Gebremariam
leads Ethiopian clean-sweep in men’s 10000m
Wednesday
Apr 30, 2008 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Outstanding front-running
by Gebregziabher Gebremariam led Ethiopian compatriots Ibrahim
Jeylan and Eshetu Wondimu to a clean sweep of the medals in the
opening day of the men’s 10000m at the 16th CAA African
Athletics Championships.
The 25-year
old, who finished sixth in the world championships 10000m in
Osaka last year, led for more than half of the twenty-five lap
contest to take victory in 28:17.11 with world junior champion
Ibrahim Jeylan (28:30.66) continuing his impressive record on
Ethiopian soil to take silver ahead of national champion Eshetu
Wondimu (28:56.36).
It was a dramatic
improvement on the 25-year old’s All-African Games bronze
medal from last year and a dramatic comeback from his disastrous
outing at the 36th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in
Edinburgh a month ago where he finished 17th.
The home nation
was expected to dominate the event which took place in front
of an ecstatic capacity home crowd of 25,000 at the Addis Ababa
stadium. Despite the late withdrawal of Kenenisa Bekele, Gebremariam
and co quickly assumed the mantle to match the crowd’s enthusiasm
with a clean sweep of the medals.
The whole race
was a one-team contest from the onset as Gebremariam, Jeylan,
and Wondimu took hold of the proceedings after just two laps.
With the crowd cheering on the athletes at the end of every lap,
the trio picked up the pace after five laps.
But urged on
from the touch-line by Miruts Yifter, 1980 Olympic 5000/10000m
champion, Gebremariam opened initially opened a small gap of
five meters which kept on increasing until he was nearly 100m
ahead of the chasing Jeylan by the half-way mark.
It was Gebremariam’s
first track victory on home soil since 2005 where he took a 5000m/10000m
double at the 2005 Ethiopian Championships.
Wednesday
Apr 30, 2008 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Outstanding front-running
by Gebregziabher Gebremariam led Ethiopian compatriots Ibrahim
Jeylan and Eshetu Wondimu to a clean sweep of the medals in the
opening day of the men’s 10000m at the 16th CAA African
Athletics Championships.
