World Leading 3000m by Meseret Defar

Defar took control of the race in the last lap and had almost the whole field strung out behind her as she won by one second in 8:30.29 after a final lap under 60 seconds. A new world leading time by 11 seconds and less than 6 seconds off her own stadium record from 2006.
–  I had a good feeling this evening and I’m delighted with the victory! It was fantastic to be able to run so well such a short time after the World Championships, said Meseret Defar after her fourth victory at DN Galan.
The first eight in the race finished within the old world lead and the best Swede was Meraf Bahta who, with 8:59.30, improved her personal best from last month.



Souleiman’s impressive last lap


The men’s 1500m belonged to Ayanley Souleiman who completely dominated the last 400m and won in 3:33.59 for his third Diamond League victory this year.   Second placed Silas Kiplagat finished with  a spurt which reduced the winning margin to just three hundredths of a second.
– At the World Championships in Moscow, the semi-final finished fast and with a lot of barging and I missed going through to the final.  But it went much better here and I’m happy with the win! I have a Swedish manager, Ulf Saletti and I also spend the summer in Sollentuna so this feels like my second home. Next week I hope to win the Diamond League final in Zurich, said the Djibouti national, Ayanleh Souleiman.



What a race by World Youth champion Irene!


16-year-old Irene Ekelund had a good 100m race on her senior international debut over the distance.  With 11.45 in a slight headwind she beat relay world champion Schillonie Calvert (11.49) and Norwegian record holder Ezinne Okparaebo (11.51).  Irene was actually only two tenths of a second behind winner, Kerron Stewart, when she crossed the finish line in 6th place.
– I’m delighted but surprised because I thought I would come last !  I just ran and it felt good, said Irene.



Amb so close to victory
The pre-Swedish v Finland javelin event got off to a flying start for Sweden when both Gabriel Wallin and Kim Amb threw over 80 metres in the first round.  Kim’s throw of 83.21 was his second best ever and he finished in second place behind Finnish European bronze medallist, Ari Mannio.  Gabriel was third with 80.39.
– It was great today !  It was a long throw but if I had got the angle of release even better, it could have been 85 metres.  Fantastic to compete at the Stadium in front of a home crowd and I’m looking forward to coming back for the Sweden v Finland match in two weeks’ time, said Kim after the unofficial match SWE-FIN ended equal, 11-11.


Michel close to his year’s best
The men’s long jump meant one more victory for world champion, Aleksandr Menkov, who jumped 8.18 and won by 12 centimetres ahead of Godfrey Mokoena.  Michel Tornéus had two valid jumps, the longest of which was 7.94.  It was just six centimetres off his year’s best and enough for fifth place and the same mark as 4th placed Eusebio Caceres.

In the women’s long jump, Spårvägen’s Erica Jarder recorded 6.37 which gave her 4th place behind world championships medallist Ivana Spanovic from Serbia who won with 6.64.

In the pole vault, Angelica Bengtsson finished 8th after clearing the opening height of 4.39 in her first attempt but failed to progress to 4.49.


Jonas Hedman