Kipruto holds off Kosgei by a second in Florence

Florence, Italy - Kenyan Ben Chebet Kipruto took the win at the 26th edition of the Florence Marathon (Sun 29) holding off Reuben Kosgei by one second in 2:11:21. It was the second win of the year for Kipruto who finished first at the Maratona di Sant’Antonio in Padova last April in his 2:09:42 PB.
Kosgei finished the first marathon of his career in Florence after his unlucky debut in Vienna where he dropped out at 25km. Assefa Reta Girma from Ethiopia finished third in 2:12:42, three seconds ahead of Italian 37-year-old top runner Danilo Goffi who kept his dream alive to make the National team for next summer’s European Championships in Barcelona.
Eva Maria Gradwohl from Austria was the surprise winner in the women’s race in 2:35:41 in the 20th marathon of her career. Europe prevailed over Africa in the fight for second place with Lena Gavelin from Sweden second in 2:37:11 ahead of Girma Tadesse (2:37:28) from Ethiopia. Ivana Iozzia finished as the first italian in fourth place in 2:37:35.
MEN

Nine men in the leading pack went through at 5km in 15:20 The group featured Reuben Kosgei, Ben Chebet Kipruto, Valentin Ondego Orare, Paul Ngeny Kipkemboi from Kenya, Assefa Girma from Ethiopia, Daniele Caimmi, Danilo Goffi and Denis Curzi from Italy and Abdelhadi El Hachimi from Morocco. There were no pacemakers in the group.
Kosgei, Assefa and Kipruto ran at the front of this nine-men leading group which reached the 15km in 46:00.
During the 18th km Kosgei, Assefa, Kipruto and El Hachimi injected a 2:57 split and had pulled away from the rest of the group by 20km.
However, Daniele Caimmi who returned to marathon running after two years managed to catch up with the four men at the front which went through at halfway in 1:04:32 but Caimmi was soon dropped again by the four Africans.
The other Italian challenger, Denis Curzi, who suffered from a bout of flu ten days ago, was forced to drop out of the race before the 30 km.
By 30km Kosgei, Assefa and Kipruto had carved out a gap of 18 seconds and it was this trio who secure in front fought for the win.
Kipruto and Kosgei at 38km broke away from Assefa who lost the ground. In the final 2 kilometres they battled it out with Kipruto pulling clear with a gap of five seconds over Kosgei but the former Olympic Steeplechase champion did not give up and managed to close the gap dangerously  in the final kilometre, with his opponent holding on to win in 2:11:21 by just one second!
It was the sixth victory for Ben Chebet Kipruto who has already won in Innsbruck 2005 (2:12:04), Trieste 2006 (2:16:22) Carpi 2008 (2:10:50), Thessaloniki 2006 (2:13:40) and Padua 2009 (2:09:42). He dropped out at this year’s Venice Marathon at 30 km due to stomach problems.
“I ran in Venice but I did not finish the race. I prepared very well and I wanted to get a second chance. My coach Claudio Berardelli told me that I could win the race”, said Kipruto.
Second placed Kosgei had won the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon in Australia on 17 May in 1:04:18. During his distinguished track career Kosgei became the youngest ever runner to win the Olympic 3000m Steeplechase title when he took the gold in Sydney 2000 at the age of 21 and then won the World title one year later in Edmonton. In 2001 he also clocked 7:57.19 in Brussels. “I need to get more experience over the marathon distance but I feel that I am a 42 km runner,” said Kosgei.
For Danilo Goffi the Florence Marathon was the start of a second career after many ups and downs in the last two years. “Last August I began training hard with the dream to take part in my fourth European Championships next summer in Barcelona. After some difficult years I look forward to next year with great confidence”, said Goffi, 1998 European silver medallist.
WOMEN

