The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : Soboleva steals the show

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Sport - Athletics

Soboleva steals the show

The Russian betters her own 1,500m record

VALENCIA: Russia’s Yelena Soboleva improved on her own world 1500m record as she clinched gold on the final day of the World indoor athletics championships here on Sunday.

The glamorous Soboleva, who has always previously been the bridesmaid rather than the bride at major championships, ran 3min 57.71 seconds to better her old mark of 3min 58.05sec which she set in Moscow on February 10. It was the 25-year-old blonde’s first global or continental title.

Soboleva deliberately shared the pace with her fellow Russian Yuliya Fomenko in a bid to shake off the best of the rest of the world before flying to the front with one lap to go and accelerating away from her compatriot.

No expectations

“I didn’t expect to break the world record again although I knew it would be a fast race. Yuliya and I decided we would impose a fast pace from the start with the aim of clinching the gold and silver medal,” said Soboleva.

“We would then see who was the strongest on the last lap.”

Arguably the biggest upset of the championships was the victory of Tamsyn Lewis in the women’s 800m, in which she went into the final as the least-favoured of six women on the start line.

The Australian athlete had not run indoors before arriving in Valencia but took her chance 100m from the end in a tactical battle over four laps of the track to win in 2:02.57.

Ukraine’s Tetiana Petlyuk took silver in 2:02.66 with Mozambique legend Maria Mutola settling for bronze in 2:02.97.

Mutola’s ninth medal

For Mutola, the 2000 Olympic 800m champion and triple outdoor champion in 1993, 2001 and 2003, it was a ninth indoor medal.

United States’ multi-event exponent Bryan Clay was within sight of the heptathlon world record going into the 1000m, the last event of the seven disciplines.

However, halfway into the race, Clay started to struggle from the effort of the previous six events and settled for plodding around the final two laps to secure gold in a 2008 world best of 6371 points.

The USA ended up top of the pile in the medals table with five goals, five silver and three bronze, one silver better than the Russian haul.

The results:

Men: 400m: 1. Tyler Christopher (Can) 45.67s, 2. Johan Wissman (Swe) 46.04, 3. Christopher Brown (Bah) 46.26; 800m: 1. Abubaker Kaki (Sud) 1:44.81s, 2. Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA) 1:44.91, 3. Youssef Saad Kamel (Brn) 1:45.26; 3000m: 1. Tariku Bekele (Eth) 7:48.23, 2. Paul Kipsiele Koech (Ken) 7:49.05, 3. Abreham Cherkos Feleke (Eth) 7:49.96; 4 x 400m: 1. USA 3:06.79s (Davis, Torrance, Nixon, Willie), 2. Jamaica 3:07.69, 3. Czech Republic 3:07.77; Triple jump: 1. Phillips Idowu (GBR) 17.75m, 2. David Giralt (Cub) 17.47, 3. Nelson Evora (Por) 17.27; Pole vault: 1. Yevgeniy Lukyanenko (Rus) 5.90m, 2. Brad Walker (USA) 5.85, 3. Steven Hooker (Aus) 5.80.

Women: 400m: 1. Olesya Zykina (Rus) 51.09s, 2. Natalya Nazarova (Rus) 51.10, 3. Shareese Woods (USA) 51.41; 800m: 1. Tamsyn Lewis (Aus) 2:02.57, 2. Tetyana Petlyuk (Ukr) 2:02.66, 3. Maria Mutola (Moz) 2:02.97; 1500m: 1. Yelena Soboleva (Rus) 3:57.71s (WR), 2. Yuliya Fomenko-Chizhenko (Rus) 3:59.41, 3. Gelete Burka (Eth) 3:59.75.

4 x 400m: 1. Russia 3:28.17 (Gushchina, Levina, Nazarova, Zykina), 2. Belarus 3:28.90, 3. USA 3:29.30; Long jump: 1. Naide Gomes (Por) 7.00m, 2. Maurren Higa Maggi (Bra) 6.89, 3. Irina Simagina (Rus) 6.88; High jump: 1. Blanka Vlasic (Cro) 2.03m, 2. Yelena Sivushenko (Rus) 2.01, 3. Vita Palamar (Ukr) 2.01; Shot put: 1. Valerie Adams (NZ) 20.19m, 2. Nadezhda Ostapchuk (Blr) 19.74, 3. Li Meiju (Chn) 19.09. — Agencies