47) respectively.
Bekele controlled the race from the front. Going through 1000 meters and 2,000m in 3:00.58 and 5:58.33 respectively, she picked up the pace in the final kilometer, running it under 2:50 minutes.
“This is a big success for me after I took a break in my career for several years after my son was born,” said Bekele, who resumed her running career three years ago. The Turkish athlete is stronger than ever now. Last year, she impressed the running world by placing seventh in the Olympic 5,000m final.
Fujinaga Wins in Nagoya, Takahashi Runs Farewell Marathon
Naoko Takahashi waves to the crowd in her farewell marathon. © www.photorun.net
Although the Japanese runner Yoshiko Fujinaga won the Nagoya Marathon in 2:28:13 hours, her compatriot and national heroine Naoko Takahashi received just as much acclaim. The Olympic champion in Sydney in 2000, who became the first woman to break the 2:20 barrier a year later in Berlin (2:19:46), making running history en route, was running her farewell marathon. The 36-year-old took it easy, spending a lot time waving to spectators. Takahashi finished 29th in the elite women’s race, clocking 2:52:23.
At 35 kilometers, the 27-year-old, Yoshiko Fujinaga, was only 30 seconds behind the leader, Hitomi Niiya. The next few kilometers proved to be the decisive ones. Niiya began to struggle and Fujinaga took advantage, passing her at the 37K mark and running in the lead for the remainder of the race. Her time at the Nagoya Marathon qualifies her to run for the Japanese World Championship marathon team this August in Berlin.
“During the race I never thought about the World Championships but simply concentrated on my running,” said Fujinaga afterwards.
In good conditions, Japanese runners Chika Horie (2:29:09), Yuko Machida (2:29:35), Mayumi Fujita (2:29:56) and Kiyomi Ogawa (2:29:58) all ran under 2:30 hours.
London Marathon Loses Radcliffe, Mikitenko Now Favorite
Injury has once again prevented Paula Radcliffe from running the London Marathon. The 35-year-old marathon world record-holder suffered a broken right toe while altitude training in Albuquerque, New Mexico last Tuesday. An injured toe had also forced Radcliffe to withdraw from last year’s London Marathon.
Before she sustained the break, Radcliffe was having problems with a cyst on her right foot. “I’m very disappointed that I shan’t be running the Flora London Marathon this year. I had been looking forward to running the race in front of my home fans, I’m considering having surgery on the foot to avoid problems in the future.” said Radcliffe, who has won the London Marathon in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
“I’m really sorry for Paula, she’s had such bad luck in recent years. I would have loved to have run against her in London. I know it’s very tough to be in Paula’s situation, when one moment you’re on top and suddenly you find things going wrong again,” said the German marathoner, Irina Mikitenko, who as defending champion has now assumed the role of the pre-race favorite.
But the news hasn’t been all bad for Radcliffe. She was able to make an incredible comeback to win the New York Marathon last November and hopes to recover for the World Championships in Berlin in August.
