Janeth Jepkosgei completed a great night for Kenya in the Nagai Stadium this evening, bringing the east African nation its first World Championships gold in women’s middle distance running with an awesome display over two laps that left the three-times champion Maria Mutola sprawling in her wake.

Jepkosgei won the title from the front in 1min 56.04sec, the quickest time in the world this year, a Kenyan record, and the fastest World title-winning time since Mutola in 1993.

The Moroccan Hasna Benhassi won another silver medal to go with the one she won two years ago with 1:56.99 and, in a complete surprise, Mayte Martinez of Spain took the bronze in 1:57.62, passing two much-fancied Russians down the home straight.

“I decided to go in front and not to wait for the others,” said Jepkosgei. “I had to do my best, and that's what I did.”

Jepkosgei had produced the world’s best time last season, but before the semi-finals here hadn’t been seen as a great threat to the 34-year-old Mutola’s bid to win sixth World Championships medal in her eighth final.

However, despite being 10 years her junior and in her first global final, the Kenyan is clearly no respecter of reputations as she showed little mercy in destroying the Mozambiquan to add the World gold to her Commonwealth and African Games titles.

While bigger names were floundering on Jepkosgei’s heels, Benhassi and Martinez benefited from a more cautious approach, both coming from the back in the second half to claim their medals.

The delight for Martinez, fifth last time, was clear from her face. “My focus was always the last 100m,” she said. “My sprint finish is very strong and that made me confident. It is incredible, I got that medal!”

After the semi-finals it seemed Jepkosgei’s best chance was to run hard from the front. After all, she’d blown them all away once, why not again? That was what she did, bursting to the front after a couple of tentative strides and steaming through the first lap in 56.16.

Slovenia’s Brigita Langerholc, the Belarussian Sviatlana Usovich and Russia's Olga Kotlyarova were giving chase, working hard two metres behind. The lead was three metres with 300m to go when Mutola began to make her move.

She closed the gap briefly around the top bend as Benhassi, who had languished some five metres behind the back of the main field in seventh place at half way, began her charge.

But Jepkosgei was simply too strong. Even at that pace she had another gear and kicked again as they entered the home straight.

It was all too much for Mutola who stepped off the track and fell across a photographer on the infield. She was later carried out of the arena on a stretcher.

Jepkosgei pulled even further ahead before crossing the line with her arms outstretched and a huge smile across her face, and a second national record in the space of two days to her name. Benhassi was equally delighted to finish second.

“I'd have liked to go for gold but the pace was suicidal, so I opted for a cautious start and relied on my finish,” said the Morrocan who almost didn’t come to Osaka because of illness.

Martinez, who had been last and 15 metres off the lead at the bell, and seventh with 100m to go, suddenly seemed to be turbo-charged. She squeezed inside one Langerholc, then moved out to pass the fading Usovich and Kotlyarova on the outside to claim Spain’s first ever women’s World 800m medal.

“The Kenyan’s pace was ideal for me because I cannot go at 56 seconds for the first lap, so all I had to do was run the second lap in 60 seconds and believe in my sprint finish,” she said.

For her part, Jepkosgei already has her eyes on the future. “I think it's a challenge for me now, because now I know I'm competitive,” she said, with a touch of understatement.

“The world record is still far away, I m not thinking about it. But I saw afterwards that this was a world leading time. That’s good, but I have to do something more, before the end of the season.”

Osaka 2007 News Team/mkb

Maria Mutola’s bid to regain her world 800m crown is under serious threat. It’s not that she’s out of form – her time in the third of tonight’s semi-finals tells you that: 1:58.98, a season’s best by more than a second.

Nor has she lost her tactical nous, she made her way into Tuesday’s final tonight as everyone expected.

It’s just that she appears to have come up against a woman who is simply flying.

Kenya’s Janeth Jepkosgei’s quickest time this year before tonight was 1:58.95, and that was in yesterday’s heats. But pitched against Mutola she simply stormed away at the front to win in 1:56.17, the fastest in the world this year by almost 1.5sec and a PB by more than 2.5sec.

It was an extraordinary run, but the manner in which she strode across the line, looking fresh as a daisy, must have left her opponents bewildered. Mutola couldn’t get close. And she tried. Hard.