Double Italian marathon champion Ivana Iozzia took the lead with a Ethiopian duo formed by Dagne Kaligan and Girma Tadesse at 10km mark which they reached in 35:38. Iozzia kept the lead until the 21km mark a point which she passed in 1:15:48, leaving Tadesse in front, with Kaligan in third, while Austrian Maria Gradwohl reached halfway in fourth place in 1:16:16.
The race slowed in the second half and saw the race demise of Kaligan, which left the 36-year-old Austrian beginning to close the gap on Iozzia who began fading seriously after 30km, and would eventually complete in fourth (2:37:35).
Tadesse remained out in front with a seven seconds margin over the chasing Gradwohl who continued her great second half, catching-up with the Ethiopian when 2:28 was on the clock and finishing a clear winner in 2:35:41.
Sweden’s Lena Gavelin overtook Tadesse who was fading in the final part of the race and finished runner-up in 2:37:11 from the Ethiopian (2:37:28).
It was the tenth marathon win for Gradwohl who won the Graz Marathon five times, the Linz Marathon four times and set her PB of 2:30:51 in Linz in 2008. Gradwohl, mother of a 15-year-old boy, took part in the Olympic Games marathon in Bejing where she finished 57th in 2:44:24.
“I set my goal to qualify for the European Championships in Barcelona. It’s a big honour to win in this beautiful city. After finishing fifth in Casablanca on a very hot day, I want to enjoy running and I have decided to take part in races held in beautiful cities,” said Gradwohl.
      

Selected results from the Florenze Marathon

Men’s race:
1 Ben Kipruto Chebet (Kenya) 2:11:21
2 Reuben Kosgei Seronei (Kenya) 2:11:22
3 Assefa Reta Girma (Ethiopia) 2:12:42
4 Danilo Goffi (Italy)   2:12:45
5 Daniele Caimmi (Italy)  2:15:14
6 Abdelhadi El Hachimi (Marocco) 2:16:17
7 Francesco Bona (Italy)  2:17:02
8 Federico Simionato (Italy)  2:18:03

Women’s race:
1 Eva Maria Gradwohl (Austria) 2:35:41
2 Lena Gavelin (Sweden)  2:37:11
3 Girma Tadesse (Ethiopia)  2:37:28
4 Ivana Iozzia (Italy)   2:37:35

Austrian wins Great Australian Run

MELBOURNE: Austrian Guenther Weidlinger upstaged Olympic champions Sammy Wanjiru and Stefano Baldini to take out the Great Australian Run over 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) yesterday.
The three-time Olympian kicked clear in the final stages of the mass public run to win in 43:01, 17 seconds ahead of Australians Collis Birmingham and Martin Dent.

Kenya's Beijing Olympic marathon champion Wanjiru was fourth in 44:20 and 2004 Athens Olympic marathon gold medallist Baldini finished 11th in 45:42.

Wanjiru, 23, only arrived in Australia late Friday because of the hospitalisation of his daughter and said his tiredness had affected his form.

The man tipped to break Haile Gebrselassie's world marathon record next year, he wasn't at his best as he chose to sit in the leading pack rather than aggressively set the tempo out in front.

"Today (yesterday) was not my day," Wanjiru said. "I can come here to try again (next year), maybe to break the course record or world record for 15km."
Weidlinger and Birmingham ran away from Wanjiru at the 6.5km mark and the Austrian found something extra to shake off Birmingham just before the 10km mark and didn't look back in the final 5km.

"It's probably one of my biggest victories because I have beaten two Olympic champions with Baldini and Wanjiru and I have beaten the European champion Jose Manuel Martinez (who finished eighth in 44:58)," Weidlinger, 31, said.

"He (Wanjiru) showed from the start that somebody should lead with him and after 1.5km, I thought I feel good and I am in the race and in the rhythm so I tried to push a bit and split up the lead group.

"I realised that Wanjiru was not in his best shape so I tried to push the last 200 metres uphill and we lost him."

Australian Nikki Chapple won the women's race in 50:18 ahead of compatriot Benita Willis and British dual Olympian Helen Clitheroe. -- AFP

Jamaica's Bolt takes third gold

ATHLETICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Venue: Olympic Stadium, Berlin Date: 15-23 August

Usain Bolt made it a hat-trick of golds at the World Championships as Jamaica won the 4x100m relay but the quartet failed to set a new world record.

Bolt, who had already won the 100m and 200m titles in Berlin, ran the third leg of the relay with the Jamaican team crossing the line in 37.31 seconds.

