A world record bonanza was on show at the Golden Four IAAF grand prix last night, just days after no new marks were set at the World Championships in Athens. Kenya's Wilson Boit Kipketer, Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie and Denmark's Wilson Kipketer notched up new marks in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, the 5,000 metres and the 800 metres respectively.
Wilson Kipketer finally delivered the performance we have been expecting all the summer when he broke Sebastian Coe's world 800-metres record of one minute 41.73 seconds which had stood since 1981 and was the oldest surviving mark in the book.
started the ball rolling after running seven minutes 59.08 seconds in the steeplechase. Then, to confuse matters, namesake Wilson Kipketer, Kenyan-born but now a naturalised Dane, broke the 800 metres world record with 1:41.24.
Finally, to bring the house down in the last event, Olympic 10,000 metres champion Gebrselassie smashed the 5,000 metres record by more than 2.5 seconds with 12:41.86. Kipketer, the steeplechase version, bettered the old record of 7:59.18 of compatriot and three-times world champion Moses Kiptanui, set on August 16th 1995 in this same city. Compatriot Bernard Barmasai finished second with 8.00.35 and Kiptanui was third on 8:00.78.
The disaffected Kenyan, now running in the colours of Denmark, who had equalled Coe's time in Stockholm last month, made the record his own when he stopped the clock 1:41.24. "Everything was perfect today," he said. "I did not want to talk about the world record, I wanted to run it with my legs. But I am satisfied now."
No sooner had the cheers died in the throats of the capacity crowd of 22,000, shoe-horned into the football-style terraces, than Haile Gebrselassie reduced his own 5,000-metres record by more than two seconds as he ran 12:41.86 after a duel with the world champion, Daniel Komen, that proved everything and more than the pre-race hype.
The ferocious pace, which also say the Kenyan inside the old figures of 12:45.09 set here two years ago, dragged Dieter Baumann of Germany through to a time of 12:54.70, breaking Britain's Dave Moorcroft's fifteen-year-old European record of 13:00.41.
Just as he had in Athens last week, when he kept the world 10,000-metres title, Gebrselassie employed his fearsome kick to devastating advantage. Having sat behind Komen after the pace-makers dropped out at 3,000-metres, the Ethiopian waited until 250-metres to go before sprinting away. He ran the last 400-metres in 55 seconds.
The name of Wilson Kipketer already had a world record by the time the 800-metres came round, thanks to the runner of the same name in the 3,000 metres steeplechase, who established new figures of 7:59.08, eclipsing the record is Kenyan compatriot, Moses Kiptanui, set here in 1995 by a tenth.
Earlier this season, Wilson Boit Kipketer, who went to school with his 800-metre namesake before he moved to Scandinavia, edged closer to Kiptanui's world record when he clocked 8:02.77 to record the second-fastest time over the distance. After setting the new mark last night, he said: "I did not expect to beat this record. But I felt good and I just ran. I am going to be a national hero now, but I still have respect for Moses Kiptanui."
Spain's Fermin Cacho, second to Morocco's world champion, Hicham El Guerrouj, broke Steve Cram's twelve-year-old European 1,500-metres record by nearly a second as he ran 3:28.95.
Jamaica's Merlene Ottey up-staged women's 100-metres world champion Marion Jones of the United States to win with a time of 10.96 seconds. Ottey, who saw her world championship chances disappear after running 60-metres following a false start in Athens, beat American champion Jones, who clocked 10.97 in second spot. Ottey, still graceful at 36 years of age, drew the admiration of the 22,000-strong crowd.
World 110-metres hurdles champion Allen Johnson of the United States was not able to earn the world record as he could only run 13.13 seconds.
Britain's Colin Jackson, who could only finish fourth, holds the record of 12.91, set in winning the 1993 world title in Stuttgart.
Michael Johnson, the 200 and 400-metres Olympic champion, confirmed his world championship victory in the one-lap event by winning in 44.31 seconds and Mozambique's Maria Mutola won the women's 800-metres in 1.56.36.
Frankie Fredericks earned revenge over 100 metres world champion Maurice Greene by beating him into second place with a time of 9.98. The Namibian could only finish fourth behind the American champion in Athens earlier this month.
