Turova defeats Ceplak

Women’s 1500 m race became one of the highlights of IAAF Grand Prix II meet in Zagreb, as 3000 SC WR holder Alesya Turova of Belarus prevailed over Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak, the fastest woman ever over 800 m indoors. Turova stayed back in a low-key position through most of the race, then, with a lap to go, pulled up to the front and managed to edge her speedier opponent in a fierce finishing spurt. Ceplak initially followed the pacemakers, covering the first lap in under 63 seconds, which may have proved a bit too fast for them as the pace crumbled to a pedestrian 71 second for the second lap. The main group of runners caught up with Ceplak, who responded by another surge with a lap to go but failed to claim the title despite finishing in a PR of 4.05,59, short of Turova`s 4.05,41 winning effort.

As Russian athletes are busy preparing for their National Championships which starts in Cheboksary on Thursday, few of them took time to make a trip to Zagreb. Natalya Antyukh produced the best Russian performance of Monday afternoon, finishing second in the 400 m with a time of 51,66.