Athletes set markers down for world champs

PARIS – Several athletes emerged Friday as serious contenders for the August 6-14 world championships in Helsinki after impressing at the opening Golden League meet of the season.

Undoubtedly the upset of the night belonged to Frenchman Ladji Doucoure, the 22-year-old European indoor 60m hurdles champion upstaging China’s Olympic gold medallist Liu Xiang and four-time world champion Allen Johnson of the United States to win the 110m hurdles. Doucoure, who hit a hurdle in the 2004 Olympic final and finished eighth, scorched home in 13.02sec and immediately sent out a warning to his rivals ahead of the August 6-14 world championships in Helsinki.”It’s great to win tonight, but it’s at Helsinki that it will be important to be first,” he said after a race where he beat the 34-year-old Johnson for the first time.”It was my first race at the top level, so I decided to stay focused in my lane.The time is great but the race wasn’t perfect,” Doucoure said, adding: “There’s still a lot of work to do.”While Ethiopia’s world and Olympic 10 000m champion Kenenisa Bekele vowed he would not be racing the 5000m at Helsinki despite narrowly missing out on his own world record here, few would bet against him winning whatever discipline he is entered for in August.”I wanted to break the world record tonight but it was a little windy and cold,” said Bekele, who has had to overcome the tragic death of fiancee Alem Techale – the 2003 world youth 1500m champion – from a heart attack in January.Other athletes to shine included Ghana’s veteran sprinter Aziz Zakari, who joined the exclusive sub-10 club with a 9.99sec clocking on the heels of Asafa Powell’s world record in Athens on June 14.Zakari has twice failed to finish the last two Olympic 100m finals because of cramp but had no such problems in beating home a talented field in 10.04sec.While the competition may not have included Powell, and Americans Justin Gatlin and Maurice Greene, Zakari said he had one thing on his mind: “I’ll go to Helsinki to win.”His evergreen French sprint counterpart Christine Arron was in equally ebullient mood after wrapping up the women’s event in 11.03sec.”My goal now is to go under 11 seconds.I loved the way I raced tonight even if I know I must gain a little bit of speed in the future.”Sweden’s Olympic winner, triple World Indoor champion, and European Indoor gold medallist Stefan Holm, who won the high jump with a best of 2.32m, has his sights firmly fixed on gold in Helsinki after tasting defeat two years ago.”I’ve never won a gold medal at the world championships.I was second in Paris in 2003.That’s why main goal this season is to win in Helsinki,” he said after seeing off a strong field that included the rest of the Athens podium, the next five placed athletes in 2004 Games, along with reigning world champion Jacques Freitag of South Africa.Another women who looked impressive on a wet and windy night in Paris was Lashinda Demus, 22, winner of the 400m hurdles ahead of Poland’s Anna Jesien and Australia’s reigning world champion Jana Pittman.-Nampa-AFPDoucoure, who hit a hurdle in the 2004 Olympic final and finished eighth, scorched home in 13.02sec and immediately sent out a warning to his rivals ahead of the August 6-14 world championships in Helsinki.”It’s great to win tonight, but it’s at Helsinki that it will be important to be first,” he said after a race where he beat the 34-year-old Johnson for the first time.”It was my first race at the top level, so I decided to stay focused in my lane.The time is great but the race wasn’t perfect,” Doucoure said, adding: “There’s still a lot of work to do.”While Ethiopia’s world and Olympic 10 000m champion Kenenisa Bekele vowed he would not be racing the 5000m at Helsinki despite narrowly missing out on his own world record here, few would bet against him winning whatever discipline he is entered for in August.”I wanted to break the world record tonight but it was a little windy and cold,” said Bekele, who has had to overcome the tragic death of fiancee Alem Techale – the 2003 world youth 1500m champion – from a heart attack in January.Other athletes to shine included Ghana’s veteran sprinter Aziz Zakari, who joined the exclusive sub-10 club with a 9.99sec clocking on the heels of Asafa Powell’s world record in Athens on June 14.Zakari has twice failed to finish the last two Olympic 100m finals because of cramp but had no such problems in beating home a talented field in 10.04sec.While the competition may not have included Powell, and Americans Justin Gatlin and Maurice Greene, Zakari said he had one thing on his mind: “I’ll go to Helsinki to win.”His evergreen French sprint counterpart Christine Arron was in equally ebullient mood after wrapping up the women’s event in 11.03sec.”My goal now is to go under 11 seconds.I loved the way I raced tonight even if I know I must gain a little bit of speed in the future.”Sweden’s Olympic winner, triple World Indoor champion, and European Indoor gold medallist Stefan Holm, who won the high jump with a best of 2.32m, has his sights firmly fixed on gold in Helsinki after tasting defeat two years ago.”I’ve never won a gold medal at the world championships.I was second in Paris in 2003.That’s why main goal this season is to win in Helsinki,” he said after seeing off a strong field that included the rest of the Athens podium, the next five placed athletes in 2004 Games, along with reigning world champion Jacques Freitag of South Africa.Another women who looked impressive on a wet and windy night in Paris was Lashinda Demus, 22, winner of the 400m hurdles ahead of Poland’s Anna Jesien and Australia’s reigning world champion Jana Pittman.-Nampa-AFP