Webber - An Australian Won German Grand Prix

"Mark Webber you are a Grand Prix winner. Well done! Brilliant drive!" Those words, from Red Bull's engineers, told you all you needed to know about Sunday's German Grand Prix. No matter what they threw at the Australian, including a drive-through penalty for a brush off the startline with Brawn's Rubens Barrichello, Webber came through and delivered in devastating style.

After that brush he shadowed Barrichello as they stormed away while fast-starting Heikki Kovalainen in the McLaren held up Brawn's Jenson Button, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. And even with his penalty stop on Lap 14, when Barrichello refuelled, Webber kept the lead.

His second stop, five laps later, dropped him down to eighth, but he was back in the lead by Lap 33 when all of the main first pit stops had been made, and he controlled it easily from there. Barrichello lost time in his second stop with a refuelling rig problem, and later, like Button, struggled to warm his tyres. Both were on three-stop strategies, which dropped them from second and third places with 10 laps left.

Thus it was Sebastian Vettel who came through to grab second, in Red Bull's third one-two of the season, after a weekend in which his team mate completely eclipsed him. Massa was strong all day for Ferrari and took third ahead of Nico Rosberg, who drove superbly early on with a high fuel load and thoroughly deserved fourth for Williams.

The Brawns switched places in their final stops, as Button made his a lap later, and they finished fifth and sixth, hounded to the finish by Fernando Alonso's Renault, which set fastest lap. Behind them, Kovalainen clung on for the final point for McLaren, with Toyota's Timo Glock, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella and Williams' Kazuki Nakajima in his wheeltracks.

It was, after all, a terrible day for Force India's Adrian Sutil, who ran as high as second before his first refuelling stop, but then lost it all through a clash with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen as he exited the pits. He needed another stop for a new front wing and finished a tearful 15th, behind Renault's Nelson Piquet and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica. Stewards looked into the Raikkonen incident, but decided no action was necessary.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli was delayed after a brush in traffic on the opening lap and finished 17th, behind Sebastien Buemi in the sole Toro Rosso to finish. And right at the back, the only lapped runner was McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. The world champion made a brilliant start, led fractionally on the outside at Turn One, but then got his right-rear tyre clipped by Webber and had to pit at the end of the lap with a puncture. That was all she wrote.

The day, however, belonged to Webber as Advance Australia Fair played at the end of a Grand Prix for the first time since Alan Jones won in Las Vegas back in 1981. It was superb victory in the most trying circumstances, and Webber thoroughly deserved his maiden success.

Button still leads the championship, with 68 points, but now Vettel is second with 47, Webber third with 45.5 and Barrichello drops to fourth on 44.

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British & Irish Lions Lost Their First Test To World Champions South Africa

Last Saturday in Pretoria, Brian O'Driscoll (British & Irish Lions) has demanded that his team-mates hit the floor running in their must-win second match with South Africa.

O'Driscoll was a stable threat along with his centre colleague Jamie Roberts in the Lions' narrow 26-21 loss to the Springboks last weekend, and has acknowledged that they could not afford to claw back a new big lead at Loftus Versfeld. The host side raced in to a 26-7 lead at Kings Park last time out before a late rush by the tourists, but O'Driscoll knows that they have to play from the opening whistle in order to take the spoils.

"Some of the rugby played at the weekend showed some confidence and that we can play the game we want to. We have to bring that out from the kick-off this weekend because we can't afford to give them a 19-point lead and chase it back," said O'Driscoll. "We probably didn't play early enough last weekends and that was to our detriment. Hopefully we can play earlier in the first-half tomorrow, cut off the Springboks and make them work for their scores a little bit more than we did last weekend."

"Obviously we were hopeful to win that game but it's done now and we are out to win matches two and three, and it is as simple as that."

The Lions have bulked up their pack for the second Test, with their front-row ranks bolstered by hooker Matthew Rees and prop Adam Jones, while expert lock Simon Shaw has been called in to aid in the protecting of the Springboks' fearful rolling maul.

In spite of the focusing on the forwards and the increased power in protection, Lions captain Paul O'Connell believes that his side has to go out and play daring rugby if they are to secure a series decider in Johannesburg next weekend.

