ID :
204463
Tue, 08/30/2011 - 23:57
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https://oananews.org//node/204463
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Youngsters shine on track, Isinbayeva flops on Day 4
By Yoo Jee-ho
DAEGU, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) -- Youth was served on the track here on the fourth day of the World Championships in Athletics Tuesday, while a veteran pole vaulter flopped in her comeback attempt.
Kirani James, an 18-year-old from Grenada, won the men's 400 meters in 44.60 seconds, only 0.03 seconds ahead of the defending champion LaShawn Merritt.
James caught up to Merritt with about 15節? left and dipped at the line in a nail-biting finish. The two embraced each other afterwards.
Merritt himself is only 25, but James was the youngest runner in the field.
Merritt had run the season-best 44.35 in an earlier heat to cement his status as the favorite. James only made his professional debut this year after winning two straight U.S. collegiate championships at the University of Alabama.
But it was James who got into the next gear at the finish and delivered Grenada's first world championships medal.
In the men's 800節?, the 22-year-old David Lekuta Rudisha of Kenya grabbed his first world title at 1:43.91, edging his chief rival, Abubaker Kaki of Sudan, by half a second.
Rudisha broke the world record twice in 2010 alone, after reaching only the semifinals at the 2009 world championships. He said he fully executed his game plan.
"I controlled the race from the start; that was my plan," Rudisha said. "I did not want to make a mistake. And I also knew that I was in good shape."
For all the glory from the track, Yelena Isinbayeva was a disappointment in the women's pole vault. The two-time world and Olympic champion finished in sixth place after clearing 4.65節?, well short of her world record of 5.06m and her season-best of 4.76節?.
Isinbayeva has been on a decline since winning the Olympics gold in 2008, failing to clear the bar at the 2009 worlds and subsequently taking more than a year off to regroup herself.
A huge fan favorite who has competed in an annual Daegu meet four times, Isinbayeva received the loudest ovations of any competitor on each of her attempts. But after vaulting 4.65節?, she failed at 4.75節? once and 4.80節? twice to bow out.
While Isinbayeva struggled, Fabiana Murer of Brazil became the surprise winner at 4.85節?. German Martina Strutz was second at 4.80節?. Svetlana Feofanova of Russia vaulted 4.75節? for third.
Isinbayeva said she was disappointed with herself and blamed her poles.
"Nothing serious happened; it's just that the pole was really soft," she said. "I didn't take the right pole. I changed the pole on every jump, but it was not enough. I was confident and my jumps were really high, but the pole was too light."
Isinbayeva has competed at a world class level for nearly a decade and broken the world record 27 times. But now her days as a top vaulter may be numbered at age 29.
When asked if she still had another world record in her, Isinbayeva said, "Of course, I have it. I just have to find it. I want to jump high and want to break records."
Other Russian athletes enjoyed a better night. Tatyana Chernova won the women's heptathlon, denying Jessica Ennis' chance at back-to-back world titles. Chernova earned 6,880 points to beat Briton Ennis, who got 6,751 points for second, followed by Jennifer Oeser of Germany at 6,572.
The heptathlon competition included the 100節? hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200節?, long jump, javelin throw and 800節? over the past two days.
Russian Yuliya Zaripova was the champion in the women's 3,000節? steeplechase, setting the best mark of 2011 at 9:07.03.
Elsewhere on the field, Robert Harting of Germany took his second straight discus throw title with 68.97節?, easily beating Gerd Kanter's 66.95節?.
South Korea had little to cheer about on Tuesday. In the men's 1,500節? heats, Sin Sang-min ranked 35th among 37 runners at three minutes and 55.02 seconds.
In the women's triple jump, Jung Hye-kyung was 30th among 34 at 13.50節?. In the men's high jump, Yoon Je-hwan was unsuccessful in all three tries at 2.16節? and was the only one in the field of 33 to fail to clear the bar.
No South Korean athlete competed in the day's finals.
