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1997 World Championships in Athletics Athens, Greece

1997 6th IAAF World Championships - Athens - Women's 800m

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Details: Parent Category: World Championships in Athletics; Category: 1997 World Championships in Athletics Athens, Greece; Last Updated: 25 July 2020; Hits: 125

Host City: Athens, Greece

Format: First round (First 2 & 6 fastest to semi-finals) (Aug 6)

Dates: August 1–10, 1997

Format: Semi-finals (First 4 to final) (Aug 7)

Nations participating: 198

Athletes participating: 1882

Main venue: Olympic Stadium

Overview by IAAF

Two years earlier Quirot capitalised on the disqualification of the previously all-conquering Mutola to bring off an emotionally charged victory. This time Mutola made it safely to the final, although she did squander precious energy in her semi by front running an extravagant 1:57.49. Mutola loved to lead at a fast pace, almost always running the finish out of her opponents, but in the final her splits of 58.32 at 400m and 88.28 at 600m proved insufficient. Quirot stuck resolutely to her and pulled clear 50m from the finish to become the first repeat winner of a global title in the women’s 800, while to add insult to injury Mutola was pipped for second on the line by Afanasyeva.

These are the results of the Women's 800 metres event at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics in Athens, Greece. The event took place on 6, 7 and 9 August.

