Kenya&rsquo;s Leonard Barsoton and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Guteni Shone ripped up the record book at the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K 2019 as the pair set event records for the World Athletics Silver Label road race &ndash; the only 25km race in the world with such a distinction &ndash; on Sunday (15).
Barsoton, the 2017 world cross-country silver medallist, crossed the line in 1:13:05 to take 43 seconds off the event record set by Ethiopia&rsquo;s Kenenisa Bekele in 2017 while Shone clocked 1:22:09 to win by more than a minute. She clipped almost four minutes off the event record of 1:26:01 set by her compatriot Degitu Azimeraw two years ago.
Both of the winning times rank just outside the top 10 all-time marks for the 25km distance.
A large group of 11 runners in the men&rsquo;s race went through the halfway point at 12.5km together in 37:11 (the 10km split being 29:41). However, over the next 2.5 kilometres several runners dropped off the back of the pack and just six were left at the front as 15km was passed in 44:21.
Despite the Ethiopian pair of Betesfa Getahun and Bayelign Yegsaw surging and pushing hard over the next five kilometres, the same six &ndash; Barsoton, Getahun, Yegsaw, Uganda&rsquo;s Felix Chemonges, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Dagnachew Adere and Tanzania&rsquo;s Faraja Damasi &ndash; were still more or less together as 20km was passed in 59:05. But with four kilometres to go, Barsoton pushed hard for home and the move proved to be decisive.
Barsoton threw in a final 5km split of 14:00, the fastest 5km of the race, to win in 1:13:05 with Getahun, still with plenty of running in his legs despite his 2:05:28 marathon debut in Amsterdam less than two months ago, second in 1:33:33 and Yegsaw third in 1:33:36.
&ldquo;It was a tough race and a tough course, and it was a close competition until the 20K mark, after which I broke free from the pack,&rdquo; said Barsoton, whose previous credentials also include a half marathon personal best of 59:09 in Valencia in October. "I have been training hard this year, leading a disciplined life: sleeping early, rising early and training hard.
"I had planned to push hard from 20km but looking at the other runners I decided to wait a little bit and then went at 21-k. But to beat a record of Bekele&rsquo;s is so special. I&rsquo;m very excited.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Next year, for sure I will make my marathon debut, but I don&rsquo;t know where yet," he added. "However, I think I can run 2:03, a crazy time. If I can beat Bekele&rsquo;s record here, I can run that sort of crazy time."
Bekele&rsquo;s brother Tariku Bekele drifted off the back of the leading pack just after 13 kilometres and eventually finished 10th in 1:15:53 while Kenya&rsquo;s 2009 and 2011 world marathon champion Abel Kirui, a late addition to the race, was a distant 11th in 1:18.08.
In contrast to the way the men&rsquo;s race unfolded, Shone was out on her own over the last 10 kilometres. 
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Guteni Shone breaks the race record at the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K</div>
&nbsp;
After a group of seven women had passed 10km in 33:37, Shone started to increase the tempo and by the halfway point just had her training partner Desi Jisa for company.
The Ethiopian-born Bahraini hung on doggedly for another couple of kilometres but by 15km, which Shone passed in 50:03, the 2019 Sevilla Marathon winner was starting to pull away from her rival.
