by Alfonz Juck
Saul Ordonez, World Indoors, Birmingham, photo by PhotoRun.netTilahun Haile 13:04.63 WL
HUELVA (ESP, Jun 8): One of the highlights of the Iberoamericano de Atletismo Meeting in Huelva (EA Classic) was a fast 800m which saw Saul Ordonez win in a European-leading mark and lifetime best of 1:44.44 on home soil from world indoor finalist Alvaro de Arriba (1:44.99) with Ethiopian teenager Tolesa Bodena third in a 1:45.46 PB. Reigning world champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse was DQ’d. Morocco’s Malika Akkaoui won the women’s 800m in 2:00.48 from Ethiopia’s Mahelet Mulugeta (2:00.78) while 17-year-old Ethiopian Melese Nberet won the men’s 1500m in 3:39.42. There was also a win for Ethiopia in a good quality 5000m with Tilahun Haile winning in 13:04.63 World lead from Eritrea’s Aron Kifle (13:09.06) with European 10,000m bronze medallist Antonia Abadia fourth in 13:24.18. In other middle and long distance action, Marta Perez won the 1500m on home soil in 4:07.10 and Maria Perez won the 3000m race walk in a Spanish record of 12:00.87. Kenya’s Barnabas Kipyego won the 3000m steeplechase in 8:19.21 with Hungary’s Viktoria Gyurkes winning the women’s 3000m steeplechase in a 9:37.02 PB. Elsewhere, Quincy Downing won the 400m hurdles in 49.00 from Kenya’s Aron Koech (49.28), Lucas Bua set a 400m PB of 45.25 to win on home soil from Slovenia’s Luka Janezic (45.38) and reigning two-time European champion Libania Grenot from Italy won the women’s 400m in 51.81. Field event highlights included Christina Schwanitz extending her win streak in the shot put to five competitions in 2018 with 19.21m, Moldova’s Zalina Petrivskaya winning the hammer with 69.29m and Ana Peleteiro winning the triple jump on home soil with 13.90m.
