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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