Shone passed 20km in 1:06:00 with Jisa now 42 seconds back and the gap continued to grow over the final five kilometres, which was covered in 16:09, before Shone crossed the line in 1:22:09.
Jisa hung on to take second in 1:23:32 with another Ethiopian-born Bahraini, Tejitu Daba, exactly one minute further back in third. The first five finishers were inside the former women&rsquo;s event record.
&ldquo;I have practiced (trained) very hard throughout the year and it is yielding results now,&rdquo; Shone said.
&ldquo;The temperature was a little hot and since the running was through the city there were many turns and bents to make the race tough. Moreover, you did not know what kind of surface to expect next, so you had to keep guessing," she added. "All of that made the course challenging and worth the run."
Phil Minshull (organisers) for World Athletics
LEADING RESULTS 
Men 1 Leonard Barsoton (KEN) 1:13:05 2 Betesfa Getahun (ETH) 1:13:33 3 Bayelign Yegsaw (ETH) 1:13:36 4 Felix Chemonges (UGA) 1:13:43 5 Dagnachew Adere (ETH) 1:13:52 6 Faraja Damasi (TAN) 1:14:57 7 Tsegay Tuemay (ERI) 1:15:06 8 Desmond Mokgobu (RSA) 1:15:08 9 Ben Somikwo (UGA) 1:15:43 10 Tariku Bekele (ETH) 1:15:53 Women 1 Guteni Shone (ETH) 1:22:09 2 Desi Jisa (BRN) 1:23:32 3 Tejitu Daba (BRN) 1:24:32 4 Sasho Insermu (ETH) 1:24:59 5 Failuna Matanga (TAN) 1:25:55 6 Birke Debele (ETH) 1:26:49 7 Magdalena Shauri (TAN) 1:26:55 8 Nazret Weldu (ERI) 1:28:29 9 Chaltu Kekabo (ETH) 1:29:26 10 Tesfanesh Merga (ETH) 1:32:54
&nbsp;
<h3>Tola back on top in Shenzhen</h3>
Ethiopia's 2013 world bronze medallist Tadese Tola showed an encouraging return to form at the Shenzhen Marathon on Sunday (15), winning the World Athletics Gold Label road race in 2:10:13, his first marathon victory and fastest time since 2014.
The 32-year-old, who set his PB of 2:04:49 almost seven years ago, held off young compatriot Terefa Deleba in a close finish to win by just two seconds. Deleba's 2:10:15 clocking took half a minute off the PB he set in Vienna earlier this year. Kenya's Julius Tuwei was third in a season's best of 2:10:59.
Belaynesh Yami made it an Ethiopian double by winning the women's race. She took two minutes off her PB to win convincingly in 2:27:42 as three fellow Ethiopians followed her home.
Newcomer Medhin Beyene, making her marathon debut, was second in 2:30:12, comfortably ahead of Tsehay Desalegn (2:32:47).
&nbsp;
<h3>Race records tumble in&nbsp;M&aacute;laga</h3>
Kenya&rsquo;s Martin Cheruiyot and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Selamawit Getnet Tsegaw broke race records at the Zurich Marat&oacute;n de M&aacute;laga, a World Athletics Bronze Label race, on Sunday (15). 
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Martin Cheruiyot breaks the race record at the Malaga Marathon</div>
&nbsp;
Cheruiyot, a designated pacemaker whose duty was to take the field through 30 kilometres, forged on win in 2:10:08 while Tsegaw dominated the race en route to a 2:27:56 performance to clip four minutes from the previous mark.
Paced by Cheruiyot, the lead pack in the men&rsquo;s race went through the opening 10km in 30:50 with Ezekiel Tarus running closest and pre-races favourites Moses Mbugua and Eliud Kibet in close attendance.
The pacesetter heated up the pace in the following kilometres to cover the 15km in 45:54 but the surprise came just before the halfway point when Cheruiyot, a 2:14:32 performer, opened a sizeable gap on the main pack and reached the halfway point alone in 1:04:44, well on schedule to run inside the current mark of 2:11:07.