	800m			*9 August*
Event Report Women 800 metres Final The defending world champion, 1996 Olympic silver medallist and 1997 world leader, Cuban Ana Fidelia Quirot won today’s final in 1:57.14. Russian Yelena Afanasyeva took the silver in the final metres of the race from Mozambique’s Maria Mutola. Mutola, who prior to world championships had only competed in one official race, set the pace at 200m with 27.13. Afanasyeva, Quirot and Surinam’s Letitia Vriesde were also in the leading group. Around the second turn Afanasyeva challenged Mutola but could not pass her. The pace got a little slower (58.32 at 400m) and with one lap to go, the eight competitors ran together, Mutola leading on the inside of the track. At 500m Quirot and Mutola were the leaders, with Afanasyeva on the outside and Vriesde behind them. The leaders hit 600m in 1:28.28. With 100 metres to go, Quirot made her move, and Mutola went after her, but the Cuban proved to be stronger and crossed the finish line celebrating her victory. Afanasyeva took the silver with 1:57.56, and Mutola’s 1:57.59. Vriesde was 4th with 1:58.12 and Czech Republic’s Ludmila Formanova 5th with 1:59.52. Only five athletes bettered two minutes. Both 800 metres champions, Quirot and Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer successfully defended the titles that they won two years ago in Gothenburg.
	Final
1	Ana Fidelia Quirot	CUB	23 Mar 63	1.57.14
2	Yelena Afanasyeva	RUS	1 Mar 67	1.57.56
3	Maria Mutola	MOZ	27 Oct 72	1.57.59
4	Letitia Vriesde	SUR	5 Oct 64	1.58.12
5	Ludmila Formanová	CZE	2 Jan 74	1.59.52
6	Toni Hodgkinson	NZL	12 Dec 71	2.00.40
7	Joetta Clark-Diggs	USA	1 Aug 62	2.02.05
8	Stella Jongmans	NED	17 May 71	2.05.50
Event report women 800m semi finals Former world champion Maria Mutola of Mozambique fired a warning to her rivals in the 800m that she is in good shape to regain her title on Saturday when she ran from the front and clocked her fastest time of the year, 1:57.49. The defending champion, Ana Quirot of Cuba, ran well within herself to win the second semi and looks likely to be Mutola’s biggest challenger. Semi-final 1: Mutola went to the lead straight from the gun with Russia’s Yelena Afanasyeva giving chase in second. Mutola hit 200m in 26.74 and maintained the swift pace to the bell. She passed the half way mark in 56.38 with the field spread out behind her. Afanasyeva was still in second down the back straight with Luciana Mendes of Brazil in third and a gap to USA’s Joetta Clark in fourth. At 600m Mutola kicked again and had a 10 metre lead by the time she entered the home straight. She crossed the line looking easy while Afanasyeva fought back against Clark to take second in 1:59.05. Clark and a fast finishing Stella Jongmans of the Netherlands edged out Mendes at the line for the third and fourth qualifying positions. Semi-final 2: Russia’s Liubov Tsyoma and Quirot took the early lead, with Letitia Vriesde of Surinam in third, but the pace was slower (27.51 at 200m) and all the runners were still bunched at the bell, passed in 58.33. Tsyoma still led at 600m but Quirot and Vriesde began to move past her on the outside and came into the home straight together. As others too began to threaten the Russian she appeared to lose balance and, in trying to avoid stepping on the kerb, stepped off the track and quit the race. Quirot crossed the line in first place, easing ahead of Vriesde who ran 1:59.62 in second. Ludmila Formonova of the Czech Republic and Toni Hodgkinson of New Zealand took second and third respectively.
	Semifinals			*7 August*
	Heat 1
1	Maria Mutola	MOZ	27 Oct 72	1.57.49
2	Yelena Afanasyeva	RUS	1 Mar 67	1.59.05
3	Stella Jongmans	NED	17 May 71	1.59.32
4	Joetta Clark-Diggs	USA	1 Aug 62	1.59.34
5	Luciana Mendes	BRA	26 Jul 71	1.59.45
6	Yelena Martson-Buzhenko	UKR		2.02.62
7	Hasna Benhassi	MAR		2.03.70
8	Malgorzata Rydz	POL		2.05.00
	Heat 2
1	Ana Fidelia Quirot	CUB	23 Mar 63	1.59.37
2	Letitia Vriesde	SUR	5 Oct 64	1.59.62
3	Ludmila Formanová	CZE	2 Jan 74	1.59.71
4	Stella Jongmans	NED	17 May 71	2.00.25
5	Natallia Dukhnova	BLR	16 Jul 66	2.00.91
6	Nouria Merah-Benida	ALG		2.01.08
7	Petya Strashilova	BUL		2.01.44
-	Lyubov Kiryukhina-Tsyoma	RUS		DQ
Event report women 800m heats For the most part, the big names survived the first round of the 800m with no casualties. The fastest time, 2:00.12, was recorded by Russia’s Yelena Afanasyeva. That came in the last of five heats, as the races got steadily faster in the competition for the six time qualifying spots (the top two from each heat made the semis automatically). Ludmila Formanova of the Czech Republic showed an impressive finishing sprint to take the first heat in 2:01.46.In the second heat, Ana Quirot, the defending champion, showed complete control. Letitia Vreisde of Surinam took the third heat in 2:00.92, while U.S. champion Kathy Rounds (5th in 2:03.33) failed to advance. In heat four, Maria Mutola (2:00.88) and Joetta Clark (2:01.15) showed their experience and easily dominated. The final heat saw Afanasyeva set the fastest pace of all (57.18, 1:28.10); she finished 5th in last year’s Olympics.
	Heats			*6 August*
	Heat 1
1	Ludmila Formanova	CZE		2.01.46
2	Natalya Dukhnova	BLR		2.02.39
3	Linda Kisabaka	GER		2.03.22
4	Julia Sakara	ZIM		2.03.55
5	Oznur Dursun	TUR		2.04.62
6	Leontine Tsiba	CGO		2.07.34
7	Abok Shol	SUD		2.16.74
-	Malin Ewerlof	SWE		DNS
	Heat 2
1	Ana Fidelia Quirot	CUB		2.01.56
2	Yelena Martson-Buzhenko	UKR		2.02.00
3	Toni Hodgkinson	NZL		2.02.21
4	Jill Stamison-Mcmullen	USA		2.06.16
5	Theoni Kostopoulou	GRE		2.07.32
6	Jolanda Steblovnik-Ceplak	SLO		2.10.97
7	Adama Njie	GAM		2.13.50
	Heat 3
1	Letitia Vriesde	SUR	5 Oct 64	2.00.92
2	Stella Jongmans	NED		2.01.06
3	Lyubov Kiryukhina-Tsyoma	RUS		2.01.87
4	Rosa Kutty	IND		2.02.22
5	Kathy Harris-Rounds	USA		2.03.33
6	Dawn Williams-Sewer	DMN		2.03.35
7	Natalia Al Farran	LIB		2.18.11
8	Donata Mutegwamaso	RWA		2.25.07
	Heat 4
1	Maria Mutola	MOZ	27 Oct 72	2.00.88
2	Joetta Clark	USA		2.01.15
3	Petya Strashilova	BUL		2.01.49
4	Nouria Merah-Benida	ALG		2.01.54
5	Stephanie Graf	AUT		2.02.52
6	Charmaine Crooks	CAN		2.02.84
7	Yaznee Nasheeda	MLD		2.36.18
-	Alberta Cape	GBS		DNS
	Heat 5
1	Yelena Afanasyeva	RUS	1 Mar 67	2.00.12
2	Luciana Mendes	BRA	26 Jul 71	2.00.89
3	Hasna Benhassi	MAR	1 Jun 78	2.01.56
4	Malgorzata Rydz	POL		2.01.68
5	Irina Nedelenko-Lishchinska	UKR		2.03.56
6	Monika Ronnholm-Kinnunen	FIN		2.04.11
7	Monica Randi	SMR		2.16.00

