800 Meters
Review of the Irish Runners Year
James Nolan at the Millrose Games
Ireland had a good year on the 800 scene.It opened well when James Nolan broke the Irish indoor record in Oslo.This led to a brilliant result at the world indoor championships in Japan when he finished fifth behind race winner Johan Botha and World outdoor champ Wilson Kipketer.This really was a good performance from James.Dave Matthews opened his season with a confident win over James McIlroy at the President`s Selection race in Santry in mid May.At the Europa Cup James McIlroy finished 5th in a poor time of 1.51.31.This would be a poor season for McIlroy who dissappointed us all be over-training and not bothering to compete at the World Championships and then throwing the support he`d gotten from BLE right back in their faces.At the National Championships James Nolan set the track alight with a blistering 1.46.6 in his
heat but pulled out of the final to rest himself for the U-23 Europeans in Gotenb�rg.In his absence Dave Matthews was the favourite but young Gareth Turnbull came back from a 98 season which had seen him overtrain to beat Matthews in a sprint for the line to set a personal best of 1.48.57.At those U-23 championships James Nolan again had a great result taking silver behind European Senior Champion,Nils Schumann of Germany.Onto Seville and both James Nolan and Dave Matthews were in action.James ran hard to qualify for the semi-final as a fastest loser but failed to progress past that stage while Dave Matthews ran hard but failed to make the semi-finals.This some what positive result was overshadowed by James McIlroy`s decision to run for Britain instead of Ireland.This has surely put an end to the so-called Golden Era of Irish 800 metre running but I'm sure all the athletes will struggle on without James McIlroy.All of us here at Irish Middle Distance runner would like to commend both James Nolan and Dave Matthews for their hard and brave efforts this year and we wish them well for next year.
Review of the International Runners Year
Kipketer wins in Oslo
The 800m was dominated by Kenyan born Wilson Kipketer,reclaiming his place as the 800m best athlete in history.He absolutely destroyed the world`s best on the Grand Prix scene,hammering his fellow rival Japheth Kimutai in the process.Kipketer also had a share in the Golden League jackpot after winning in Z�rich,Berlin and Brussells.The best of these coming in Brussells when he set his fastest time of `99 with a 1.42.27 to claim another victory.He won the World Championships at Seville just beating an impressive Hezekiel Sepeng.1999 also saw the emergence of Said Guerni who set a personal best in every round of the 800m in Seville to take a bronze medal and the Algerian record.He also ran anew PB at the Brussells Golden League meeting where,for only the second time in history,the first 4 finishers all ran under 1'43 (the other being the Olympic Final in Atlanta).Overall it was Kipketer`s year with many pointing to that elusive Olympic title which has so far eluded him as his next target.Italy`s Andrea Longo again proved to be the best ranked European for the second year in a row when he ran well to finish 6th in Seville.Anr� Bucher set a massive PB to post 1.42.92 at the Brussells race to finish 4th in the 1999ranking table.Nils Schumann beat James Nolan and Poland`s Pawel Czapiewski to win the European U-23 title in Sweden.Kenya`s N Wachira won the World Youth Championships (U 17) in Poland with a time of 1.50.70.Russia`s Yury Barzakovskiy won the European Junior title in Lativa with a time of 1.50.38.
Records
10 Fastest Irishmen in 1999
| Name
| Club
| Time
|
| James Nolan
| UCD
| 1.46.03
|
| Dave Matthews
| UCD
| 1.46.19
|
| Daniel Caulfield
|
| 1.48.41
|
| Darren Dineen
| Leevale
| 1.48.43
|
| Gareth Turnbull | St.Malachys
| 1.48.47
|
| Colm McClean
| St Malachy`s
| 1.49.26
|
| David Brosnan
| Leevale
| 1.49.84
|
| Eoin Cummins
| UCD
| 1.50.31
|
| Brendan O`Shea
| Slaney Olympic
| 1.50.53
|
| Neville Davey
|
| 1.51.19
|
5 Fastest Men in 1999
| Name
| Country
| Time
| Venue
|
| Wilson Kipketer
| DEN
| 1.42.27
| Brussells
|
| Hezekiel Sepeng
| RSA
| 1.42.69
| Rome
|
| Japheth Kimutai
| KEN
| 1.42.69
| Brussells
|
| Andre Bucher
| SUI
| 1.42.92
| Brussells
|
| Djabir Sa�d-Guerni
| ALG
| 1.43.09
| Brussells
|
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