Steve Mullings, Michael Frater and Asafa Powell were the other three members of the team that won gold.

They finished ahead of Trinidad with Great Britain winning bronze.

With Bolt complaining of tiredness following his world records in his 100m and 200m victories during the week, the 23-year-old, along with Powell, was rested in the earlier heats before Saturday's relay final.

With the American team disqualified in the semi-final, the Jamaicans began the race as hot favourites and did not disappoint the packed Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

"I wasn't really thinking about getting three gold medals because I could be in better shape," said Bolt, who has now matched his three-gold haul at the Beijing Olympics.

Despite the Jamaican team clocking the world's second fastest ever time in the 4x100m, Bolt was apologetic for not feeling 100% and said: "It is a little bit my fault." Jamaican Mullings got the quartet off to a fine start and they were rarely troubled as Bolt handed over to Powell to bring the team home.

Trinidad and Tobago's time of 37.62s saw them set a new national record, while Britain, which included Simeon Williamson, Tyrone Edgar, Marlon Devonish and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, ran a season's best of 38.02 to grab an impressive bronze.

It was Jamaica's seventh gold medal of the Championships with their 4x100m women's relay team also earlier winning gold.

It has been another stunning show from Bolt at this year's World Championships in Berlin.

The Jamaican, who only turned 23 on Friday, smashed the world records in the 100m (9.58s) and 200m (19.19s) which followed his phenomenal triple Olympic gold performances in Beijing a year ago.

"Am I getting used to winning? You cannot get used to winning," he added.

"But winning three gold medals in Berlin is wonderful and I am proud of myself."

Cheruiyot, redemption time

Berlin, Germany – It was Meseret Defar who said this year would be all about redemption. Unfortunately for the Ethiopian who lost her Olympic title last summer, it wasn’t her who found it here in Berlin, but Vivian Cheruiyot, the tiny Kenyan woman she has beaten so often on the world’s biggest stage.

Two years ago in Osaka Defar outkicked Cheruiyot on the last lap of the women’s 5000m final to win by five metres, just two months after the Ethiopian set the then World record in Oslo with Cheruiyot chasing her home to clock 14:22.51, a Kenyan record and still her PB.

Cheruiyot said earlier this year that that performance was the highlight of her career. Until tonight that is.

After 11 5000m races against Defar, of which she had won just one – in Brussels last September – Cheruiyot finally got her revenge at the 12th IAAF World Championships with a calculated piece of front running and never-say-die determination in the final straight not to let her chance slip away.

“Normally when I race Defar I finish second,” she said afterwards, failing to hide her joy behind a smile that just got bigger and bigger the more she talked. “But this was my time. I believed in myself because of the training I have done in Kenya and here.

“In Osaka two years ago I was the silver medallist and now I have the gold medal. It is a great achievement for me.”

The 25-year-old added her first major title was inspired by the example of her training partner, Linet Masai, who won the 10,000m on day one. Like Masai, Cheruiyot got her tactics exactly right, as she wound up the pace lap by lap and kilometre by kilometre to take the finishing sting from Defar’s legs and give Kenya its first women’s 5000m World Championships gold.

“They say patience pays and we have had to be patient,” she said. “But now is our time. It has been such a long time that Kenya has not got the medal in the 5,000m. I think we are coming now. I got the silver in Osaka and today I improved to gold so it is great to be champion.

“After Linet won the 10k race she encouraged me to be self confident. She was my biggest inspiration and I believed I can beat Defar.”

Indeed, it was as great day for Kenya, as Cheruiyot’s victory followed a Kenyan triumph over their Ethiopian rivals in the men’s Marathon earlier in the afternoon.

“Now we have beaten Ethiopia in both the 5000m and the 10,000m,” added Cheruiyot, who shares the same manager, Ricky Simms, and training programme as Masai. “It’s great for me and Linet because we train so hard together and our performances here showed we got it right.”

Cheruiyot certainly did. She’s competed against Defar enough to know that a slow race would merely play into her hands – or maybe her feet. So she took initiative shortly before the 3000m mark in a dawdling final and slowly, slowly increased the speed. After 3:06 and 3:05 for the first two kilometres, she clocked 3:04.01, 3:00.74 and 2:42.18. Even when Defar moved past her with 150m to go she knew she wasn’t beaten and clawed her way back to win by more than half a second.