Startlist

Heat 1 06 AUG 1997 09:30

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
1	Ludmila Formanová	CZE	1:59.28	1:59.59
2	Julia Sakara	ZIM	2:01.18
3	Abok Shol	SUD
4	Malin Ewerlöf	SWE	2:00.42	2:00.42
5	Öznur Dursun	TUR	2:01.42	2:01.42
6	Natalya Dukhnova	BLR	1:57.24	1:59.31i
7	Leontine Tsiba	CGO	2:08.58
8	Linda Kisabaka	GER	1:58.24	1:58.38

Heat 2 06 AUG 1997 09:37

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
1	Olena Buzhenko-Sergeyeva	UKR	1:59.93	1:59.93
2	Jolanda Batagelj	SLO	2:00.94	2:00.94
3	Adama Njie	GAM	2:10.1	2:12.7
4	Toni Hodgkinson	NZL	1:58.25	1:59.42
5	Ana Fidelia Quirot	CUB	1:54.44	1:55.78
6	Theoni Kostopoulou	GRE	2:07.34i	2:07.34i
7	Jill Stamison-McMullen	USA	2:03.29	2:04.17

Heat 3 06 AUG 1997 09:44

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
1	Lyubov Kiryukhina-Tsyoma	RUS	1:57.18
2	Donata Mutegwamaso	RWA
3	Natalia Al Farran	LBN
4	Letitia Vriesde	SUR	1:56.68	1:57.98
5	Rosa Kutty	IND
6	Stella Jongmans	NED	1:58.95	2:03.44
7	Kathy Harris-Rounds	USA	2:00.89	2:00.89
8	Dawn Williams-Sewer	DMA	1:59.06	2:01.31

Heat 4 06 AUG 1997 09:51

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
1	Charmaine Crooks	CAN	1:58.52	2:02.25
2	Yaznee Nasheeda	MDV	2:34.18
3	Joetta Clark-Diggs	USA	1:58.06	1:58.95
4	Stephanie Graf	AUT	2:00.27	2:00.27
5	Maria de Lurdes Mutola	MOZ	1:55.19	1:57.57
6	Petya Strashilova	BUL	2:01.04
7	Nouria Mérah-Benida	ALG	2:02.44
8	Alberta Cape	GBS	2:19.84

Heat 5 06 AUG 1997 09:58

Order / Lane	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	PB	SB 1997
1	Yelena Afanasyeva	RUS	1:57.38	1:57.38
2	Hasna Benhassi	MAR	2:00.48	2:00.48
3	Monika Kinnunen	FIN	2:03.64	2:03.64
4	Malgorzata Rydz	POL	2:01.10
5	Luciana Mendes	BRA	1:58.27	1:59.18
6	Monica Randi	SMR	2:14.92i	2:14.92i
7	Iryna Lishchynska	UKR	2:02.92	2:02.92