Krummenacker, Jacobs lead U.S. distance hopes at World Indoor Championships

With seven 2003 world leaders, five current or past champions, and five indoor world record holders, the distance events at the ninth World Indoor Championships in Athletics promise heated head-to-head battles when competition kicks off Friday morning at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.

An event-by-event look: [All times local, subject to change.]

MEN
800m: (Round 1 - Friday, March 14, 18:25; semi - Saturday, March 15, 17:55; final - Sunday, March 16, 15:40)

With defending champion and world leader Yuriy Borzakovskiy (1:44.34) never intending to compete in Birmingham, the focus of the 800m this season has always been on world indoor and outdoor record holder Wilson Kipketer's attempt to reclaim the title he won in 1997. The 32-year-old Kenyan-born Dane, arguably the finest 800m runner ever, set the world record of 1:42.67 at the 1997 WIC, and has posted sub 1:45 clockings in both his 800m appearances this year.

With three wins in five races this year 22-year-old Wilfred Bungei seems most ready to rain on Kipketer's parade. The Kenyan opened his season with a 1:44.97 win in Stuttgart on February 2nd, but slipped to fourth in Stockholm 16 days later (1:45.07), finishing behind Borzakovskiy, Kipketer, and Frenchman Mehdi Baala. Baala, who posted a 1:44.82 NR in Stockholm, the third fastest time of the year, is not on the provisional start list.

Spaniard Manuel Antonio Reina (1:46:68 - 22-Feb) proved his big race mettle after his NR 1:43.83 to take the World Cup title last September before a home crowd, but remains virtually untested this year. Hezekiél
Sepeng lowered the South African NR to 1:45.12 in Karlsruhe less than two weeks ago, and should be in contention as well. With two races at 1:45.47 or better, the second Kenyan entrant, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Joseph Mutua, could be a factor as well while Dutchman Bram Som has shown
his feistiness this year, with top three finishes in two Energizer races before lowering the NR to 1:45.86 in Karlsruhe.

U.S. hopes lie with national champion David Krummenacker, who was a perfect three-for-three domestically over the distance this winter. He opened his indoor season with a 3:39.04 indoor PB over 1,500m at the adidas Boston Indoor Games, and followed up with an 800m win on the tight Millrose Games track in a slow time. A week later he lowered his indoor PB to 1:47.20 at the Tyson Foods Invitational. The second U.S. entrant, Khadevis Robinson, who finished a tenth of a second behind Krummenacker at the national championships, was a 1,500m semi-finalist at the 1999 WIC in Maebashi, Japan.

1,500m: (Round 1 - Friday, March 14, 17:31; final - Saturday, March 15, 18:10)

On paper, the 1,500m appears somewhat wide open, but the spotlight is clearly on Bernard Lagat as he chases his first world crown. The 28-year-old Kenyan, who won silver in Edmonton and bronze in Sydney, was virtually unchallenged in his three 1,500m/mile races in the United States this winter. But at last week's Athina 2003 race in Athens, his first real test of the season, he was outkicked by defending champion Rui Silva and 2001 World Outdoor bronze medallist Driss Maazouzi.

With team battle strategies never to be discounted, Lagat might get some help from 19-year-old Cornelius Chirchir, who ran a 3:34.85 PB to win in Karlsruhe, the second-fastest clocking of the year. Underscoring his fitness, the outdoor World Junior Record holder, who was fourth in September's Grand Prix final, ran a 2:18.24 PB over 1,000m in Lievin two-and-a-half weeks ago.

Spaniard Roberto Parra sped to a world-leading 3:34.66 at the Vodafone Grand Prix in Seville on February 22, but finished second to Juan Carlos Higuero at the national championships ten days later. Higuero, whose fastest clocking of the year came with his 3:41.64 win at the European Cup, is a strong big race competitor. He struck silver at last year's European Indoor Championships and finished fifth outdoors and was also a Sydney finalist.

Portugal's Silva showed good form with his 3:36.86 win Athens last week over Maazouzi, Lagat and Parra and should be a factor. Maazouzi won the French title in 3:39.74 on March 2, four days before finishing second behind Silva in Athens with a PB 3:36.93.

Others gunning for the final will be Ivan Heshko, who lowered the Ukrainian record to 3:38.11; Canadian Graham Hood, who tuned up with a number of hard pacing efforts this winter; Edmonton finalist Abdelkader
Hachlaf of Morocco; and US entrants Jason Lunn, who won his second national 1,500m/mile title ten days ago, and 2000 Olympic semi-finalist Michael Stember. Young Britons James Thie (3:41.84) and Micheal East (3:42.56), the Commonwealth Games champion, will rely on the Birmingham crowd in their attempt to push British middle distance running back into the spotlight.

3,000m: (Round 1 - Friday, March 14, 10:35; final - Sunday, March 16, 16:10)

Even with his two-mile world record 8:04.69 (his 17th global standard) and near-record effort 7:28.29 in the 3000m this year, two-time World Indoor Champion Haile Gebrselassie may actually have a serious race on his hands. Spaniard Alberto García, with a pair of European records this season, is unquestionably in the best shape of his life. Last year's European and World Cup champion in the 5,000m, García sped to 7:32.98 and 13:11.29 performances in the 3k/5k, becoming the third fastest ever indoors over both distances. Unfortunately for García, Gebrselassie, the four-time World and two-time Olympic 10,000m champion, is in top form as well, and appears to have shaken off a hamstring problem that delayed his indoor debut.