"We have to go out and play," he said. "That is when we have been at our best, when we have retained the ball and put it through the hands. That is when we have really put teams under pressure. We conceded a lot of penalties during the first 40 minutes last week. When you concede penalties, you concede possession, territory and points. We need to get rid of that."

The second match will be played at altitude, but the Lions have selected to remain at sea-level for their preparations. From their base in Cape Town they will head to Pretoria, hoping that the effects of altitude do not have time to take hold. The tourists struggled at altitude in their opening game against a Royal XV in Rustenberg, but O'Connell believes that they can handle the change this time around.

"I think we are well prepared. We had a very good period of time at altitude at the start of the tour," he said. "We've done plenty of training at altitude and we have every confidence in the doctors. It is not all in the mind. There is something there, but it is not massive."

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sports

Phew! That was close. Very rarely do major championship decathlons serve up such a spectacular finale in the 1500m - but German Jan Felix Knobel and Eduard Mihan of Belarus take a bow. You produced a classic.

In the final reckoning just 2pts - approximately 0.20 of a second in the 1500m - separated the pair as they produced a pulsating three-and-three-quarter lap duel which will linger long on the memory.

Going into the tenth and final event Knobel held a 107 point advantage – roughly 17 seconds in the 1500m – from Mihan who had led the competition from event two until the ninth event।

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A new champion for the 800m

Speaking of Maria Mutola - and Australia - the ageless Mozambican came up short in the end in her quest for an astounding eighth World Indoor Championships gold medal.

Mutola, who first won the 800m in 1993 and was competing in her ninth consecutive World Indoor Championships (she placed second in 1999) struggled to stay in touch with the front when Australian Tamsyn Lewis and Ukrainian Tetiana Petlyuk forced the pace late in the race.

Mutola tried, but it was Lewis, who was not on anyone's list of potential winners, who became only the fourth woman ever to win the 800m at this event. Lewis's time, 2:02.57, was unimpressive, but the result was incredible even to her. "This is amazing. I still can't believe it," she said afterward.

Clay dominates but Sebrle meets disaster

Bryan Clay's (USA) dominating day one lead in the Heptathlon seemed invincible as day two started, and the championship was practically handed to him when his primary challenger, Decathlon World record holder Roman Sebrle (CZE), cramped up during the 60m Hurdles and crashed to the track between the third and fourth hurdles. Clay held his own in the Pole Vault and left no room for the new second-placer, Andrei Krauchanka (BLR) to close in, finishing with 6371 points, a new heptathlon PB.

Krauchanka himself, only 22, was the revelation of the heptathlon at 6234 points, a new national record for Belarus.

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What is the IAAF Green Project?

The rapid deterioration of the global environment in recent years has gradually affected our lives in various ways. There is no exemption for the world of sport where already several skiing competitions have been cancelled due to a shortage of snow. The changing environment affects us all in every walk of life.

Athletics, in which human beings compete with their most basic skills of “running,” “jumping” and “throwing,” does not require any special environment. The IAAF World Championships in Athletics is a venue for determining the very best from among humanity.

However, if the deterioration of the global environment goes on, some day in the near future we won’t even be able to practice Athletics. That is the reason why we have decided to launch this project.

The IAAF Green Project is an IAAF initiative that reflects a commitment to find ways to contribute to the global environment through events such as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics. We hope this project will contribute in some way to a healthier earth, one that supports a future in which everyone can enjoy athletics. We believe the IAAF World Championships in Athletics should continue to be a venue for determining world champions not only from among a few who are blessed by their environment, but from among all humanity.

The IAAF Green Project, introduced for the first time in Osaka 2007 will continue on at the next Championships in Berlin and in the future Championships as well. We will work to ensure that our efforts become a valuable index for future sports events in Japan and around the world.

As the baton of hope for a healthier earth is passed on from Osaka to the world, we hope more than anything that the themes of this project will be taken up by everyone, and continued on into the future.

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elusive title in hand

The 25-year-old Russian revealed that she only thought about the gold medal and not about the record when she stormed to a superb 1500m victory in Valencia. But with a new all-time best indoors of 3:57.71 she crowned the final day of the IAAF World Indoor Championships.

