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Dream Victory For Baddeley

Fri 06 Jun, 11:09 PM


Andy Baddeley stunned his predominantly African rivals by winning the 'Dream Mile' with a late sprint at Friday night's ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo.

Baddeley timed his finish to perfection after lying fifth with 200 metres to run when he came off the final bend and surged slightly ahead of the opposition in the final 50 metres.

The 25-year-old, who finished third in last year's race, was rewarded with a massive personal best time of 3min 49.38sec as he spoiled the ambitions of Haron Keitany and Deresse Mekonnen.

The Kenyan runner-up, who clocked 3min 49.70sec, and Mekonnen, with an Ethiopian record of 3min 49.72sec, had no answer to the speed of the British number one, who kept his head in the closing stages.

Baddeley, who warmed up for the race with a relatively fast 800m victory in Belgrade, showed he is an even more polished runner than he was when reaching last summer's World Championships final.

"It started so quickly I was almost at the back of the field after the first lap and midway before I started to move through," said Baddeley, the UK's first 'Dream Mile' winner since Peter Elliott in 1991.

Baddeley, who now ranks alongside Elliott, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram as a race winner, added: "This is a big breakthrough for me taking seconds from my previous best.

"My coach told me after I had run so well last year that I could run under 3min 50sec. After hanging around all day for what was the last event I was feeling the pressure.

"Let's remember all these races I've got planned are in preparation for August and the Olympics. This was a good start."

Baddeley admitted Tom Lancashire's victory in the 1500m had also pressurised him with European Cup selection looming on the horizon.

"It made me more aware of what I had to do, but it's great to see such a resurgence in British middle distance running," he said.

Jo Pavey drifted in the middle of the chasing pack as Tirunesh Dibaba sensationally broke the world 5,000m record.

Dibaba thrilled the crowd with an unbelievable performance, which appeared to have run out of steam at the halfway point.

Pavey may never have been in contention but her ambitions of running over the distance as well as the 10,000m, where she is an Olympic medal possibility in Beijing, received a boost.

The Commonwealth silver medallist finished eighth in a time of 15min 02.41sec, easily achieving the qualifying standard, which could persuade the selectors - like last year - she has the credentials to double up.

Dibaba produced an unbelievable display when, having been three seconds down on the figure Meseret Defar - her fellow Ethiopian - had achieved at 3,000m in her world record at the Bislett stadium, she rallied to win in 14min 11.15sec.

That struck more than five seconds from the mark the reigning Olympic champion had achieved when running 14min 16.63sec on the same track 12 months ago.

Katrina Wootton was never in contention at this level, although she had the satisfaction of posting a personal best of 15min 39.92sec in 15th place.

Marlon Devonish finished fourth in the 100m with a wind-assisted time of 10.08sec but was realistic enough to know his hopes of running over the distance at the European Cup are unlikely to be realised.

Tyrone Edgar's legal mark of 10.06sec in Geneva last Saturday is likely to give the US-based sprinter the position in the side for the meeting in Annecy in a fortnight's time.

But Devonish stated his credentials to defend the 200m title he won a year ago in Munich when clocking 20.59sec for fifth position in the 200m - the fastest by a Briton this summer.

Now the selectors have to make the decision whether to chose the European bronze medallist or Christian Malcolm, who won in Geneva with 20.70sec, when picking the team on Monday.

Ireland's Paul Hession narrowly lost out in the 200m race by 0.09sec to Antigua's Pan-American gold medallist Brendan Christian, who clocked 20.39sec, with Clement Campbell of Jamaica third in 20.58sec.

World 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu moved into new territory by beating the 23sec mark over 200m for the first time when an excellent third in her race.

Ohuruogu, who makes her one lap debut for the season in Ostrava next Thursday, clocked 22.94sec as Bianca Knight of the USA won in 22.56sec, ahead of Russia's Yuliya Guschina.

Hopes of a British 3,000m steeplechase record in succession to the 9min 37.08sec Barbara Parker ran last weekend in Indianapolis failed to materialise, although previous holder Hatti Dean tried desperately to get it back.

Dean gave every ounce of energy she had over the last lap and even more in the final straight before falling short with a mark of 9min 39.19sec.

She was first Briton home behind world record holder Gulnara Galkina, who proved untouchable when winning ahead of fellow Russian Yekaterina Volkova and Donna Macfarlane in 9min 14.77sec.

Jo Ankier and Helen Clitheroe wilted in the warm weather conditions to finish 12th and 13th with times of 9min 45.44sec and 9min 46.75sec.

European 800m bronze medallist Sam Hill was eighth in his race in a time of 1min 48.15sec as Sudanese teenager Abubaker Kaki won with a world junior record of 1min 42.69sec.

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