| 2006 |
With a world record at the 4x800m, a world year best at
the 5000 and the 10000 meter and great victories from home players Tia
Hellebaut and Kim Gevaert the Memorial Van Damme
has got a wonderful 30th edition!
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| Tia Hellebaut. (picture
photonews) | The first great moment of the event came
really early, during the warming up programme. Micah Kogo
issued a world year best at the 10k. The 20 year old's 26:35.63 is quite an
improvement to the 27:10.51 by the Kenian Martin Mathati on 23 april in
Kobe. Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea finished second in 26:37.25, Boniface Kiprop
from Uganda third in 26:41.95.
The Ethiopean world record holder Meseret
Defar and her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba turned the 5k for women into a great
battle. Dibaba made it in a great time of 14:30.65 and has won her fifth Golden
League meeting, after Oslo, Parijs, Rome and Zürich.
Just like
Sanya Richards (400m), Jeremy Wariner
(400m) en Asafa Powell (100m) Dibaba is already sure to
share the 500.000 dollar jackpot for athletes who have won their event five
times. Should she win a sixth time, next week in Berlin, they will share another
500.000 dollar jackpot for athletes who won their event in all six Golden League
meetings.
Powell tried to break the world record, but got stuck at 9.99
after missing out on his start. The Belgian European champion Kim
Gevaert won the 200m in 22.68. Debbie Ferguson was
second in 22.93. Earlier in the evening the other Belgian European champion
Tia Hellebaut had already won the high jump at
1m98.
KENIA BREAKS WORLD RECORD CRAM
AND COE
The greatest moment of the evening was the 4x800m
for men. Four Kenian athletes (Joseph Mutua,
William Yiampoy, Ismael Kombich and
Wilfred Bungei) finished in 7:02.43 and broke the world record
of 7:03.89. That time already stood since 1982 when a British team consisting of
Peter Elliott, Gary Cook and the legendary duo
Steve Cram and Sebastian Coe. The Kenians also
made the WR the eleventh in 30 year Memorial Van Damme!
In the 5000 for
men, Kenenisa Bekele tried to improve his own world record, but
the Ethiopean finished in a time of 12:48.09. Not a disappointment at all, as it
was the second world year best of the evening.
The audience favorite
Yelena Isinbayeva tried to conclude the 30th Memorial Van Damme
with a new world record in pole vaulting, but she failed three times at 5m03.
The Olympic champion still won the event at 4m81.
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