Athletics Weekly – July 03, 2019

(Ann) #1

O


N A balmy night in Monaco
in July 2002, Gabriela
Szabo of Romania
broke Sonia O’Sullivan’s
European 3000m record with
8:21.42 while Paula Radcliffe, who
had forged most of the pace after
the hare dropped out, finished
runner-up in a UK record 8:22.20.
Now, 17 years later, Szabo’s mark
has finally been broken as Sifan
Hassan of the Netherlands clocked
8:18.48 to win a high-quality race
at the Prefontaine Classic at
Stanford in California.
Runner-up Konstanze
Klosterhalfen of Germany was also
inside Szabo’s European mark


  • and set a European under-
    record – with 8:20.07, while Laura
    Weightman, in fifth, excelled by
    running 8:26.07 to go No.2 on the UK
    all-time rankings behind Radcliffe.
    Third-placed Letsenbet Gidey
    also ran a fast time with 8:20.27 –
    the Ethiopian having earlier forced
    the pace in the closing stages
    before being overhauled by Hassan
    just before the bell. Genzebe Dibaba,


the world 1500m record-holder
from Ethiopia, was fourth with a PB
of 8:21.29.
In fifth, Weightman improved her
best from 8:43.46 to clock a huge
PB, which means she moves above
Laura Muir, Zola Pieterse, Yvonne
Murray, Jo Pavey, Eilish and Liz
McColgan on the UK rankings.
Weightman also took a number
of big scalps. They included world
cross country champion Hellen
Obiri, the Kenyan finishing sixth
in 8:27.27, while Almaz Ayana, the
world 10,000m record-holder and
Olympic champion, finished last in
her first race since 2017.
“I didn’t think I was going to run
8:18 – that’s a nice time,” said
Hassan, who also ran the fastest
time in the world since 1993 as
she went No.4 on the world all-time
rankings.
Indeed, only the Chinese runners
from that 1993 season – led by
world record-holder Wang Junxia’s
8:06.11 – have now run faster,
which led a few observers this
week to suggest that Hassan is the

@ATHLETICSWEEKLY


DUTCH RUNNER IMPROVES SZABO’S EURO


3000m MARK AS LAURA WEIGHTMAN MOVES


TO NO.2 ON THE UK ALL-TIME RANKINGS


PICTURES: VICTAH SAILER AND GARY MITCHELL


Christian Coleman:
9.81 world lead

Sifan Hassan: left a high class
field trailing in her wake

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