Berhane Adere (ETH) celebrates winning the 10,000m final (© Getty Images)
The world record attempt by the Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere in the 5000 metres will highlight the seventh edition of the IAAF Grand Prix Regione Lombardia meeting - IAAF Grand Prix II - in Milan at the Arena Civica Gianni Brera stadium on Wednesday 2 June.
Adere, who won the World title in Paris St.Denis in the 10,000 metres in 30:04.18 (African record) will be helped in this attempt by the Kenya’s Isabella Ochichi, a solid specialist with a PB of 14:46.42 set in Hengelo on Monday night and a sixth place in the 5000 metres at the Paris World Championships, who will act as a pacemaker in Milan.
Adere will try to pursue the World record of 14:28.09 set by the China’s Jiang Bo in Shangai on 23 October 1997. Adere narrowly failed to break the World record last summer in the Golden League meeting in Oslo when she ran the distance in 14:29.32 in one of the most memorable women’s 5000 metres race ever run which was also highlighted by the World Junior record set by Tirunesh Dibaba with 14:39.94.
Adere enjoyed a successful indoor season where she smashed the World Indoor record in the 5000 metres with 14:39.29 in Stuttgart and won the silver medal in the World Indoor Championships in Budapest behind her younger compatriot Meseret Defar.
Adere is not the only big name announced for the 5000 metres race. Her compatriot Meselesh Melkamu, World Junior Cross Country champion last March in Brussels, may produce a big surprise.
Also in the line-up is the former World Marathon record holder Tegla Loroupe, who has a PB of 14:45.95 in the 5000 metres. Another interesting name is the young Moroccan Siham Hilali, World youth champion in the 3000 metres in Sherbrooke 2003.
Gevaert leads solid 100m field
The other highlight of the Milan GP meeting will be the women’s 100 metres with Kim Gaevert from Belgium. Gaevert has become a national heroine in Belgium since her astonishing win over the US star Marion Jones in the Birmingham Indoor meeting in the 60 metres last February.
The “Gazelle de Kampenhout” crowned her successful season under the roof with a silver medal in the 60 metres with a new national record of 7.12 in the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest.
Mercy Nku from Nigeria (PB 11.03), a World Championships finalist in the 100 metres in Seville 1999 and Edmonton 2001, Juliet Campbell from Jamaica, a former World Indoor champion in Lisbon 2001 and Natasha Mayers from the small island of St. Vincent (PB 11.09) complete the 100 metres line-up.
The men’s 100 metres dash features the 2002 IAAF World Cup winner Uchenna Emedolu who clocked a wind-assisted 9.99 in the IAAF Super Grand Prix meeting in Doha on 15 May. Emedolu’s main challengers are Canada’s Nicolas Macrozonaris (PB 10.03 set in Mexico City in 2003), the US sprinter Markus Brunson (third in Doha in a wind-assisted 9.96), Australia’s Matt Shirvington (PB 10.03), the European under 23 champion Ronald Pognon and the Italian revelation Simone Collio.
The 24-year-old Italian, who is back from a very successful indoor season where he finished a good seventh in the 60 metres final at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest after equalling his PB of 6.58 in the semi-final, is in very good form and hopes to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard for the individual event.
Milan represents an important test for the promising Italian sprinters. Marco Torrieri, fifth in the 2003 World Indoors in Birmingham and a semi-finalist in the 200 metres in the 2001 Worlds in Edmonton, has recently returned to form with a wind-assisted 10.12 (+2.8 m/s) in Rome during the Italian Club Championships and will run the 200 metres in Milan against Johan Wissman from Sweden, silver medallist in the 200 metres at the 2004 World Indoors in Budapest in the 2004, Leslie Djhone from France, fifth in the 400 metres and silver medallist with the 4x400m at the World Championships in Paris, Cameroon’s Joseph Batangdon, silver medallist in the 200 metres in the 2003 World Indoors and the Briton Julian Golding, Commonwealth champion in 1998 with 20.18.
The Milan Arena is a special venue for the 800 metres and is well-known to Italian athletics enthusiasts for memorable races, like the famous clash between Rudolf Harbig and Mario Lanzi in 1939, won by the German in a World record time of 1:46.6 and the World record of Marcello Fiasconaro in 1973 who beat Joseph Plachy in 1:43.7 (still Italian record) during the dual international match between Italy and Czechoslovakia.
Longo and Gibilisco carry Italian hopes
This time was equalled by Andrea Longo in the Rieti GP meeting in 2000. Longo, who came back successfully last summer with his fifth place in the World Championships in Paris, will use Milan as a springboard for a great Olympic season which could see him as a possible medal contender for Athens.
In the Milan Arena stadium Longo will battle against the World season leader William Yampoyi, who won the Belem Grand Prix meeting in 1:45.09, the 2002 European indoor champion Pawel Czapiewski and the 2003 European under 23 champion Renè Herms from Germany.