While his fellow Kenyans Kibet, Mbugua, Tarus, Silas Sang and Pharis Kimani also dipped under 1:05 for the half, Cheruiyot decided to abandon his pacemaker&rsquo;s role and break away in a quest for a sub-2:10 run. He was timed at 1:32:01 at the 30th kilometre with a full minute advantage over Kibet, Mbugua, Tarus, Sang and Kimani.
By 38km Cheruiyot&rsquo;s advantage had decreased to 29 seconds (1:56:49 vs 1:57:18) but his pace seemed enough to keep his lead until the tape. Once it became clear that Cheruiyot would be the eventual victor with a new race record, attention turned to find out whether the winning mark would be under the 2:10 barrier.
He came up just eight seconds shy but his 2:10:08 was still 59 seconds faster than the previous mark. In the fight for the minor places Kibet, who last year fell exhausted barely 40 metres before the finish line, romped home in a lifetime best of 2:10:41, 11 seconds ahead of last year&rsquo;s runner-up Mbugua who also clocked a career best.
&ldquo;I did my job running at the agreed pace but the main pack failed to follow in my footsteps so I talked to the race director by the 23rd kilometre to announce him my intention was to go for the win and I managed so,&rdquo; Cheruiyot said.
Meanwhile, Spain&rsquo;s Roger Roca dictated the rhythm in the women&rsquo;s race closely followed by the main favourites, the Ethiopian tandem of Getnet and Gelane Senbete. Running at a steady 3:30/km speed they covered the opening 10 and 15km in 35:10 and 52:40 while their compatriot Alemitu Abera and Kenya&rsquo;s Rebecca Korir travelled together 20 seconds behind.
The leading tandem was timed at 1:13:54 by halfway, a massive two minutes ahead of the race record schedule. Shortly afterwards Senbete proved unable to maintain that pace, leaving Getnet alone with Roca, who covered each one-kilometre split in 3:30.
The pacemaker dropped in the 35th kilometre but that was not barrier for Getnet tokeep her speed through the finish which she reached in 2:27:56. Fellow Ethiopian Senbete timed 2:32:28 while further back Korir completed the podium in 2:36:50.
&ldquo;The wind made the race quite tough but the pacemaker was superb and I got a new PB and also a race record by a huge margin so I can&rsquo;t ask for more,&rdquo; Getnet said.
Emeterio Valiente for World Athletics
LEADING RESULTS
Men 1 Martin Cheruiyot (KEN) 2:10:08 2 Eliud Kibet (KEN) 2:10:41 3 Moses Mbugua (KEN) 2:10:52 4 Pharis Kimani (KEN) 2:11:45 5 Silas Kipngetich (KEN) 2:12:52
Women 1 Selamwit Getnet (ETH) 2:27:56 2 Gelane Senbete (ETH) 2:32:28 3 Rebecca Korir (KEN) 2:36:50 4 Rebecca Hilland (GBR) 2:40:27 5 Katarina Skr&auml;ddar (FIN) 2:41:55
&nbsp;
<h3>Kenyan double in Taipei</h3>
Kenyans Kenneth Mungara and Antonina Kwambai notched convincing victories at the Taipei Marathon, another World Athletics Bronze Label road race, on Sunday.
Mungara built a 46-second lead by the 15th kilometre and was never threatened en route to a 2:14:54 victory. Josphat Kiprono Leting and Mike Kiprotich Mutai were a distant second and third in 2:15:23 and 2:17:14, respectively, to round out the podium sweep for Kenya.
The women's race played out in similar fashion, With Kwambai forging a 22-second lead over Ethiopia's Meskerem Abera Hunde by the 20th kilometre and extending it to more than two minutes by the 30th.
Kwambai went on to finish in 2:31:27, well clear of Hunde who clocked 2:34:18. Kenya's Naomi Jepkosgei Maiyo was a distant third in 2:38:33.