“I did not expect to break the World record," Soboleva said. "I was running for gold."

It was the third time that Soboleva lowered the World indoor 1500m standard. Two years ago she had improved on the pre-Soboleva best of 3:59.98 to 3:58.28 in Moscow. This year she lowered it yet again at the Russian Championships in the capital, to 3:58.05.

But in contrast to her two World records previous to Valencia Soboleva had never won a major championship. Two years ago she had entered the World Indoors in Moscow as the big favourite but was then beaten by her fellow countrywoman Yuliya Chizhenko. After that silver medal it becmae even worse at the European Chamionships final in Gothenburg later that year. In Sweden she could only finish fourth after she had improved her outdoor best to 3:56.43. Last year it was a similar story, although she at least won a silver medal in Osaka. Soboleva had entered the event leading the world lists with 3:57.30 which remained the fastest time of the year. But then she could not cope in the end of the race when Bahrain’s Maryam Jamal stormed past her to take the gold.

So finally, Soboleva has broken the deadlook. And she could not have accomplished that in a more impressive way.

“After Osaka I worked a lot to improve my speed on the final 500 metres of the race,” Soboleva said.

There were two reasons why she and Yulia Fomenko, who won the silver medal with a personal best of 3:59.41, had agreed before the start to make this a fast race.

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Savigne secures last round gold with 15.05m

The opening round set the high tone for the competition, as ‘Piyi’ Devetzi of Greece opened with a national record of 14.93 (her previous indoor best was 4cm lower) and a few minutes later was closely challenged by the 14.89m Area record (her previous indoor best was 9cm lower) of Cuba’s World outdoor champion Yargelis Savigne

The Greek who is the Olympic silver medallist and who took bronze at these championships in 2004, backed-up her opening with a mark of 14.83m, while the Cuba could not improve (14.44m) in the second series of efforts.

Going virtually unnoticed, except by the Slovenian colleague sitting next to me, was the solid opening built by Marija Sestak who started with 14.60m and produced 14.68m with her follow-up to take hold of the bronze medal position.

None of the top-3 players improved in a lack luster third round, though Savigne landed at 14.68m to indicate something more might still be in the tank. The one significant improvement in the third round came from Yamile Aldama of Sudan, who took the bronze in 2006 and silver in 2004, who though staying in fourth improved from her first round 14.35m (12.29 in the second round) to 14.47m.

Sestak remained very consistent, and in the fourth as Aldama’s challenge faltered (14.37m) she threw in a 14.65m effort. Two jumps later – Savigne having produced 14.58m so continuing her own even higher class series – the leader Devetzi crossed into another class altogether. Her 15.00m performance improved her first round national record. The Greek’s effort making her then the sixth furthest jumper on the all-time world indoor list.

The fifth round brought a shift in fourth position as Kazakh Olga Rypakova registered a 14.48m leap to move ahead of Aldama by one centimetre. There was no improvement in the medal positions, Sestak and Devetzi fouling and 14.60m for Savigne.

Rypakova went even better with her next with 14.58m but that of course kept her in fourth, while Sestak secure in bronze could not improve with her last.

Savigne finally got fired up, and having built a high class platform with her previous five attempts lifted off from those firm foundations and landed five centimetres beyond Devetzi’s lead, improving her Area record of the opening round. The stadium rose in appreciation of a gold medal won and a great competition overall, and their wild applause was not premature as when the Greek landed on hers’ and the final’s last jump a few minutes later the scoreboard showed 14.91m. Again Devetzi was the major championship bridesmaid, while Savigne had added the indoor crown to last summer’s Osaka gold.

Savigne's 15.05m win makes her the fourth longest jumper in indoor history.

