Blog actu > Quelle année !
Le 22/12/2009 à 09:56News (in English...) 2009
The 2009 athletics year has served up many great memories. spikesmag.com takes a look back to recall its ten favourite races of the past 12 months…
IAAF World Championships
Event: Men’s 100m Final
Venue: Berlin, Germany
Many had wondered just what time Bolt was capable of after his 9.69 Olympic performance. He was, after all, easing down and celebrating yards before the line when he struck gold in Beijing.
In Berlin we had the answer. 9.58 – a performance that almost defied belief. The fact Tyson Gay had finished second in 9.71 to become the second fastest man in history was almost completely overlooked as, once again Usain Bolt, redefined what we thought as humanely possible. Startling.
IAAF World Championships
Event: Men’s 5000m Final
Venue: Berlin, Germany
Kenenisa Bekele needed to dig as deep as at any point in his medal-laden career to become the first man in World Championship history to land the 5000m and 10,000m double. Defending champion Bernard Lagat looked set to retain his title when passing the Ethiopian with 70m to go. However, straining every sinew, Bekele responded in the final stages and complete his slice of history.
IAAF World Championships
Event: Men’s 110m Hurdles Final
Venue Berlin, Germany
This was a classic. Coming off the final barrier you could have thrown a blanket over the lead three – experienced US duo David Payne and Terrence Trammell, and the young buck from Barbados, Ryan Brathwaite. The trio flashed past the finish line together but the photo-finish confirmed Brathwaite the winner in a new national record of 13.14 and just 0.01 from Trammell and Payne. Immense.
IAAF World Championships
Event Women’s 100m
Venue Berlin, Germany
Never has the importance of a lightning start been more clearly illustrated. The diminutive Olympic champion Shelly Ann-Fraser burst out of the blocks and by 30m held a clear three-metre lead on the field. Fraser maintained her advantage until the 70m mark when compatriot Kerron Stewart gradually started to eat into her lead. The line arrived in the nick of time for Fraser as she held on to snatch a narrow win and add more gold to her growing collection.
IAAF World Athletics Final
Event: Women’s 100m
Venue: Thessaloniki, Greece
The US sprinter avenged her defeat to Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica at the World Championships, where she had won bronze, by claiming victory a blistering 10.67. The Californian wiped 0.16 from her lifetime best and climbed to third on the all-time lists. She proved it was no fluke by recording 10.64 to win in Shanghai later in the year – a performance that only Florence Griffith-Joyner had ever bettered.
UK Championships
Race: Women’s 1500m Final
Venue: Birmingham, UK
The pre-race favourite Steph Twell took the race by the scruff of the neck and held a commanding lead with a lap to go. However, the 1500m World Junior champion misjudged the pace and was slowly reeled in by Charlene Thomas. Down the home stretch Thomas surged into the lead to land the UK title and book her place on the GB team for the World Championships in Berlin.
World Championships
Race: Women’s 10,000m Final
Venue: Berlin, Germany
Entering the home stretch it appeared Meseret Defar had the race in the bag. However Defar dramatically faded down the homestretch and her fellow Ethiopian Meselech Melkamu looked set for gold. In a most dramatic conclusion, though, the long-legged Kenyan Linet Masai summoned a dramatic late surge to snatch victory from Melkamu by 0.10 in 31:51.24.
European Indoor Championships
Race: Women’s 800m final
Venue: Turin, Italy
Russia’s Mariya Saminova may have landed the gold, but the suicidal tactics of Great Britain’s Marilyn Okoro will perhaps linger longest in the memory. Okoro went through 400m in a strength-sapping 56.10 but Savinova, running a much smarter race, had passed Okoro with 200m remaining. Savinova led home a Russian one-two from Oksana Zbrozhek. As for poor Okoro her legs gave way and she collapsed just before the finish line, crawling across the line in fifth.
World Cross Country Championships
Race: Men’s senior race
Venue: Amman, Jordan
With the great Kenenisa Bekele unable to defend his title because of injury the race was wide open and so it proved. Ten men had a chance entering the final climb, but it was Bekele’s countryman Gebre Gebremariam who seized the opportunity with a late burst of pace pulling him clear of Moses Kipsiro of Uganda. Classic stuff.
IAAF World Championships
Event: Men’s 200m Final
Venue: Berlin, Germany
After obliterating his world 100m record by 0.11 even Bolt was playing down his chances of lowering his 200m mark, especially after missing a month’s training earlier in the year. But we should have known better.
The big Jamaican thundered around the first bend, held a massive lead coming into the home straight and, despite looking ragged in the closing stages, he lowered his world record by 0.11 to clock 19.19. Behind Bolt, a long way behind, was Panamanian teenager Alonso Edward in 19.81. Whatever next?