Kenya’s Leonard Barsoton and Ethiopia’s Guteni Shone ripped up the record book at the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K.

Kolkata 25K Malaga Shenzhen marathon 2019

Weekend road round-up: race records fall in Kolkata and Malaga

Stewart McSweyn capped a hugely successful 2019 with a win at the annual Zatopek 10,000m in Melbourne on Saturday night (14), completing a hat-trick of victories in the classic race.
Genevieve Gregson (nee Lacaze) took the women&rsquo;s race, the world steeplechase finalist making a winning debut at the 25-lap distance.
The Zatopek races served as the Australian Championships over the longest track distance with both champions awarded medals commemorating Ron Clarke, who won the race five times, setting world records for six miles and 10,000m in 1963.
But it was McSweyn who garnered the superlatives. Among the significant statistics relating to his winning performance of 27:23.80, it was:
- a personal best by almost 30 seconds (previously 27:50.89 in winning last year&rsquo;s race);
- the second-fastest winning time in the Zatopek race&rsquo;s 59-year history, behind only Luke Kipkosgei&rsquo;s men&rsquo;s race record 27:22.54;
- an Oceanian record (previously held by Ben St Lawrence at 27:24.95);
- an Olympic qualifier and automatic nomination to the Olympic team as national champion;
- the first time for 23 years an Australian men&rsquo;s record at 10,000m has been set on home soil (previously 27:31.92 by Shaun Creighton at the 1996 Zatopek);
- a third win in succession for McSweyn, putting him behind only Clarke (five), and Kipkosgei, Steve Moneghetti and Andrew Lloyd (four each).
Most significantly, the win capped a year which has earlier seen McSweyn move to second on the Australian all-time list at 1500m (3:31.81 behind Ryan Gregson&rsquo;s national record of 3:31.06) and double at the 5000m and 1500m at the World Championships in Doha, reaching the final of the longer event and the semi-finals of the shorter one.
Patrick Tiernan took second place in 27:31.20, making it the third time in the past four years the pair have gone 1-2. Tiernan won in 2016, McSweyn reversed the order the following year and has now claimed a second win over his friendly rival.
McSweyn had more reason to thank Tiernan than just giving him a good race. The pair had been touted as the two to watch in pre-race speculation but once Brett Robinson and Jordan Williamsz had shared leading duties through the first 11-and-a-half laps, it was the stronger Tiernan who did all the leading.
After going through the half-way point in a tick over 13:45, Tiernan made sure the tempo stayed at a metronomic 66 seconds per lap &ndash; 2:46 for the seventh kilometre, 2:46 again for the eighth and 2:45 for the ninth.
At this stage the duo were on course for a time of 27:30 but another surge by Tiernan took the next lap down to 64 seconds, bringing the Tokyo qualifier and the area record both into play.
Tiernan still led coming up to the bell, but he had no answer to McSweyn&rsquo;s final lap of about 56 seconds. With the win, the area record and the qualifier, McSweyn took the chocolates while Tiernan, just outside both his personal best and the Olympic standard, had to settle for the boiled lollies. He already has a qualifier at 5000 metres (as does McSweyn), and hopefully there will be tastier treats to come at 10,000.
Jack Bruce finished third in 28:15.94 while, on the night his national record went down, 38-year-old St Lawrence finished a more than creditable sixth in 28:19.60.
The women&rsquo;s race started much more cautiously than the men&rsquo;s, possibly because Australia&rsquo;s two World Championships representatives, Ellie Pashley and Sinead Diver, were not in the field, both having run last month&rsquo;s New York Marathon. Gregson, making her debut at 10,000m, was understandably feeling her way into the race.
After a first half of 16:57, Australian cross-country champion Emily Brichacek moved to the lead and the pace finally quickened. Try as she might, though, Brichacek was unable to dislodge either Gregson or Canada&rsquo;s world 5000m finalist Andrea Seccafien.
The pair moved past Brichacek soon after the start of the final lap. The first two places were settled then, but the order remained in doubt until Gregson finally got the upper hand decisively in the last 50 metres. The Olympic finalist at both the steeplechase and 5000m made her 10,000m debut a winning one, crossing the line a few steps clear of Seccafien, 32:47.83 to 32:48.30.
Brichacek, like Tiernan, got scant reward for her hard work, finishing third some 10 seconds behind the winner.
With Melbourne&rsquo;s main stadium at Albert Park closed for resurfacing, the meeting was held at Melbourne&rsquo;s Box Hill track in near-perfect conditions on a warm and mostly still night.
Len Johnson for World Athletics

Stewart McSweyn capped a hugely successful 2019 with a win at the annual Zatopek 10,000m in Melbourne on Saturday night (14), completing a hat-trick of victories in the classic race.