The Ukrainian Ivan Heshko will return to the Milan track where he won the 1500 metres in 3:33.67 in 2003 thanks to his devastating final kick. The Milan victory was an inspiration for Heshko who clinched a surprising World bronze medal in the 1500 metres in Paris behind Hicham El Guerrouj and Meedi Baala two months later. Heshko continued his rise this winter by winning the silver medal in the World Indoors in Budapest.
Another man to watch is the Tanzanian Samwel Mwera, a bronze medallist in the World Junior Championships in Kingston 2002 in the 1500 metres and winner in the 1500 metres under 23 race in the Zürich Golden League meeting last summer.
Abraham Chebii, who won the 5000 metres at last year’s Golden Gala in Rome over Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie, will pursue a fast time in the 5000 metres race. Chebii will face stiff opposition, as the starting list also features the reigning World Junior Cross Country champion Meba Tadesse.
Last year the 18-year-old Eliud Kipchoge won in Milan and just two months later he was crowned World champion in Paris. This year it may be the turn of Tadesse to pull out a big surprise in Milan.
Ethiopians Haliu Mekkonen (PB 12:58.57), silver medallist in the 10,000 metres in Edmonton 2001, and Yebeltal Admassu (fourth in Edmonton in the 10,000 metres), Kenya’s Joseph Kosgei, Briton John Mayock and Swiss Christian Belz (second fastest time in Europe last year with 13:12.16) are also entered in the 5000 metres.
Italian fans are looking forward to the debut on Italian soil of the sensational World Pole Vault champion Giuseppe Gibilisco. The 25-year-old from Siracusa, coached by Vitaliy Petrov, leads a high-quality line-up which includes last year’s World season leader Romain Mesnil from France (5.95), Rens Blom from Holland (bronze in the 2003 World Indoors and winner in Hengelo on Monday with a National record 5.77), Lars Börgeling (PB 5.85) and Danny Ecker (one of 12 men in the history to join the 6 metres club) from Germany, the Ukrainian Olexandr Korchmid, the reigning European under 23 champion and Gibilisco’s training partner Viktor Chistiakov from Australia (PB 5.92).
The 2001 Long Jump World champion Fiona May is gradually returning to her old form after her maternity leave in 2002. After a good indoor season she will test her condition on a runway where she set the meeting record with 7.07m in 2000. The Italian will face Niki Xantou from Greece, silver medal at the 1997 World championships on home soil in Athens, the 1999 World champion Niurka Montalvo, Spain’s Conception Montaner (World Junior champion in 2000), Adina Anton from Romania (first in the World Junior Championships in Kingston 2002), Valentina Gotovska (Pb 6.91) and the 2001 World Indoor champion Dawn Burrell from the USA.
Great Hammer Throw contest to open meeting
The meeting will be opened in the early afternoon by a great hammer throw competition. Italian Nicola Vizzoni, Olympic silver medallist in Sydney, will try to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard against the Olympic champion Szymon Ziolkowski and Wojchiech Kondratowicz (PB 81.35) from Poland, last year’s World Athletics Final second placer Libor Charfreitag from Slovakia (PB 81.81), Slovenia’s Primoz Kozmus, fifth in the Paris World Championships, the 2001 World bronze medallist Ilya Konovalov from Russia and Finland’s Olli Pekka Karialainen, a former World Junior champion in 1998.
Nadezhda Ostapchuk from Belarus, World silver medallist in Paris, Yumisleydis Cumba from Cuba, World Indoor bronze medallist in Budapest, Germany’s Nadine Kleinert, second at the World Championships in Edmonton 2001 and Assunta Legnante from Italy, second in the 2002 European indoor Championships in Vienna, will provide a very interesting shot put contest.
Irina Mikalchenko from Ukraine and Monica Iagar, two high jumpers with a PB over the 2 metres barrier and Mexico’s Romary Rifka, who has recently set the national record with 1.97, are the favourite in the women’s High Jump.
A good race in the men’s 400 metres Hurdles is also in the Milan timetable. South Africa’s Lewellin Herbert, Olympic bronze medallist in Sydney with 47.81 leads a solid line-up which also features USA’s Eric Thomas (47.94), the Paris World Championships finalist Kemel Thompson from Jamaica (PB 48.05), the 1998 European silver medallist Ruslan Maschenko from Russia, the 2003 NCAA champion Dean Griffith and Ian Weakley (PB 48.55) from Jamaica.
Allian Pompey from Guyana, a surprising Commonwealth gold medallist in Manchester 2002 in the 400 metres starts as a favourite in the one-lap event after her recent second place in the Belem Grand Prix meeting with her national record of 51.11. The starting list is completed by Nadjina Kaltouma from Chad, a world fifth placer in Edmonton 2001 with her PB of 50.80, the 1999 World silver medallist Anja Rücker from Germany in 49.74 and Nigeria’s Olabisi Afolabi (PB 50.39).
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF