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History is inspired by Harrigan's

The unheralded Harrigan blitzed to a national record of 7.09 to win the bronze medal in the women’s 60m final, finishing just 0.03 behind gold medallist Angela Williams of the USA.
But the 26-year-old, who led for much of the race in Friday’s final, insisted the birth of her son has helped her become a more rounded individual.
“It helped me grow up a lot in sports,” said Harrigan, 26, who was pregnant with her son and missed the 2004 Athens Olympics. “It made me become a lot more appreciative.”
Just 10 minutes after sealing her bronze medal on Friday she rang her son, who was watching the race on the internet with her coach, Sidney Cartwright, from her home in Miami, Florida.
Although she giggles that Khamauri was a little confused with the outcome of the final.
“He thought I had won because he remembered me winning my semi-final,” she said smiling.
Harrigan was born in the neighbouring US Virgin Islands but raised in the British Virgin Island capital of Road Town, a place she describes as “very laidback where everybody knows everyone.” She later moved to live in the USA aged 11 with her mother who was studying criminology at the time, although to this day Harrigan describes the British Virgin Islands as home as makes at least two visits a year back to the British overseas territory.
Despite her talent for athletics from a young age she preferred to concentrate on her studies and it was only in her later High School years did she start to realise her potential as a sprinter.
“I didn’t get really serious at 14 or 15, it was just for fun,” said Jones, who holds all the national records from 60m to 400m as well as the long jump and triple jump marks. “The first Olympic Games I ever watched was the last one.”
She started studying psychology at the University of Minnesota and finished runner-up, ironically to Williams, at the 100m at the 2002 NCAA Championships, and later completed her degree at the University of Alabama to follow her coach.
In 2006 she ran a national record of 11.13 in El Paso and opted to take up athletics professionally but a broken toe in December 2006 proved deeply frustrating.
“The entire 2007 season was very hit and miss because of the toe,” she said. “I was away from my son for three or four months (based in Europe) and I went to the World Championships (where she reached the 100m quarter-finals) and said I’m going to have to go home because I’m self-defeating myself. I really think I was capable of going faster.”
With a fresh and invigorated approach to training this winter she decided to work harder on the technical aspects of her event and the results have been spectacular.“I’m starting to understand track and field,” she explained. “I started my season running 7.16 in Stuttgart, so I said to myself ‘Okay, you can do it.’”
Going into the competition here in Valencia she was ranked joint-fifth in the world and many experts would have dismissed her medal chances. Yet they did not reckon on Harrigan’s new-found confidence.
The British Virgin Islander stepped up a notch, clocking a new national record of 7.12 to win her semi-final and was drawn in lane three in the final.
Ignoring Nigerian Franca Idoko’s stumble out of the blocks, Harrigan kept a cool head a made a bullet-like start out of the blocks. She appeared to lead up until the 50m mark, however, in the final strides she was overtaken by eventual silver medallist Jeanette Kwakye and Williams the champion.
“They are only three people on the podium so I’m pleased, although you strive for gold,” she explained. “It really boosts your confidence to know your country is really proud.”
The British Virgin Islands with a population of just 22,000 and only 59 sq miles in size has never before spurned a world finalist, let alone a world medallist and her success is huge news on the Caribbean island.
She knows the premier Ralph T O’Neal personally and although she is based in Miami she makes regularly visits back to her homeland which built its first ever synthetic track in December.
“I used to train on the grass track but I had to watch out for the pot holes and hope I didn’t twist my ankle,” she explained. “We also have a 200m track on gravel and the turns were so tight I’d run in lane one and I’d be in lane four around the bends.”
But, for the future, Harrigan has big ambitions. She is confident she can translate her outstanding indoor form to the 100m and is optimistic for the season ahead.

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Liu Xiang - I can't believe it

With the two fastest men from last year’s outdoor season Liu and Robles drawn in the same heat; it was expected that both would do just as little as needed to secure one of the four automatic qualifying positions.

Unfortunately this morning’s experience proved that nothing is ever for granted in athletics and the Cuban 21-year-old was the one to pay the price. Liu’s reaction time of 0.105 left Robles doubtful but instead of keeping on running he stopped.

Robles eventually finished the race but it was too late, the damage was done.

“I feel really sorry for Dayron,” said World and Olympic champion Liu. “It is a shame because I wanted to run against him, he is my reference in the 60m Hurdles. Sincerely it is a real shame that we are not together in the semi finals.”

Liu and Robles are known for being close friends despite the language barrier and no later than two days ago at the IAAF Official Press Conference, they both praised each other’s careers and achievements.

Unlike Robles who has had an extremely busy schedule this winter, this morning’s was Liu’s first outing of the season and as announced the Chinese wanted to “concentrate on taking a great start.”

And that’s just what he achieved this morning, a feat which ironically may have been the cause for Robles’ fatal mistake.

“I got a really fast start and I feel that this put him off. I think that it has been a lack of experience on his part because in the case of doubt it is better to continue running until you hear the second pistol.”

After the incident Liu was the first one to try and show some support to his Cuban arch rival.

“I went up to him and patted him on the back,” said Liu. “I said a few words to him but no matter what I was going to say it was never going to be enough.”

“I’m very surprised by what happened. I was just trying to do a good job on my start; I think that was my best reaction time ever. I just can’t believe he’s not going to be in the semi final.”

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World lead secures Heptathlon title for Clay

World Decathlon champion Bryan Clay (USA) had absolutely no problem in the last event of the Heptathlon 1000m, and grabbed his first major indoor championships win with a total of 6371 points, a personal best and world leading mark this season. Clay finished the 1000m race as the last of the remaining six competitors in 2:55.64.

Clay, who competed for Azusa Pacific during his college years, finally took the World Indoors gold after two silvers in 2004 and 2006. The American also won one outdoor gold in Decathlon at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.

The series during two days was impressive with four event wins and a season’s best in five. Clay won the 60m in 6.71s, just 0.06s off personal best and then long jumped 7.75m just missing his personal best by 3cm. In Shot Put he set a personal best 16.21m and then cleared 2.09m in High Jump, just 1cm off his PB. He started the second day with a 7.86m 60m hurdles win in a race where other competitors were deeply affected by false starts, again only 0.09s off PB. A 5.00m Pole Vault was the only minor glitch in the series and 2:55.64 1000m was just a formality.

22-year-old Belarussian Andrei Krauchanka held his second place in the last event to grab his first major championships medal at the senior level. He had won the World Junior Championships in 2004, European Junior in 2005 and European U23 Champs in 2007. The Young talent set a national record with a total of 6234 points adding five points to his own record set this season. His best event was the Pole Vault where he added a huge 40cm to his indoor best. Krauchanka ran 1000m in 2:46.49 to easily hold off a challenge from Dmitriy Karpov (KAZ).

Karpov, who had been the co-world leader with Krauchanka before this competition, added a first indoor medal to his tally, a bronze. Karpov has earlier got bronze medals from two World Championships in 2003 and 2007 and an Olympic bronze as well in 2004. Karpov scored a total of 6131 points falling back a bit in first day events, but had a personal best in Pole Vault with a 5.20m result during day two.

Mikhail Logvinenko (RUS) was 4th with 5984p, Donovan Kilmartin (USA) 5th with 5951p and Andres Raja (EST) 6th with 5894p. It was the first World Indoor Championships for all three. Roman Sebrle (CZE), who had won a medal in each of his five previous World Indoors and Aleksandr Pogorelov (RUS), who had been 6th three times before at the World Indoor Championships, could not finish the competition.

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Medical Area

Welcome to the Medical area of the IAAF Medical and Anti-Doping Website.
In this section you should find all the information available from the IAAF on these subjects.

By clicking on the link above in grey you can access the following areas;

• IAAF Medical Manual
• Nutrition for Athletics
• Medical Information for Competitions
• Injuries in Athletics
• Policy Statements and Advisories

If you find anything missing or would like to see further information included in this section please contact the IAAF webmaster.

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Development

Development - Introduction

Philosophy
Enshrined in the Objects of the IAAF Constitution is the strongest possible commitment to world-wide development of athletics. This, of course, is a huge and complex task. The challenge is to create the conditions under which as many athletes as possible can express their potential in competition and derive the maximum benefit from the sport in the country of each IAAF Member Federation.

The central principle of the IAAF's development philosophy is co-operation between the IAAF, its Member Federations and other partners. As each Member Federation is responsible for athletics within its country, it has a leading role in operating and developing the sport. The IAAF's contribution is to assist Member Federations in fulfilling this role as effectively as possible.

Strategy
The IAAF development strategy focuses on seven areas of activity which contribute to and are indispensable for the growth and strength of sport in any country:

Athletics Culture.
Member Federation Activities and Administration.
Coaching.
Officiating
Competition Opportunities and Organisation.
Facilities and Equipment.
Scientific and Medical Support.


Programme
Under the direction of the IAAF Development Commission, the IAAF Member Services Department, working closely with athletics experts around the world, is responsible for the design, implementation and monitoring of a wide variety of activities to address the needs in the above mentioned areas. These include:

Educational measures.
Technical publications.
Consultancies.
Financial assistance.
Scientific research.
The IAAF invests more than $6 million annually in the Development programme. In addition, the IAAF works closely with other agencies throughout the world involved in development activities

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Welcome to the Athletes’ Biographies section.

BIOGRAPHIES - IAAF WORLD ATHLETICS SERIES ATHLETES: 1999 onwards:

Please note the statistics contained in these lists concern athletes who have competed in IAAF World Athletics Series competition since 1999.

The data represents the major championship highlights for each athlete from 1999 onwards and is not meant to be a definitive career summary.

IAAF Statistics and Documentation Senior Manager Ottavio Castellini will be pleased to amend any information about these World Athletics Series athletes which is incorrectly shown, however, given the 1000s of biographies contained in this section, additional information will not be added unless it directly relates to results of IAAF World Athletics Series competitions since 1999.


OTHER ATHLETE BIOGRAPHIES:

Also available in these lists is limited career data for some other athletes which on an ad hoc basis over the years has also been stored in the IAAF database, and again that data is not meant to represent a definitive career summary. We apologise that no updates can be made to these biographies unless it directly relates to results achieved at IAAF World Athletics Series competitions since 1999.

We hope you enjoy the Biographical data which we have made available.
To view a list of athletes (with links to their biographies) in alphabetical name group order (based on SURNAME) please select a letter from below:

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New Studies in Athletics

In 1984 the IAAF Council appointed a scientific working group with the specific task of producing a journal emphasizing the technical aspects of athletics. In the following year during the Council Meeting in Athens (1985), it was decided to publish the magazine under the name “New Studies in Athletics”. The first issue was published in 1986.

Amongst the existing technical publications, NSA has established itself as a much respected international journal and illustrates the importance the IAAF attaches to scientific and coaching information.

Most of the articles published have been original contributions and provide a valuable source of information for coaches combining the scientific theory, such as biomechanics, with the practical application.

This high level of information comes with an excellent standard of production. NSA is an attractively designed publication with an impressive selection of quality coloured photographs. An essential publication in the coaching world designed with coaches in mind.

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The Official IAAF Partners

The Official Partners of the IAAF provide our sport with the means to develop and grow. They are an essential part of the world-wide family of athletics. Their support enables us to provide development programmes around the world, to help promising youngsters learn to love our sport and grow into the stars we will all thrill to watch in the future. Their contribution helps to finance the competition awards which are won by the champions of today. Visit them on their web sites by clicking on the banners below.

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Valencia 2008 - HIGHLIGHTS Day 3

The women's 1500m final here at the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships will be written in the record books for quite a few years, as the race established a national record for Bulgaria (Daniela Yordanova, 4:04.19), Area records for Asia (Maryam Yusuf Jamal, Bahrain, 3:59.79) and Africa (Gelete Burka, Ethiopia, 3:59.75), and a new World Record** (pending ratification) from gold medal winner Yelena Soboleva of Russia, who ran 3:57.71.

Behind Soboleva came countrywoman Yuliya Fomenko in 3:59.41, a new PB, and while Soboleva collected a $50,000 bonus for the new record, Fomenko may claim some of the glory.

"We agreed together to run at a pace which suited us both, and whoever was strongest on the last lap would win." The Russians took the pace from the beginning, burning off challenger after challenger.

Soboleva led the first three laps, Fomenko the next three, and then it was Soboleva at the bell and going away for the new record.

A good evening for Russia

In the session where Yelena Isinbayeva collected her gold medal from yesterday's (Saturday, 8th) Pole Vault competition, the Russian team picked up four more gold medals: Soboleva's, Olesya Zykina's 400m victory (in which she just edged team-mate Natalya Nazarova), the women's 4x400m relay, and Evgniy Lukyanenko's victory over outdoor World champion Brad Walker (USA) in the men's Pole Vault.

After Zykina and Nazarova had such a close race in the open 400m, they teamed up to run the third and fourth legs on the 4x400m relay, in the process winning Nazarova her seventh World Indoor Championships gold medal, tying Maria Mutola for the record. (Five of Nazarova's have now come from the 4x400m relay.)

The Russian haul for the whole championships was just one silver medal short of the total brought in by Team USA, and that missing silver might have been found in the men's relay. The Russians were strong contenders but dropped to the back of the race after bobbling the second handoff - the same exchange which knocked the Australian team out of contention in the morning's qualifying rounds.

A new champion for the 800m

Speaking of Maria Mutola - and Australia - the ageless Mozambican came up short in the end in her quest for an astounding eighth World Indoor Championships gold medal.

Mutola, who first won the 800m in 1993 and was competing in her ninth consecutive World Indoor Championships (she placed second in 1999) struggled to stay in touch with the front when Australian Tamsyn Lewis and Ukrainian Tetiana Petlyuk forced the pace late in the race.

Mutola tried, but it was Lewis, who was not on anyone's list of potential winners, who became only the fourth woman ever to win the 800m at this event. Lewis's time, 2:02.57, was unimpressive, but the result was incredible even to her. "This is amazing. I still can't believe it," she said afterward.

Clay dominates but Sebrle meets disaster

Bryan Clay's (USA) dominating day one lead in the Heptathlon seemed invincible as day two started, and the championship was practically handed to him when his primary challenger, Decathlon World record holder Roman Sebrle (CZE), cramped up during the 60m Hurdles and crashed to the track between the third and fourth hurdles. Clay held his own in the Pole Vault and left no room for the new second-placer, Andrei Krauchanka (BLR) to close in, finishing with 6371 points, a new heptathlon PB.

Krauchanka himself, only 22, was the revelation of the heptathlon at 6234 points, a new national record for Belarus.

Kaki Khamis finishes still full of running

The men's 800m was won by the youngest-ever World Indoor Championships winner, Abubaker Kaki Khamis of Sudan. The long-striding Kaki Khamis, only eighteen years old, took the lead when the runners broke from lanes and did his best to simply run away from the field. He passed halfway in 51.26 and fought off every attempt on the lead in the second half of the race, eventually winning in 1:44.81 over Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA), 1:44.91, who got a second silver to go with his 2004 gold.

Kaki Khamis's youth showed in his celebration, as he nearly sprinted his lap of honour and ran high-knees down the homestretch, grinning widely. Every athlete in the final ran a PB, without exception, and three including Mulaudzi ran national records.

Christopher proves saving pays

Canada's Tyler Christopher ran the fastest time in the world this year in the men's 400m by allowing Johan Wissman and Chris Brown to duel at the front for most of the race, then striding by like the pair were standing still on the final homestretch. Christopher's winning time of 45.67 (to Wissman's 46.04) belies how late the race was left; Christopher's speed over the last 100m was simply that much faster than anyone else's.

Vili, and everyone else

Valerie Vili of New Zealand had four legal puts in the women's shot, and three of them would have been good enough to win the competition.

She only needed one, her first, which was a 20.19m pitch when nobody else in the event could crack 20m.

Bekele keeps 3000m gold in the family

With defending champion Kenenisa Bekele not present in Valencia, it fell to his younger brother Tariku to defend the gold, and while the winning margin showed the family resemblance, the younger Bekele has a style all his own. Launching a long kick from 400m out and shifting gears again at the bell, Bekele left no room for doubt about the day's champion, finishing in 7:48.23.

Champions on the runway

Naide Gomes of Portugal reached 7.00m in the fifth round to take the victory in the women's Long Jump, ahead of Maurren Higa Maggi's third-round 6.89m leap, a South American record. Phillips Idowu of Great Britain won the other way, skipping out to 17.75m in the men's Triple Jump in the second round, a mark which would stand for the rest of the competition.

The last medals of the championships went to the U.S. 4x400m relay team, which ran 3:06.79 to hold off a strong Caribbean challenge from Jamaica (3:07.69) and the Dominican Republic (3:07.77) and Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic who easily fulfilled expectations adding the World Indoor title to the Outdoor gold she won seven months ago in Osaka.

Vlasic bode farewell to the Valencia crowd with three decent failures at a would-be 2.09 World Indoor record.

Parker Morse for the IAAF

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Men's 800m - FINAL

At 18 years and 262 days Abubaker Kaki Khamis became the youngest ever World Indoor champion when winning a superb 800m final this evening in Valencia.

And what a race it was. The Sudanese African champion who has been impressive in Friday’s and yesterday’s preliminary rounds had a clear tactic: take the lead and never give it up! Not only did he do it, but he did it in style.

Starting from lane three, Kaki powered through the first 200m in 24.92 with Olympic silver medallist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, 2005 European Indoor champion Dmitriy Bogdanov and Asian record holder Yusuf Saad Kamel closely on his heels.

The Sudanese increased his tempo and opened a two-metre gap with two laps to go, the halfway mark being reached in 51.26.

Kamel made his move with three hundred metres to go and passed Bogdanov on the outside but Mulaudzi wouldn’t give up his second position. The South African held off Kamel as Kaki still clearly in front reached the bell in 1:18.28.

Kaki concluded his astonishing display with a 26.53 last lap improving Russia’s Yuriy Borzakowski’s World leading time to 1:44.81, just one tenth of a second off Joseph Mutua’s African Indoor record.

Finishing fast Mulaudzi did try to close the gap but had to be content with yet another silver medal in a national indoor record 1:44.91 after he’d already claimed second in Moscow two years ago.

In third Kamel set a new Asian record 1:45.26 to take Bahrain’s third medal in the history of these championships.

In fourth, Latvia’s Dmitrijs Milkevics set a new national indoor record of 1:45.72 holding off the challenge of Bogdanov and US champion Nyck Symmonds who, as every other athlete in this race, also set personal bests in what was arguably one of the most exciting finals of the championships.

“My coach told me to go to the front and run as fast as possible and these tactics were good today,” said Kaki. “I have won gold and I’m happy. For the summer, I think I can break the World Junior record and run well in Beijing,” he concluded referring to Japheth Kimutai’s category standard of 1:43.64.

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Competition Web Sites

Competition

* IAAF Golden League
* IAAF Grand Prix
* IAAF Grand Prix Final
* IAAF World Athletics Final
* IAAF World Championships in Athletics
* IAAF World Combined Events Challenge
* IAAF World Cross Country Championships
* IAAF World Cup in Athletics
* IAAF World Half Marathon Championships
* IAAF World Indoor Championships
* IAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics
* IAAF World Race Walking Cup
* IAAF World Road Running Championships
* IAAF World Youth Championships
* Olympic Games
* IAAF Race Walking Challenge
* IAAF Road Race Label Events
* IAAF World Road Relay Championships

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Conditions

1. Performances must be achieved during the qualification period of 1 January 2007 to 25 February 2008 (midnight Monaco time), except for the Combined Events (see above).
   
   
2. Performances must be achieved during competitions organised or authorised by the IAAF, its Area Associations or its National Member Federations. Thus, results achieved at university or school competitions must be certified by the National Federation of the country in which the competition was organised.
   
   
3. Performances must be achieved during an official competition organised in conformity with IAAF Rules.
   
   
4. Performances achieved in mixed events between male and female participants, held completely in the Stadium, will not be accepted (see IAAF Rule 147).
   
   
5. Wind-assisted performances will not be accepted.
   
   
6. Hand-timed performances in 60m, 100m, 400m, 60m Hurdles, and 100m/110m Hurdles will not be accepted.
   
   
7. For the running events of 400m and over, performances achieved on oversized tracks will NOT be accepted.

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IAAF World Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 7/9 March 2008 Entry Standards - Men

event Indoor Outdoor
60 Metres 6.70 10.20 (100m)
400 Metres 47.10 45.35
800 Metres 1:48.50 1:45.50
1500 Metres 3:43.00
or 4:00.00 (Mile) 3:35.00
or 3:52.00 (Mile)
3000 Metres 7:54.00 7:44.00
or 13:19.00 (5000m)
4x400 Metres Relay No Standard No Standard
60 Metres Hurdles 7.75 13.55 (110mH)
High Jump 2.30m -
Pole Vault 5.70m -
Long Jump 8.10m -
Triple Jump 17.00m -
Shot Put 20.05m -

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