INDIANAPOLIS - Familiar with completing doubles at major Championship meets, Bernard Lagat did it once again, winning the men's 3,000 and 5,000m at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup at Poljud Stadium in Split, Croatia.
Formerly known as the IAAF World Cup in Athletics, the Continental Cup is a four continent competition between Africa, the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe. The Americas team is composed of athletes from NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean track and field federations), and South America. The Continental Cup title will be awarded to the continent with the highest collective point total of both men's and women's teams. The teams will consist of two athletes per individual event; however, only one athlete from any one country may compete in each individual event.
On Saturday night, in a tactical 5,000m, Lagat kicked a 51-second final lap to win the race in 13:58.23. It was more of the same Sunday night, as Lagat surged over the final 80m to win the 3,000m in 7:54.75, making him the only individual double winner in Split. Along with his 1,500m win at the World Cup in Madrid eight years ago, Lagat became the first athlete to collect victories at a World or Continental Cup in three different events.
Jeremy Wariner continued to dominate the men's 400m, leading off the final turn and cruisiung down the straight to win in a championship record 44.22. He broke the previous record of 44.47 set by American Mike Franks in 1985 and is the second-fastest time in the world this year.
Any one of Christian Cantwell's four throws in the men's shot put would have been enough to win the competition. The reigning World Indoor and Outdoor champion, Cantwell had a best effort Saturday night of 21.87m.
On his first and only legal jump of the competition, three-time World Outdoor champion Dwight Phillips won the men's long jump with his leap of 8.34m. David Oliver continued his winning ways in Split, winning his 14th consecutive final in the men's 110m hurdles in 13.11. Initially, Oliver's goal was to break Allen Johnson's 12.96 championships record, but a 0ins headwind and bad start made that feat virtually impossible.
Wallace Spearmon won the men's 200m in 19.95 the night after he ran the second leg of the gold-medal winning 4x100m. The relay team of Daniel Bailey (JAM), Spearmon, Tyson Gay and Churandy Martina (AHO) won the race in 38.25. Spearmon pulled off the same double at the 2006 World Cup meet in Athens, making him the only athlete to win two events at the same championships twice.
The Americas Team women's 4x100m, which featured Cydonie Mothersill of Cayman Islands, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (BAH), Shalonda Solomon (Poly HS, Long Beach) and Kelly-Ann Baptiste (TRI) made three clean exchanges for a convincing victory in 43.07. The women's 4x400m team of Shericka Williams (JAM), Debbie Dunn, Nickiesha Wilson (JAM) and Christine Amertil (BAH) edged out Team Europe, winning in 3:26.27 to Europe's 3:26.58. On the men's side, Nery Brenes (CRC), Bershawn Jackson, Greg Nixon and Ricardo Chambers (JAM) set a championship record with their winning time of 2:59.00.
After six consecutive sub-48 victories, Bershawn Jacskon was leading the men's 400m hurdles until he clipped the last hurdle. Jackson was unable to regain his momentum and finished third in 48.62. It was a photo finish in the women's 100m hurdles between Australia's Sally Pearson, Lolo Jones and Canada's Perdita Felicien. After several minutes, it was determined that Pearson was the victor (12.65), Jones the runner-up (12.66) and Felicien third (12.68). Still feeling the effects of a stomach bug that reared it's head Saturday night, Jones was pretty happy with her finish.
In other action at the track, Debbie Dunn finished as the runner-up in the women's 400m in 50.21, while Shalonda Solomon took runner-up honors in the women's 100m in 11.09. In the men's 1,500m, Leo Manzano finished in third in 3:36.48 as training partner Shannon Rowbury (Sacred Heart Cathedral HS, San Francisco) took third in the women's 3,000m in 9:04.82. Fresh off her American record in the women's 5,000m, Molly Huddle took third in that event in 16:08.60.
Derek Miles (Bella Vista HS, Fair Oaks) took third in the men's pole vault with a best clearance of 5.75m as reigning Olympic and World champion Steve Hooker (AUS) won with a championship record clearance of 5.95m. Christin Wurth Thomas finished third in the women's 1,500m in 4:21.46 and Rae Edwards was fourth in the men's 100m in 10.23. Connie Moore took fourth in the women's 200m in 23.52, while Nick Symmonds was fifth in the men's 800m in 1:44.98.
A.G. Kruger finished sixth in the men's hammer throw with 74.00m, Erica McClain (Stanford) was eighth in the women's triple jump at 13.62m and Beck Holliday was fifth in the women's pole vault with a best clearance of 4.35m. Current world leader Alysia Johnson (Canyon HS, Canyon Country; California) was eighth in the women's 800m in 2:01.83, while Becky Breisch took fifth in the women's discus with 60.70m and Dusty Jonas finished sixth in the men's high jump in 2.21m.
In the women's 400m hurdles, Nicole Leach (UCLA) finished sixth in 55.64 and American record holder Kara Patterson took sixth in the women's javelin with a best effort of 58.07m. The women's steeplechase saw Lisa Aguilera take fifth in 9:41.48, while Dan Huling finished eighth in the men's race in 8:27.59. Jason Young claimed fifth in the men's discus throw with 61.33m, as Jillian Camarena-Williams (Woodland HS, Stanford) was fifth in the women's shot put at 18.49m. Brianna Glenn (La Mirada HS) was seventh in the women's long jump with a best mark of 6.28m, while Mike Hazle finished eighth in the men's javelin with 73.18m.
Team scoring came down to the final event, the men's 4x400m, and even though the Americas Team grabbed victory in the relay, Team Europe pulled off the win in the overall competition with 418 points. The Americas Team finished second with 404.5 points.
The Americas team delegation has decided to donate their extra gear, nearly 10 boxes of undistributed uniform shirts, shorts, pants, jackets and sneakers, to Haiti, which is still struggling to recover from the earthquake that devastated the poverty-stricken island nation. All of the team kits were supplied by adidas, a corporate partner of the IAAF.
For more information and complete results from the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup, visit http://www.iaaf.org/wcp10/results/eventCode=4435/bydiscipline/index.html.
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