SPECTACULAR RECOVERY BY GEZAHEGN IN WORLD INDOORS QUALIFYING
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Reused with permission.
Ethiopian teenager Kalkidan Gezahegn made a spectacular recovery after being tripped and trampled in her 1500m qualifying heat on the first day of the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Doha.
Gezahegn was running in the middle of the field just before the 800m mark when she got tangled with another athlete, fell hard to the track, and took an accidental knee to the head from Ireland’s Kelly McNeice-Reid as she ran over her. Gezahegn bounced up, quickly caught up to the field, then surged in the last 200m to win the heat in 4:08.91.
“I don’t thing anyone but Tirunesh or Meseret could have done that,” said her agent Mark Wetmore speaking on his cell phone from the Aspire Dome in Doha. ”It was unreal.”
Gezahegn’s teammate, Gelete Burka, won the first heat and will join Gezahegn in Sunday’s final. Their key rivals for the podium will be Russia’s Anna Alminova, Spain’s Natalia Rodríguez, and Poland’s Sylwia Ejdys.