Zatopek 10 2019 McSweyn

McSweyn claims Zatopek hat-trick with Oceanian 10,000m record

Several champions from 2017 added to their gold medal tally during the final two days of athletics at the Southeast Asian Games in Clark, the Philippines.
By the time the competition concluded on Tuesday (10), at least 22 national records had been set and seven games records were broken. 15 of the gold medal winners across the five days of action managed to retain their titles from two years prior.
Malaysia&rsquo;s defending champion Muhammad Hakimi Ismail sealed his third consecutive triple jump title by leaping 16.68m in the third round. Mark Harry Diones, the 2017 Asian silver medallist, jumped 16.42m, his best leap for two years, to take the silver medal for the host nation. Indonesia&rsquo;s long jump champion Sapwaturrahman took bronze with 16.21m.
In the women&rsquo;s discus, Thailand&rsquo;s Subenrat Insaeng opened with 53.63m, which would have been enough for the gold, but the 25-year-old landed a Games record of 60.33m with her fifth attempt to win by more than 13 metres. It was her fifth SEA Games title, having won her first at the age of 17.
Malaysia&rsquo;s Muhammad Irfan Shamsuddin, nursing a minor hand injury, clinched his fourth consecutive discus title and needed only one valid throw, 57.29m.
Nguyen Thi Huyen and Quach Thi Lan achieved a Vietnamese 1-2 finish in the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles, clocking 56.90 and 57.39 respectively. They then teamed up with Nguyen Thi Oanh and Hoang Thi Ngoc to win the women&rsquo;s 4x400m in 3:34.64. It was Thi Huyen&rsquo;s third gold of the championships as she had won the 400m a few days prior.
Vietnam also won the men&rsquo;s 4x400m, finishing in 3:08.07.
<h3>More gold for Van Thai and Thi Oanh</h3>
Having won the 1500m earlier in the championships, Vietnam&rsquo;s Duong Van Thai completed a middle-distance double by winning the men&rsquo;s 800m in 1:49.91, repeating his achievement from 2017.
Compatriot Nguyen Thi Oanh pocketed her third gold medal of the championships, winning the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase in a Games record of 10:00.02, having won the 5000m (16:45.98) during the morning session. She had previously won the 1500m (4:17.31).
After his victory in the men&rsquo;s 10,000m, Thailand&rsquo;s Kieran Tuntivate completed a distance double by winning the men&rsquo;s 5000m in 14:31.15, pushed all the way by Vietnam&rsquo;s three-time champion Nguyen Van Lai (14:32.42).
The men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles provided the closest contest of the championships as the top two crossed the line together in 13.97. Clinton Bautista of the Philippines was eventually given the verdict over defending champion Rayzam Shah Wan Sofian of Malaysia.
Elsewhere, Eric Cray of the Philippines clinched his fourth consecutive gold in the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles, clocking 50.21. Indonesia&rsquo;s Hendro retained his gold medal in the men&rsquo;s 20km race walk in 1:31:20, with Vietnam&rsquo;s Vo Xuan Vinh just behind in 1:31:38. Thailand stormed to gold medals in the men&rsquo;s (39.27) and women&rsquo;s 4x100m (44.38).
Vietnam, hosts of the next Southeast Asian Games in 2021, topped the athletics medals table with 16 gold, 13 silver and nine bronze. Thailand (12 gold) and the Philippines (11 gold) were second and third on the table.
Jad Adrian Washif for World Athletics

Several champions from 2017 added to their gold medal tally during the final two days of athletics at the Southeast Asian Games in Clark, the Philippines.

