Burka, Mekonnen, G. Dibaba progress in a day of qualifiers – Ethiopian Championships Day 2

World indoor 1500m champion Derese Mekonnen, African women’s 1500m champion Gelete Burka, and World junior Cross Country champion Genzebe Dibaba all comfortably negotiated tricky heats on the second day of the 38th Ethiopian Athletics Championships (29 April- 3 May 2009) at the Addis Ababa stadium on Thursday (30).

In a day dominated by finals in the hurdles and field events, Ethiopian Banks club runner Tirhas Haileselassie won a record fifth national women’s 100m Hurdles title, while reigning national champion Feleke Degela was surprisingly defeated in the men’s 110m Hurdles final by Zelalem Chemdesa.

Burka leads list of qualifiers in women’s 1500m

She may have had a winter to forget due to injury and loss of form, but to the thousands of spectators who had gathered at the Addis Ababa stadium, Gelete Burka remains the country’s brightest middle distance hope.

After withdrawing from possible World indoor 1500m record attempts in Karlsruhe and Birmingham in the winter (Ethiopian spring), Burka finished a disappointing eighth at the World Cross Country championships in Amman, Jordan, last month. Here, however, she controlled the women’s 1500m heats from the start to take a dominant victory 4:12.36.

Olympian Meskerem Assefa and Emebet Etea, the 2008 World junior Cross Country silver medallist, were the winners of the other two heats.

Mekonnen laughs off challenge in men’s 1500m qualifiers

The men’s 1500m first round saw a similar gun-to-tape dominance by World indoor 1500m champion Derese Mekonnen who unlike Burka had a better winter to speak off thanks to victories in Leipzig and Stuttgart. The 22-year old was ahead of Derese Chaka with 200m of the left, but started to slow down in a crowd-pleasing attempt to encourage his younger compatriot. But each time Chaka tried to apply a kick, Mekonnen would politely smile and respond with a bigger kick until the finish where he crossed the tape in 3:45.14.

Adugna Kumasa beat world championship semi-finalist Mekonnen Gebremedhin in the fastest of the three round heats in 3:43.11.

G. Dibaba, Utura, and Fekadu progress in 5000m

Genzebe Dibaba, Sule Utura, and Belaynesh Fekadu are turning out to be the new faces of women’s distance running in Ethiopia judging by results of the previous year. While Fekadu has already distinguished herself at senior level with a respectable fourth place at the African Championships last year, Dibaba and Utura have proved prolific at junior level with a two World junior Cross Country titles and a World junior 5000m crown respectively.

Here, they all managed to avoid each other in the 5000m heats, but showed enough evidence to suggest that the 5000m final on Sunday could be one of the most exciting in years.

In the first of the heats, Utura had to shake off the challenge from upcoming Meseret Mengistu in the last lap to take victory. Genzebe, much like her sister Tirunesh, chose to run behind the front runners in her heat before kicking at 300m for victory. But Fekadu led for nearly 10 of the 12-and-half lap race before crossing the line in 16:35.14.

Haileselassie, Chemdesa take hurdles titles

In a day where there were no long or middle distance finals, hurdlers and field go their chance in the spotlight. The biggest surprise came in the men’s 110m hurdles where defending champion Feleke Degela was beaten by Zelalem Chemdesa. The winner crossed the line in a slow 15.29.

The women’s corresponding race, the 100m hurdles, saw Tirhas Haileselassie win a record fifth national title.

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