The championships will take a breather Wednesday with only one event, the women's 20??? race walk, scheduled.
DAEGU, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) -- Youth was served on the track here on the fourth day of the World Championships in Athletics Tuesday, while a veteran pole vaulter flopped in her comeback attempt.
Kirani James, an 18-year-old from Grenada, won the men's 400 meters in 44.60 seconds, only 0.03 seconds ahead of the defending champion LaShawn Merritt.
James caught up to Merritt with about 15節? left and dipped at the line in a nail-biting finish. The two embraced each other afterwards.
Merritt himself is only 25, but James was the youngest runner in the field.
Merritt had run the season-best 44.35 in an earlier heat to cement his status as the favorite. James only made his professional debut this year after winning two straight U.S. collegiate championships at the University of Alabama.
But it was James who got into the next gear at the finish and delivered Grenada's first world championships medal.
In the men's 800節?, the 22-year-old David Lekuta Rudisha of Kenya grabbed his first world title at 1:43.91, edging his chief rival, Abubaker Kaki of Sudan, by half a second.
Rudisha broke the world record twice in 2010 alone, after reaching only the semifinals at the 2009 world championships. He said he fully executed his game plan.
"I controlled the race from the start; that was my plan," Rudisha said. "I did not want to make a mistake. And I also knew that I was in good shape."
For all the glory from the track, Yelena Isinbayeva was a disappointment in the women's pole vault. The two-time world and Olympic champion finished in sixth place after clearing 4.65節?, well short of her world record of 5.06m and her season-best of 4.76節?.
Isinbayeva has been on a decline since winning the Olympics gold in 2008, failing to clear the bar at the 2009 worlds and subsequently taking more than a year off to regroup herself.
A huge fan favorite who has competed in an annual Daegu meet four times, Isinbayeva received the loudest ovations of any competitor on each of her attempts. But after vaulting 4.65節?, she failed at 4.75節? once and 4.80節? twice to bow out.
While Isinbayeva struggled, Fabiana Murer of Brazil became the surprise winner at 4.85節?. German Martina Strutz was second at 4.80節?. Svetlana Feofanova of Russia vaulted 4.75節? for third.
Isinbayeva said she was disappointed with herself and blamed her poles.
"Nothing serious happened; it's just that the pole was really soft," she said. "I didn't take the right pole. I changed the pole on every jump, but it was not enough. I was confident and my jumps were really high, but the pole was too light."
Isinbayeva has competed at a world class level for nearly a decade and broken the world record 27 times. But now her days as a top vaulter may be numbered at age 29.
When asked if she still had another world record in her, Isinbayeva said, "Of course, I have it. I just have to find it. I want to jump high and want to break records."
Other Russian athletes enjoyed a better night. Tatyana Chernova won the women's heptathlon, denying Jessica Ennis' chance at back-to-back world titles. Chernova earned 6,880 points to beat Briton Ennis, who got 6,751 points for second, followed by Jennifer Oeser of Germany at 6,572.
The heptathlon competition included the 100節? hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200節?, long jump, javelin throw and 800節? over the past two days.
Russian Yuliya Zaripova was the champion in the women's 3,000節? steeplechase, setting the best mark of 2011 at 9:07.03.
Elsewhere on the field, Robert Harting of Germany took his second straight discus throw title with 68.97節?, easily beating Gerd Kanter's 66.95節?.
South Korea had little to cheer about on Tuesday. In the men's 1,500節? heats, Sin Sang-min ranked 35th among 37 runners at three minutes and 55.02 seconds.
In the women's triple jump, Jung Hye-kyung was 30th among 34 at 13.50節?. In the men's high jump, Yoon Je-hwan was unsuccessful in all three tries at 2.16節? and was the only one in the field of 33 to fail to clear the bar.
No South Korean athlete competed in the day's finals.
The championships will take a breather Wednesday with only one event, the women's 20??? race walk, scheduled.
