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Three-in-a-row for Wariner
22/07/2008 20:44 - (SA)
Stephan Nasstrom
Stockholm - Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner won his third straight 400m race at the DN Galan athletics meet on Tuesday, but failed to improve the stadium record he set last year.
The American eased up near the finish and crossed in 44.29 seconds. It was 0.39 off his meet record that earned him a 1-carat diamond worth $10 000 a year ago.
Running in nearly perfect conditions, Wariner took the lead early in the one-lap race and was unchallenged the rest of the way.
"I went for victory today," he said. "It's a good winning time. Now I'm going home for tough training before the Olympics."
Chris Brown of the Bahamas finished second in 44.53 and Ricardo Chambers of Jamaica third in 44.84.
Abubaker Kaki, a 19-year-old from Sudan, picked up the first diamond of the evening by winning the men's 1 000m in 2:13.93. He also got his name engraved on a large silver trophy, the Dickson Trophy, that was first contested in a mile race in 1895.
"It was my first 1 000 (outdoors) ever," Kaki said. "I tried to beat the world record, but it's very hard to beat. Still, I'm very happy with my performance."
Previous winners of the Dickson Trophy include British great Sebastian Coe, the London Olympic 2012 chair who saw the race from the stands as a guest of honour, John Walker of New Zealand, Filbert Bayi of Tanzania, and Said Aouita of Morocco.
Saad Youssef Kamel of Burundi finished second behind Kaki in 2:14.72 and Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia third in 2:15.50.
Craig Mottram of Australia won the men's 3 000 in 7:37.73, nearly a second ahead of runner-up Isaac Songok of Kenya.
"It was a good race," Mottram said. "I didn't care much about the time. I just arrived from Australia. I was a bit unsure about my shape."
- SAPA
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