BAHRAIN’S Birhanu Balew and Albert Rop had solid performances yesterday in a hotly-contested men’s two-mile race at the Prefontaine Classic held in Eugene, Oregon, in the US.
Balew had the better finish, taking third overall amongst the 19 participants who started the event. Rop was classified 12th but was not too far behind the leaders.
The Prefontaine Classic is a part of this year’s International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League, which is a series of top-level global meetings, held over the course of several months, competed in by the world’s elite track and field athletes.
Claiming the win was Selemon Barega of Ethiopia. He produced a 54-second final lap to break the tape in a total time of eight minutes 20.01 seconds.
A big group was bunched at the bell with Barega in front of the pack and in control. Paul Chelimo of the US chased him through the final lap but couldn’t get a hold of his rival, who sprinted down the line to a fine victory.
Contention
Chelimo completed the distance in just nine-tenths-of-a-second behind, while Balew finished third in 8:21.54. The Bahraini was in contention for first place for most of the race but was unable to produce a kick to help him finish strong.
Mohammed Ahmed of Canada followed in fourth in 8:22.29, while Henrik Ingebrigtsen of Norway rounded out the top five in 8:22.31.
Rop had a strong start to the race, but faded gradually towards the end and had to settle for 12th on the final classification. He had a time of 8:25.44.
Both Bahrainis were competing in the two-mile race for the first time.
Meanwhile, world champion Sam Kendricks won the men’s pole vault on Friday on a tough night for world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie and Olympic champion Thiago Braz.
France’s Lavillenie settled for fifth and Brazil’s Braz failed to clear a height as Kendricks won with a vault of 5.81m.
Swedish sensation Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, 18, was second at 5.71m and Poland’s Piotr Lisek cleared the same height in finishing third.
Lavillenie cleared 5.56, the same height as fourth-place finisher Pawel Wojciechowski.
The French star, whose world record stands at 6.16m, was coming off an indoor world title in March and a victory at Shanghai this month with a vault of 5.81.
Unbeaten in Eugene from 2013-2016 and second last year, Lavillenie was derailed by the swirling winds.
He needed three attempts to to clear 5.56 and failed twice at 5.71m before taking too long to attempt a final vault at that height.
America’s Kendricks, who has tasted plenty of success at Eugene’s Hayward Field – at last year’s Diamond League meeting as well as in the prestigious US collegiate championships and the US Olympic trials – said the wind changed everything.