Southeast Asian Games 2019 athletics Philippines

Defending champions dominate at Southeast Asian Games

MONTE CARLO - Monaco - Just a month from today, the 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships will open in the magnificent Bercy Stadium in Paris. This will be the first act in a magnificent year for athletics which, will witness the 25th World Cross Country Championships on 23 March in Turin’s Parco del Valentino followed by the World Race Walking Cup in Podebrady/Prague on 19-20 April and will culminate in the celebration in August of the World Championships in Athens. In the meantime, the athletics world is heightening attention for Paris. Numerous stars have pushed forward their training programmes so as to be in shape to chase not only athletics glory but also the substantial economic rewards up for grabs at the Palais Omnisports de Bercy. For the first time in the history of athletics the winners - men and women - of a world indoor title will win $50,000, 2nd and 3rd pl, respectively $20,000 and $10,0000. For the relays, the awards will be: $60,000; $30,000 and $16,000. As amply demonstrated in the recent indoor meetings in Stuttgart, Erfurt and Madrid, the competitive condition of the athletes continues to improve, despite the fact that most of them had a particularly gruelling Olympic year. The most outstanding example came in Stuttgart from Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) and Haile Gebrselassie (ETH): their 1500m race ended in a new world record for the Moroccan (3:31.18) and a personal best for the Ethiopian (3:32.39). El Guerrouj’s talent as a fast middle distance runner is unquestionable and his duel with Noureddine Morceli (ALG) will be one of the highlights of the coming outdoor season. The Olympic 10,000m champion’s improvement in this event cannot fail to astound. Before his race on the Stuttgart indoor track, Gebrselassie had a best performance over 1500m of 3:34.64, outdoors at Chemnitz in 1996. The fact that he has been able to cut this time by more than two seconds on a track which - because of its length and the consequent increase in the curves - is still more difficult to run on as the pace increases, means that Gebrselassie should go under 3:30 outdoors. Haile Gebrselassie - who has run the 800 in 1:46 in training - is a revolutionary: he has created a new era in resistance running. On the same road, and at his heels, runs Daniel Komen (KEN), presaging 1997 as a year of great challenges and perhaps new sensational records in the 3000, 5000 and 10,000m. Some vision of which of the two will lead the race for records should come in Paris. Haile Gebrselassie will run in the 3000m in Bercy, at which distance he currently holds the world indoor record (7:30.72). A record which is likely to crumble at the next world championships. But not only the distance runners are progressing. The women’s Olympic long jump gold medallist Chioma Ajunwa (NGR) is showing constant improvement in this event and in the sprints. Together with Irina Privalova (RUS) and Merlene Ottey (JAM) she will make the 60m final a real thriller. The heptathlon (men) and pentathlon (women) will also be interesting in Paris. All of the world’s greatest specialists of these events invited by the IAAF have confirmed their participation, other than Dan O’Brien (USA) and Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA). The USA will be represented by Steve Fritz, placed 4th in Atlanta, and Chris Huffins in the heptathlon; Kelly Blair - 8th in the Olympics - and Kym Carter will compete in the women’s event. Denise Lewis (GBR), another rising star of British athletics will start strong favourite to win the $50,000 women’s first prize. But the first world record of the World Indoor Championships has been won by a particularly athletic category: the journalists. 535 have already received accreditation, a number which is destined to increase before the Championships and which demonstrates the excitement around this major event. &nbsp; ENDS Downloadable .PDF version of the original Press Release

First record for Paris World Indoor Championships broken by the Press: nearly 600 accreditations to date.


