Linet Masai Upsets Ethiopians to Take Worlds 10,000m

Amy Yoder Begley top American in 6th

Photo by Cheryl Treworgy/

Day 1/August 15: The women's 10,000m started out much as the 2007 World Championships final in Osaka had: not very quickly, and with a Japanese runner in the front. In Osaka it had been Kayoko Fukushi; in Berlin it was her teammate, Yurika Nakamura. The Japanese brought the pack through the first kilometer in a pedestrian 3:08.88. Shortly thereafter, the Russians, Liliya Shobukhova and Mariya Konovalova, decided the pace was too easy, and moved to the front.

While Shobukhova eventually fell back, Konovalova was committed to the lead, and found herself holding on to it much longer than she might have originally planned. The pack passed 2K in 6:17.01 and 3K in 9:24.89 with Konovalova still in the lead.

"The pack" meant everyone at that point, with less than 3 seconds between the leader and the caboose. Most of the Kenyans and Ethiopians were hanging out in the back of the pack, and Shalane Flanagan, who was marking them, also stayed back. Amy Yoder Begley was marking Flanagan.

Konovalova took to running wide in lane 1, practically begging someone to come up and take the lead, but nobody bit. They passed 4K in 12:35.26, the slowest split yet, and 5K in 15:45.19. 6K in 18:55.45. 7K in 22:04.20. This was decent pace for the Penn Relays, perhaps not so much for a world championships.

The athletes were beginning to agitate behind Konovalova, however. Sahaku of Japan, who had trailed Nakamura at the start, was the first to drop off the back. Shobukhova of Russia was next. Finally Katie McGregor and Yingying Zhang dropped off around 7,000m. In the front, New Zealand's Kim Smith bobbed up to the front, but resisted the urge to take the lead. Flanagan, sensing that the slow pace meant the race would be decided by position and kicking, moved up to join Smith.

It was Linet Masai of Kenya who broke the race open. Masai moved to the front shortly after 7,000m, and took her teammate Grace Momanyi with her. The two Kenyans were joined, of course, by three Ethiopians (Meselech Melkamu, Meseret Defar and Wude Ayalew, Tirunesh Dibaba having decided she was too injured to defend her title).

The five Africans gapped the field immediately. Behind them, Olympic and world  championship silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey stepped off the track at 23:00, walking to the ramp and off through the mixed zone. The chase pack formed around Nakamura, Smith, and Flanagan, but the gap yawned as wide as 50m very soon after the move.

8K was reached in 25:00.18, the fastest kilometer so far, and 9K in 27:58.29, slightly slower. Masai and Momanyi traded the lead, helping each other, as Melkamu and Defar shadowed them and clipped at their heels.

At the bell, Masai lagged, like a cowbird feigning injury to draw off predators. The pack was thrown into confusion, but on the backstretch, finally, Defar bolted, and Melkamu and Ayalew joined her. This is where things got unusual: the Kenyans stuck. Usually an Ethiopian sprint is the final decider, the nuclear option of the distances, but Momanyi and Masai - Masai, who had run Dibaba off her feet in a 5,000m in New York back in May - were not cowed. Defar tried to scrape off the Kenyans by passing very close as she lapped McGregor and Zhang, but couldn't open a gap.

On the homestretch, unexpectedly, Masai came storming back. She passed one, two, three Ethiopians, Defar crumpling like Prefontaine in Munich as Masai went by on the outside. It was Masai 30:51.24, Melkamu 30:51.34 (just 0.10 behind), and Ayalew 30:51.95 for the medals. Ethiopia lost the 10,000m final for the first time since 1997.

Of the chase pack, it was Yoder Begley who had the wheels this year. She gained ground in the last lap, finishing sixth in 31:13.78, followed by Nakamura and Smith. Flanagan wrapped up a bad year for Beijing medalists in 14th, running 31:32.19. McGregor trailed in 17th in 32:18.49.

Of all the lapped runners, however, Berlin saved a special spot for Sahaku. She sprinted hard into her final lap and received a loud ovation around the track. At the finish, she was greeted by the bear mascot of the games, Berlino, who first hugged her, then picked her up and showed her to the crowd, which roared its approval.


Men's 1500m Rounds

It was a decent day for American men in the 1500m, as all four advanced to the semi-final round. Leonel Manzano took the lead before the bell in the first heat, hung on when Frenchman Mehdi Baala surged to the front after the bell, and battled back to take second (3:42.87) to Baala on the homestrech. Bernard Lagat, the defending champion, joined his much younger rival, Kenyan Asbel Kiprop, in front of the faster second heat, with Kiprop getting the nod at the line but Lagat clearly not pushing for the win, finishing in 3:41.60. In the elbowing, Anter Zerguelaine of Algeria was nudged completely off the track and forced to run part of the homestretch on the grass behind an advertising board before stepping back on the track.

The third heat could have been disastrous, as nobody wanted to lead, and the pace lagged. In the frantic sprint for the five automatic qualifying places, Lopez Lomong (3:44.89) held his own to place third in what wound up as the slowest of the four heats.

Finally, the fourth heat knew exactly what they needed to run to advance on time, and Tildrek Nurme of Estonia volunteered himself to set a pace that would get time qualifiers. Deresse Mekonnen, the 2008 world indoor 1500m champion, took over in the closing laps and led Kenya's Haron Keitany to the line, but all four time qualifiers came from this heat, including Dorian Ulrey, 8th in 3:38.86, the fastest qualifying time by an American.


Women's Steeplechase Rounds

World record holder Gulnara Galkina left no doubt that she intends to defend her Olympic title in the women's steeplechase when she blasted an evenly-paced 9:17.67 in the first round. Lindsey Anderson, in Galkina's heat, didn't stand a chance, finishing 11th in 9:46.03.

Jenny Barringer led much of the second heat at a more relaxed pace, but appeared to drop out of contention in the last lap. After clearing the last hurdle, however, Barringer mounted a wild charge for the finish line, moving up to third in 9:26.81. In the process, she knocked Kenya's Ruth Bisibori, considered a medal favorite, out of the qualifying spots.

Collegian Bridget Franek was never a factor in the third heat, explaining afterward that she felt great at the start but felt worse as the race progressed. 12th in 9:50.02, Franek was just behind former world record holder Cristina Casandra of Romania.


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