Oslo - Sanya Richards of the United States lowered her 2009
world best over 400 metres on Friday at the Bislett Games as she
remained in the hunt for the Golden League 1-million dollar jackpot.
Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and Ethiopian distance
runner Kenenisa Bekele are also among six from an original 10
athletes in the race for jackpot which goes to athletes who win their
event at all six stops of the elite series.
Four athletes were eliminated at the second stop, after Berlin on
June 14. Bahamas 400m runner Chris Brown and German high jumper
Ariane Friedrich did not show up while Antigua sprinter Daniel Bailey
and US 110m hurdler Dexter Faulk were beaten on the Oslo track.
Richards won the 400m in 49.23 seconds, .34 of a second faster
than in her Berlin victory.
Shericka Williams of Jamaica became the second women this year to
dip below 50 seconds, clocking 49.98 seconds. World and Olympic
champion Christine Ohuruogu was no factor in sixth place in 51.19
after a thunderstorm.
'I did not expect a world lead after the storm. I am happy with
the way I am running now. I can fully focus on the other races, next
Rome and Paris,' said Richards.
Isinbayeva failed with her opening attempt of 4.71m just before
the storm hit, but cleared it later after the rain to win on
countback against Poland's Monika Pyrek.
'I am happy to win, but not with the result. It was very difficult
with all the waiting. First the ordinary waiting to jump, then the
extra waiting due to the rain,' said Isinbayeva, whose world record
stands at 5.05m.
Bekele, like Isinbayeva a world and Olympic champion, won the
men's 5,000m in a modest 13:04.87 minutes in his second race after an
injury-plagued winter.
'I'm coming back to my shape. But we all knew that today will not
be a fast race, I was concentrating on winning. There are still four
races I need to win and that is a lot of energy for me,' said Bekele,
looking ahead at the other stops in Rome, Paris, Zurich and Brussels.
Jamaican sprinter Kerron Stewart remained in the jackpot hunt with
a 100m victory in 10.99 seconds. So did US 100m hurdler Damu Cherry
in 12.65 seconds, and Finnish javelin world champion Tero Pitkamaki,
who had 84.63m.
The jackpot dream of Bailey ended when the Berlin winner was
beaten in a 100m photo finish by former world record holder Asafa
Powell of Jamaica on the finish line, with both timed in a modest
10.07 seconds.
Faulk was no factor in 110m hurdles as he trailed in fifth place
in a race won by fellow-American Antwon Hicks in 13.41m.
Elsewhere, a third women's 5,000m world record in as many years in
Oslo did not materialize.
Meseret Defar of Ethiopia, who set a record in 2007, won in
14:36.38 minutes. But compatriot world and Olympic champion Tirunesh
Dibaba, who lowered the mark last year, withdrew injured from Oslo.
World champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia won the high jump with
2.00m and the 2004 Olympic champ Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia came
from behind to win the 800m in 1:44.21 minutes after world indoor
champ Abubaker Kaki of Sudan fell and injured his thigh early in the
race.
USA
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