MONTE CARLO - Monaco - Just a month from today, the 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships will open in the magnificent Bercy Stadium in Paris. This will be the first act in a magnificent year for athletics which, will witness the 25th World Cross Country Championships on 23 March in Turin’s Parco del Valentino followed by the World Race Walking Cup in Podebrady/Prague on 19-20 April and will culminate in the celebration in August of the World Championships in Athens. 
In the meantime, the athletics world is heightening attention for Paris. Numerous stars have pushed forward their training programmes so as to be in shape to chase not only athletics glory but also the substantial economic rewards up for grabs at the Palais Omnisports de Bercy. For the first time in the history of athletics the winners - men and women - of a world indoor title will win $50,000, 2nd and 3rd pl, respectively $20,000 and $10,0000. For the relays, the awards will be: $60,000; $30,000 and $16,000. 
As amply demonstrated in the recent indoor meetings in Stuttgart, Erfurt and Madrid, the competitive condition of the athletes continues to improve, despite the fact that most of them had a particularly gruelling Olympic year. The most outstanding example came in Stuttgart from Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) and Haile Gebrselassie (ETH): their 1500m race ended in a new world record for the Moroccan (3:31.18) and a personal best for the Ethiopian (3:32.39). El Guerrouj’s talent as a fast middle distance runner is unquestionable and his duel with Noureddine Morceli (ALG) will be one of the highlights of the coming outdoor season. The Olympic 10,000m champion’s improvement in this event cannot fail to astound. 
Before his race on the Stuttgart indoor track, Gebrselassie had a best performance over 1500m of 3:34.64, outdoors at Chemnitz in 1996. The fact that he has been able to cut this time by more than two seconds on a track which - because of its length and the consequent increase in the curves - is still more difficult to run on as the pace increases, means that Gebrselassie should go under 3:30 outdoors. 
Haile Gebrselassie - who has run the 800 in 1:46 in training - is a revolutionary: he has created a new era in resistance running. On the same road, and at his heels, runs Daniel Komen (KEN), presaging 1997 as a year of great challenges and perhaps new sensational records in the 3000, 5000 and 10,000m. Some vision of which of the two will lead the race for records should come in Paris. 
Haile Gebrselassie will run in the 3000m in Bercy, at which distance he currently holds the world indoor record (7:30.72). A record which is likely to crumble at the next world championships. 
But not only the distance runners are progressing. The women’s Olympic long jump gold medallist Chioma Ajunwa (NGR) is showing constant improvement in this event and in the sprints. Together with Irina Privalova (RUS) and Merlene Ottey (JAM) she will make the 60m final a real thriller. 
The heptathlon (men) and pentathlon (women) will also be interesting in Paris. All of the world’s greatest specialists of these events invited by the IAAF have confirmed their participation, other than Dan O’Brien (USA) and Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA). The USA will be represented by Steve Fritz, placed 4th in Atlanta, and Chris Huffins in the heptathlon; Kelly Blair - 8th in the Olympics - and Kym Carter will compete in the women’s event. Denise Lewis (GBR), another rising star of British athletics will start strong favourite to win the $50,000 women’s first prize. 
But the first world record of the World Indoor Championships has been won by a particularly athletic category: the journalists. 535 have already received accreditation, a number which is destined to increase before the Championships and which demonstrates the excitement around this major event. 
  
ENDS Downloadable .PDF version of the original Press Release

The first record broken for Paris World Indoor Championships broken by the Press: nearly 600 accreditations

&nbsp;A memorable battle will be fought on Sunday on the fields of Albufeira, in Portugal. This will be the scene of the 21st edition of the "Cross Internacional Das Amendoeiras" - Almond Blossom Cross Country, 7th stage of the IAAF World Cross Challenge, and it looks set to be a closely fought battle between Portugal and Kenya. The Portuguese are some of the greatest European fans of cross country and have produced a great number of top class runners over the years, and also the legendary Carlos Lopes - three time world champion. Lopes matured his talent patiently, reaching Olympic glory in Los Angeles, in the marathon, at the age of 37. The following year, in 1985, he managed two other notable exploits: he won the Rotterdam Marathon in a new world record time of 2:07.12 (still the 4th best time ever) and won his third cross country world champion&rsquo;s title. This latter success, in Lisbon, was also the last by a non African. On Sunday, Kenya will be presenting an impressively strong and coherent line-up: Richard Kosgei, James Kariuki, Tom Nyariki, Joseph Kipruto, Benson Masya, Elija Lagat and the winner of the Tourcoing Cross on 1 Feb, Bernard Barmasai, who has a 3000 steeplechase best of 8:10.84. The Portuguese team will be led by Paulo Guerra, ex-European champion and will include Domingos Castro, Alfredo Bras, Carlos Monteiro, Carlos Patricio and Jos&eacute; Ramos. There will also be a strong British team, with Paul Evans, John Nuttall, Rob Denmark and Andrew Pearson. Just as exciting as the men&rsquo;s race (over 10 km), will be the women&rsquo;s event (over 6 km). Although Portugal will be able to count on the talent of Fernanda Ribeiro, Olympic gold in the 10,000m, Concei&ccedil;ao Ferreira, Marina Bastos and Ana Dias, Kenya will be fielding Tegla Loroupe, a great marathon runner and sixth in the 10,000m in Atlanta, and Joyce Chepchumba. But the danger for both will come from the East: from Elena Fidatov (ROM), current leader of the IAAF World Cross Challenge (which offers a total of $160,000 in prize money, including $25,000 dollars each to the winners of the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s events in 1997) who seems likely to dominate this season&rsquo;s cross country scene.