“For me the pace has to be fast,” she said. “If it’s too slow then anyone can win, and I know how fast Defar can be. I said to myself, ‘Maybe I can try my best and this time if I go fast enough I can win.’

“So I decided to go at a fast pace, to push, to push so the others could not do their last lap. On my last 100m I was pushing so hard, pushing, pushing. Finally I won. It’s so great to be a champion.”

Cheruiyot’s victory has indeed been a long time coming. Born in the rural district of Keiyo in the Rift Valley, she began running at school aged 11 and first competed internationally at the tender age of 14, at the 1998 world junior cross country championships. She won that title two years later and the same year, aged just 16, made her Olympic debut in Sydney where she was a finallist. No wonder she earned the nickname ‘Kidago’, Swahili for ‘Young One’.

But after winning her third world junior cross medal in 2002, Cheruiyot seemed to disappear from athletics. She never stopped training but took some time away from racing to finish exams.

A member of the Kenyan police team, she returned to competition in 2006 and a year later truly arrived as a world class athlete with those memorable duels against Defar.

Even in last summer’s Beijing final, a devastating race for Defar, who lost her Olympic title to Tirunesh Dibaba, the Kenyan was still adrift of her rival in fifth. And in last year’s World Athletics Final it was again Defar first, Cheruiyot second, as it was at the Bislett Games in Oslo this June.

No wonder Cheruiyot couldn’t stop smiling after finally getting revenge here in Berlin. “I want to thank everyone,” she said to the laughing media. “My husband, my coach, my manager, my brothers and sisters, the Kenyan police force who give me support and time to train – in fact, everyone in Kenya.

“We are going to have such celebrations. We will sing and dance. Everyone will sing and dance in Kenya.”

Even Defar caught the mood. Although visibly upset to have only taken the bronze, Defar broke into a smile herself and put her arm around the woman who had taken her title. They embraced and leant their heads together for the cameras almost as if their fates as athletes were somehow inseparable.

Kirui following Gebrselassie's Berlin example

Berlin, Germany – As a man who counts Haile Gebrselassie as his best friend, it was kind of fitting that Abel Kirui should win the men’s Marathon title at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin today.

Berlin is the city where the legendary Ethiopian has twice smashed the World record and the 27-year-old Kenyan has played a part both times – in 2007 when he finished second as Geb first stole Paul Tergat’s world mark; and last September when Kirui paced his friend to the historic time of 2:03:59, the world’s first sub-2:04 Marathon.

To return to the Germany capital 11 months later and destroy the hopes of Gebrelassie’s compatriots by becoming World champion himself was a dream for Kirui, but one this gregarious and outgoing young runner was utterly confident of turning into reality from the moment he stepped onto German soil last week.

“When I was reaching the finish line I still couldn’t believe it,” he said. “But I love running in Berlin. I know it so well from my times here with Haile, and that made it so special for me.

“I love this city. When I got off the plane I knew then I could win, I was so confident. This morning I prayed with my coach for help, but I was so sure I would do it.”

Kirui has actually run the Berlin city Marathon three times in the past, the first in 2006 when he finished ninth, and he joked after today’s victory that the thousands of spectators probably couldn’t believe it was him in the lead.

“I have been in three great races here,” he said. “But they won’t have believed it when they saw me today because before I was always pacing or I was finishing with four legs.

“But I always wanted to be a great champion and now I made it.”

Kirui made it with some style. Like Sammy Wanjiru in the Beijing Olympics a year ago, Kirui looked in control throughout today’s midday race, contested over a four-lap loop course that twisted and turned past many of the city’s famous landmarks.

And like Wanjiru he smashed the championships record as he powered home down Unter den Linten to the finish line at the Brandenburg Gate in 2:06:54, almost a minute and a half inside Jaouad Gharib’s six-year-old record.

Berlin marathons are famously flat and fast, of course, although this was not the well-known World Marathon Majors route which has seen so many world records. Indeed, a number of runners, including Ethiopia’s bronze medallist Tsegaye Kebede, said they found the narrow corners difficult to handle.

