(AP) — HENGELO, Netherlands: Haile Gebrselassie discovered his old legs still carry him well in the 10,000 meters. Irving Saladino found a new spring in his step and marked it with the longest jump in 14 years.
Haile Gebrselassie ran his fastest 10,000 meters in four years at the FBK Games on Saturday, well within the 27-minute mark he sought to push his case to be included on the Ethiopian Olympic team for the Beijing Games.
Gebrselassie finished second in blustery winds in 26 minutes, 51.20 seconds, only .67 seconds behind compatriot and Olympic silver medalist Sileshi Sihine.
Gebrselassie has converted into a marathon runner and, at 35, could no longer find the finishing kick to distance his opponents. Still, he had made his mark, beaten his target by almost 9 seconds, and his thumbs-up and beaming smile showed his happiness.
As Gebrselassie was circling the track during his race, Irving Saladino of Panama leaped 8.73 meters to become the seventh biggest long jumper of all time.
On his first attempt, the world champion had a back wind of 1.2 meters to set the mark.
Saladino is working on a new technique which he hopes will allow him to break the world record of 8.95 meters of Mike Powell, hopefully at the Beijing Olympics in August.
The 25-year-old Saladino jumped 8.53 at last year’s FBK Games, but complained he had to contain himself because the sand pit was too short. Organizers extended the runway this year and it paid off for the world champion.
In the 800 meters, Pamela Jelimo set the fastest time in five years, clocking 1:55.76 to set a world junior record. The 19-year-old Kenyan burst onto the international scene, easily beating 1,500 world champion Maryam Jamal of Bahrain by 2.9 seconds.
Kenenisa Bekele wanted to break his own world record in the 5,000, but blustery winds and a lack of good pacemakers decided otherwise. Forced to run the second half of the race all alone, with only the crowd to cheer him on, the Ethiopian finished in 12:58.95, a world leading time but more than 20 seconds off his record.
Gebrselassie has long excelled in Hengelo, setting four world records here over the years. The runner-up finish made him just as happy since he needs to get on the 10,000 squad after pulling out of the Beijing marathon for health reasons.
So, he is seeking to recover time and get back into the race where he already won Olympic gold in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.
In the sprint hurdles, world indoor champion Lolo Jones won in 12.87 seconds, a mediocre time if not for the strong headwind she faced. In the absence of injured indoor world-record holder Susanna Kallur, she beat Vonette Dixon of Jamaica by .10 seconds, with U.S. compatriot Kellie Wells crossing in 13.01.
Christian Cantwell, another world indoor champion, threw 20.88 meters to win the shot put, ahead of Germany’s Peter Sack with 20.60, and Canada’s Dylan Armstrong with 20.24.
Year best 5000m time for Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka
HENGELO, Netherlands (AFP) — Ethiopia’s Gelete Burka set a year best time of 14min 45.84sec in the 5000m in a meet here on Saturday.
The 22-year-old 1500m African champion took almost 15sec off the 15:00.6 mark set by Romania’s Elena Antoci on May 11 in Craiova.
Burka beat compatriots Meselech Melkamu (14:46.25) and Belaynesh Fikadu (14:46.84).