A memorable battle will be fought on Sunday on the fields of Albufeira, in Portugal. This will be the scene of the 21st edition of the "Cross Internacional Das Amendoeiras" - Almond Blossom Cross Country, 7th stage of the IAAF World Cross Challenge, and it looks set to be a closely fought battle between Portugal and Kenya. 

Portugal vs Kenya: fight to the last Albufeira in the IAAF World Cross Challenge

p>MONTE CARLOMonaco Haile Gebrselassie
(ETH) recorded one of Athletics&#146; most outstanding
performances with his record-breaking 5000m run in Stockholm on
Thursday evening. Ten years ago - on 22 July 1987, in Rome -
another outstanding performer, Saïd Aouita (MAR) was the first
to go below the 13 minute mark in the 5000m outdoors, on a tartan
track in the Roman Olympic stadium. But there is a great
difference between achieving that time on a 400m track and
running 12:59.04 on a 200m track as Gebrselassie did in
Stockholm. The tighter bends of the short track limit mechanical
effectiveness considerably.

Haile Gebrselassie, who holds the world
outdoors record for the 5000m with his mark of 12:44.39, has
shown that he is capable of reducing considerably the record for
the event. The race for the new record will be particularly
exciting as the formidable Ethiopian will be running against
young Kenyan talent Daniel Komen and Salah Hissou of Morocco as
well as against the clock.

Hissou is likely to be Haile
Gebrselassie&#146;s strongest threat in the 3000m in the
forthcoming World Indoor Championships in Paris (7-9 March). The
Ethiopian is on top physical and psychological form and ready to
take the title and further improve the world record time of
7:30.72 he set last year. 

&nbsp;

ENDS

Downloadable .PDF version of the original Press Release

p>MONTE CARLOMonaco Haile Gebrselassie
(ETH) recorded one of Athletics most outstanding
performances with his record-breaking 5000m run in Stockholm on
Thursday evening. Ten years ago - on 22 July 1987, in Rome -
another outstanding performer, Saïd Aouita (MAR) was the first
to go below the 13 minute mark in the 5000m outdoors, on a tartan
track in the Roman Olympic stadium. But there is a great
difference between achieving that time on a 400m track and
running 12:59.04 on a 200m track as Gebrselassie did in
Stockholm. The tighter bends of the short track limit mechanical
effectiveness considerably.


Haile Gebrselassie, who holds the world
outdoors record for the 5000m with his mark of 12:44.39, has
shown that he is capable of reducing considerably the record for
the event. The race for the new record will be particularly
exciting as the formidable Ethiopian will be running against
young Kenyan talent Daniel Komen and Salah Hissou of Morocco as
well as against the clock.


Hissou is likely to be Haile
Gebrselassies strongest threat in the 3000m in the
forthcoming World Indoor Championships in Paris (7-9 March). The
Ethiopian is on top physical and psychological form and ready to
take the title and further improve the world record time of
7:30.72 he set last year. 


 


ENDS

Downloadable .PDF version of the original Press Release

Meeting Name	Venue	Country	Date
Medio Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP	Valencia	ESP	27 Oct 2019
Volkswagen Ljubljana Marathon	Ljubljana	SLO	27 Oct 2019
Changsha International Marathon	Changsha	CHN	27 Oct 2019
Around Taihu International Race Walking 2019	Suzhou	CHN	20 Oct 2019
EDP Maratona de Lisboa	Lisboa	POR	20 Oct 2019

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YOKOHAMA

One-Day Meeting Circuits

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Tokyo

BOSTON (REGGIE LEWIS)

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