Not so the Kenyans. After waiting years 20 years for a global championships Marathon gold before Luke Kibet’s win in Osaka two years ago, Kenya has now won three titles in three years. And this is no accident.

According to Kenya’s team coach Peter Mathu, today’s race had been carefully planned for more than five months. Indeed, such is the nation’s strength in depth at this distance that they could leave out such runners as Wanjiru and three-time London champion Martin Lel to deliberately pick athletes who hadn’t run in big city races for three or four months.

It meant their tactics today could be just as brutal as those adopted by Wanjiru and Lel to bring Olympic gold last year. The three leading runners, Kirui, Emmanuel Mutai and Robert K. Cheruiyot dominated the head of the field then pushed the pace through the last 10km to leave their Ethiopian rivals trailing.

“I knew at the start the race would be won between 35 and 38km,” said Kirui. “The race was very tactical but I stayed focused and calm ready for this.”

“All of our guys had trained just for this for five months,” said Mathu. “It was very important for us to train all our runners to be able to run at the front and keep increasing the pace. We knew this was the only way we could beat the rest of the field.”

Mathu picked out Cheruiyot for special praise as the tall four-time Boston marathon winner took on the brunt of the pace-making duties.

Cheruiyot himself, the first World Marathon Majors winner back in 2007, confirmed that a Kenyan victory was his main concern.

“All I wanted was the team title,” he said. It was only when Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga finally showed signs of wilting that he allowed his two teammates to go.

“When I saw two Kenyans were going to be on the podium, only then did I relax,” he said. “Before then I had to keep pushing and pushing. Even my teammates were telling me I was going too fast.”

With three in the top five it was no surprise that Kenya easily won the World Marathon Cup, although for Kirui his win was a personal as well as a team triumph.

Although ranked sixth on the world all-time list, thanks to his 2:05:04 third place finish in an incredible Rotterdam race earlier this year, Kirui has only ever won one race at the distance, the relatively minor Vienna marathon in April 2008.

Not that he’s ever doubted the victories would come. After all, as child of the Rift Valley, Kirui did not have to look far for inspiration to become a great runner. Born into a family of four, he started running at Samitui Primary school, following in the footsteps of his uncle, Mike Rotich who went on to win the Salzburg marathon in 2007.

He claims his family’s running history goes back much further, however. “Our great grandfather was a runner,” he said. “He used to chase an antelope and catch it.”

It wasn’t chasing animals but chasing a job that finally got Kirui serious about running. After leaving high school with no great ambitions, he entered a race as part of an Administration Police recruitment exercise, and won. “I heard that there was recruitment and what you had to do was win a race, so I just entered, won, and was the only one picked of the nine finalists,” Kirui said.

From then on he was training seriously. He eventually moved to Kapsabet and began travelling to Europe – Poland specifically – to get race experience. He raced in the Berlin half marathon in April 2006 and won a place as a pacemaker for the full marathon in the German capital later that year. He did his pacing duties and just kept going, clocking 2:17:47. It wasn’t quick, but he knew with training he could get better.

A year later, he was back in Berlin, pacing Gebreselassie to his first World record and the Ethiopian immediately became his role model. Now, just two years later, with the words “World Champion” next to his name, the ever-confident Kirui has his sights set on his mentor’s record believing he can lower it by half a minute.

“It needs total preparation and total commitment in training, but, for sure, I very much think I can run 2:03:30 in the near future,” he said. “I need to recover and take my time before I can bring my body back to the stage where it can run that fast. But I think I can do it, maybe next year.”

And where does he think this will happen? Berlin of course – where else?

Bolt again, and again! 19.19 World record in Berlin

20 August 2009 - Berlin, Germany - Just when you thought Usain Bolt could not surprise any more, he only goes and runs another World record - this time over 200m.

Bolt's winning time - 19.19* - looks more like a grandparent's year of birth than a time for the 200m, but although it may take a while to digest, those are the new World record figures.

Former 200m World record-holder Michael Johnson had said earlier in the day that he felt Bolt was too tired to improve on the record of 19.30. But then again, Bolt does not know the meaning of fatigue.