The best of the rest appear to be Kenyan Luke Kipkosgei with two sub-7:45 clockings; 22 year-old Ethiopian Abiyote Abate, who has dipped under 7:43 twice, and Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri (7:40.85). The U.S. duo are Jonathan Riley, who won the U.S. title in Boston, and Bolota Asmerom, who was forced by tendonitis to miss a week of training prior to the Boston race in which he finished second.

WOMEN
800m: (Round 1 - Friday, March 14, 12:40; semi - Saturday, March 15, 10:50; final - Sunday, March 16, 15:25)

In her quest for an unprecendented fifth World Indoor title, defending champion Maria Mutola faces a fierce challenge from foes old and new. The world-leader after her 1:58.83 in Gent, Mutola has raced only twice this year -- the other being an unsuccessful assault on her 1000m WR -- but won convincingly on each occasion.

Leading the charge will be Slovenian Jolanda Ceplak (1:59.97), the indoor world record holder and last year's double European champion. The 26-year-old, who has only one career victory over Mutola, won her three races on the season, but has been fighting a string of viruses the past month, and lost a considerable amount of training time. This indoor season signaled the comeback from injury of Stephanie Graf, the Olympic, World and European indoor silver medallist. The Austrian broke the tape in 1:59.56 at her
national championship ten days ago, the second fastest performance among Birmingham entrants. Briton Jo Fenn, who joined the indoor sub-two minute club on the National Indoor Arena track a week and a half ago, has the home field advantage. Also hovering at or near the two minute cusp are the Russian entrants, Yekaterina Puzanova (1:59.91) and Nadezhda Vorobyeva (2:00.59), as well as four recent NR setters: Mayte Martinez of Spain (2:00.53), Namibian Agnes Samaria (2:00.55), Diane Cummins of Canada (2:00.66) and Miho Sugimori of Japan (2:00.78).

When soreness developed in her recently healed foot after winning her second US indoor 800m title, Nicole Teter decided against making the trip to Birmingham, opening the door for Boston 2-3 finishers Sasha Spencer and Chantee Earl. Spencer, third last year in both the indoor and outdoor national championships, timed her PB 2:03.20 perfectly to finish second behind Teter and earn her first national team appearance. Earl has a season's best 2:03.02 from mid-February.

1,500m: (semi - Saturday 15-March, 16:20; final - Sunday 16-March, 15:55)

That Regina Jacobs shows no signs of slowing down at age 39 was made abundantly clear on February 1 in Boston when she became the first woman to crack the four-minute barrier indoors in the 1,500m. But even with a 3:59.98 world record under her belt, a repeat of her 1995 World Indoor title is anything but secured.

Russian Natalya Gorelova's 4:00.72 NR two weeks ago sent a clear message to Jacobs and the world that sub-four clockings are no longer uncharted territory. The 29 year-old Gorelova, who raced to bronze in both 2001 World Championships, displayed her sharpness this winter with four races under 4:05.5, while teammate Yekaterina Rozenburg (4:02.58), runner-up to Gorelova twice last month, is the third fastest in the world coming into Birmingham. Lidija Chojecka-Okninska prepared with a 4:03.58 NR win to beat Gorelova at the Norwich Union Energizer meet in Birmingham two days before finishing second to Mutola in the Lievin 1,000m (2:36.97), another NR. The 26 year-old Pole was fifth in both Edmonton and Sydney, but was a disappointing ninth in last year's European Championships in Munich. Defending champion Hasna Benhassi (4:06.72) familiarized herself with the NIA by finishing third in the Birmingham race in her only 1,500m of the year.

Kelly Holmes, who clocked Britain's first sub-two in the Gent Energizer 800, decided she wants to win a 1,500m medal at home. She opened her season with an easy 4:12.51 win at Glascow's Norwich Union meet, before finishing a disappointing ninth in the Birmingham race in 4:09.78. Sarah Schwald (4:09.53/8:51.07), who finished fourth in the World Cup 3,000m last September, joins Jacobs in the 1,500, after smart running earned her the runner-up spot in Boston's tactical run.

3,000m: (Round 1 - Friday, March 14, 19:21; final - Saturday, March 15, 18:40)

There is little indication that Berhane Adere's recent dominance will be interrupted in Birmingham. The World Half Marathon champion brought in the new year with a fast win in the Boclassic 5k in Bolzano, Italy. Five weeks later, she posted the second fastest 3,000m (8:31.72) and 5,000m (14:48.21) runs ever.

The nearest challengers share a Mediterranean climate: Moroccans Zhour El Kamch (8:39.27) and Zahra Ouaziz (8:42.01), and Spaniard Marta Domínguez (8:41.14). Ouaziz, who claimed silver at the 1999 World Indoors, arrives in Birmingham after winning the short course race at last weekend's French Cross Country Championships.

With Jacobs opting to contest only the 1,500 and Shayne Culpepper preparing for the upcoming World Cross Country Championships in Lausanne, Collette Liss and Katie McGregor were added to the U.S. distance squad. Liss competed in the 1,500m at the 2001 WIC and most recently in the 3,000m at the
World Cup in Madrid, while McGregor, a collegiate standout while at the University of Michigan in the late 90s, lowered her PB to 8:56.64 in Boston, finishing fifth.