But the effort of trying to stay with the Africa champion left her heavy legged and gasping for breath, and she was even pipped for the second automatic qualifying spot by Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi, who finished strongly in 1:56.84, her best of the year by more than two seconds.

Not surprisingly, those were the quickest three times of the round. Even Brigita Langerholc of Slovenia, who finished fourth in 1:58.41, set a PB. She will also be in the final.

The first two races seemed rather tame by comparison. Not that they were slow.

The Belarussian, Sviatlana Usovich, shouldn’t be overlooked. She was a convincing winner of the first race in 1:58.11, 0.06s inside her personal best, just reward for her front running tactics.

And nor should Svetlana Klyuka be discounted. The Russian showed an impressive turn of pace with 200m to go in the second race to burn off her challengers. She established a five-metre lead around the bend and won easily in 1:58.97.

She’ll be joined in the final by her teammate, the long striding Olga Kotlyarova, who finished second behind Usovich in 1:58.56. Personal bests for Slovakia’s Olga Klovoca (1:58.62) and the gutsy Italian Elisa Piccione (1:58.63) were not enough.

Mayte Martinez of Spain took the other spot in the final. She finished second behind Klyuka after a late run and was rewarded with a season’s best of 1:59.32.

Just edged out behind her were the unlucky Moroccan, Amina Ait Hammou, who ran a season’s best 1:59.51, and Britain’s Marilyn Okoro whose quickest ever run in 1:59.63 wasn’t enough to secure her berth.

With three races, and only the first two in each heat guaranteed a place, qualifying was always going to be tough and casualties were on the cards.

The main one came in the second heat where defending champion Zulia Calatayud of Cuba finished eighth in 2:06.97. That’s nearly 11 seconds slower than Jepkosgei, surely now the outright favourite.

Osaka 2007 News Team/mkb

Threetime champion Maria Mutola began her campaign to regain the world title she last won in 2003 with an impressive display in the first round of the women’s 800m at the Nagai Stadium this evening.

The Mozambiquan, who’s chasing her 12th global title in Osaka, stayed sensibly off the pace in heat three before muscling past the field in the final 100m to win in 2min 00.00sec, the sixth fastest time of the round.

The fastest came in the last of the six heats as Kenya’s African champion Janeth Jepkosgei outkicked her opponents from the front of the field to win in 1:58.95, her best of the year. It was an eye-catching run and in this form, the Kenyan looks most likely to rival Mutola in the chase for gold on Tuesday evening.

Behind her, Spain’s Mayte Martinez and Slovakia’s Lucia Klocova were pulled to sub-2:00 times, the second and third fastest of the round. Klocova’s 1:59.72 was a personal best, one of five sub-2 runs across the six heats.

Not surprisingly, four of those came in the last heat, although Russia’s Svetlana Cherkasova couldn’t produce one of them. A finallist two years ago, she tied up badly in the final straight to finish sixth, going out of the competition with 2:00.93.

The other shock of the round came in heat four when the world’s fastest athlete this year, Yuliya Krevsun (UKR), thought to be a potential challenger to Mutola, could finish only fifth in 2:02.45 and was eliminated from the competition.

By contrast with the experienced Mutola, the Ukrainian ran from the front, leading the pack through the bell in 58.79. But she was passed with 300m to go by three athletes and never recovered. Down the home straight, the World University Games champion appeared to be treading water through the sticky Osaka air and struggled across the line shaking her head.

Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi won the race in 2:00.31 followed by Britain’s Jemma Simpson and Romania’s Liliana Popescu, both also inside 2:01.

Svetlana Usovich, a European indoor silver medallist from this year’s championships in Birmingham, also looked strong as she front ran to win heat five in 1:59.95, the Belarussian’s best performance of the year. Behind her Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair, the World Indoors silver medallist, qualified comfortably in second place with 2:00.35, followed by Canada’s Diane Cummins.

Although Cherkasova went out, the event still contains a strong Russian pair in European silver medallist Svetlana Klyuka and Olga Kotlyarova, the second fastest athlete in the world this year and reigning European champion. Klyuka won the first heat in a swiftish 2:00.11, after taking the lead 250m from the line, while Kotlyarova won heat two in 2:01.75, three hundredths ahead of Britain’s Marilyn Okoro. Cuba’s Zulia Catalayud cruised through comfortably in third in 2:01.81 and shouldn’t be discounted as she aims ot defend her title.

Osaka 2007 News Team/mkb