Back in 1996 when Johnson set the world record of 19.32, it was widely acknowledged as one of the toughest records on the books. Bolt bettered it in Beijing, of course, but with this latest improvement it must surely be considered one of the greatest performances of all time, along with his 9.58* in the 100m last Sunday.

When Bolt set his sprint World records in Beijing, he was clearly trying harder in the 200m compared to his easing-down exploits in his 9.69 run over 100m. But the -0.9m/s wind reading in the Beijing 200m final gave hope that, in better conditions, Bolt would be capable of improving the record in better conditions.

So with the promise of another momentous performance from Bolt - along with the highly anticipated High Jump duel between Blanka Vlasic and Ariane Freidrich - the Berlin Olympic stadium was near capacity.

And Bolt did not disappoint.

But his crack at breaking the record was almost over before it even began. Frenchman David Alerte false-started and Bolt registered a slow reaction of 0.345. Fortunately, he had another attempt to start and at the second time of asking he absolutely nailed it - 0.133, the fastest reaction of the field.

The lanky Jamaican flew around the bend and was surged into the lead as he shot into the home straight. At half way, Shawn Crawford of the USA was in a clear silver medal position.

But while Bolt maintained - and extended - his lead, Crawford was being caught by Panama's Alonso Edward and US team-mate Wallace Spearmon.

Bolt streaked ahead to stop the clock at 19.20, later rounded down to 19.19, while Edward and Spearmon succeeded in catching Crawford. Edward, who came into this year with a 20.62 PB, registered a South American Area record of 19.81 in second place and at 19 years old became the youngest ever World medallist in the men's 200m. His time is also a world age-19 best, breaking the 19.88 set by Bolt in 2006. And anyone who breaks one of Bolt's records is certainly set for a bright future.

Spearmon won his second successive World 200m bronze with a time of 19.85 - his third best ever clocking - while Crawford tightened up on the line with a time of 19.89.

It was the first time in history that four men had dipped under 19.90 in the same race and also the first time in which five men had broken 20 seconds.

Whoever said Berlin was a slow track?

Certainly not Bolt. While speaking to track-side interviewers after his lap of honour, he said: "It wasn't a good race, but it was a fast one."

Indeed it boiled down to a race between Bolt and the clock, and his winning margin of 0.62 seconds is by far the biggest in World Championships history.

Rounding out the top eight were Jamaican Steve Mullings (19.98) in fifth, Charles Clark of the USA in sixth (20.39), Azerbaijan youngster Ramil Guliyev in seventh (20.61) and Alerte in eighth with 20.68.

Bolt improved his previous 200m World record by 0.11, the same amount of time he chopped off his 100m record on Sunday. But, as was the case in Beijing, he ran tonight's race into a headwind (-0.3m/s), which again begs the question - can he go quicker in better conditions?

For his efforts here tonight, Bolt bagged $160,000 to add to his 100m winnings of $160,000 (both prize packets include the $100,000 World record bonus from TDK). That's roughly $11,123 for each second of his 100m and 200m performances combined.

Of course there will always be the speculation of what defending champion Tyson Gay could have achieved if he had accepted his place in the 200m. No doubt, he would have been Bolt's closest challenger, but even Gay himself would probably admit that 19.19 is just a little beyond what he is currently capable of.

It could prove to be beyond what any other human is capable of for years to come. Any human, that is, but the man himself - Usain Bolt.

Richards – ‘I enjoyed every step of my race’

Berlin, Germany – It was the dethroned champion Christine Ohuruogu who put it best. “It was a good run and a brilliant time. I think she just wanted it more than the rest of us.”

World number one for the last five seasons, but never a champion, Sanya Richards finally got it right when it mattered most as she took her first major championships gold at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin in superb style.

After the heartbreak of the Olympic final in Beijing last year, when she was overhauled by Ohuruogu in the finishing straight, and the misery of missing 400 qualification for the Osaka World Championships two years ago, the Jamaican-born American at last fulfilled the promise of her world billing on the biggest stage.

Yes, she wanted it all right. She wanted it bad.

Richards had looked tense on the start line, and appeared at first to go off too fast – as she did in Beijing – but the glamorous 24-year-old judged her race perfectly this time and was smiling with joy and relief before she’d even crossed the finish line.

It was a look that told the tale of her last four years, a look of relief that all the frustration, doubts and worries had come to an end, that all the expectations, hopes, and, most of all, pressure, had at last led to gold.

“I thought ‘Yes, finally’,” said Richards. “Finally I have a major title. Finally the hard work has paid off. To finally come across the finish line and not be disappointed is such a wonderful feeling.”

Gone were the sleek, go-faster sleeves she’d worn at the Olympics, as Richards –in bright red spikes – clocked her 38th sub-50 time (more than any other athlete in history), stopping the clock at 49-dead, the quickest in the world this year. It could have been quicker if this celebrity of American track and field hadn’t allowed herself to skip through the line, so pleased was she to have finally won the global title her dominance of the event surely deserves.

Moments later she was dancing with joy, literally. “It’s called the ‘Dallas Boogie’,” she explained later to the curious press when she was asked about her victory jiggle, as her watching mother, Sharon, and father, Archie, plus a whole entourage of grinning family members, giggled in recognition.

“I do it all the time at home in front of my family,” said Richards, who describes herself as a bit of a singer and dancer on her website. “It’s a Texas thing. I told my sisters if I won I was going to do it, so I thought, ‘Well, here goes. I’m better do it.’

“I don’t know if I jumped across the line or what I did. I just wanted to get there first whatever it took – a skip, a bound, or whatever. ”

Richards clearly likes Berlin’s Olympiastadion, and it’s deep blue-ovalled track in particular, as she has won here three times in the last four years over 400m, most recently at the ISTAF Golden League meeting in June.

“It feels so great to finally hear my name announced as world champion and I can now say my first title was on the blue track here,” said Richards. “I didn’t have much doubt before this race. I thought about all the positive experiences I’ve had on this blue track. I feel so comfortable running here.”

Indeed, she’d looked comfortable all week, sailing smoothly through the rounds with easy victories in 51.06 and 50.21. Many observers wondered if the experiences of 12 months ago would again bring her down in the final, especially when Jamaica’s Shericka Williams, the Olympic silver medallist who was second again here, produced the fastest ever 400m semi in 49.51.

Like Ohuruogu, Williams is renowned for her strong finish so Richards knew she’d have to get her tactics right. As Ohuruogu put it, “The pressure was on her to win a title more than for me to lose it.”

And Richards herself admitted the stress-induced condition, Behçet syndrome, which hampered her season two years ago, from did “flare up” this week as her own expectations grew and grew.

“It does come on when I get stressed but I know how to handle it now so I didn’t let it get in my mind and I was able to concentrate,” she said. “I think pressure did get to me in the past and that’s what I wanted to shake this time. I was confident in my rounds and in my race strategy.”

Despite being the IAAF’s Athlete of the Year in 2006, and the youngest woman ever to break 49-seconds, many have questioned Richards’ tactical nose in major championships.

After finishing fourth in the 2004 Olympic final, she was a favourite at the 10th World Championships in Helsinki four years ago, when she finished second, and was again at last year’s Olympics, when she had to settle for bronze. She was also second at the 2002 World Juniors and fifth over 200m in Osaka.

This time, though, she ran precisely to plan. The difference, she says, is confidence.

“I did go out well in the Olympics,” she said. “But today my split was 23-flat so it was almost the same. I don’t think I went too fast last year but this time I was really confident in my strategy. I enjoyed every step of my race tonight.

“I would love to have won the Olympics but sometimes you have to learn things to grow, and I think I’m a better athlete because of it.”

Richards added that a lot of credit should go to her coach Clyde Hart, famously guide to Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner, for making her more consistent and getting her to the start line with greater self belief.

Now she has a World Championships gold medal to place alongside the Super Bowl ring won by her boyfriend Aaron Ross, cornerback with the 2008 Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants.

Not that she’s satisfied yet.

“I’m only 24,” she said. “I have time. Lots of 400m runners are at their best when they’re 31 or 32 – look at Michael Johnson. 2009 is just the start.”